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 lamented in chap. xlix. 14. Instead of the concealed presence of the Lord during the misery, which, to the feeling, so easily appears as entire absence, there comes the presence of God manifested in the salvation. This return of the Lord to Zion truly took place in Christ only, Luke i. 68.--Ver. 9: "Break forth into joy, shout together, ye ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord comforteth Jerusalem, redeemeth His people." This call goes far beyond the time of the restoration of Jerusalem after the exile; for, even at that time, the spiritual eye still beheld ruins, where the bodily eye saw firm, walled buildings. The condition of the Kingdom of God was still miserable, the eye of the faithful remained still fixed, with hopes and longings, upon the Future which was to bring, and has brought, _true_ comfort and consolation.--Ver. 10: "The Lord maketh bare His Holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth see the salvation of our God." The making bare of the arm of the Lord designates the manifestation, by deeds, of [Pg 264] the divine power and glory, such