Zion the center of full unlooked-for joy
The heart of the godly now finds its center in Zion, when deliverance has been learned; for so it will be. (Compare Isaiah 29:4,7.) How low she was brought, according to Psalm 124! (Isaiah 29:4. Compare Isaiah 17:12-14, and other passages.) It was a dream- so full, so unlooked-for, the joy. The very heathen now owned Jehovah’s hand. But the godly look for the full blessing, and the captivity to be turned again in the fullness of possessed blessing. Still God had manifested Himself; and to the faithful, who had taken up His testimony in sorrow, and when it was shame and reproach, it was now a harvest of joy. So it ever is; for full joy only comes through sorrow: for the testimony of God is in a world of evil.