Zephaniah 1:12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.
I would not be surprised if you have not read or remember this verse. Zephaniah is a minor prophet and not well read. I believe this one verse is worth revisiting from time to time. It speaks to me every time I read it. Not that I have a new understanding, but rather that I need to be reminded and encouraged.
Many are not aware of the meaning and significance of lees. It is a crusty result of fermentation, changing grapes to wine. Lees settle to the bottom and just lays there. If it were stirred up, it would not be good for the wine.
I think of myself as wine, having changed. My lees are still down there, at the base of who I was before Christ. Its presence is a clear indication that I have changed. Stirring up the old man will do nothing but make my “wine” bitter.
The difficulty lays in the settling on the lees. If we look at the initial change as being sufficient, that we have lees to indicate we have changed, then we run the risk of not becoming the better wine. If you remember Jesus first miracle of turning water into wine, John 2, the bridegroom saved the best wine for last. Wine that settles on the lees does not become the better wine.
We should not settle for good enough. That is like saying salvation doesn’t do anything for me until I die. That is not true. Salvation is new every morning. So how do we get to be the better wine?
2 Corinthians 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
To the end of Zephaniah 1:12 be not a heart that says God will not do anything.
In you He will.
If I get your message correctly, are you saying that we should let the Spirit of God stir up the “lees” and then let our Lord do a corrective measure in our lives that we become more Christlike? That would be the “better wine”? “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto those who are exercised thereby.” Hebrews 12:11
Thank you for your clarifying what the “lees” are; now the verse makes sense.
When the wine is perfected, the lees crust over and are no longer a threat to the quality of the wine.
The comparative is not to stir up the old man that is now dead, which easier to leave him lay the older and more mature we get.
Thanks Larry, for the further insight.