Zephaniah 3:14

Verses 14-17 contain a song of praise. The Spirit composes it and teaches it to Zion. He calls on her to sing it with thanksgiving to the Lord — who has put away her condemnation for ever, who dwells among her people, who rejoices in His love towards her.

The close of the prophecy is a call to rejoice and exult. He summons the daughter of Zion to shout for joy... From Zephaniah alone we would only learn that the Messiah would come and bring in His glory as the Lord all at once. In fact He is not called the Messiah here, but the King, the Lord. Verses 15-17 explain why they should rejoice.

Israel had suffered much at the hands of many kings... But at last the Lord Himself will take the throne, in the person of Christ. He will live among His people with unbounded blessing. His hands will be full of good gifts. If, as the Righteous One among them, He has exposed Israel's sin and borne it Himself, then as the King among them He will drive all evil away. So it can be said: "Sing aloud … shout … rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem."

When that happens, the restored nation will not need to feel shame for all they have done. The Lord in infinite grace will have cleansed them from their iniquity. They are no longer proud and haughty, but a humbled remnant, trusting in the Lord... They will feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid. They have become once more the sheep of His pasture, gathered by the Good Shepherd. The time of singing and rejoicing has come.

How beautiful to see God's joy in His love to His people; and what has He done to rejoice in them? He has forgiven them. He has turned their iniquity away from them. He has brought out that poor and afflicted people He speaks of in verse twelve. He has made them a pure and holy people, and now they can sing and rejoice. God can rejoice over them because His judgments have had their effect upon them.

It is a beautiful picture of perfect happiness, flowing from the presence of the Lord their God. Only one thing goes beyond it: the description of God's own joy over His people, long loved and now restored and happy... At last He can satisfy the affections of His heart. His love can flow out with nothing in its way, and in that joy He sings, as it were, with delight.

"... The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is among you; you shall not see evil any more." Israel has seen evil enough since her return from the Babylonian captivity. So the prophet is pointing to something much more than that.