Zephaniah 3:16 Commentary and Bible Study

‘In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem,’ – this is now the church of Christ – ‘Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack’ – this is the exhortation of the New Testament church. Don't despair, don't go to pieces, don't let your hands be faint or slack, because all God's promises will be carried out. God has called us, and he will not let us go. There is much work to do, and we have the privilege or serving him in this short life which is so instrumental for the shape of eternity. We will never have this opportunity again, for now souls can be added to his kingdom through our witness and preaching, but in heaven that number will be fixed.‘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.’ ‘Fear not, little flock;’, says the Lord Jesus, ‘for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12:32). Far from being reluctant to save us, it is the joy of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to rejoice over us. It is put very strongly in the Hebrew: ‘He will rejoice [exult] over you with joy’; two different Hebrews words are used, ‘exult’ and ‘joy’. We need that assurance to counter all the cold water that Satan pours upon our faith, our own assessment of our failings. ‘He will rest in his love’, or as modern versions translate it, ‘He will quiet [quieten] you with his love.’ He is not going to change his mind about setting his love upon us, and he will assure us of his love to calm us from our fears. The expressions become even stronger: ‘he will joy over thee with singing.’ As a man or woman lets their joy spill over into singing, because they know it is going to be sustained, so God will rejoice over his people.