Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/85

 for who can attack an enemy unless he approach, towards him, and be furnished with arms requisite for the battle? It was man who had to be redeemed; the assumption of a manhood was therefore indispensable to the work. By that means a suitable plane was provided, in which the Omnipotent could meet those spiritual enemies of His people; cause them to be "dismayed, and turned away back, and their mighty ones beaten down." They attacked that humanity, as they had attacked that of ordinary men, because they found in that humanity a similar plane; but they were met therein, and resisted; fought against, and conquered; and by that conquest mankind were redeemed from the bondage into which they had fallen. It was in reference to those spiritual victories that the Lord is so frequently called "the Redeemer;" also "a mighty man" "a man of war," "the Lord of hosts;" "the Lord strong and mighty in battle." Those against whom He fought were the spiritual enemies of the souls of men, and the object aimed at by the war was to cause the unclean spirit to pass out of the land, to deliver men out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem them out of the hand of the terrible. This was exclusively the Lord's own work; for "He saw, and there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation unto Him; and His righteousness, it sustained Him: for He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. When the enemy came in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifted up a standard against