Free at Last

“Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee”.  Zechariah 9:12

Zechariah was the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets and was also a priest in Israel after the Israelites were allowed to return from captivity in Babylon.  His name means “Yahweh remembers”.  In ancient times, names were given to represent a future event which would occur.  Zechariah wrote more Messianic prophecy concerning both the first and second coming of Christ than all the other minor prophets combined.  He prophesied of the future deliverance of Israel at Christ’s second coming and the acceptance of Christ as Messiah and King by the people of Israel to give them hope for the future after their long captivity.

Zechariah address the people as “prisoners of hope”, a seemingly oxymoron.  How could someone be a prisoner and yet be hopeful?  People become prisoners for many reasons.  Committing a crime, getting caught, and convicted is the first thought a person has when considering the term “prisoner”.  However, a person’s mind can be imprisoned by their thoughts, but their physical being can be free as a bird.  In scripture, we find many passages concerning people who were possessed by demons.  They weren’t locked up, although some of them were shunned by the community in which they resided, like the two men who lived in the cemetery, but received healing from Jesus (Matthew 8:28-34).  On the other hand, a person can be locked behind bars or imprisoned in a body of affliction, but his or her mind can be free.  A 17th century British poet, Richard Lovelace, wrote a poem while imprisoned for political reasons, “To Althea from Prison”.  The first two lines of the fourth stanza were as follows:  “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage”.

A physical prison cannot enslave the mind unless we allow it.  However, it matters what we fill our minds with.  Paul wrote in II Timothy 1:7 that God gave us “a sound mind”, one that is healthy, stable, and sensible.  When our minds are focused on the Lord and living righteously, our lives will become mentally and emotionally balanced, filled with hope and joy.  One of the main causes of so much turmoil in the world today is that folks are keeping their minds on everything else but the Lord and His word.  There are so many crazy ideas, policies, and beliefs swirling around that it is getting very difficult to understand some of the things that are being promoted.  Actually, it is not difficult when we consider that if a person does not belong to Christ, he or she belongs to Satan, and he will fill the minds of people with so much garbage and ungodly ideas that it is as if their minds have been locked up in a prison of despair.

Zechariah was speaking to Israel, prophesying that God would recompense them a double portion of His blessings for all the hardships and miseries that they had suffered, and the principle is the same for us:  when we turn to the Lord, He will capture us with hope and all the trouble that we endure in this life will be compensated with a double portion of God’s goodness.  We will eventually be delivered from this life of trouble and pain and be free at last to enjoy the blessings of eternal life.  That is truly something to hope for.