We may say that God was looking forward to the day when he would send Jesus Christ in his redeeming love and the New Testament church would be brought to be, and it would be made up of the true church of regenerate congregations. No longer would God have to contend with that mixed multitude of the Jews in Old Testament times, the majority of whom were hypocrites and only a minority of whom were faithful. Yet God, true to his promise, would sit in the holy place and presence himself among such a people, and Zephaniah seems to be lamenting this on God's behalf. God has to sit in the middle of this city which he is now going to finally judge, and he will bring in a different kind of church. There are the corrupt clergy; there is all the trouble. What is coming?
How could God do such a thing? somebody may ask. How could the great, the mighty, and the perfect God ever bring such appalling judgement upon people? The answer, says Zephaniah, is that it is because he is just. Because he is perfectly holy and he is also perfectly just, he must punish sin, and he must reward iniquity. He will do no iniquity. It would be an iniquitous God who would not mind if sin went unpunished. That is the reasoning of Zephaniah. Every morning doth he bring his judgement to light. Every morning he reviews the case of every human being and makes a careful record – this is the poetry of the prophet. He records everything that we have thought, that we have said, that we have done; he keeps the record up to date, day by day. It is only an unjust God who would not be ashamed of sin, who would not be disgusted at sin. So the judgement of God is here justified.