Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
The verse asks whether prey can be taken from the mighty and the lawful captive delivered, expressing human doubt over a rescue that looks impossible because the captives are helpless in powerful hands. The answer given next is yes, for God Himself will contend with the one who contends with His people and save their children, so that all flesh shall know Him as Savior and Redeemer. The mighty oppressor is Satan, prince of darkness, and the lawful captives are fallen men and women brought under his jurisdiction through disobedience and claimed as his subjects. They cannot free themselves, being lured on by tampering with evil until controlled by a will stronger than their own and held as helplessly as the demoniac of Capernaum. Christ takes the prey from the enemy through His life, suffering and sacrifice, settled at Gethsemane in submission to the Father's will, and no one has fallen so low as to be beyond that deliverance, yet it is offered not forced, so whoever consents, comes, and opens the heart by faith will not be left to Satan's power or to his own infirmity.
Question and Promise
The question asks whether spoil can be wrested from a strong holder and whether a rightful prisoner can be set free, giving voice to human doubt that rescue is possible when captives lie helpless in powerful hands. It frames deliverance as seemingly impossible because the grip holding the prey is so much stronger than the captive.
It stands within God's comforting of His afflicted people, with promises to gather their children, to bring prisoners out of darkness into pasture, and to save them from their oppressors. That same context sets forth the raising up of the tribes of Jacob and the restoring of Israel, to be a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the ends of the earth, establishing the earth and freeing prisoners from darkness into pasture. Ministers are to read Isaiah 48 and 49 prayerfully to learn this work of keeping the lamp trimmed and burning, and the passage shows the way by which Christlike attributes of character may be obtained. God's truthfulness and righteousness guarantee that what He promises is real.
The next verse answers yes, that even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. God Himself will contend with him who contends with His people and will save their children. Through that deliverance all flesh shall know that He is Saviour and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, and workers facing hardship and difficulty are thereby assured that He strengthens, helps, and upholds with the right hand of His righteousness.
Captor and Captives
The mighty and terrible oppressor is Satan, the prince of darkness. The prey taken by the mighty and the captives held for deliverance are perishing men and women held under his power by Satan and sin. Christ takes those held as prey from Satan to heal, to raise, to reveal the Father's love, and to bring them into close relation with God.
The lawful captive is fallen humanity brought under Satan's jurisdiction through disobedience. Having brought the human family under his rule in this way, Satan claims them as his subjects and his lawful prey. Bound under his power, the sinner is left to bear trials alone, going down in remorse and darkness in contrast to the believer who has One to lean on. The wicked as his lawful prey are so completely deceived and blinded to their lost condition that they may die without realizing it.
No one can free himself, for by wilfully departing from God's commandments and tampering with evil a person is lured on until controlled by a will stronger than his own. He is then held as helplessly by secret sin or master passion as the demoniac of Capernaum was held. People cannot successfully resist Satan by themselves, and God alone can limit Satan's power. Only Christ, the mighty Conqueror dwelling within, guiding desires and giving strength, enables even the weakest believer who humbly seeks help and firmly relies on Him to repulse Satan.
Rescue and Assurance
Christ takes the prey from the enemy through His life, suffering, and sacrifice, and thereby overcomes Satan, makes return to allegiance to God possible, and makes believers more than conquerors. The decision turned at Gethsemane, where He prayed three times for the cup to pass yet submitted to the Father's will and went forward to the suffering and death ordained before the foundation of the world, for had He refused the cup redemption would have failed and Satan with his confederacy of evil would have triumphed. In that rescue He exercises authority over demons and troubled minds, bringing freedom and peace to those overwhelmed by evil. He came to heal the sick and raise the dead, and to reveal the Father's love rather than the harshness wrongly attributed to Him, so that people may come into close relation with God. By the same work He demonstrates that obedience to God's law is possible.
No one has fallen so low, and none are so vile, unworthy, guilty, helpless, or condemned as to be beyond deliverance in Christ. Through Jesus, God seeks sinners without being sought, rejoices to pardon even the chief and worst sinners, receives and welcomes all, stretches out His hand all day in invitation, lowers mercy to the lowest depths of human wretchedness, and lifts souls sunk in degradation and contaminated with sin. Every person is the object of loving interest to Him who gave His life to bring men back to God, and He cares for each endangered soul as a shepherd cares for his sheep. Whoever by faith opens the door of the heart experiences a marvelous transformation, which is the promised taking away of the captives and delivering of the prey.
The rescue is offered, not forced, for God does not control minds without consent and each person is free to choose what power shall rule over him. Those who consent to enter covenant with God are not left to Satan's power or to the infirmity of their own nature, for God contends with him who contends with them and saves them. Even when only the words of Satan can be uttered, the heart's unspoken appeal is heard, and no cry from a soul in need, though it fails of utterance in words, will be unheeded. People must come, accept Christ's righteousness as a covering, and cooperate by taking the opportunities given, while the Christian has One to lean on for support in contrast to the sinner bound and left to bear trials alone. Refusing that gift ends in ruin and perishing, and conviction or postponed resolutions to obey later cannot save.
The promise also assures God's work and workers, guaranteeing what He pledges because He is true and righteous, and showing the way Christlike character is obtained. It belongs to His comfort of afflicted people, to gather their children, lead prisoners out of darkness into pasture, and save them from oppressors. Honest seekers in heathen lands are thus freed from darkness and led toward truth, while trust in idols brings shame, and God becomes their help and hope. Workers facing hardship and discouragement are strengthened, helped, upheld, and protected, kept trusting that He contends with their oppressor until all flesh knows Him as Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, a word applied with special force to uphold the work in Washington against efforts to discourage or hinder it. Those enlightened by the Holy Spirit are therefore to strive with all their strength to snatch Christ's people from the seductive influence of those who disobey God and keep them under Christ's control rather than letting them pass into the control of darkness.
The verse asks whether prey can be taken from the mighty and the lawful captive delivered, expressing human doubt over a rescue that looks impossible because the captives are helpless in powerful hands. The answer given next is yes, for God Himself will contend with the one who contends with His people and save their children, so that all flesh shall know Him as Savior and Redeemer. The mighty oppressor is Satan, prince of darkness, and the lawful captives are fallen men and women brought under his jurisdiction through disobedience and claimed as his subjects. They cannot free themselves, being lured on by tampering with evil until controlled by a will stronger than their own and held as helplessly as the demoniac of Capernaum. Christ takes the prey from the enemy through His life, suffering and sacrifice, settled at Gethsemane in submission to the Father's will, and no one has fallen so low as to be beyond that deliverance, yet it is offered not forced, so whoever consents, comes, and opens the heart by faith will not be left to Satan's power or to his own infirmity.
Question and Promise
The question asks whether spoil can be wrested from a strong holder and whether a rightful prisoner can be set free, giving voice to human doubt that rescue is possible when captives lie helpless in powerful hands. It frames deliverance as seemingly impossible because the grip holding the prey is so much stronger than the captive.
It stands within God's comforting of His afflicted people, with promises to gather their children, to bring prisoners out of darkness into pasture, and to save them from their oppressors. That same context sets forth the raising up of the tribes of Jacob and the restoring of Israel, to be a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the ends of the earth, establishing the earth and freeing prisoners from darkness into pasture. Ministers are to read Isaiah 48 and 49 prayerfully to learn this work of keeping the lamp trimmed and burning, and the passage shows the way by which Christlike attributes of character may be obtained. God's truthfulness and righteousness guarantee that what He promises is real.
The next verse answers yes, that even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. God Himself will contend with him who contends with His people and will save their children. Through that deliverance all flesh shall know that He is Saviour and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, and workers facing hardship and difficulty are thereby assured that He strengthens, helps, and upholds with the right hand of His righteousness.
Captor and Captives
The mighty and terrible oppressor is Satan, the prince of darkness. The prey taken by the mighty and the captives held for deliverance are perishing men and women held under his power by Satan and sin. Christ takes those held as prey from Satan to heal, to raise, to reveal the Father's love, and to bring them into close relation with God.
The lawful captive is fallen humanity brought under Satan's jurisdiction through disobedience. Having brought the human family under his rule in this way, Satan claims them as his subjects and his lawful prey. Bound under his power, the sinner is left to bear trials alone, going down in remorse and darkness in contrast to the believer who has One to lean on. The wicked as his lawful prey are so completely deceived and blinded to their lost condition that they may die without realizing it.
No one can free himself, for by wilfully departing from God's commandments and tampering with evil a person is lured on until controlled by a will stronger than his own. He is then held as helplessly by secret sin or master passion as the demoniac of Capernaum was held. People cannot successfully resist Satan by themselves, and God alone can limit Satan's power. Only Christ, the mighty Conqueror dwelling within, guiding desires and giving strength, enables even the weakest believer who humbly seeks help and firmly relies on Him to repulse Satan.
Rescue and Assurance
Christ takes the prey from the enemy through His life, suffering, and sacrifice, and thereby overcomes Satan, makes return to allegiance to God possible, and makes believers more than conquerors. The decision turned at Gethsemane, where He prayed three times for the cup to pass yet submitted to the Father's will and went forward to the suffering and death ordained before the foundation of the world, for had He refused the cup redemption would have failed and Satan with his confederacy of evil would have triumphed. In that rescue He exercises authority over demons and troubled minds, bringing freedom and peace to those overwhelmed by evil. He came to heal the sick and raise the dead, and to reveal the Father's love rather than the harshness wrongly attributed to Him, so that people may come into close relation with God. By the same work He demonstrates that obedience to God's law is possible.
No one has fallen so low, and none are so vile, unworthy, guilty, helpless, or condemned as to be beyond deliverance in Christ. Through Jesus, God seeks sinners without being sought, rejoices to pardon even the chief and worst sinners, receives and welcomes all, stretches out His hand all day in invitation, lowers mercy to the lowest depths of human wretchedness, and lifts souls sunk in degradation and contaminated with sin. Every person is the object of loving interest to Him who gave His life to bring men back to God, and He cares for each endangered soul as a shepherd cares for his sheep. Whoever by faith opens the door of the heart experiences a marvelous transformation, which is the promised taking away of the captives and delivering of the prey.
The rescue is offered, not forced, for God does not control minds without consent and each person is free to choose what power shall rule over him. Those who consent to enter covenant with God are not left to Satan's power or to the infirmity of their own nature, for God contends with him who contends with them and saves them. Even when only the words of Satan can be uttered, the heart's unspoken appeal is heard, and no cry from a soul in need, though it fails of utterance in words, will be unheeded. People must come, accept Christ's righteousness as a covering, and cooperate by taking the opportunities given, while the Christian has One to lean on for support in contrast to the sinner bound and left to bear trials alone. Refusing that gift ends in ruin and perishing, and conviction or postponed resolutions to obey later cannot save.
The promise also assures God's work and workers, guaranteeing what He pledges because He is true and righteous, and showing the way Christlike character is obtained. It belongs to His comfort of afflicted people, to gather their children, lead prisoners out of darkness into pasture, and save them from oppressors. Honest seekers in heathen lands are thus freed from darkness and led toward truth, while trust in idols brings shame, and God becomes their help and hope. Workers facing hardship and discouragement are strengthened, helped, upheld, and protected, kept trusting that He contends with their oppressor until all flesh knows Him as Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, a word applied with special force to uphold the work in Washington against efforts to discourage or hinder it. Those enlightened by the Holy Spirit are therefore to strive with all their strength to snatch Christ's people from the seductive influence of those who disobey God and keep them under Christ's control rather than letting them pass into the control of darkness.