The Pulpit Commentary — Zephaniah — Section 69

loving call, "H any man thirst, let him oome unto rue, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture bath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this spah he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive" (John vii. 37-39). When we seek to determine in theory the exact relation of order between the gift of the Spirit and our faith, wo 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 Lor&ij own gracious call is sufficient warrant for us to believe on him, that we may be fully conscious of the indwelling of the Spirit. Il. 'l'HE RESULTS OF CONVERSION, AS HERE INDICATED, ARE SEVERAL. 1. "That tbey 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 ihe pure lip is prayer to him. So it was said of t-aul, when the Lord arrested him in his career of persecution, "Behold, he prnyetb." The tendency of tbe 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 agninst his judg- ments, 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 aud gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou- sands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means spare the guilty" (Exod. xu:iv. 6, 7); and that affords a strong encouragement to all the nations to call upon him. His Na.me 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, bat their own masters, yet really serving divers lasts and pleasures, 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, i;peaking 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 w. 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 edifyinu, 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 hie grace in their hearts. 3, Another result here indicated as flowing from conversion is unity and harmony among the natious. "They shall all call on the Name of the Lord, and serve him with one cow.eat." The invocation of the true God is to be in common, and the service rendered to him a united aud harmonious one," with one shoulder," as the words literally mean, as if bearin~ the yoke together, and equally taking part in the work. This implies 11 gathering together of the nations in peace and good will. Idolatry and polytheism en. ur. 1-20.J THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH. G7