Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 3:20

"At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your captivity before your eyes, saith Jehovah." — Zephaniah 3:20 (ASV)

At that time I will bring you in – that is, into the one fold, the one Church, the one “Household of God,” even in the time that I gather you. “That time” is the whole time of the Gospel; the one “day of salvation,” in which all who will ever be gathered, will be brought into the new Jerusalem. These words were fulfilled, when, at our Lord’s first Coming, the remnant, the true Israel, those “ordained to eternal life” were brought in. It will be fulfilled again, when “the fullness of the Gentiles shall be “come in,” and so all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:25–26).

It will most perfectly be fulfilled at the end, when there will be no going out of those once “brought” in, and those who have gathered others into the Church, will be “a name and a praise among all people of the earth,” those whom God has “redeemed out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9), shining like stars forever and ever.

When I turn back your captivity – Rup.: “That conversion, then begun, now perfected, when the dead will rise and they will be placed on the right hand, soon to receive the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. O mighty spectacle of the reversed captivity of those once captives; mighty wonder at their present blessedness, as they review the misery of their past captivity!” “Before your eyes,” so that we will see what we now believe and hope for, the end of all our sufferings, chastisements, losses, achings of the heart, the fullness of our Redemption.

That which our eyes have looked for, “our eyes shall behold and not another,” the everliving God as He is, face to Face; “saith the Lord,” Who is the Truth Itself, all Whose words will be fulfilled. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31), says He who is “God blessed forever.” And so the prophet closes in the thought of Him, Whose Name is I am, the Unchangeable, the everlasting Rest and Center of those who, having been once captives and halting and scattered among the vanities of the world, turn to Him, to whom be glory and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen.