"Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope..." Zechariah 9:12a
C.S. Lewis once stated that a successful children's story isn't written based upon what children may want or what moral they need to be taught. Instead, the author needs to ask what moral they need. This latest poem is exactly that for me.
A month ago, I was doing a Bible study on the minor prophets and struggling through the book of Zechariah. Now, I love imagery and hidden meanings in literature, but this book was just a beating for me to hear what it was saying about God.
I got to chapter nine and I almost missed this verse. The previous verses were all about Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and then this verse hit. It was beautifully poetic, but it posed a quandary for me. A prison of hope doesn't seem to be a positive image. Sample any variety of worship songs today and you will hear about chains broken, no longer being a slave, freedom, and so forth. Why would I want to return to a prison, even if it was built on hope?
Commentaries on this verse divide into two camps. The first suggests this verse is all about the salvation coming through Jesus. The second offers meanings such as it is about deferred dreams and trust.
I agree that it could mainly be about salvation, but I think it is more than that. The people it was originally written to were the faithful, the believers. They needed to remember anew who their refuge was and where their security could be found in troubled times. They needed not to be held hostage by fear, but by hope.
Being a prisoner of hope fits well with all the other paradoxes of kingdom living...
The first shall be last and the last shall be first...
When I'm weak, then I'm strong...
Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek...
Blessed are you if you are insulted or persecuted...
New life comes through death...
We walk by faith, not by sight...
Freedom comes from a prison...
Biblical hope is defined as a confident assurance or a sure expectancy in who God is and His character. The Hebrew word for hope in this verse describes it as a literal cord of attachment. To hope in the Lord is to earnestly attach ourselves to Him.
I am captured by the truth of this. I desire to live every moment rooted to the knowledge of this hope. I long to dwell in the present hope of my salvation and the future hope of His coming. When I doubt, I must return to this truth again and again. Its walls protect me and hold me. I need to be a prisoner of hope.
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given to us." Romans 5:1-5
Bound by cord one cannot envision
Fetters tight that bring liberation
Manacled and bridled
Shackled and tied
Inviolable restraints have been dearly applied.
To this citadel I did dash
To this bastion I did myself lash
Moored and linked
Trussed and constricted
These imperceptible bonds leave me not afflicted.
Responsive to the voice that did beckon
Full assurance to me He did reckon
Determined and settled
Devoted and rooted
Through the righteousness to me He imputed.
Returned, have I, to the stronghold of hope
Its sure certainty is the perfect scope
Secured and grounded
Guarded and guided
The unseen is the sight my Savior has provided.
This precious prison I trust in paradoxically
These chains are the only ones to set me free
Protected and treasured
Promised and tried
This faithful fortress is where I will abide.