NORTHERN STYLE NEWSWATCH No. 40 CREDO
` I will utterly sweep away everything . . . '
Although our Newswatches are intended to look at contemporary events through the prism of Scripture, we do not usually put pen to paper until the `events' have settled down and can be more sensibly set against Scripture for an immediate reaction can often be merely an emotional response and of no value in seeking to understand what is being revealed and so taken note of by the Lord's people. However, the disastrous events in the Indian Ocean which occurred during the western nations' national holidays at the end of 2004 were of such a magnitude that a more immediate response was demanded.

The reporting of those catastrophic events could not be avoided by even the most callous as TV screens and radio broadcasts `invaded' the festive season with the most appalling pictures and images of total destruction and of the misery of the survivors following the powerful tsunamis that swept over those idyllic areas surrounding the Indian Ocean. In the recent past there have been other huge natural disasters, such as the earthquake which caused enormous destruction and loss of life in Iran one year earlier - to say nothing of the earlier earthquake disaster in Turkey - each one with tens of thousands of people killed and properties and livelihoods destroyed. Nevertheless this latest disaster struck home to millions of people in a way which those others had not, and therefore there could well be something here that we all need to understand and respond to. There was, of course, an immediate response from the public in the western nations, with widespread appeals from charities, religious groups and media celebrities, and thousands of plastic buckets appearing overnight in shops and public places. There were even some respectful silences observed at the commencement of sporting activities and the New Year celebrations before entering more fully into those celebrations.

Although we have no desire to add to the `woes and lamentations' that will surely come from many religious ministries - and we certainly have no desire to express carnal cynicism, aware as we are of the most awful personal losses sustained by individual families - but we do need to quietly, and with a certain urgency, consider what is being said to us through these events. Certainly one reason why this disaster caught the attention of the western nations more than previous ones is the tragedy of the deaths of thousands of holiday makers from the West, for the whole area surrounding the epicentre of this earthquake has become the playground of the West and a virtual paradise of sun and sea and tropical delights. The whole area has become consumerised, to the extent that westerners could feel at home whilst still enjoying the fantasy of a more exotic lifestyle. Added to this are the financial benefits for the tens of thousands of nationals who earn their living by serving the holiday makers.

In more simple terms, it would seem that the area struck by the tsumanis was a `microscopic world', for people from most of the countries of the world had gathered into one seemingly idyllic area, enjoying the pleasures of that tropical paradise and totally unaware of the savagery that was soon to be released upon them. It was this understanding that led us to write an immediate Newswatch - a `microscopic world' enjoying the pleasures of the world and totally unaware of what lay immediately ahead of them - and, as always, this needs to be looked at through the prism of Scripture if we are to move beyond the emotional realm and into a spiritual understanding of what is being shown here in this most awful disaster that called a temporary halt to the festive celebrations of 2004.

Our thoughts were turned to the Book of Zephaniah - one of the twelve Minor (or shorter) Prophets of the Old Testament. It is not a book which would naturally come to mind, for although it is part of the whole Word of God it does not naturally lend itself to personal meditation or reading, and if we were intending to merely write an emotional denunciation against the decadent western morals now under judgement other Scriptural references would have more easily come to mind. We know of course that these twelve Minor Prophets are seen as one Book in the Hebraic manuscripts of the Bible, and as such they speak to the whole nation of Israel of the Governance of God. The Book of Zephaniah cannot therefore be used as a prism through which to look at the natural disaster in the Indian Ocean but, as we shall see, the opening verses can be used as a means of understanding the message being spoken of the Governance of God through those dreadful circumstances of personal loss and bereavement, for as we said earlier, the area so dreadfully stricken was a microscopic gathering of the people of the world who collectively would have adherred to all the major religions of the world.

To give further background to this `gathering' we need to note that this twelve volumed `Book of the Minor Prophets' is divided by the Jewish Scribes into 21 Sedarim (a Hebrew word meaning `sections for public readings') and that only FOUR of these Sedarim begin with the opening words of a Minor Prophet. One Seder begins with the Book of Zephaniah (the other three being Hosea, Micah and Habbukkuk) whilst the remaining eight Books of the Minor Prophets overlap into the remaining Sedarim. Those with an understanding of the role that numbers play in the Old Testament Scriptures will understand that with the whole nation of Israel being spoken to of the Governance of God (seen in the number `12') there also lay within His Governance (broken down into 21 Sedarim) four Sedarim which began with `the Word (or Oracle) of the LORD', the number `four' speaking of a probation, a testing of character through judgements or trials. The prophecy spoken in the Book of Zephaniah can be dated `during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah' and we know, from our past expositions of Scripture, that the reign of Josiah ushered in a Probation Period of fourty years, which ended with Zedekiah's reign and the Babylonian captivity.

In reading the opening verses of Zephaniah it can be clearly seen that the reforms which began at the commencement of Josiah's reign had come to a halt; the testing of the nation had once again revealed the fault-line of idolatry that ran continually through the nation's `blood'. This caused Zephaniah to speak the LORD's word to the people of Judah that the LORD `will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and idolatrous priests'. This background leads us back to the title of this Newswatch which comes from verse 2 of the first chapter of the Book of Zephaniah, which says:

" `I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth', says the LORD'. "

As is well known through our previous Newswatches, we have set out our understanding of a Scriptural Probation Period beginning in 1967 and which is now nearing its end. We therefore feel that we can look back at the recent natural devastation in the Indian Ocean with the thought in mind that the `world' itself is moving rapidly towards the end of a Probation Period of which it would appear to be unaware as it mobilizes its relief agencies to meet the distress of the people caught up in the disaster. The opening words of Zephaniah speak more clearly of what is happening than any words of ours, and we quote from verses 2 and 3 of the first chapter:

" `I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth', declares the LORD. `I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth', declares the LORD. "

The name `Zephaniah' itself has a meaning of `hidden of God', and within these opening verses - and in remembering the tsunamis and the desolation they caused - there does indeed lie a `hidden (warning) of God'! As surely as the words of the twelve Minor Prophets grouped into one Word speak of the ways of God to His Covenanted people, and of the consequences of their idolatry, so too can be seen the warnings of God to the nations and religions of the world - seen in their `representatives' gathered together in the idyllic paradise touching the edge of the Indian Ocean, from which arose such terrifying waves of destruction - of the consequences of their idolatry. Clearly we are not intending an exposition on the Book of Zephaniah, for he was speaking to the Covenanted people of Israel and we are concerned with the principle rather than the parallel speaking to the assembled people of the world, who stand at the end of a Probation Period and who have moved even deeper into idolatry having not heard nor understood the move of God in those earlier years when He moved by His Spirit calling His people to Himself.

In drawing out the principle we would briefly look at the closing words in verse 3 where it says: `The wicked will have only heaps of rubble', and we ask your forebearance in using unfamiliar words which are necessary in order to bring out the meaning that often lies hidden within words. In some modern translations the word `rubble' is recorded more correctly in the KJV as `stumbling blocks'. The word for `stumbling blocks' is `a metalepsis', which springs from a Greek word which has the meaning of `using one word instead of another which it has a close relation to', so the two words `stumbling blocks' therefore have a hidden meaning of `the cause and effect of something' - the cause that is the `stumbling' produces the effect which are the `blocks', which is the result of the cause! The stumbling which Zephaniah talks of is the stumbling away from God, who gives Blessings, towards false gods, who cause blocks - that is, rubble. Here, within the `hidden (warnings) of God' given by Zephaniah lay the reason for the devastating effects caused by idolatry - a seeking after the pleasures of the gods of this world by a people who had known the Blessings of the True God! The effect of that idolatry caused God to say `I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth'.

Remember if you will that the setting of the Book of Zephaniah was midway into a Probation Period of fourty years with Israel moving ever deeper into apostacy. Remember also that the Probation Period of our time - the end of which we are now moving towards - began with a sovereign move of God who poured out His Holy Spirit over the whole world. It touched people of every culture and religion and was not limited to a renewing of people in the churches of the West, but the overwhelming response has been the same as that given by those ancient people of Israel - a return to the concerns and the pleasures of the world. The words spoken by Zephaniah culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the sweeping into captivity in Babylon of God's people, and in recalling the vivid scenes of the recent tsunamis on TV and in newsprint who could fail to see a principle at work when even the secular media try to define `an act of God'. But it would tragically seem that, just as the people of Israel in an earlier time failed to respond to the `hidden (warning) of God' so too the world (after its two or three-minute silences) has carried on in the same way, for we hear of some who were seen sun-bathing on beaches and swimming or lounging on lilos just a few days after those areas were covered in dead bodies - they had been cleared away in order for others to continue their idyllic holidays! Also reported were the entreaties of the Leaders of the countries touching the edge of that now calm idyllic ocean, that the tourists would continue their holidays and plan for more as the destruction and death was quickly cleared away! Cause and effect have no place at such a time, but the warning has been given and the cause remains - surely the effect cannot be less!

We would begin to draw this Newswatch to a close, this time with the words of a secular journalist who had considered these past events and concluded his article with these words:

" It is difficult in that context not to see the tsunamis as some kind of nemesis. "

Perhaps he was not fully understanding what he wrote, but he had enough perception to know that something unusual had occurred, for the word `nemesis' originates in the title of a Greek goddess, Nemesis, the goddess of retribution . . . a goddess who calls for retributive justice and a downfall (a sweeping away) that alone will satisfy that justice'! The word `nemesis' from a Greek word `nemo' has a meaning of `to give what is due' - a cause producing an effect, seen vividly in the terrible events in the Indian Ocean at the end of 2004! The indications seen so far is that there has been no understanding of the cause - which therefore leads us, in the words of the journalist, to an effect . . . `some kind of nemesis'.

However we will not leave this Newswatch on a note of despair, for in God there is only certain hope - if we will listen to His voice - and for that voice to be heard we would close with verse 5 from Psalm 27:

"For in the day of trouble
He will keep me safe in His dwelling;
He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock. "

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