her
deliverance from the misery is at hand. Vers. 7-10: In the last words
of ver. 6, the Lord had announced that He was already at hand for the
redemption of His Church. This salvation now presents itself vividly to
the spiritual eye of the Prophet, and is graphically described by him.
He beholds a messenger hastening with the glad tidings to Jerusalem;
_watchmen_, who are standing on the ruins of Jerusalem in longing
expectation, discover him at a distance, and exultingly call upon
the ruins to shout aloud for joy.[1] "How beautiful"--so verse 7
runs--"upon the mountains the feet of the Messenger of joy, that
announceth peace, that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
salvation, that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth." In Rom. x. 15, the
Apostle refers this passage to the preaching of the Gospel. That is
more than mere application; it is real explanation. The deliverance
from Babylon is only the first faint beginning of the salvation, which
the Prophet has before his eye in its [Pg 263] whole extent. As the
substance of the salvation, the circumstance that Zion's God reigneth,
is intimated. There is, in this, an allusion to the formula which was
used in proclaiming the ascension of earthly kings to the throne. Even
this allusion shows that the point here in question is not the
continuous government of the Lord, but a new, glorious manifestation of
His government, as it were a new ascension to the throne. This "the
Lord reigneth," found a faint beginning only of its confirmation and
fulfilment in the destruction of Babylon, and the deliverance of
Israel; but as to its full import, it is Messianic. In Christ, the Lord
has truly assumed the government, and will still more gloriously reign
in future.--Ver. 8: "The _voice_ of thy watchmen! they lift up the
voice, they shout together; for they see eye to eye that the Lord
returneth to Zion." The watchmen are ideal persons, representatives of
the truth that the Lord is around His people, and that the
circumstances of His Church are to Him a constant call to help; or they
may be viewed as the holy angels who, as the servants of the watchmen
of Israel, form the protecting power for the Church. These watchmen
continue to stand even on the destroyed walls; for, even in her misery,
the Lord is Zion's God. The anxious waiting eye of the watchmen, and
the mercy-beaming eye of God returning to Zion meet one another. The
returning here is opposed to the forsaking, over which Zion had