 Alright, we'll resume the class. So before the break, we were looking at the second question which Habakkuk asks. So Habakkuk's question is, Lord, why are you using something evil like the Babylonians to fulfill your holy purposes? And this is God's reply. God says, what I'm going to talk to you is, what I'm going to reply to you is so important that I want you to actually put it down in writing. I want you to send out this message to everyone, so that everyone will get to read what I am saying. And what I am saying will happen in the end and it will not prove false. It may look like as if it is lingering and getting delayed, but wait for it because there is actually not going to be any delay in what I'm going to do. I will do it exactly at the time when I have planned to do it. So God says these things to Habakkuk and then he says, it is true that the enemy is puffed up. His desires are not right. So it is true that the enemy is always going to continue working against you, but the righteous person does not need to worry because the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. So over here it's talking about two aspects of faith of the righteous person. He is faithful in the sense he will continue to trust in God no matter what. And he is also faithful in the sense he chooses to obey the Lord. So there are two aspects which are talked about over here when it talks about the righteous person's faith. It's talking about the trust which he has in God. Even though everything looks negative, the person chooses to continue trusting in God, in the goodness of God, and that God will help and that God will deliver. The person stops trusting in God. So that aspect of faith is being talked about over here, but it's also talking about the other aspect of faith which is obedience. So not only does this person continue to trust in God, he continues to obey God and stay faithful to God. So by doing these two things, placing his faith in God completely, by obeying the Lord as well as he can on a daily basis through obedience and through trust, this person is able to live. So the assurance that God gives us, what I am promising, the justice which I am promising will happen in the time which I have appointed for it. But in the meantime, the righteous person will be protected because he will live by his faith. Now this is an important verse for the New Testament believers because like the people in the time of Habakkuk, we too are living in highly exploitative times where the rich think that they can do whatever they want. Those who are powerful think that they can crush the church. Those who have influence, they think they can do evil things to Christians and escape because Christians, they think are helpless and will not be able to retaliate. So we are living in difficult times and these words which God speaks apply to us. He says, the things which I am saying, the things which I am promising, it speaks of the end and when those end times come, it will not be proved false. What I am promising, I will do for you people. And he says, though it lingers, though it looks like as if it's not going, it's not happening, wait for it. It will certainly come and will not delay. Now Jesus uses the same idea when he is talking in the New Testament. This is what Jesus says in Luke chapter 18, you know, where he gives the parable of a widow who goes to an unjust judge for justice. And the unjust judge in the beginning just ignores her, but when she goes on continuously asking for justice, he finally gets fed up and he says, okay, fine, you know, you can have your justice. And Jesus says, when that man who doesn't even care about justice finally gave it to her, don't you think a loving God who cares about his people, will he not give justice to his people as quickly as possible? And these are the words which God speaks over there. So if someone could read out for us, Luke chapter 18 verses 7 and 8. Luke 18 verses 7 and 8. And will not God give justice to his elect who cried to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will you find faith on earth? So Jesus says, when the right time comes, God will do what is required for his people. He will be faithful. But when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Will there be any righteous people left who are living by faith? Or will everyone give up and say, oh God just made a lot of long promises and he didn't bother fulfilling them? And will people just turn away and give up? Or in the end times, will there still be some people left who are actually still living by faith? So when that Son of man comes for the second coming, is he going to find such people? And so in these verses, Jesus is basically encouraging the believers, he's encouraging his disciples and he's telling them and saying, sometimes it looks like as if the justice is getting delayed. But remember what it says in Habakkuk. God says, even though it looks like as if it is lingering, wait. Because he says, it will certainly come and will not delay. In God's appointed time, what he has promised will take place. It's very difficult for me to remember what example I used in which class. So if I'm repeating this, please bear with me. I think I might have mentioned this about this relative of mine, Ovidu. And somebody was trying to take away her flat from her. He wanted her to sell it to him at a cheap rate and he was refusing to vacate from that house. And she was helpless. She didn't know what to do. So I claimed Luke chapter 18, I said, Lord, this is an actual case which is so similar to what you said in Luke 18. And so I began to pray Luke 18 over her and I said, Lord, grant her justice. This man, he's a lawyer, he's in a powerful position. He's not vacating the flat and he's saying, give it to me at a cheap rate. And he's trying to take it from her because he knows that she's helpless. She can't make him leave. She can't hire Gondas and force him out of the house. And plus he's a lawyer. He knows what to do and what to say. So I really believe that the Lord would do a mighty miracle and drive that man out of that flat and she would be able to get her flat. I really thought that that could happen. But then after about six months of praying, circumstances came to a stage where she had no choice and she had to sell the flat to him at a bad rate. And I said, Lord, you promised in Luke chapter 18 that you will answer, you will give justice and what is this, Lord? Why has this not happened? And then it took me a few years to realize that God compensated for the injustice which was done in other ways. Even up to today, even though now she's very, very old, she is greatly blessed in so many ways. God's hand of blessing is upon her. Yes, he allowed that one act of injustice to take place, but he has taken care of her in so many ways and made up for what she has lost. So God does not always act in the way we would like him to act. But when he says, I am a God of justice, he means it. What he has promised, he will fulfill in the lives of his righteous ones. We can trust that. And so Jesus says, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Will there be people who are still willing to trust and obey and hold on even though negative things have happened? Or will you be like the shallow people who give up and say, why should we trust God? So what Jesus is urging and saying is, you know, do not give up. In fact, it says in Luke chapter 18 verse one, then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. That's the reason why he even told that parable to them so that they will never give up. They will be people who will remain righteous and continue to live by faith. Such people God will uphold. And that is why this one little verse, you know, which is mentioned in Habakkuk chapter two verse four. It is mentioned three times that same verses mentioned three times in the New Testament in Romans. I can't remember the exact references in Romans and then in Galatians and then in Hebrews. In Romans, the emphasis is on what kind of righteousness? In Galatians, the emphasis is on how will these righteous people live? What will God do for them? And then in Hebrews, it talks about what kind of a faith these righteous people should have. So this verse is so important that three times in the New Testament, you know, Paul tries to elaborate on what this verse means and how it applies to us believers today in our context. So this is something that we should take seriously, even though we feel that injustice is being done to us, even though sometimes we feel as if God is neglecting us. The righteous, how do they actually overcome? How do they gain victory? It is by living by faith, by continuing to trust the Lord, continuing to obey and holding on to him. That is how we manage to have victory. And when the time of judgment comes, God says nothing will be able to stop it. It will take place without delay. Okay, so we have to place these things in the Lord's hands. And after God speaks these words to Habakkuk, he gives five, you know, judgments, which he speaks against the proud nations, including Babylon. So he says in chapter two verse eight, he says, you know, those who are plundering other people, they will also be plundered one day. And then he says those who are building up their dynasties, their dynasties will be put to shame one day. And then he says, you know, they're building up their dyn, their kingdom like as if it's a beautiful house, but the Lord of the armies will crush that house. The fourth thing that he says, they think that they are achieving a lot of glory, but I will put them to shame is what he says. And then the fifth thing he says, they are trusting in their idols, but their idols will let them down. The idols will not be able to help them get what they want. So God speaks these five words of judgment against the proud nations against Babylon. And then Habakkuk makes his prayer of submission and he says, yes, Lord, I'm just leaving this matter in your hands. You have tried to explain to me why you are using something evil to bring about good. You have explained that yes, you are using an evil instrument like the Babylonians to bring about justice, but you have also explained that one day when the time comes, even Babylon also will be judged. That too will fall. So yes, even though you're using an impure instrument, when the time comes, that impure instrument will also be punished. So Habakkuk says, you know these things best. So, oh Lord, I trust you. I leave it in your hands. Why? Because the righteous live by faith. I'll just continue to trust you and I'll continue to obey you. That's basically what he says in the entire chapter 3. So in chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, you know, he makes a request and he says, Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds. Lord, repeat them in our day, in our time, make them known in broth. Remember mercy. So he says, I've heard about all the things which you did in our national history. Lord, you know, all the great miracles which you did, the great judgments which you brought upon our enemies. I've heard about all those things and what you're saying about the future, you know, what you will do in the end. I believe that also. But Lord, in our time, also please do something. Show mercy to us who are living right now. You know, those are the words which he speaks in Abba Cook 3 verse 2. He says, repeat them in our day, in our time, make them known. You know, the same things which you did in the past to other people. If you could do that in our time, even for us, oh Lord. And this is a prayer which I, you know, pray a lot. I say, Lord, I've heard all the Bible stories, the great and mighty things which you did in those days. In my time, oh Lord, in my day, even as, you know, we are struggling. Lord, if you can repeat those things, you know, since we can pray these prayers, these verses which are there in the Bible, we can pray them to the Lord. And so after having made this humble prayer in the next few verses was 3 up to verse 15. He reminds himself of how great God is, how powerful he is, how when he, when the Lord comes, the mountains, you know, they quake. You know, he talks about all the greatness of God in poetic language. And then in verse 16, he says, Lord, you have made a promise. So I'll patiently wait a lot for your judgment to come. When the time comes, I know you will do it. So in the meantime, I will patiently wait for you. You know, so he submits himself, he expresses his trust. And in verse 16, he says, until you do what you have promised, I will wait. Trustingly, I will not give up hoping. I will continue to hope and I will wait. And therefore he makes this declaration. And this is very famous, these verses, this last few verses. So if we could have someone read out Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17, 18, 19. Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17, 18 and 19. Though the victory should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fell and the fields yell no food, the flocks be cut off from the fold, and there be no hurt in the stalls. Yet I rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like this. He makes me tread on my high places. So here, you know, he says, Lord, I'm just submitting everything into your hands. I will wait patiently for what you have promised you will do. And in the meantime, if everything goes to complete destruction, no problem. I'll continue to trust in you and you will help me to survive. You know, that's basically how, you know, you could translate into modern day language. So basically he's saying, if the victory does not bud anymore, the wine creepers stop giving grapes. The olive crop, it grows, but then something bad happens and the entire crop fails. And the fields are not producing any more food. And all the sheep which are there in the, you know, sheep fold, they all get emptied out, all the sheep die, no cattle are left. You know, in those days, this basically was the wealth of the people. They didn't really think in terms of gold and silver. They had some gold and silver, but mainly what was the wealth of a household? It was the cattle which they had, the crops which they grew. So basically he's saying, in the meantime, while I'm waiting for your answer to come, even if all my crops go off, even if all my cattle get killed, if my entire sheep pen is empty, even if all those things happen, what is going to be my attitude was, you know, 18, he says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my saviour. Why? Because God said the righteous will live by faith. As long as I continue to trust in you and obey you, you will take care of me. In fact, what will you do for me? He says in the next verse, you or Lord will be my strength and you will make my feet like the feet of a deer. Now to understand this, you know, we would actually have to go into our YouTube and look at all those national geographic clippings and all of that. I remember one clipping where there's some wild animal following the deer. Don't remember whether it was a wolf or whether it was a leopard or something. Something was following this deer. It was a young, you know, not fully grown and it was running, running, running and this wild animal is chasing it and then they came to this mountainous, you know, it's like a slope, a mountainous slope. And in a matter of, you know, minutes, this deer is still very young. It's not even a fully grown deer. It just went up that mountain slope, you know, like, as if it's an experienced mountain climber without even waiting. And then this other animal, the carnivorous animal, it could not follow. It's just waiting down below staring up because the deer's feet have been created in such a way that even if the mountain slope has just got small footholds, it's able to balance in the, you know, it's able to put its feet in those footholds and maintain its balance and not come crashing down. The bigger animal didn't have the guts to go up. It just stayed down below. You know, and I mean, I actually literally saw this on one of the YouTube clippings. So he's saying, Lord, maybe my entire crop will go. No, I mean, he's using poetic language over here because basically his concern is about the Babylonian invasion. But, you know, he's basically saying, even if everything gets emptied out, Lord, I will continue to rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my Savior. Why? He is the sovereign Lord. He is my strength. He will make my feet like the feet of a deer and I will be able to tread on the heights where the enemy will not be able to destroy me. I will survive. God will help me. I will come through the situation that I and my family are facing. These are the words of faith with which he ends his book. So the book of Habakkuk is basically telling us God sometimes uses very, very unusual methods. God sometimes, you know, has a timetable where it looks like as if he's delaying and not giving us what we require. But in the middle of all of this, our attitude should be the righteous shall live by faith. So later when you have time, you know, if you just simply type out the word righteous shall live by faith Bible verses in Google, it will show you all the three references, the one in Romans, the one in Galatians, the one in Hebrews. Look at those verses. Look at what it says about how a believer should live. You know, what kind of righteousness, what kind of a life that righteous person is promised and what kind of a faith that righteous person should have. The three aspects of that verse are described in these three passages and allow God to talk to you and say, you know, how you are meant to live. Allow God to build up your hope, you know, even as you meditate on those scriptures. So Habakkuk is grateful for the answer which the Lord has provided and he says, Lord, even though things get really bad, I will rejoice in you because you have made a promise and I know when the time comes, you will make my feet like the feet of that deer. You know, I'll be able to climb a mountain slope. The enemy will not be able to follow me over through and I will be able to stand on the heights. I will be protected. I will be taken care of. It just kind of usually reminds me this particular passage. It reminds me of a testimony that I had heard. We had a German, you know, very old person in his 80s, an old German teacher who had come once to, you know, teach us some particular subject. Can't remember which, but he gave his testimony. He talked about how they, I think it was an Australian. They had this orange orchards and his entire crop got destroyed one particular year. And the next season again, there was some kind of a, some kind of disease among the trees or something. And then again, two years in a row, you know, he lost all his crop and he was in a very bad condition. And then there was a fire inside his house. So a portion of the house also burned down and he says that that time he and his wife, they, you know, they stood on these verses and they said, even though the entire crop gets destroyed, I will rejoice in the Lord. And he talked about how the Lord, you know, slowly after that, you know, bless them, built up their lives once again and they were able to stand on their feet once again. And he talked about the great faithfulness of God in their lives. So I'll always remember, you know, always remember that story whenever I read this passage. So Habakkuk is giving us the assurance that our God is a God who can be trusted. Now, just another one detail, you know, before we leave this book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk, as I told you, was written during the time of Josiah, the good king. Josiah makes one mistake, which actually, you know, allows the Babylonians to become more powerful. And that is basically described for us in 2 Chronicles, chapter 35. So what, you know, just to summarize because we don't have time. If you remember after Nineveh, you know, God promised that he will destroy the city of Nineveh. And so after the destruction of Nineveh takes place in 612 BC, the few Assyrian people who are still left, they go to a place named Haran, and they try to restart their empire over there. And then the Babylonians crush them in that place. So from Haran, they move to another place called Karshemish, which is in Egypt. And they try to again restore themselves in that place. So at that time, there's some kind of partnership formed between these leftover Assyrians and the Egyptian emperor. So when the Babylonians are making planning an attack on these leftover Assyrians, at that time, the Egyptian Pharaoh Neko, he decides to come to the rescue of these leftover Assyrians and help them fight against the Babylonians. For him to do that, he has to travel through land, which now belongs to Josiah. Josiah has reclaimed many of the lost cities, you know, which has during the time of Hezekiah, the Assyrians had taken over those cities, but Josiah is able to redeem all of those cities, win them back. And so now that entire Philistine territory is now under Josiah's control. And this Egyptian Pharaoh Neko has to cross with his army through this territory, which belongs to Josiah to go and help the leftover Assyrians, you know, so that they can fight against the Babylonians and crush them. And at that time, Josiah says, how dare you try to come through my territory? And this is what the Pharaoh Neko says to Josiah in 2 Chronicles, chapter 35, verses 20 to 24. He says, God himself has given me permission to go and attack these Babylonians. So why are you getting in the way? Why are you trying to stop me? Josiah does not listen and Josiah, I think, does not bother to consult with God whether he should be doing this battle or not. But actually, he goes and fights against Neko. What he does is he gets wounded in the battle. And in fact, he dies from his battle wounds. But what happens is he manages to weaken the forces of the Egyptians. The Pharaoh Neko's army is crushed to a great extent. If they had stayed powerful, they could have really made a big attack on the Babylonians and, you know, delayed their power for many, many years. But by not following God's instructions, by not inquiring from God, what Josiah actually does is he ends up weakening the Egyptians who were actually in a position of strength and they could have done something to control the Babylonians. But because he does not listen to the word of the Lord, nor does he consult the Lord, the Egyptians are weakened in this battle which Josiah has with the Egyptians and they lose their position of power. So a few years later when the Babylonians come and attack, the Egyptians are not in any position to do anything. So in a way, the people of Judah, in their foolishness, help the Babylonians in becoming stronger. So what God promised in Habakkuk 1.6, he says to Habakkuk, I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people. You know, God says I will help raise them up. That actually happens because of the actions of Josiah. That's just one brief point that I wanted to touch upon. So let's move into the book of Zephaniah. Now Zephaniah, yes, go ahead, loudly. Those three verses, the righteous shall live by faith. I got those three. You can read them out because I don't remember the references. Tell. I mean, just give the references so that people can write them down. It's Romans 117. Okay, Romans 117. Hebrew 1038. Hebrew 1038. And Galatians 311. Galatians 311. Alright, yeah. Thank you. Thanks for those references. Okay, book of Zephaniah. Now Zephaniah was not just a priest, not just a prophet. He was part of the royal family. He was one of the descendants of Hezekiah. So he was somebody important. I mean, at least politically, he was important. So Zephaniah, he also gives his prophecies around the same time as all these other people. Nahum, Jeremiah, Habakkuk. All these people belong to the same time period during the end of the reign of the Judahite kingdom. So Zephaniah is basically giving his prophecies during the time of Josiah. And this is the condition before Josiah comes to the throne. As long as Hezekiah was there on the throne, Hezekiah was a very, very godly king. After that, you have Manasseh, his son coming to the throne. Manasseh, you know, the Bible says in chronicles was one of the most evil kings. Maybe Ahab was worse. But apart from Ahab, you know, in the northern kingdom, here in the southern kingdom, Manasseh is one of the worst, you know, one of the most terrible kings. So he is the one, it says, who used to sacrifice his children to the, to some pagan god, Molek. Yeah, he used to sacrifice his children to the god of fire, of the Ammonites called Molek. So Manasseh and then afterwards his son Ammon, they bring in a lot of very, very evil idol worship. Under them, temple prostitution becomes very, very widely prevalent. Under them, human sacrifices increase. Under them, a lot of evil comes inside the nation, which was not there to such an extent earlier. So it is basically under Manasseh and Ammon that things become very, very bad. Yes, it is true that in 2 Chronicles chapter 32, we learn about how Manasseh repents, you know, in his old age, he repents of his sinfulness. But basically a lot of evil happens during the time of these people. So when Josiah comes to the throne, spiritually the kingdom is in a very, very bad condition. Especially because of the worship of two idols, three idols, Baal, you know, which was basically worshiped because it's supposed to make your, you know, crops grow well. They worshiped Molek and they also worshiped a female idol named Ashtath. Okay, so these three were the three main popular idols at that time. Now this Molek was basically a large metal statue, a metal idol. So what they would basically do in those days is that they would construct this large metal idol called Molek. And it would have a hole in the middle of its stomach because they would burn a fire inside that hole inside the stomach. And it would have two outstretched arms, you know, like as if it's holding out its arms in front of it. And so what they would do these people who are worshipers of Molek, they would bring their firstborn child and they would, you know, place it in the arms of this metal idol. So the baby would slide, you know, down the arms into the hole where you have the burning fire and the child is literally burnt to death. I mean they do that to a newborn baby. Such a evil, horrible thing to do. And why were they doing it? Because they believe that if they sacrifice their firstborn to Molek, then Molek will give them many, many more children and he will also bring them financial prosperity. So this is something which Manasseh made very popular in the land and after that, you know, people began to practice it everywhere. In the same way, there was this other idol, Ashtarth, a female idol, which involved a lot of immorality and prostitution. So all of these evil practices had been brought into the nation and like we saw, Josiah takes a stand against it. He makes a conscious effort to bring about a spiritual revival so that all these evil practices are completely, you know, destroyed. So he goes from place to place, destroying all those temples, all the places where they have set up these statues, you know, where they have constructed these large temple complexes where prostitution is taking place. He destroys all of that and there's a great revival during his time. And so Zephaniah is giving his prophecies during this time period. If you look at the structure of the book of Zephaniah, in chapter 1 up to chapter 3 verse 10 is basically where he gives different judgments of God. And then the last portion of chapter 3, he talks about one day, the future day of the Lord when restoration will once again be brought. So the first few, first two chapters and the third chapter up to verse 10, he gives judgments against Judah, judgment against the surrounding nations, judgment against Nineveh. He talks about all of those places. And then in the last portion, chapter 3 verses 11 to 20, he talks about the future day of the Lord. This is going to be the day of the Lord when God will restore Israel, when there will be peace established among the nations and all of that. This is what we learn in Josiah's, this is what we learn in Zephaniah's prophecies. He talks about some good things which God will do for his people when he judges the other nations. We can maybe look at these particular verses. Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 4, where four particular cities are mentioned. Okay, Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 4 if someone could read out. Yeah, maybe someone online because here the students have gone to sleep. Anyone's willing to read Zephaniah chapter 2 verse 4. For Gaza shall be forsaken and askiland desolate, they shall drive out as though at noonday and Ikron shall be appeasant. Okay, so in this particular verse, God is speaking a judgment against the Philistines. And this is what God says he will do for his people. He says Gaza will be completely abandoned. No, these are all these four are Philistine cities. So God says Gaza will be completely abandoned. Ashkelon will be completely ruined. He says that Ashdord or the enemy will drive everybody out and it will be emptied. And he says Ikron will be uprooted. Now we actually have archaeological proof about what happened to two of these places. We get to know from a written record which has been discovered, one of those clay tablets on which they used to write things. So archaeologists have discovered that and from that we get to know that Ashdord was controlled by a Judahite governor during the time of Josiah. It says there on that clay tablet, this place Ashdord is now under the control of the governor of Judah under the king Josiah, which means God helped him to conquer this place. In the same way, we also have some historical proof regarding Ikron. Now, during the time of Hezekiah when these cities were taken over by the Assyrian people, they made many of the Israelite people slaves and they put them in this place Ikron to work as slaves in the olive oil fields over there. So for a few generations, a lot of Israelites were living as slave laborers in Ikron, where they had to work in the olive oil fields. So during the time of Josiah, he is able to set them free. He is able to take back Ikron from the Assyrians and he is able to redeem all the slaves who have been kept captured over there. So because of Josiah's faithfulness, Zephaniah prophesies and says that God will help you in having success over some of these enemy nations and some of those prophecies are fulfilled right then and there in the time of Josiah himself. So Josiah himself is able to conquer back some of these places. So we see that promise of God being fulfilled in the time of Josiah. So these are all not just random prophecies which were given by a God who did not know how to make things happen. But we even have archaeological and historical proof of how some of these prophecies were fulfilled in history. Another thing that maybe we can see regarding the day of the Lord which Zephaniah talks about in the last portion of his writing. This is what Zephaniah says in the beginning of his book. Maybe we can read out that first. Zephaniah 1 verses 2 and 3 where he talks about the upcoming destruction and then in the last chapter he talks about the restoration. So Zephaniah 1 verses 2 and 3 if someone can read out first. I will utterly consume everything for the face of the land says the Lord. I will consume man and beast. I will consume the words of the heavens, the fish of the sea and the stumbling blocks along with the wind. I will cut off man from the face of the land says the Lord. Here in the beginning of the book of Zephaniah, God talks about a universal judgment which is going to bring in the very end time when not only the people who are left will be attacked. Even it says the birds and the fish and the animals also will be wiped out. Now why would God want to destroy his own creation? It's one thing to think that God will destroy the evil humans who have been unrighteous. But why would God destroy the birds and the fish and the beasts? Why would God do that? And that is because when sin came into the world, not only were humans corrupted, it says that all creation was corrupted. So the general belief that people have is that maybe when God first created the animals and the birds, the animals never killed each other. All animals lived at peace with one another as vegetarian, as herbivorous creatures. There were no carnivorous creatures. So the general belief is that after the sin came into the world and the fall happened, from that time onwards, the herbivorous animals started to turn into, change into carnivorous animals and birds. So earlier, maybe all creation lived at peace with one another. And so in the last portion of Zephaniah, where he talks about the day of the Lord, in the last portion verses 11 to 20, maybe we can just read out one verse, chapter 3 verse 20. Yeah, if someone could read out. Zephaniah 3, 20. At that time, I will bring you back even at the time I gather you or I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I return your captives before your eyes says the Lord. So in that time of peace which God will establish, where it was basically talking about the Zephaniah, last portion of Zephaniah chapter 3 is talking about the millennium kingdom. When Jesus Christ will come down and establish his throne on the earth for a millennia for a thousand years, he will rule. At that time, the animals also will live at peace with one another. We don't see that mentioned here in Zephaniah, but then you know we have that mentioned in Isaiah, where it talks about how even the animals and birds will be living at peace. So in Zephaniah 1st chapter, it talks about the universal judgment when even the animals and birds will be destroyed. But during the millennial kingdom, even the animals and birds will live at peace. Maybe we can just look at the Isaiah passage about that. Isaiah chapter 11 verses 7 to 9. Isaiah 11, 7 to 9. The cow and the weir shall graze their young, one shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole and the weir's child shall put his hand in the wiper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters covers the sea. So here in this Isaiah passage, it's talking about the end time millennial kingdom of God after his second coming when he will establish his throne on the earth. At that time, even the wild animals, which you generally tend to kill other animals, they also will live at peace with one another. And then it says children will be able to play with cobras. And why? Because nobody will harm or destroy on my holy mountain. And then after this millennial kingdom, we know that there's one final war between Satan and all of his forces and God. And so at that time, the entire world which we know today will be completely destroyed in a universal judgment. At that time, the birds and the beasts and the fish and everything, in fact, this entire earth will all be wiped out and then you will have a new Jerusalem and a new heaven and a new earth established. So here in Zephaniah last chapter, it's talking about the day of the Lord when a new heaven and a new earth will be established. Whereas the first chapter of Zephaniah is talking about the universal judgment which will come after the millennial kingdom. So that's basically the time span which is being discussed over here in this particular book of Zephaniah. Yeah, I think that's about it. If anyone has any questions you can ask, otherwise we can close with the word of prayer. So let's close with the word of prayer. Lord, we just thank you for all the things that we were able to cover today from these three prophetic books. Lord, you sent these prophets to speak these words to us so that we can learn from them. All the Old Testament scriptures have been given for our learning, for our correction, for our spiritual growth. So we pray a lot that we will not just look at these as Old Testament stories but as actual events from which we can learn so that we don't repeat the mistakes which they made a lot in their time. So we pray, O Father, that unlike these people of Judah who are stubborn in their sinfulness, we will have humble, repentant hearts, O Lord. And we pray that we will look forward eagerly to all these prophecies which you have offered us regarding the end times. When you promised, O Lord, that you will establish justice. When you promised, O Lord, that the righteous will be lifted up. So we pray that we will not be people who will give up hope but we will continue to trust in you and we will wait on you, O Lord, with an obedient attitude until the time comes when we will see an answer to our prayers. Help us a lot to have that kind of a trusting, faith-filled attitude towards you. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much.