That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
The one spoken of is Satan, whose six thousand years of rebellion have been six thousand years of destructive work that has made the world as a wilderness and laid its cities in ruin. His long course is not mere opposition but active desolation of the earth and destruction of its inhabited places.
The closing question, about not opening the house of his prisoners, means that God's people were received into his prison-house and held there as captives. Left to himself he would have kept them in that captivity forever, never releasing them. Christ, however, has broken his bonds and set the prisoners free.
The one spoken of is Satan, whose six thousand years of rebellion have been six thousand years of destructive work that has made the world as a wilderness and laid its cities in ruin. His long course is not mere opposition but active desolation of the earth and destruction of its inhabited places.
The closing question, about not opening the house of his prisoners, means that God's people were received into his prison-house and held there as captives. Left to himself he would have kept them in that captivity forever, never releasing them. Christ, however, has broken his bonds and set the prisoners free.