The Strong City Falls and the Poor Give Thanks

… of others, that Satan has been called a city, and a strong one at that. For it is the custom of the God-inspired Scripture at times to liken the very mightiest to towers and walls, or even to cities. So, as we said earlier, even the blessed prophet Jeremiah was set by God as a fortified city and as a strong bronze wall (Jeremiah 1:18). But when Emmanuel was revealed and shone upon the world, the unholy throng of the opposing powers was destroyed, and Satan was shaken from his very foundations. He has fallen so as to sink into endless weakness, and he has no hope of ever rising again or lifting up his head.

“Therefore the poor people will bless you, and cities of men who are wronged will bless you. For you have become a helper to every lowly city, and a shelter to those who lost heart through want; you will rescue them from wicked men. A shelter for the thirsty, and the breath of men who are wronged. They will bless you as faint-hearted men who thirst in Zion, from ungodly men to whom you handed us over” (Isaiah 25:3–5).

Israel was called to the knowledge of God through the tutoring of the Law, and was made rich in the things that come from God; for it was saved, and inherited the land of the promise. But the countless multitude of the other nations, I mean those throughout the whole earth under heaven, had been utter strangers to the spiritual goods from above. They had no taste of the gifts that come from God. They were, in a way, naked and unclothed, having neither the divine shelter nor the covering from on high, neither the wealth of mind that comes from virtue nor anything else of all that is full of praise and counted worthy of every wonder. But when Christ himself appeared, he took them out of the devil’s grasping and brought them to God the Father. They have been made rich with the light of the truth, with a share in the glory that comes from him, and with the greatness of the gospel way of life; and for these things they send up songs of thanksgiving to God the Father.

So then, he says, O Master, since you have carried out an ancient and true counsel (Isaiah 25:1), summing up all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10), enlightening those in darkness and casting down the world-rulers of this age (Ephesians 6:12), strong as cities though they were, the poor people will bless you, and whole cities will glorify you. For you have become a helper to every one of them, and a shelter to those unbearably grieved by their poverty in the goods of their fathers; and you rescued them from wicked men. For in Zion too there were some who had lost heart in this way, just like men who are thirsty. And perhaps by these words the prophet shows us this: there were, yes, there were in Israel too those who thirsted for the Savior’s coming, and the Savior of all …