Introduction

Good day to all, let us turn to Zephaniah, chapter 2. Chapter 1 spoke of, Except for God's set-apart people, God will destroy all. Some might think: Isn't God being unreasonable? But we must never reason with God, because even if you do, He will not heed you. Our God is so resolute.

When you witness the prevalence of calamities in this world, you may be shocked, thinking: God, are you not seeing this? God sees! But when God opens His eyes, He finds that people need some calamities. Who told them to be so arrogant? Constantly shouting Man will conquer nature. How will you conquer it? I have not seen Man conquer nature. When floods come, tsunamis strike, and earthquakes occur, where is the conquering by man? So, stop shouting empty slogans.

Look, a small virus throws all of humanity into a panic, and a single cancer cell takes down many. How can man conquer? Science is becoming more and more advanced, and medicine is also developing rapidly, but where is the development? Profiteering is booming! Look at the hospitals, overcrowded, because aging and illness cannot be cured, so people have to go to the hospital. In the end, the hospitals are more crowded than the marketplace! Can that be called progress?

As we read Zephaniah, chapter 2, we continue to discuss God's plan. The theme of this chapter is: God's remnant people will inherit this land.

Those Who Survive God's Fierce Anger Are Called God's Remnant People

First, we must understand what is meant by God's remnant people. It refers to those who survive God's fierce anger. Some may wonder: Didn't you say that God would protect those who are set apart? If you are set apart, you will survive God's wrath, because you are protected by God. This is what is meant by the remnant people.

The Old Testament often speaks of the remnant people, those chosen by God and set apart. Why does God destroy all? It is to allow the remnant people to inherit the land, meaning that others have labored in vain. They built houses only to have them inhabited by others. Therefore, those who survive God's fierce anger are called the remnant people.

The prophet Zephaniah saw God's fierce anger in a vision. But what is God's fierce anger? He did not describe it clearly. Later, in Revelation, this matter is clarified. Revelation describes God's fierce anger in three ways. The first is the seven seals. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, is the only one qualified to open these seven seals.

When each seal is opened, the mystery is revealed, and calamities in the world begin to increase. As each seal is opened, the calamities in the world become more and more severe. The seventh seal includes seven trumpets. When the seventh seal is opened, the seven trumpets begin to sound, and the calamities on earth, God's anger, become increasingly severe.

Before opening the seventh seal, God made a wonderful preparation. If you listen to my explanation of Revelation, you will understand how God arranged it. These seals are almost fully opened. The prophet Zephaniah did not fully understand the situation because he saw it from afar, in a very vague state, but he saw God's fierce anger.

When the seven trumpets sound, nuclear war will break out. We are so close to nuclear war! It is just a matter of time. People live hard lives. When the first few seals were opened, God prepared His people, marking them with a seal to protect them. Opening the seventh seal begins the sounding of the seven trumpets.

When the last, seventh trumpet sounds, God's people will be caught up into the air to meet the Lord. Do not think that being caught up into the air means you will not come down. You will come down. When will you come down? After God pours out His seven bowls of wrath. When the last trumpet sounds, God's people are caught up into the air to meet the Lord, and then God's wrath is poured out, and no one on earth can escape.

When the first seven trumpets are blowing, God seals His people. After they are sealed, they become immune to all harm. Nuclear war cannot hurt them. This is God's wonderful arrangement. When the seven bowls are poured out on this earth, you cannot even die if you want to. There is only pain, excruciating pain! This is called God's wrath.

Although Zephaniah did not see clearly, the apostle John saw it very clearly in Revelation. After these seven plagues pass, Jesus Christ will descend on this earth with His people, the remnant people. This is remarkable! What will they do when they descend on this earth? They will inherit this land and rule over it!

Why is our Lord Jesus called the King of Kings? Because these remnant people, who survive God's fierce anger, will inherit this land. The remnant people are called kings, so Jesus is called the King of Kings. That is, Jesus gives you a city, a piece of land.

Like how the Zhou dynasty enfeoffed the feudal lords, each person gets a piece of land. The Zhou dynasty had eight hundred feudal lords. If you are also one of the remnant people, you will surely be enfeoffed as a king, or at least a feudal lord. This person is a king, that person is a feudal lord. God has arranged it this way.

After a thousand years have passed, the New Jerusalem, the new heaven and new earth, descends, and the people on earth are under its rule. They hate the rule of Jesus, and then they rebel. After that, Jesus destroys all these people. At the end of the thousand years, something happens: the people on earth are all destroyed, and the remnant people begin to inherit the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem.

What is the new heaven and new earth all about? We cannot really explain it. We have not been there, but we feel it is good. Therefore, I encourage everyone to know what kind of people God wants to choose to be the remnant people.

Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do His just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the Lord. (Zephaniah 2:3)

This scripture means that if you do not seek God, but act foolishly, you will have some trouble. If you do not seek God, you will not know God, and then people live in this world, living and living until they live into calamity.

The first group of people who remain will be those who are protected by God in the Third World War, and then caught up into the air by God during the war. The second group of people who remain will be those whom God will strike down on earth after the Millennium, which will be very tragic! Why does God strike down the people on earth? Because God only wants treasures. Garbage has a garbage incinerator, and someone specializes in collecting garbage, but God does not collect garbage. In Singapore, who collects garbage? Some foreign laborers are hired to do this job!

In the end, all things will be united in Jesus Christ. Wonderful! Therefore, should we not fear God well on this earth? Some may ask: Will God open a door so that others on this earth can also receive this grace? Yes, He will!

A Nation Without Shame Can Also Seek God

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, before the decree takes effect—before the day passes away like chaff—before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the Lord's wrath. (Zephaniah 2:1)

What should they gather together to do? To come before God and seek Him. If they come to seek God, God will surely grant grace! The world has been destroyed more than once. In the days of Noah, God destroyed it once, leaving Noah's family of eight. That was very tragic! I was shocked when I read it.

When the flood came, why did these people not know to grab onto Noah's Ark? Because seven days before the flood came, the door was already closed. The ark was very sealed, and the outside was very slippery. You could not grab it, and even if you did, it would be useless because the flood was too great. Could you hold on for a year? It was very tragic!

If someone had said, I want to come in too! when Noah was entering the ark, then God would have truly granted grace, like Rahab in Jericho. Rahab was also in the city being destroyed. God said: Kill all who have breath in the city! All in Jericho, whether livestock or people, were killed. But Rahab sought God. She is quite interesting. The Bible says she was a prostitute. She was such a humble prostitute in the city who came to seek God.

That is to say, the Bible clearly gives us a revelation called A nation without shame, you can come to seek God. But do people really seek God? If people take advantage of the time before God's decree is issued and His fierce anger has not yet come, as long as they think a little and come to seek God, they will become the remnant people, and you can be saved! Like Rahab in Jericho, she belonged to the remnant people because she had faith.

God does not care what profession you are in. God did not care about the prostitute's identity. What God cares about is whether you come to seek God. Why do many people come to seek God? It is because God is about to destroy them. Before God issues the decree of destruction, He often causes people to experience a series of events.

Many of us also almost died, could not withstand it, were dying from illness before choosing to believe in the Lord. This seeking is good. This is called being clever! If you want me to give examples, there are many! Therefore, God hopes that all men will be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. God has abundant grace and mercy, but people are arrogant. They are not good at solving problems, but they are definitely at the forefront when it comes to speaking arrogantly!

I tell you, when you see God's anger manifested on you, for example, a tumor grows in your brain, cancer grows in your breast, or there is a problem with your digestive system, then quickly come to seek God. God will not only have mercy on you and heal you, but He will also save you from death! Therefore, people should observe and discover that there is no salvation other than God! Do not think that this is just how you are.

We had a sister whose older sister saw me deliver her younger sister. Later, the older sister got sick, and the younger sister loved her older sister very much, loved her so much that she was dying and living. I called her younger sister to tell her what to do, and she gained faith. Because of the younger sister, God had mercy on the older sister.

But when she and her older sister went to the hospital, it was like a marketplace. Oh my, there were so many people! The younger sister wanted to remind her older sister, so she said, Sister, look at this hospital, why are there so many people? Her older sister's reaction was very interesting. She said, It seems I am not the only one who is sick. Oh dear! This was like pouring a bucket of cold water on her head, instantly cutting off the power!

Think about it, so many patients, is it not because the hospital cannot cure them? Can we find other ways and not suffer this ordeal? With so many people, are you going to see a doctor or to buy groceries? As long as people reflect a little, they will turn back to God.

Some of our brothers and sisters have not been healed yet, and there is that evil spirit in their bones. In fact, they do not want to come to seek God. They just want to be healed, but this is useless! God may also be gracious to you, but you are still among those who are perishing. This is called A nation without shame, you can also come to seek God.

The Lord Will Be Awesome Against Them

The Lord will be awesome against them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth. Then all the nations in their distant lands shall worship Him, each in its own place. (Zephaniah 2:11)

Our God is great and awe-inspiring, mighty in power! Look at the people in this world, when the tsunami comes and they discover, alas! So many people are gone just like that, and they will understand: I must fear God. Stop shouting Man will conquer nature to the heavens, and then a tiny COVID-19 virus comes, and many people lose their lives.

When people are rushing headlong down the path to destruction, God gives them revelation, and this revelation is: a slap on the left cheek, a slap on the right cheek, a kick on the left, a kick on the right. God just wants people to know they are inadequate, to let you know that you are just a person! God wonders: How come you don't know you are just a person? Don't you know you are not capable? But people remain arrogant.

Observe carefully, everyone, when people are arrogant, that is when they experience God's awe-inspiring power. When people are arrogant, they think they are so great, but they are nothing! Just a small official, and that official position means nothing in Beijing, where there are many people with higher positions than you! But people are like that, they don't know the immensity of heaven and earth.

Those who are sick, listen to my advice: what were you doing before you got sick? Before you got sick, you were arrogant, and when you were arrogant, you thought you were remarkable. Some people, when I talk to them about Chinese Mingding Doctrine, they say: Enough with that nonsense! Can that stuff be eaten? They despise God in their hearts. Why does God show His awe-inspiring power to people? It is to make all the gods on this earth ineffective, to make them all weak, skinny, unable to eat their fill or keep warm, with their ribs showing.

Brothers and sisters, all who have experienced God's wrath, that is grace, otherwise it would really be spare the rod, spoil the child! They would be flying up to heaven! God does not really want you to remove tiles in the Western Paradise, but rather hopes that you can know the immensity of heaven and earth. Brothers and sisters, observe carefully, whichever country becomes arrogant and evil, that country will have many natural disasters and man-made calamities.

In the late Qing Dynasty, there were many disasters. Recently, there was a major earthquake, and the great fissures stretched for more than five hundred kilometers, spanning the entire country from south to north. Such a small country, and a Kokang king in Nordyte feels very arrogant, with only a few thousand guerrillas and stragglers under his command! If you were a mafia boss in that area, it would barely be acceptable, everyone would be afraid of you, but could that thing of yours withstand a beating? Bang, and you get arrested! Do you think you will be alright after you are arrested? Did you think that in that place, the Kokang king would not dare to arrest you? God shows His awe-inspiring power to people, remember, never be arrogant!

Pride, boasting, and slandering God's people will be destroyed

If you observe carefully, you will find that God shows them His awe-inspiring power, and will not allow them to continue to be arrogant.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall be rooted up. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. (Zephaniah 2:4-6)

I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. (Zephaniah 2:8-9)

This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts. (Zephaniah 2:10)

Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. (Zephaniah 2:12-13)

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand. (Zephaniah 2:15)

All who see them should treat them as a joke. If we observe carefully, if you have been to Ephesus, then the great city and temples of Ephesus, if you travel there, the most favorite thing to see is the ruins. The real estate there was once incredible, and the temples were very tall, but now they are all ruins.

The people of Ephesus were very arrogant at that time, and the entire Ephesus could buy the United States! People did not know the immensity of heaven and earth, always remember, pride, boasting, and slandering God's people will be destroyed! No matter how powerful you are, you will be destroyed. What happens after the destruction? It is to give the land to the remnant people. The remnant people are called the victorious people, those who remain are the victorious people, so Chinese Mingding Doctrine values victory very much.

Do not think that you will be victorious just because you name yourself Victory, or that you will be joyful just because you name yourself Joy, or that you will become Hannah just because you name yourself Hannah. It is not like that, you must be truly victorious!

You must carefully observe God's words, seek God's righteousness. What does God want us to do? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. You must know that those who are boastful, who think they are great, will be destroyed. Look at those arrogant officials, one day they are still talking about clean government, and the next day they are arrested for corruption, because they have been under investigation for a long time.

In this generation, it is better to be low-key. Do not be boastful. You are just a person, like an ant in God's eyes. There is no need to stand too tall. Just look from a man-made satellite or space laboratory to the ground, and alas, people are too small, like ants.

God sits on the throne and looks down, such small people on the earth, raising their hands and shouting Man will conquer nature. God looks at them and thinks, you little things! Give them a virus, give them a cancer cell, make them unable to defecate or urinate. Aren't you arrogant? You are still shouting My fate is in my own hands, not heaven's, stop talking nonsense! How can My fate is in my own hands? It is all nonsense.

I encourage everyone to know how to be victorious. Before God's command is issued, before God's wrath comes, as long as you have a breath, as long as God has not destroyed you, quickly seek God! Do not be proud, boastful, or slander God's people. Do not think that you can slander God's people casually. Those who slander God's people will surely live a very hard life! Even if you are a great hero, if you slander God's people, you will always encounter God's unimaginable wrath.

The remnant of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.

Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even a possession of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. (Zephaniah 2:9)

God's people are really good! Human history is very interesting. Originally, there was a land called Seir, and the people there were very evil. God saw that they were very arrogant and thought: Okay, I will destroy them and let Esau come and occupy this land. Some people wonder: Isn't Esau cursed? It doesn't matter, this world is about who has the deeper curse. The people of Seir were destroyed by God, and Esau took their land as his inheritance.

Lot's descendants, the Moabites and Ammonites, obtained the lands of Seir and Ar respectively. Why did they get these two lands? Because the people of that place were proud, arrogant, and boastful, so God said: Destroy them! The people of that place disappeared, and Lot's two children, the Moabites and Ammonites, obtained that land.

Later, the people of Canaan were arrogant and full of sin, so God had the Israelites destroy them and then let the Israelites take this land. People cannot live without land, so they take possession of the land, that is how it is. In the future, we will be the same, becoming God's remnant people, each dividing a piece of land. What will we do? This is your Garden of Eden, that is his Garden of Eden, each managing a small Garden of Eden, managing this land.

So the remnant people will take possession of the land, and those things that the people who were destroyed made, such as the houses they built, the courtyards they created, and the fruit trees they planted, all go to whom? They go to God's people. Everyone must know that God's people are incredible, they will surely take possession of the land! In the future, we will also possess the heavenly Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem will descend from God. God will create a new heaven and a new earth.

We who trust in God carry this hope, and we will not suffer losses in present matters, so brothers and sisters must know that those who trust in God lack no good thing, so we must choose to be the remnant people, and never be the people who are destroyed.

God's people will perish for lack of knowledge, because they do not know God in their understanding. Now that we know God, we know that God is so good to us! We take possession of the land on earth, and God will give us the whole earth. We will begin to manifest God's glory on the whole earth, so that when people see it, they will all come here to seek God. Chinese Mingding Doctrine is a prosperous theology, a management theology, a theology of taking possession of the land!

There is really no poverty in the Kingdom of God. If we live very poorly and miserably, then there is nothing to say, it must be because we love money. If you don't love money, why would you take the bait? If you don't love money, would you be cheated? No! If you live a good life and work hard, you will not be cheated if you don't love money, and you won't end up on the blacklist.

We must know that poverty is not victory. Chinese Mingding Doctrine is a victorious theology, and those who are victorious will surely take possession of the land and become God's remnant people. Although God's wrath has not yet reached the era of the seven bowls, the era of the seven bowls has nothing to do with us, but now we begin to learn to fear Him, seek Him, and be filled with the knowledge of God's will in understanding and wisdom, and know how God's plan is arranged.

Then you will understand when you look at human history: So God's arrangement is like this. This is what I want to tell you, God's remnant people will possess the land! This is my encouragement to you, trust Him well, how good it is to have God in your life, how wonderful it is to be victorious in Jesus Christ!

From now on, make up your mind to be a victorious people in God's kingdom, to become the remnant, to be preserved through great disasters and God's wrath, and to live to the end. Isn't there a saying that goes, He who laughs last, laughs best!? If you laugh and laugh and then disappear! What are you laughing at? You have become a joke! If you don't laugh last, you will become a joke!

Gather our faith, and raise our faith again. God has revealed so many wonderful truths in our midst, so that we can know Him, so that we can know how wonderful His will is, and how abundant and glorious His grace is upon us! By being victorious through Jesus, we become the remnant people, and we will surely possess the land.

Our Bible study ends here. May God bless everyone, goodbye brothers and sisters!