122. The Lord's rescue of the spiritual world, and His forthcoming rescue by this means of the church from complete damnation can be illustrated by a comparison with a king, who, when his sons, the princes, have been captured by an enemy, cast into prison and held in chains, frees them by victories over the enemy and brings them back to his court. We may also use as a comparison a shepherd, who, like Samson or David, snatches his sheep from the jaws of a lion or bear, drives away the wild beasts that come out of the forests to raid the meadows, and pursues them to the furthest reaches, finally driving them into lakes or deserts; and then he comes back to his sheep and pastures them safely, and gives them drink from springs of limpid water. Another comparison might be with a person who sees a snake coiled up lying on a road, waiting for a chance to strike at the heel of a traveller; he grasps its head, and although it twists its head around to bite his hand, carries it home and there cuts its head off, throwing the remains into the fire. Another illustration would be a fiancee or husband, who, seeing an adulterer trying to force his fiancee or wife, attacks him, and either wounds his hand with his sword, or showers his legs and back with blows, or has his servants throw him into the street and chase him home with cudgels, so that he is able to bring the rescued woman to the bridal chamber. Bride and wife in the Word also mean the Lord's church, and adulterers mean those who do violence to it; these are those who adulterate His Word. It is because the Jews did this that the Lord called them 'an adulterous nation.'