Zephaniah 3:9-20 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. Very remarkable is the way in which the most gracious promises are in this book interwoven, and, as it were, wrapped up in threatenings of judgment. This appears in Zephaniah 2:11, where it is declared that the Lord shall be terrible to the nations that magnified themselves against his people, and shall famish all the gods of the earth, so depriving these nations of their fancied support and confidence; and then it is added that men shall worship him every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. The deserved judgment would really prove to be the greatest blessing, leading them from the worship of dumb idols that could not save to that of the living and true God. So it is in the very similar prophecy given here. It is not certain whether ver. 8 is to be understood as a warning given in solemn irony to the ungodly Jews, or an encouragement addressed to the faithful remnant among them; and so the precise connection of ver. 9 with the preceding context is not quite clear; but in general it is plain that it speaks of the conversion of the peoples to God as the result of the terrible revelation of his judgments against them. Thus we see how true it is that the Lord delighteth not in judgment, but in the midst of wrath remembers mercy. Now, this is no isolated or exceptional case, but an instance of the general principles on which God acts in his dealings with men. It may therefore be taken to illustrate the conversion of sinners to God at any time and in any circumstances. We may notice two things that it shows us: (1) the cause; (2) the results of conversion. I. THE CONVERSION OF THE PEOPLES IS HERE TRACED VERY DIRECTLY TO THE AGENCY OF GOD. It is his doing, and that not merely indirectly, by the influence of the judgments that he has been threatening to send, but by an inward work of renewal wrought in the people. The judgments of God may convince the heathen of the vanity of their idols, or even show them that they should call on the Name of the Lord, and that they must do so if they are to be delivered; but then how shall they do so? The Lord is revealed as the just God, who will not do iniquity, and every morning doth he bring his judgments to light; but their lips, with which they should call upon him, are impure, they have taken up the names of other gods, they have been full of cursing and bitterness. May they not well feel as Isaiah did, when he saw the vision of the Holy One, that they are undone, for they are men of unclean lips, and dwell among a people of unclean lips? Who can enable such peoples, whose lips are accustomed to falsehood and profanity and uncleanness, to worship the God who is a Spirit, and seeketh such to worship him as will worship him in spirit and in truth? Who but that very God himself, who purged Isaiah's lips, who touched the lips of Jeremiah and put his words in his mouth? It must be he himself who enables them to call on him, by an act of gracious will and mighty power, purifying their lips and opening their mouths. The nature of this act of Divine power and grace is not more particularly described, but the language used suggests a comparison with what is said of Saul after he had been anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel, "God gave [Hebrew, 'turned'] him another heart" (1 Samuel 10:9). It is the same phrase as is used here, and so the meaning is that God will give to the peoples another lip, which shall be pure, instead of their former unclean lip. But a change of lip or language cannot be conceived apart from a change of heart, as, on the other hand, the new heart that God gave to Saul showed itself at once in his language, for when a company of prophets met him, he prophesied among them (1 Samuel 10:10). Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh; and so, if the lips are to be pure, filled with the praises of God and calling on his Name, the heart must be changed. Now, this renewal of heart, showing itself in the utterance of the lips, is everywhere in the Bible traced to the Spirit of God as his special work. So it was with Saul. "The Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied." This working of the Spirit, too, is of God's sovereign and free grace. It comes on the most unlikely and unworthy objects. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." So it was with Saul. He seemed an unlikely person to receive such a gift, and men said "Is Saul also among the prophets?" and the answer was, "But who is their father?" Men receive not the gift by descent from any human ancestry, but by the direct bestowal of God; and so it may come upon any, and is to come at last, as Joel prophesied, on all flesh, even on the servants and handmaidens. Thus this prophecy is connected with these that point to the great manifestation of the grace and power of God's Spirit that was made at Pentecost, when the disciples of Jesus, speaking with new tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, testified of the new and pure language that the Lord was to turn to the nations. He will pour out his Spirit on all flesh; and even those nations that were most alienated from him, and sunk in impurity of heart and life, may receive the heavenly gift. But this, like all the promises of God, is given in Christ. He it is that sends the gift of the Spirit, as he is exalted a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of sins. Listen, then, to him as he graciously and freely offers it, and comply with his loving call, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive" (John 7:37-39). When we seek to determine in theory the exact relation of order between the gift of the Spirit and our faith, we run into difficulties that we cannot solve. But in practice these difficulties need not trouble us, or are solved by our actually coming to Jesus in faith. We need not wait till we are conscious of the renewing influence of the Spirit in order to come to Christ; we may be sure that any impulses that lead us to Christ are from him, and that the Lord's own gracious call is sufficient warrant for us to believe on him, that we may be fully conscious of the indwelling of the Spirit. II. THE RESULTS OF CONVERSION, AS HERE INDICATED, ARE SEVERAL. 1. "That they may all call upon the Name of the Lord" (ver. 9). The first movement of the renewed heart is towards God; the first utterance of the pure lip is prayer to him. So it was said of Saul, when the Lord arrested him in his career of persecution, "Behold, he prayeth." The tendency of the natural heart is away from God, and the lips are by nature slow and backward to call upon him. But when the Lord changes the heart, and turns to the peoples a pure lip, then they call upon his Name, they comply with the call formerly given by the prophet, to seek the Lord. Instead of endeavouring to hide themselves from his presence, or to find some refuge or defence against his judgments, they are led to see that there is none that can deliver them out of his hand, but that he himself is merciful and gracious, and that if they turn to him and implore his mercy, they shall be delivered. For his name is "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means spare the guilty" (Exodus 34:6, 7); and that affords a strong encouragement to all the nations to call upon him. His Name is just the expression of his character, and that is one of grace and love, of mercy and forgiveness; so that even the most sinful may call upon him. 2. "To serve him." The words of the lips, the prayer of faith, may be the first result of the change wrought by God's Spirit in the soul; but that will not remain alone, but, if it is sincere and genuine at all, will lead to service in deeds. They shall not merely honour him with their lips, but shall serve him. He is the Lord, as well as the Saviour, of the world; and when they call upon his Name as their Saviour, they will further give themselves to him as their Lord. They have been refusing to serve him before, saying, "Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" asserting that they were not in bondage to any man, but their own masters, yet really serving divers lusts and pleasure. But now, weary and heavy laden with the burden of the service of self and sin and the world, they come unto Christ, and take his yoke upon them; they enter that service in which alone is perfect freedom. It is a most essential characteristic of the converted, that they serve the Lord. They count themselves his servants, as Paul, for example, speaking of Christ, says, "Whose I am, and whom I serve." They are not their own, but bought with a price; and they seek to realize this by living, not for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them. This does not imply that they go out of the world and separate themselves from its active work and affairs, to spend their time wholly and exclusively in exercises of worship. The service that the Lord would have given to him is to be carried on in the world; they are to be "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." By diligence in the duties of the calling in which God has placed them, by uprightness and sincerity in word and deed, by letting no corrupt communication proceed out of their mouth, but that which is good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers, by working with their hands that which is good, that they may have to give to him that needeth; and, above all, by walking in love, after the example of Christ, God's servants serve him; and this they are enabled to do by the work of his grace in their hearts. 3. Another result here indicated as flowing from conversion is unity and harmony among the nations. "They shall all call on the Name of the Lord, and serve him with one consent." The invocation of the true God is to be in common, and the service rendered to him a united and harmonious one," with one shoulder," as the words literally mean, as if bearing the yoke together, and equally taking part in the work. This implies a gathering together of the nations m peace and good will. Idolatry and polytheism ever go hand in hand with national exclusiveness and mutual hostility. Each people is supposed to have its own patron gods, each land its own local deities, and the servant of one god naturally becomes the enemy of the people of another. Religion, in this corrupt form, tends to separate men, and set one against another. Ungodliness, too, has much the same tendency. When men recognize and worship no god or power above the earth, their selfish passions and interests set each one against his fellow. But when the one universal Lord and Maker of all is recognized as God, then the consideration that we have all one Father, and that one God created us, forms a tie of brotherhood among all nations. And this is strengthened by the fact that, when his judgments are abroad on the earth against all nations alike, all am invited and encouraged to trust in his mercy and call on his Name. "For the same Lord over all is rich unto all who call upon him." This does away with every ground of separation, as if there were many local or national deities, as the heathen thought; it does away even with the special privileges of the seed of Jacob, which the Jews were apt to abuse, so as to foster a selfish and exclusive pride; for "in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free, but Christ is all and in all." True conversion, also, by taking away the ungodliness of the natural heart, removes the great root of selfishness, and gives a ground, a motive, and an example for love to all men. In proportion as men am brought nearer to God am they brought nearer also to one another. He is the Centre and Sun of the universe, and the more the paths of any of the creatures depart from him; the more will they diverge from one another; while the nearer they come to God, the closer will they find themselves drawn to their fellows, who may have started from very distant points and been led by very different ways. These things, then - prayerfulness, diligence in God's service, and brotherly love - may be taken as genuine and sure evidences of that great change that must be wrought in every man ere he can ace the kingdom of God - a change that is secret and mysterious in its own nature, though known and recognized by its fruits. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent. |
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