Zephaniah 3
And then, as we said, glory comes in after judgment. Some features of millennial blessedness are presented to us. It is told us, that with one life or language the nations of that kingdom, “the world to come,” shall worship the Lord the God of Israel. The confusion of Babel shall be at an end; a sample of which was given at the Pentecost of Acts 3. The distant parts of the earth, those beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, shall take part in the common acknowledgment of the Saviour-God of Israel. Israel shall be purified, saved from all fear of evil any more, and be glad with all the heart, because the Lord their God is in the midst of them.
These are the days of the kingdom. The judgments have cleansed the scene, the remnant have been carried through them, the earth witnesses the salvation of God, and the name of the Lord is owned in the joy and service of His restored people.
The mourners in Zion, moreover, have taken to them the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. The lamentations of Jeremiah are heard no more; for the captive daughter of Zion has been brought home with every band that was about her broken off; and she that was led a captive, of whom it was written, “This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after,” is made a name and a praise among all people of the earth.
Such things are here, in the third chapter of our prophet, and such things are the common themes of all the prophets, in anticipation of the kingdom of the Lord following upon the day of the Lord.
Glory, however, shines here, in one very attractive character. The harp of Zephaniah has one note of very peculiar sweetness. The personal delight of the Lord in His people is given to us in words which savor of the Song of Solomon itself in its rapture and affection. “The Lord thy God,” it is said to Zion, “I will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:1717The 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. (Zephaniah 3:17)).
This is the Bridegroom rejoicing over the bride, as had been anticipated by Isaiah, long before this day of Zephaniah. (See Isa. 62:55For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. (Isaiah 62:5).) This is as if the Lord were taking the place which the rapturous song of the King of Israel put Him into, when He says, “How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!” (Song of Sol. 7:66How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! (Song of Solomon 7:6)).
It is the personal joy of the Lord in His people that is thus anticipated by Zephaniah—the brightest, dearest article in all their condition. It may remind us of a little sentence in our own 1 Thessalonians 4—“and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” This is all that is said of us there, after our translation. Glories might have been detailed, and the various joy of the heaven of the church; but it is only this, “and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” It is personal, like this passage in Zephaniah; but, had we affection, we should say, it is chief in the great account of our blessedness.
One further thing I would notice. There are two suppers laid out before us in Revelation 19—the supper of “the Lamb,” and the supper of “the great God.” The supper of the Lamb is a scene of joy in heaven; blessed are they that are called to it. It is a marriage supper. The supper of the great God is the fruit of the solemn, terrific judgment that closes the history of the earth as it now is, the judgment of this present apostate world, when the carcases of the confederated enemies of the Lord are made the food of the fowl of the air.
Ezekiel notices the last of these two suppers, and gives us as full a description of it as John in the Apocalypse. Zephaniah just glances at it as he passes on with his account of the acts of the Lord in the day of His wrath (Ezek. 39; Zeph. 1:77Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. (Zephaniah 1:7)).
“The day of the Lord is at hand,” says Zephaniah; “for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests” (Zeph. 1:77Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. (Zephaniah 1:7)). He does not, however, go into the scene, as Ezekiel and John do. What the sacrifice or the feast is, and who the guests that are bidden to it may be, he does not let us know. For there are voices and undertones in the perfect harmony of Scripture. Certain truths and mysteries are given a chief place here and there, while at other times the same truths are only assumed, or passingly, incidentally, touched on. But all this does but yield us that grateful, artless unison, that lives in all the parts of the book, giving us witness that it is but one hand that sweeps all the chords of that wondrous harp which is the present “harp of God,” until other harps are formed by the same hand to celebrate the glories, of His own name, and the fruit of His own work forever (Rev. 15:22And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. (Revelation 15:2)).