Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God in the middle of you is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love… Almost all the messages of the prophets to the ancient Church begin with the most awful threatenings and end with the most animating promises. I. WHAT IS HERE SAID TO THE CHURCH BY WAY OF ENCOURAGEMENT. 1. The Church is encouraged by the assurance that Jehovah is her God, her own covenant God. 2. By assurances of God's everlasting, unchanging love, and of His gracious designs respecting her. He has formed an unalterable determination to save her. 3. That God rejoices in His love, and in all its sanctifying, saving effects upon His people. 4. That her God is no less able than willing to effect her salvation. He is a God at hand, and not afar off. "The Lord Thy God is in the midst of thee." II. WHAT IS SAID BY WAY OF EXHORTATION. "Fear thou not." There are various kinds of fear mentioned in the Scriptures, — filial fear, reverential fear, humble fear, unbelieving fear, slavish fear, etc. The text forbids the Church — 1. To indulge unbelieving fears; or 2. Slavish fear; or 3. A desponding, pusillanimous fear.The second exhortation is, "Let not thine hands be slack." Slackness is opposed to zeal and diligence. The remark is no less applicable to our spiritual than to our temporal concerns. Slackness or indolence is the principal cause why so few Christians are eminently pious or useful. Inferences — 1. All the doctrines and promises of God's Word, and all the gracious assurances of His love, have a practical tendency, and are designed to produce holy zeal and activity. 2. Learn whether our belief of the Divine promises, and the hopes and consolations which we derive from them, are real and scriptural. 3. Is God in the midst of us, resting in His love to us, and rejoicing over us with joy? Then with what emotions does it become us to receive and embrace Him! (E. Payson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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