FINAL CONFLICT AND DELIVERANCE 437
shall then learn the truth of the saying, that "our only true triumphs are God s triumphs over us, that His defeats of us are our only true victories"; l and will learn with the great apostle -whose history and experiences are in many ways a fore shadowing of the history and experience of his nation to say, " Thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ " 2 that is, as former enemies who have been vanquished, and whom He is now leading about as manifest trophies of His all-subduing grace and power.
" On former occasions, when Jeshurun had been made to ride on the high places of the earth, he had waxed fat and kicked ; then he forsook God which made him, and
lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. But it will never be so again. He who comes to conquer their foes comes also to subdue their hearts." Hence, great as their triumph will be, great as will have been their individual might in the last stage of their conflict with the surrounding hosts (so that " he that is feeble among them will be as David "), t, when they return from their victory, this their glorious day of triumph will end in self-abasement and tears. 3 How this wonderful change will be brought about, how the stubborn heart of unbelieving and gainsaying Israel will at ast be broken, we are told in the loth verse : " And I will
ai pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication ; and they
fc: shall look upon Me whom they have pierced : and they shall
- mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall
be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his
i first-born!
" I think," said a great master in Israel, " there is
r nothing in the whole range of scripture more touching than
01 Jthe promise contained in these simple, unadorned words. iAs they touch the heart they fix themselves on our
- c memory. Who can ever forget them ? They shall look
unto (or " upon ") Me whom they have pierced. "
And yet there is not another scripture in the Old
1 Dean Alford. * 2 Cor. ii. 14 (R.V. ).
- B. W. Newton. Adolph Saphir.
