Our Lord is a Dancing God
Our Lord is a Dancing God.
“The Lord your God is living right there with you in your midst. He is a mighty Warrior who is there to save you. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will quiet you with His love, renewing you and calming your fears. He will dance with delight over you with shouts of joy, in celebration as on a festival day.” (Zephaniah 3:17).
Perhaps a picture of the Lord dancing a jig over us?
Babe (6/9) Movie CLIP – A Dance for Babe (1995) HD
The Gospel According to Zephaniah. Have you seen those skeptical cartoons featuring a ragged old man with wild hair and a long beard wearing a sandwich board predicting the end of the world? On the front is “Repent, The End is Near!” and on the back board is something like, “The Day of the Lord is Coming Soon!” Well, that prophet of doom could easily be Zephaniah in Jerusalem, around the year 625 BC. Zephaniah had good reason to preach the end of the world to the people of Judah. These Chosen People of God had by that time dishonored Yahweh grievously by embracing unspeakable, degenerate sin in the life of their idolatry. The people of Judah were indulging in such wicked sins as child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, and even moving idols into the Temple to be worshiped along with Yahweh. The priests were practicing a mixed-up religion that tried to blend Yahweh with Baal and Molech. There were pagan shrines and temples around every corner in Judah, and the people had no problem with praying to these idols. Zephaniah spoke a hard word from God, saying that Judah will pay the price for this hideous idolatry and will soon be destroyed. Judgment Day is coming, said Zephaniah to the people, and sure enough twenty years later his prophecy came terribly true. Babylon swept in and destroyed everything and everyone. The people of Judah who survived the onslaught were taken into exile to the pagan capital Babylon. God executed His wrath through the violent, vicious Babylonians. Zephaniah, though, before that destruction, did have a hand in bringing about a revival of sorts through King Josiah, the last good king of Judah. But the revival was short-lived. The spiritual sickness of idolatry had taken such root in the hearts of the Jews that only major surgery could rid Judah from the vile sins of their past. It’s true that God used Babylon as the surgeon in this operation, and the Babylonians were only happy to comply by bringing death and destruction to the land and people of Judah. Yahweh is holy, and He expected His people to live in holiness. His people failed miserably, and God had no clear choice other than the destruction of the Promised Land. But the reader of Zephaniah should have patience when enduring all its verses of fire and brimstone. Patience is rewarded at the end of this little book. There is in the conclusion a glimpse of the messianic era, the restoration of Israel, and by extension the faithful people of God. Zephaniah starts with gloom, but it ends with hope.
A Close Look at Zephaniah 3:17:
“… with you in your midst…” One of the most descriptive names for God is Emmanuel (the Greek spelling of the Hebrew Immanuel): Emmanu-El; literal meaning in Hebrew is “With us, God;” it is often translated as “With us is God,” “God with us,” or “God is with us.” Hidden in the title is the suggestion that God humbly puts us, His beloved, before Himself! The name Emmanuel speaks of the eternal reality that our Creator has a strong desire to be in our midst, dwelling with us. Emmanuel is a promise that implies the ongoing, permanent presence of God with us. Numerous times in the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh promised to dwell with His people, ever since the prophecy in Lev. 26:12, “I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people.” This is the gospel story, the Good News. Actually, this is the best news! “Ring out your joy, for the great one in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” (Isaiah 12:6). And sure enough, God is true to His promise of presence as we read in John’s vision of paradise in Revelation 21:3: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.” The with-ness of the Lord is an eternal fact of life. Miraculously, our heavenly God is with us, His earthly people. God the Father is the first Emmanuel, exiling Himself from the Garden after they sinned against Him. Creator God hasn’t left the side of humanity ever since. God the Son continued the same quality of the Godhead, the next Emmanuel in line, when He took on flesh and became incarnate and was with us through thick and thin, through life and death and then life again. The third and final divine Emmanel is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love shared by the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit was called the “paraclete” by Jesus, that Greek term meaning “called to come alongside” us. Thus, there is this astounding with-ness to the Trinity that assures us of God’s everlasting presence with us. And now extending that with-ness, we contain the Paraclete, thus bringing God’s presence through our ministries to others.
The Afters – God Is With Us (Official Lyric Video)
“… a mighty Warrior…” (“Gibbor”); a triumphant champion; a valiant hero who delivers the captive; a strong soldier who rescues others from danger.
“… who is there to save you…” (“Yoshia”); to deliver into a wide-open space; to rescue from a confined space into a land of freedom and opportunity; to walk freely from the cramped prison of the self into God’s expansive goodness. Eugene Peterson thinks the biblical picture of salvation looks like this, “We throw open the doors to God and discover at the same moment that God has already thrown open His door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand – out in the open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.” (Romans 5:2 in The Message). In quoting Isaiah 61 in His hometown synagogue, Jesus gives us another picture of this view of salvation: “… to proclaim deliverance and freedom to the captives… to release and set at liberty those who are in chains.” (Luke 4:18).
“…who will rejoice over you with joy…” (“sus” and “simcha”) –to greatly exult in; to cheerfully delight in; to be filled with mirth and enthusiastic gladness; to be brightened with joy.
“… who will quiet you with His love…” (“harash”) – a comfortable silence of assurance that God accepts you; a calm silence in which God doesn’t have to say anything because His approval is obvious; a love from God that implies forgiveness and His refusal to remember past sins; God’s renewing love that is so pervasive and strong that all speech is hushed.
The Afters – God Is With Us (Official Lyric Video)
“… who will dance with delight over you…” (“Giyl”); a dancing word; an exuberant physical expression of delight;to be overcome with ecstatic gladness; literally means to spin around in joy, to twirl with glee; to greatly rejoice; to be exceedingly jubilant; a bodily outburst of gladness; an animated celebration accompanied with expressive song, dance, and musical instruments. It is used about 45 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Sing Over Me (featuring Taylor Leonhardt and Molly Parden)
“… with shouts of joy…” (“rinnah”) – loud shouts of joy in song; exuberant singing that includes triumphant shouts. A closely related Hebrew word is “ruwa” which means to shout joyfully; to make a joyful noise; literally, to split the ears with sound; to shout a victory cheer; to cry aloud at the top of your lungs; to shout aloud in triumph. Zephaniah connected these two words in his closing prophecy by using ruwa in 3:14-15: “Shout (ruwa) for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout (ruwa) in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Yahweh has taken away His judgments against you, and He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more!”
Good News from Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah proclaims much the same truth as he powerfully and dramatically announces Israel’s coming salvation: “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be called a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed ‘Forsaken,’ and your land shall no more be termed ‘desolate.’ But you shall be called ‘My delight is in Her,’ and your land ‘married;’ for the Lord delighted in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you!” (Isaiah 62:1-5).