death utterly destroyed him," " and delivered from his power millions whom he had held in the most cruel bondage0." In his resurrection and ascension " he led captive," as it were at his chariot wheels, this malignant foe0 ; and has left his people nothing but to triumph over a vanquished enemy q.
Here then is God's gracious answer to his people's fears. Are you asking, " Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? Yes, the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be de- livered : for I will contend with them that contend with thee, and I will save thy children." What more than this can any soul desire ? for, is not God able to deliver ? or will he falsify his word? " Hath he said, and will he not do it? hath he spoken, and will he not make it good ?"
But he further promises, that,]
2. He will glorify himself in their salvation —
[The deliverance of his people from Babylon, and their restoration to their own land, was an event that excited the astonishment of all the surrounding nations : " They saw, and could not but acknowledge, that he was their Saviour and Redeemer, even the Mighty One of Jacob." His own glory also will he display in the deliverance of his desponding people, as soon as ever they simply and believingly commit their cause to him. In fact, there is not in the whole universe a more striking monument of God's power than a redeemed soul. " He is a new creation1." And, if it be said, " He is still weak ;" true, he is so : but he is " a worm threshing the mountains8 ;" and " God's strength shall be perfected in his weakness*," and shall carry him on, though in the midst of the most potent enemies, " from strength to strength, till he shall finally appear before his God in Zionu." To whatever circumstances he may be reduced by the assaults of men or devils, the Lord Jesus Christ will make them only a more conspicuous occasion for the display of " his own grace, which shall surely be sufficient" for all who trust in it, and shall constrain even their enemies themselves to acknowledge that the power which supports them is divine x.]
Here then we see,
1. What extremes we are to avoid — [In the concerns of our souls, we should stand at an equal distance from presumption and despondency. It surely can
° Heb. ii. 14, 15. P Eph. iv. 8. i John xvi. 11.
r 2 Cor. v. 17. Eph. ii. 10. s Isai. xli. 14—16.
4 2 Cor. xii. 9. u Ps. lxxxiv. 7. x Dan. iii. 28. and vi. 25 — 27.