I’ve been trying to write this blog for a week and a half now. But each time I try, it seems like something comes up or I choose to blog about something else. But this pleurisy is really slowing me down and I can do little more than sit here and type, so looks like I finally have time to blog about this.

In our Sunday school class a couple weeks ago, we had a great discussion about heaven. Perhaps no other aspect of Christendom invites the imagination to action like heaven. We love to speculate about what eternity with God will be like. This is partially due to the dearth of NT texts about heaven. There’s simply not as much there as we’d like. So we’re left to speculate and dream and wonder. What follows, if you’ll indulge me, is my own such speculative perspective. Take it for what it’s worth.

Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah. It’s likely that he prophesied during the first portion of Josiah’s rule, prior to the monarch’s spiritual reform. Zephaniah was one of several prophetic voices in those days, proclaiming the impending judgment of God upon Judah. Zephaniah refers to this coming judgment as the Day of the LORD, characterized as a day rife with anguish, darkness, wrath and ruin (1:14-18). Zephaniah’s prophetic word was fulfilled at the hands of Babylon. All too soon, Jerusalem would experience the graphic horrors of the Lord’s wrath at the hands of this foreign power.

But, as with all the prophetic voices in the Hebrew Bible, Zephaniah also offers a word of hope to the remnant, those who would remain faithful in spite of God’s judgment. To these, Zephaniah offers the promise of Israel’s restoration.

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zeph. 3:14-17 (English Standard Version)

The image of God’s abiding presence among His people surely sustained the remnant through her days in exile. But I’m especially drawn to the final portion of the passage. Zephaniah gives us a portrait of a rejoicing, singing God who is mighty not only to save, but to quiet us with his love.

When I think of what heaven will be like, I think of the same things you do: being reunited with my loved ones, conversing with the Bible heroes we’ve always read about, spending eternity in the presence of God. But as I read Zephaniah 3, I’m hopeful this passage foretells what that moment will be like when we first stand in the presence of the Beautiful One, the Creator God. I’ve always imagined that I would join my voice with the multitude to praise Him when we finally see Him for the first time. But after reading Zephaniah 3, I hope it plays out just a little differently. I picture all the believers from every tribe and nation approaching the Great Throne of God on that glorious day. And in that moment, when God chooses to reveal Himself and we finally see Him as He truly is, all heaven stands silent, quieted in the presence of Love. And we gaze upon the definition of Beauty and Holiness and we are restored. All is made right. Every tear is wiped away. Every hope is realized. Faith becomes sight. And as we absorb the weight of His Glory in an ultimate, eternal way, our God rises from His throne and…He begins to sing. The Creator of art and music begins to sing His beautiful song of love over His covenant people. He sings a song we’ve never heard but who’s words we’ve always known. It is the song of the saved, the song of the redeemed. It is the song of eternity. And He sings this beautiful verse over us in that eternal moment, welcoming us to heaven. And in time we join our voices to His and we praise Him for who He is and all He’s done for we are in the presence of God now and forevermore.

Marantha, O God. May You sing over us;
may we be quieted by Your love.