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… A revelation of the Divine goodness is essential, in proportion, to human affliction and sorrow This is true in personal and individual experience, and also in the general history of the Church. Where affliction is found, there consolation is found. I. GOD IS IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCH. He is in the midst of them for gracious purposes. There He is to record His name; there He is by the sweet experience of His promises and there He is by the most abundant communications, beyond all they ask, of that grace which is requisite for their comfort. II. GOD IS IN THY MIDST OF HIS PEOPLE TO SAVE THEM. There He communicates the immense blessings of salvation. So gracious is God, so dependent and necessitous is man, that everything may be considered as coming to us in the way of salvation. All that we receive we receive from the hand of God freely. It is one thing to find a Helper, but another thing to find a Saviour. III. HE IS MIGHTY TO ACCOMPLISH THAT SALVATION. It is not every effort in favour of another that can be considered as salvation. Wherever salvation is wrought by one individual in favour of another it implies weakness on the part of the one, and power on the part of the other. Consider the "mightiness" of the Son of God as essential to qualify Him to become a Saviour. He must be mighty to save, so as to overcome the defects in our own strength, to satisfy the outstanding claims of justice against the sinner, to bring us with Divine approbation before God. IV. HE IS RESOLVED ON THAT SALVATION. "He will save." The declaration is so put as to pledge the will of God to the accomplishment of the work. It is not on our determination and resolves that the work is suspended, but on the resolution, the determination of Christ. V. CHRIST OUR SAVIOUR DELIGHTS IN OUR SALVATION. Though it has cost Him so much, there is nothing gives Him half the pleasure. He is said to "rest in His love." Infer from this subject two things — 1. The nature of sin. 2. The danger of an unconverted state. (Andrew Reed, B. A.) 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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