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322 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH

Jewish nation may for its sins be sent into captivity as " prisoners " ; Jacob may be " given over for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers," " but there is hope (tiqvaJt) for thy latter end, saith Jehovah," 1 or, to quote from an earlier chapter of the same prophet : " For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you nipfN n^nx (acharith vethiqvah)" literally, " a latter end and hope " 2 that is, a " latter end " according to the hope based on God s own promise. Therefore the Psalmist, in response to the agonising cry of the remnant of Israel " from the depths " of their national tribulation and anguish in Ps. cxxx. which at the same time breathes such a spirit of confident reliance on God s word of promise as is expressed in the words : " / wait on Jehovah ; my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope " is inspired to address to them the encouraging exhortation : " O Israel, hope in Jehovah (for it is a hope which will not be put to shame) ; for with Jehovah there is mercy, and with Him, there is plenteous redemption, and He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities" 3 And since his iniquities have been the underlying cause of all his sufferings and sorrows, when God forgives Israel his sins, and removes his transgressions, He shall " redeem " him also " out of all his troubles." 4

And there is a certain analogy in this respect between Israel and the Church, or rather between Israel in their present condition as " prisoners of hope," and those who, in and through Christ, have already set their hope upon God. We are not in outward or bodily dispersion and banish ment, as Israel is ; nor, praise be to God, are we in bondage to sin or Satan. In Christ we have even now " redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace " ; already we have been delivered out of the power of darkness and are translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love, and are made heirs and joint-heirs with Christ of an inheritance which is incor ruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Yet,

1 Jer. xxxi. 17. 2 Jer. xxix. n.

8 Ps. cxxx. 7, 8. * Ps. xxv. 22.