A New Song
Zephaniah 3:14–20
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. Zephaniah 3:15
Assuming that you are God’s child and are growing in holiness, what follows? In chapter three of Zephaniah, what follows is a song of joy. That is, you are invited to sing and shout aloud, because: “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.”
There is a double cause for singing in that statement. First, if you are one who has come to serve the Lord only and who is going on with him in holiness and service, you can know that your sins have been forgiven and that God has turned back your great enemy, the devil. The Lord said something like this when his disciples had returned from one of their itinerant preaching trips, rejoicing that God had given them power over sickness. Jesus replied, “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Second, if you are truly the Lord’s, then you can know that he is with you and that you will never again need to fear any harm. This makes us think of Psalm 23:6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Or Matthew 28:20: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I know of nothing greater to sing about than that, because it is God’s reversal of the fall, which opened the sluice gate of misery on the human race. When Adam and Eve sinned, the first thing they were aware of (in addition to their own psychological nakedness) was that a barrier now existed between themselves and God. Before this they had been willing to meet with him. No doubt the times of such meeting were the most blessed of their existence. But when they sinned and then later heard God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, they hid from him. When God called them and began to confront them with their disobedience, they tried to hide behind excuses. Adam blamed Eve, and she blamed the serpent. As punishment for their sin, God sent them from the garden, which in a certain sense was also sending them away from him.
What joy to have that reversed! What joy to have our sin forgiven and the lost relationship between us and the Holy God restored!
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.