14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 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.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak.
17 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.
— Zephaniah 3:14-17, ESV

I do not know who sang the very first song.  Judging from the looks of him, it must have been Willie Nelson.  But seriously, singing is as old as humanity, and has its origins in divinity.  

The first song in the Bible is offered by the man who wrote the first books of the Bible, Moses (ref. Exodus 15:1ff).  It was a song of salvation, a song of victory, a song of joy.  The last song mentioned expressly in Holy Scripture is the same song, sung as a refrain by all the saints of all time at the end of time (ref. Revelation 15:3).  It is an expression of utter and complete salvation, victory, and joy.  

To be a child of God you must be well versed in singing.  Singing is a means of grace to bring us to the Lord, as the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs beckon us with the gospel along with prayers, preaching, and sacraments.  Singing is a vital part of public worship, as one cannot truly worship biblically and regulatively without the inclusion of song.  And it is singing that will signal in the end of time as we know it, and the beginning of eternity, at the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Few capture this final picture as well as the minor, minor prophet, Zephaniah.  Reformed Baptists will appreciate Zephaniah was a reformed prophet, aiding good King Josiah in reforming the doctrine and worship of Judah in the seventh century before Christ.  Little else is known about him besides the beauty of his name.  Zephaniah means “hidden and protected by God.”  Remember that.  

Like other biblical prophets, Zephaniah was given a view of the day of the Lord, the advent of the Messiah.  Few of the prophets could sensibly separate the advent into two, a first coming and second coming.  Some, like Zephaniah’s contemporary Jeremiah, saw mainly the first.  The great Isaiah saw the first and the second, clearly, graphically, accurately.  Most canonical prophets, like Zephaniah, only gained a glimpse of the second.

It is the second advent of Jesus Christ we want to ring in our ears today.  When the end of time begins, it will begin and end with a song.  Feel free to sing along.

The Commandment to Sing

Singing should be a commitment for God’s people because singing is a commandment from God.  “Sing aloud” (vs. 14) speaks Zephaniah, using an imperative Hebrew verb.  He is addressing “O Israel,” the old covenant people of God, but the commandment is spoken to new covenant Christians as well.  

For God’s people, Israel, singing was a staple in their worship in their synagogues and temple rituals.  This is where psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs come from.  They sang them in congregations and in choirs and employed a wide array of musical instruments to accompany them.  When they sang, they sang “aloud.”  

For God’s people today, the church, singing is a similarly required response in our worship (ref. Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).  Like our forefathers in Israel, we can make melody with our choice of instruments, as long as the choices do not drown out the voices.  When the church sings, we, too, are to sing “aloud.”

But Zephaniah’s commandment is specifically for a specific day, “On that day” (vs. 16).  “That day” is none other than the day of the Lord, the advent of the Messiah, and more specifically the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

“On that day” there will be a lot of loud noises.  Trumpets will blow.  Arch angels will shout.  Unbelievers from every era will weep and wail and gnash their teeth.  The very elements of creation will groan with loud groaning as they are changed from the sinful old to the spotless new.  The cataclysm will clash with a cacophony of, in the words of the Grinch who stole Christmas, “Noise, noise, noise.”  

Then rising above all the noise will be the song of the second advent, sung by God, and God’s people, as we all “sing aloud” (vs. 14) “with loud singing” (vs. 17).

The Reasons We Sing

When we sing the song of the second advent, we will be singing for several reasons.  Like George Strait’s “All My Exes Live in Texas,” we will be singing about the people and things that are no longer a part of our lives.  And like Frank Sinatra’s “The Best is Yet to Come,” we will be singing about what, or who, our lives are all about.  

Consider what will be absent at the second advent, according to verse 15.  

There will be no punitive “judgements” against us.  All of our sins will be freely and fully forgiven.  This we owe to the first coming of the person and work of Christ, all we who by grace through faith in Him have been saved.  Yet we still struggle with vestiges of guilt, bad memories, painful scars.  That is, until the second coming of Christ.  

We will no longer face any “enemies.”  The enemies of the children of God are often summarized as the world, the flesh, and the devil.  At the second advent of Christ, the world will be made new, pristine, perfect.  Our flesh will be perfected, too, into glorified bodies.  The devil will be defeated and banished to the bottomless pit.  No one will be left but godly people, God’s people, and God.

In a full, final answer to the Lord’s Prayer, we will be completely delivered from “evil.”  Evil, sin, sorrow, death, despair will no longer exist.  Hope, peace, joy, and love, the things we celebrate in the first advent will come to perfect fruition at the second advent.  

These are big and bold promises that will make any believer burst into song.  But there is so much more to sing about, according to verse 17.  “The Lord your God is in your midst.”  He is the reason for this season to be sure, and He is the reason we will all be singing.

We will sing to the Lord.  It will be a new song that somehow we will already know.  It will be a song of complete salvation, victory, and joy.  

We will sing with the Lord.  The twelve disciples and a few fortunate others got this privilege during the three-year ministry of the first coming of Christ.  I wonder what His voice sounded like, fully human and fully divine?  We will find out when we sing the song of the second advent with the Lord.

Then, for the finalē, the Lord will sing to us.  

The Lord Sings

Before the Lord sings there will be a holy pause, a moment of silence, according to Zephaniah.  The quietness will commemorate the first advent, or at least the culmination of it, before the song of the second advent.  It is God’s own reflection upon the cross.

“A mighty one who will save” (vs. 17) is a reflection upon salvation before the song.  In Hebrew is literally “the mighty one who caused him to save.”  It was the Father who sent the Son to the cross.  As Isaiah wrote, “It was the will of the crush Him” (ref. Isaiah 53:10).  

“He will rejoice over you with gladness” (vs. 17) is the smile before the song.  Like the proverbial mother giving birth, the child is worth the pain.  This is how much God loves you and me.  We are worth it, to Him.

“He will quiet you by his love” (vs. 17).  This is the silence before the song.  We’ve heard it before.  When Jesus cried out on the cross, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani,” do you remember the Father’s response?  

Finally, the silence will be broken by the voice of God in celebration, jubilation, and “exult”-ation.  The Lord hits the final, perfect note, ending in the same way The Lord’s people began, “with loud singing.”  And when this song of the second advent is sung, you will want to sing in the second advent choir.  

Sing you will, if by grace, through faith, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you, like Zephaniah, are “hidden and protected by God.”