Zephaniah II
I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; (Zephaniah 1:17 ESV)
Mankind
But who is mankind?
First, remember that scripture teaches that ALL mankind have sinned, and fallen short of God’s glory. Not just the ones with different political views, or different family structures, or different cultures, or different nationalities, or different genders. God says, here, that God will bring distress on ALL mankind.
That is dire news.
Especially in these days of feel-good philosophies and encouraging words. We expect God to fit in and bring smiles, butterflies, and birthday balloons.
But distress is what we deserve.
God did not stop there. He DID bring, as He promised, distress to all mankind. But, following the pattern He displayed throughout history, He allowed and chose a particular person to bear that distress on His beloved mankind’s behalf.
He brought distress on His Son, our Savior.
He brought distress on Jesus, mankind’s representative. The One who represents God’s people to God.
So… we either receive distress on ourselves, or we embrace Jesus and He takes our distress on our behalf. It is a pretty simple choice, really.