The Lord will be terrible unto them, etc. "'Jehovah is to be feared above all the gods of the earth, for he will cause them to waste away; and all the inhabitants of the maritime regions shall worship him, each from his place.' While announcing the destruction of the surrounding idolatrous nations, the prophet was inspired to predict the gradual but certain destruction of idolatry universally throughout the earth. The period predicted should be one in which all peculiarity of local worship should cease, and Divine worship be acceptable wherever presented in sincerity and truth" (Henderson). The passage reminds us of two good things that are in the future of our world.

I. THE DESTRUCTION OF IDOLATRY. What is idolatry? It is the giving of our supreme affection to creature objects. It is not confined to the worship of heathen deities, which are for the most part the productions of human invention and art. The spirit of idolatry often exists where heathen idolatry is denounced. Whatever objects a man loves most is his god. In our England and throughout Christendom there are gods many, although they have no recognized temple. Wealth is a mighty god, power is a mighty idol, pleasure is a mighty idol, fame is a mighty idol. Before these idols the vast majority of the civilized world prostrate their souls in the ardour of devotion. The destruction of idolatry, therefore, does not mean the beating to dust or the consuming to ashes the idols that fill the temples of heathendom, but means the withdrawal of man's supreme love from every object short of God. You may bum up all heathen temples, and leave idolatry as rampant as ever. To "famish all the gods of the earth" is to draw man's supreme sympathy from all things except God. This is the great moral famine that is to be desired, to be prayed for and struggled after. The other good thing in the future of our world is -

II. THE ADVANCEMENT OF TRUE WORSHIP. "And men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." Observe:

1. The object of true worship. "Men shall worship him," that is, Jehovah. Him, not it - not the universe, but the infinite Personality that created it, the Fountain of all existence, all energy, all love, all blessedness. Him - the Creator of the material, the Father of the spiritual.

2. The scene of true worship. "Every one from his place." Wherever he is. The worshipper need not go to any particular scene - no temple, chapel, or cathedral. "From his place." It may be in solitude or in society, on the mountain brow or the seashore. "Neither in this mountain" nor on that mountain, but everywhere, "God is a Spirit."

3. The extent of true worship. "Even all the isles of the heathen."

CONCLUSION. What a glorious future awaits the world! How blessed will those ages be when every man of every tribe and clime shall have his heart centred in supreme love upon the one great Father of all! - D.T.

I. THE DESTRUCTION OF IDOLATRY. You may burn up all heathen temples and leave idolatry as rampant as ever.

II. THE ADVANCEMENT OF TRUE WORSHIP. "And men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen." Observe —

1. The object of true worship. "Men shall worship Him," — that is, Jehovah. Him, not it — not the universe, but the Infinite Personality that created it.

2. The scene of true worship. "Every one from his place." Wherever he is. He need not go to any particular scene — to temple, chapel, or cathedral.

3. The extent of true worship. "Even all the isles of the heathen." What a glorious future awaits this world!

(Homilist.)

Ammonites, Cherethites, Cushites, Ethiopians, ZephaniahAshdod, Ashkelon, Assyria, Canaan, Ekron, Gaza, Gomorrah, Jerusalem, Moab, Nineveh, SodomCushim, Cushites, Death, Ethiopians, Killed, O, Pierced, Slain, Sword1. An exhortation to repentance.
4. The judgment of the Philistines,
8. of Moab and Ammon,
12. of Ethiopia,
13. and of Assyria.

Zephaniah 2:11-12

     5295   destruction

Caesarea. Strato's Tower.
The Arabian interpreter thinks the first name of this city was Hazor, Joshua 11:1. The Jews, Ekron, Zephaniah 2:4. "R. Abhu saith," (he was of Caesarea,) "Ekron shall be rooted out"; this is Caesarea, the daughter of Edom, which is situated among things profane. She was a goad, sticking in Israel, in the days of the Grecians. But when the kingdom of the Asmonean family prevailed, it overcame her, &c. R. Josi Bar Chaninah saith, What is that that is written, 'And Ekron shall be as a Jebusite?' (Zech …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

The Indwelling and Outgoing Works of God.
"And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."--Psalm xxxiii. 6. The thorough and clear-headed theologians of the most flourishing periods of the Church used to distinguish between the indwelling and outgoing works of God. The same distinction exists to some extent in nature. The lion watching his prey differs widely from the lion resting among his whelps. See the blazing eye, the lifted head, the strained muscles and panting breath. One can see that the crouching lion is laboring intensely. …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Of the Decrees of God.
Eph. i. 11.--"Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."--Job xxiii. 13. "He is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth." Having spoken something before of God, in his nature and being and properties, we come, in the next place, to consider his glorious majesty, as he stands in some nearer relation to his creatures, the work of his hands. For we must conceive the first rise of all things in the world to be in this self-being, the first conception …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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