“In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thy hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.” (Zeph. iii., 16, 17).
THESE interesting words, addressed originally to God’s ancient people, were intended to apply to the true Israel of God in all ages. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” The words are the more remarkable, as coming after many sad denunciations against the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Assyria, Ethiopia, and even Judah itself. All the more striking are they as contained in the very chapter in which the sins of Jerusalem are unsparingly unfolded and denounced. Jerusalem is here called the “filthy polluted, and oppressing city,” whose princes are roaring lions, and her judges evening wolves, “her prophets light and treacherous persons,” her priests men who “have polluted the sanctuary, and done violence to the law.” But this is the manner of God. Just as the sound of condemnation had not ceased in Eden, till it was succeeded by the voice of mercy; just as the Prophet Isaiah had no sooner, in his first chapter, exposed the wickedness of the Jews, than he said, in God’s name, “Come, and let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: so, no sooner had Zephaniah laid open the abounding wickedness of Judah, than he pointed forward to the brighter scenes,—to the returning suppliants under the power of the Spirit, ashamed of their doings,—to those who rejoiced in their pride removed,—to the power of sin destroyed by the omnipotence of divine grace, and to the full flood of divine eternal mercy going forth towards those who were redeemed, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.—”I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” “In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thy hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will rejoice over thee with singing.”
The text is consolatory. Its object is to bear up and establish true Christians in faith, hope, and joy; and I trust the meditations to which it naturally leads may be found suitable on a day of high communion, when God brings His people into His banqueting house, and says, “Come eat of the bread, drink of the wine which I have mingled.” “Open the gates of righteousness, that my people may enter in and bless the Lord. The Stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the Head of the corner. Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.” “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” He will be thy sun and shield, giving thee grace and preparing thee for glory, and withholding no good thing from thee. Even in the wilderness a table is spread for thee in the presence of thine enemies, and, seated around that table, thou shalt experience a foretaste of thy holy joy, when thou shalt see the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off,—when the wicked shall cease from troubling, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away for ever.
There are first however, one or two points to be clearly apprehended and fixed in your minds.
This consolation is addressed only to true Christians.
It is to “Jerusalem” that the admonition “not to fear” is addressed; it is to “Zion” that it is said, “Let not thy hands be slack.” No encouragement is therefore given here to open transgressors or persistent backsliders. “Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? No encouragement is given to incorrigible hypocrites: “The sinners in Zion are afraid, and fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.” No disguise can intercept the clear glance of Him who “searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins of the children of men.” The encouragement is addressed only to such as have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them in the gospel,—who thus stand in the same relation to God, spiritually, in which ancient Zion stood temporally. They are His peculiar people,—rescued from the spiritual Egypt, joined with Him in solemn covenant, and destined to dwell for ever in the Jerusalem above, “the mother of us all.”
All the more necessary is it to make this clear distinction, because none are so prone to take to themselves the promises of the gospel as those to whom they clearly do not belong. The natural blindness and foolish selfishness of man is strikingly illustrated in this. Just as the man who has evidently no righteousness at all is most prone to seek heaven as a reward of his obedience, so the man who has evidently no fear of God before his eyes is most prone to appropriate to himself the promises of the gospel. “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked,” standing in need of all things. No! stand back, thou profane, from the sacred table, but still know that for you the Master calleth. His language is, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
But not only is the text specially addressed to the people of God,—it is spoken
Upon the supposition that they shall often be overwhelmed with anxiety
—that they shall “fear” and that “their hands shall be slack.” No greater mistake can exist than that of supposing that a Christian’s life is that of continual sunshine. It is more like one of the days of this world—sometimes fair, sometimes cloudy, the clouds returning after the rain. The rainbow in the clouds is an evidence that there shall be no deluge; but certainly not that there shall be no rain. Such is the power of unbelief, even in the best,—so many trials, temptations, and sins, to which all believers are exposed—that it will generally be found that those who have least cause for fear are most frequently under its dominion. David speaks of his heart as “overwhelmed and in perplexity.” He tell us that he “looked on his right hand and beheld;” “refuge failed him, no man cared for his soul.” Listen at the door of the closet of the daughter of Zion: “Zion saith, The Lord hath forsaken me, My God hath forgotten me.” The Church is represented as now enjoying all delight,—again, in deep despondency; as going about the streets of the city, and saying, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth! O Thou whom my soul loveth tell me where thou feedest, and where thou causest thy flock to lie down at noon. I opened to my beloved, but He was gone. My soul failed when He spake; I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him but He gave me no answer. Oh, that I were as in months past when His candle shined upon my head. Such is the varying experience of the true members of the Christian Church. And, if there is a time more than any other when Christians are apt to falter it is when, amidst the solemnities of a communion table, they take the cup of salvation, and eat of the children’s bread. Now, to those in such circumstances this admonition may most appropriately be addressed, “Ye are weak, of yesterday, crushed before the moth; but the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. Ye are sinful dust and ashes; but the Lord is a saviour to the uttermost. All obstacles have been removed by Him. All the claims of justice satisfied, grace now reigns through His righteousness to the eternal life of the chief of sinners. Ye are sorrowful, but He rests in His love, which is like Himself, eternal and unchangeable; and rejoices over you even with singing.”
This brings me to the main object of this discourse—viz., to illustrate the grounds of confidence which all Christians may have in the unchanging love of their Almighty Redeemer. The whole scope of revelation is fitted to impress this truth upon our minds, as well as the whole past dealings of God with His people; from which it appears that, insignificant and guilty as they are, there has been nothing too great for the Holy One and the Just to give, or to suffer on their behalf. Let us illustrate this.
- What are the marks of love? Our love towards an object may be known by the direction of our thoughts; for, on the beloved object our thoughts chiefly dwell. Time and space are annihilated, and distance only increases the flame. So the thoughts of Christ are turned towards His people, and have been from eternity: Before the depths were formed, when there were no fountains abounding with water, He was set up from everlasting, and rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the children of men. During all the Old Testament economy, His thoughts were constantly towards His people, when, as the Angel of the Covenant, He accompanies the Israelites in all their wanderings; and when His Spirit, by the prophets, foretold His coming and sufferings and the glory that should follow. When the appointed time of His advent came, His thoughts were upon His Church. He saw that there was no man; He wondered that there was no intercessor. “I know the thoughts I have towards you,—thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” “Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.” “Lo, I come! in the volume of the book it is written of me; to do thy will I delight, O God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” I will go to yon distant world, and take the form of a servant, and pay the price, that these may go free. His thoughts were towards His Church, when on earth He went about continually doing good, gathering in the lost sheep of the house of Israel; when He said; “I ascend to my Father and your Father,—to my God and your God;” when in prayer, He cried; “Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine.” “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” In the regions of heaven, His thoughts are still upon His people. There, He is preparing for them mansions of blessedness; thence is He continually sending the Holy Spirit to sanctify them, His angels to guard them, and making all the events of Providence to work together for their good. His unceasing occupation is to present their prayers, in the golden censer full of incense, perfumed with His infinite merits; whilst, throughout eternity, His thoughts will be on His redeemed and glorified Church. “The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
Our love toward an object may be manifested by our anxiety in regard to its welfare. “Deal gently,” said David, “with the young man Absalom, for my sake,” proving how intensely he loved that young man, wicked as he was. And so Christ overrules all events and gives charge to His servants, the angels, that excel in glory and strength: “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Not only so, but He gives solemn charge even to wicked men: “Touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm.” He even charges Satan, binding him like waves of the sea, and saying; “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther.” Satan himself was convinced of this in the case of Job: “Hast thou not hedged him about and all that he hath?” Nay, we find God threatening those who meddle with His saints: “It were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” We find Him, in the days of old, making the sun and moon stand still in the firmament for them; the sea stand up as an heap, that the ransomed of the Lord should pass over. The solid rock gave forth streams of water, and great laws of nature were reversed. We find Christ identifying Himself with His people. “He that receiveth you, receiveth me.” “He that giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple shall in no wise lose his reward.” “Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.”
Love may be known by the extent of suffering which we are willing to undergo for the person beloved. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: “but God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and it seemed but a day, for the love he had for her; although the dews were upon him by night, and the sun by day. Now, Christ hath endured inconceivable agony for His Church. We may apply to Him the language of the prophet, “Behold, and see, all ye that pass by, if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.” He suffered in His body, which was agonised and nailed to the accursed tree; in His soul which was exceeding sorrowful and sore amazed, and if, we will come and see where He bled, hear His groans, and behold the place where the Lord lay after shedding that blood, every drop of which was infinitely precious, we must be convinced that there never was blood like His. When Christ was about to be betrayed, He said to those who came to take Him, “If therefore, ye seek me, let these go their way”—a statement which will apply to His whole Church. Cast me, like Jonah, into the sea, that all the rest may be saved; nail me to the accursed tree, spend your malice on me; I am willing to tread the winepress alone, and that if of the people there shall be none with me,—only let these go. Thus Christ stood between His Church and danger,—He acted as the conductor upon which the lightning of divine vengeance might break and exhaust itself, that they might be untouched. He drank the bitter cup, that they might not taste it; He was wounded that we might be healed; He bore away the curse that we might carry away the blessing. There was no sorrow like His, nor any love to compare with it—I have loved thee, and given myself for thee. Hence the Apostle tries to measure this love, but his line is too short; he cannot find its height, and depth, and breadth and length. He tries to speak of it, but language fails—it is unspeakable. He tries to know its extent, but the human mind, sustained by inspiration, breaks down in the attempt. “It passeth knowledge.” Only, he infallibly concludes that the greatest evidence has been given of boundless love, and that God, who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up to the death for us, is, with Him also freely pleased to give us all things.
Our love is discerned by the prominence given to the object beloved. Solomon made a seat for his mother at his right hand. All men have some object on which they dwell with satisfaction,—their wealth, their talents, their honour, their beauty. Now Christ regards His Church as the object of His chief love. That Church is His treasure. She is called “Hephzibah,” for the Lord relighteth in her; she is Christ’s inheritance, as it is written, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.” In her He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied. Her glory is the joy set before Him, for which He endured the cross, despising the shame. I gave Egypt for thy ransom—Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Nay, He has built a stately palace for this Church, of which this world, with its bright canopy of sun, moon, and stars, is only the porch. He gives that Church all the advantages of time and all the blessedness of eternity, so that we may well exclaim, “Who is like unto thee, O Israel; a people saved by the Lord, the Shield of thine help, and the Sword of thine excellency! All thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places.”
(To be continued).