Lest any Futurists try to ignorantly or intentionally misinterpret this verse in the Book of Zephaniah, let me point out that the verse has absolutely nothing to do with some future return of Jesus Christ.
The prophet Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Daniel and some of the other minor prophets.
Just as Jeremiah began preaching as a young boy during the reign of King Josiah — and continued to preach for forty years after that — so did Zephaniah. This fact can be easily confirmed by reading the opening verses of both Books.
To reiterate, “the great day of the LORD” which is mentioned in this verse is NOT describing a future return of Jesus Christ.
In Scripture, this phrase is sometimes used to describe a time of great chastisement and destruction when God uses the enemies of Israel to mete out His judgments against a rebellious people.
In other words, God doesn’t actually come — like in the Second Coming doctrine which is embraced by many Christians — He simply intervenes via the enemies of Israel to pour out His judgments.
So, just like the prophet Jeremiah, this verse is in reality describing the coming judgment and destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of the armies of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
As I point out in my Bill’s Bible Basics articles, this event occurred during the third Babylonian siege against Jerusalem around 587 BC.
If anyone tries to explain this verse differently — such as by pushing its fulfillment into the future — they are deceived and don’t know what they are talking about. Please just ignore them.
“And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.”
1 Corinthians 8:2, KJV
