In that last sentence lies implicit the purpose of the ages.  A new

creation involves the forgetting or the passing away of 'former things'.

(See Isa. 65:17; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rev. 21:4,5).  Let us observe also that in

Revelation 21:4,5 we find the title of the Lord and of His Word that has come

before us throughout this section:

'The former things are passed away.  And He that sat upon the throne

said, Behold, I make all things new.  And He said unto me, Write: for

these words are true and faithful.  And He said unto me, It is done.  I

am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end' (Rev. 21:4 -6).

'We bless Thee, O Thou great Amen,

Jehovah's pledge to sinful men,

Confirming all His Word.

Doubtful no promises remain

For all are Yea, and all Amen

In Thee, the faithful Lord'.

(Hymns of Praise No. 62).

We now turn to the text that we commenced with 'He faileth not' and

find it in Zephaniah 3:5.  Before we can enter into the meaning of this

verse, a complete analysis of the prophecy must be made.  This we are not

prepared to do just here.  We are concerned at the moment with the various

words translated 'fail', so that from the words used we may understand the

fuller meaning of both 'failure' and its alternative 'success'.  The word

translated 'fail' in Zephaniah 3:5, is the Hebrew word adar.  Let us look at

the way this word is used:

'And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and

David rescued his two wives.  And there was nothing lacking (adar) to

them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither

spoil nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all'

(1 Sam. 30:18,19).

The reader will notice that this record begins and ends with the

triumphant words 'David recovered all'.  It should be added, that the word

'rescue' in verse 18, is the same word as is translated 'recover'.  When

great David's greater Son sits upon the throne, one of the characteristics of

the glorious reign that David rejoiced to record was 'He shall deliver the

needy when he crieth' (Psa. 72:12).  When Moses wrote Psalms 90 and 91, he

addressed the first Psalm to those of twenty years old and upward whose

carcases were doomed to fall in the wilderness, and addressed the second to

their children who were to be preserved throughout the forty years wandering

and be led into the land.  Hence he gave the assurance,

'Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from

the noisome pestilence' (Psa. 91:3).

When Satan opposed the purposes of grace that had the deliverance of

Jerusalem in view,

'The Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord

that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out

of the fire?' (Zech. 3:2).