Isai. xlix. 24 — 26. Shall the prey be taken from the might)/, or the lawful captive delivered? But tints saith the Lord, Even the captives of the might]/ shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered : for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee : and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with street wine : and all flesh shall know that J the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
THE human mind is prone to extremes. Before we come into trials, we think them easy to be borne : but, when oppressed with them, we are apt to sink under them as an insupportable burthen. The Jews, previous to their captivity in Babylon, would never believe that such an event could take place : but, when they felt the galling yoke, they could not at all conceive that their Church should ever behold such glorious days as they were encouraged to expect. Certainly, humanly speaking, there was reason enough for them to despair : for they were in a state of the most abject slavery ; the people by whom they were enslaved were the most powerful of any upon earth ; and they had a consciousness, that they had sold themselves into that very state, by their iniquities. Hence they ask, " Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?" To this, however, God gives them a most gracious answer, assuring them, that he will interpose effectually in their behalf, and deliver them for his own name's sake.
But we must not confine the words to the Jewish Church. They may properly be applied to God's people in all ages ; and be considered as representing, I. Their desponding fears —
Whilst men are living as without God in the world, they are for the most part unconscious of any danger; or at least they think that they are in no danger from which they may not easily be delivered. But as soon as they are awakened to a sense of their lost condition, they are apt to yield to the most discouraging appre- hensions, on account of,
1. Their weakness — [They see that they have been in a state of captivity all their days, having been taken alive, as it were, by the devil, and been led " captive by him at his willa." And how shall they ever recover themselves from his snares ? He is a god, even " the god of this world," who " ruleth in all the children of disobedience b." Shall the prey be taken from one who is so mighty ? As well might a lamb hope to deliver itself out of the jaws of a lion, as they to liberate themselves from that " roaring lion who is just ready to devour themc" ]
* 2 Tim. ii. 26. ifayprjfiivoi. b 2Cor.iv.4. Eph.ii.2. c lPet.v.8.