The Solitude Of Zion, And Her Future Blessedness

by J. PEDDIE | Category: General | Nov 1963

The Scriptures are replete with references of God's love of Zion. Three verses from the Psalms come readily to mind, in which Asaph and the sons of Korah and David add their testimony to the changeless love of God for Zion.

"He ... chose the tribe of Judah,

The mount Zion which He loved" (Psalm 78.67, 68).

"The LORD loveth the gates of Zion

More than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Psalm 87.2).

"The LORD hath chosen Zion;

He hath desired it for His habitation" (Psalm 132.18).

In contrast to these declarations of God's love to her, let us consider Isaiah 49.14-26, where Zion feels she has been abandoned, and cries forlornly "Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me" (verse 14).

This indeed was a sad indictment to lay to the charge of Him whose faithfulness to Zion had been constant of old. In reply, there follow some words, descriptive of Jehovah's love for Zion, which are among the most beautiful and tender to be found in Scripture "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee" (verse 15).

The love of God is stronger than all human love, incomparable, illimitable, eternal. The intensity of this love for Israel is further emphasized in the words "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are

continually before Me" (verse 10).

Truly, the land of Israel is,

"A land which the LORD thy God careth for; the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deuteronomy ii. 12).

"Thy children make haste" (Isaiah 49.17).

This is the signal to return to their ancient possessions. Jews have been returning to the land of their fathers, since the turn of the century, and since the state of Israel came into being in 1948 the number returning has increased to 100,000 a year.

"Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and gird thyself with them, like a bride" (verse 18).

Zion's returning sons will be to her like the ornaments with which brides are adorned.

Zion in the days of her glory sat as a queen, "the perfection of beauty" (Psalm 50.2), but now she is alone, estranged from her Husband (God), and bereaved of all her children, who are "the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold" (Lamentations 4.2). Her long widowhood is nearly over, and the days of her mourning will soon be ended, as is described in Psalm 102.18; 14),

"Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion:

For it is time to have pity upon her, yea, the set time is come.

For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, And have pity upon her dust."

Israel in the Millenium will possess the land which God sware unto Abraham "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15.18). And so great will be the increase of Zion's future population, that,

"The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell" (Isaiah 4,9.20).

Similarly we have in Zechariah 10.10 "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them."

Isaiah 49. 22-26 would indicate that Zion, bereaved so long of all her children, will cry out in astonishment and glad surprise at the happy change that has befallen her and would remind us of Psalm 113.9,

"He maketh the barren woman to keep house,

And to be a joyful mother of children."

Isaiah 49.22-26 describes the means God will employ to bring the remnant of His people Israel back to their ancient home, and to the glory of the millennial period. The following scriptures refer to Israel's return to their own land and consequent restoration to the LORD "And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judea from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11. 12).

"He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock" (Jeremiah 31. 10).

This will be the time described in Romans 11.26, 27.

"0 Zion, when thy Saviour came

In grace and love to thee,

No beauty in thy Royal Lord

Thy faithless eyes could see.

Yet not in vain - o'er Israel's land,

The glory yet will shine,

And He, thy once-rejected King,

For ever shall be thine

The name of Jesus yet shall ring,

Through earth and heaven above,

And all His ransomed people know

The Sabbath of His love."

Not less than Israel in a past day, and in an even more wonderful way, we have come to the substance and reality of that which the mount Zion on earth was but a copy and shadow. Under the new covenant the people of God, who are gathered together in churches of God, forming the house of God, have come "unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general (festal) assembly and church of the firstborn (ones) who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abe]" (Hebrews 12. 22-24). May we who know this truth learn to love and appreciate more the place to which God in His grace has brought us.

J. PEDDIE | Nov 1963
General