brings peace with God, peace in the else discordant inner nature, peace
amid storms of calamity--the peace of submission, of fellowship with
God, of self-control, of received forgiveness and sanctifying. For
nations and civic communities He brings peace which will one day hush
the tumult of war, and burn chariots and all warlike implements in the
fire. The vision tarries, because Christ's followers have not been true
to their Master's mission, but it comes, though its march is slow. We
can hasten its arrival.

Verses 7 and 8 declare the perpetuity of Messiah's kingdom, His Davidic
descent, and those characteristics of His reign, which guarantee its
perpetuity. 'Judgment' which He exercises, and 'righteousness' which He
both exercises and bestows, are the pillars on which His throne stands;
and these are eternal, and it never will totter nor sink, as earthly
thrones must do. The very life-blood of prophecy, as of religion, is the
conviction that righteousness outlasts sin, and will survive 'the wreck
of matter and the crash of worlds.'

The great guarantee for these glowing anticipations is that the 'zeal of
the Lord of hosts' will accomplish them. _Zeal_, or rather _jealousy_,
is love stirred to action by opposition. It tolerates no unfaithfulness
in the object of its love, and flames up against all antagonism to the
object. 'He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of Mine eye.' So the
subjects of that Messiah may be sure that a wall of fire is round about
them, which to foes without is terror and destruction, and to dwellers
within its circuit glows with lambent light, and rays out beneficent
warmth.