"Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double." (Zechariah 9:12)
No earthly stronghold will endure. Every man-made place of refuge and protection will one day fail. Every castle will crumble, and every kingdom will collapse. What's seen now will pass away. Our hope will fail us if we set it on this life and world.
It's easy to place our hope here or spend our energy forming our own refuge. Throughout human history, mankind has failed at making a safe utopia. Yet, we still find ourselves desperate to make it happen. We can’t seem to shake Eden's echo in each of us that daily reminds us that we were made for another world.
Let us receive Zechariah’s counsel: “Return to your stronghold, O prisoner of hope.”
Our stronghold isn't the stone and mortar of castle walls, but the promises of our Heavenly Father. It's not secured through hard work and drive, but through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.
We are prisoners of hope knowing that nothing in this world can keep us from the promised portion Christ has purchased for us. One day, the finished work of the gospel will change everything—no matter how difficult, painful, or dark this life may become.
So, may we help our clients accept their shackles of hope. This God-given restraint reminds them that no matter how hard this world pulls, it cannot separate us from the hope of Christ. Though this life is full of travails, our destiny is not destitution and darkness. Rather, our destiny is in God's hands. He will restore all things and provide us a home in a stronghold that cannot be shaken.
