Verse 6c says, "Indeed the early rain covers it with blessings." According to our experience, this means that our tears become a spring and that this spring becomes the early rain that covers the valley with blessings. This early rain is the Spirit, and the Spirit is our blessing.
This was the situation with a certain brother in Cheefoo. Before he believed in the Lord Jesus, he was a Moslem. After he was saved and came into the church life, he suffered a great deal of persecution. This persecution nearly killed him, and he shed many tears. But those tears became a spring; the spring became the Spirit as the early rain; and as a result this brother was very living.
Those who come into the church life by passing through the valley of weeping will find that this weeping eventually becomes a great blessing to them. This blessing is the Spirit. The tears they shed are their own, but these tears become a spring, which becomes the early rain, the Spirit as the blessing.
"They go from strength to strength" (v. 7a). This indicates that strength is added to strength. Those who take the highway to Zion already have strength in God, and now they are strengthened further and thus go from strength to strength.
"Each appears before God in Zion" (v. 7b). The issue of the foregoing is that we appear before God in Zion. We treasure God's habitation because Zion is here. We treasure the church life because here we are in Zion. Even though we are on earth, we are nonetheless in the heavenly Zion (Heb. 12:22).