So shall ye know that I [am] the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Ver. 17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God] You shall experiment that which, during your deep afflictions, ye made some doubt of, and were ready to say, as Gideon did to the angel "If the Lord be for us, why is it thus with us?" or, as your unbelieving forefathers in the wilderness, "Is God among us?" as if that could not be, and they athirst.
Dwelling in Zion] Defending my people and dispensing my best blessings to them. "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion," Psalms 134:3. The blessings that come out of Zion are far beyond those that otherwise come out of heaven and earth.
Then shall Jerusalem be holy] With a double holiness, imputed and imparted; the profane being purged out here in part, but hereafter in all perfection. This our Saviour sweetly sets forth in those two parables of the tares and of the dragnet, Matthew 13:24,30; Matthew 13:36,42; Matthew 13:47,50. Or, "It shall be holy," that is, dear to God, and under his care, favour, and protection from the dominion, direption, and possession of profane heathens.
And there shall no strangers pass through her any more] Either to subdue her and prejudice her (as the proverb runs of the Great Turk, that wherever he sets his foot no grass grows any more, such havoc he makes), or to fasten any filth or contagion upon her. See Revelation 21:27, where St John alludeth to this text, as all along that book he borroweth the elegancies and flowers of the Old Testament to set out the state of the New in succeeding ages. If this promise be not so fully performed to us as we could wish, we must lay the blame upon our sins, whereby the reformation is ensnared and our prosperity hindered. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear," Isaiah 59:1,2. Nothing intricates our actions more than sin; this is that devil in the air that hinders our happiness; this is that mischief-making hell-hag, Trouble-town. Charm this devil and make him fall from his heaven (which is to do hurt), and we shall inherit the promises. The godly man only prospers, Psalms 1:3 .