Good News for Prisoners of Hope
Zechariah ix.
There is a change in the phraseology of the remaining chapters of this book. Not now the word of the Lord, but the burden of the word of the Lord. By this term we are prepared for tidings,of sorrow and disaster, which are about to fall on the nations addressed. These burdens lay heavily on the prophet’s soul, who was probably already advanced in years when he announced them. There is, at least, a remarkable contrast between the visions of the earlier, and the predictions of the later chapters. The difference has even led some critics to.suppose that they were addedby another hand ;..but..this view, founded rather on internal evidence, cannot be maintained in» the face of the strong external testimony for the ‘unity of the authorship of this book;
When Zechariah wrote this prophecy, the early troubles of the returned remnant in the reconstruction of Temple City, and State, were at an end; but they were hemmed in and pressed by Tyre on the north, and by Ashkelon, Gaza, and Ekron on the south. It was for their encouragement, therefore,
QI that he foretold an approaching invasion, before which their strong and hostile neighbors would be swept away. Though Tyre had built herself a stronghold on an apparently impregnable island, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets, and though her counselors were famous for their wisdom, the Lord would dispossess her, smiting her power in the sea, and devouring her palaces with fire. And the devastation which would befall Damascus and Hadrach (a part of Syria), would extend southward till the worst fears of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron would be realized in their utter destruction. Philistia would be as a young lion deprived of its prey, while the chosen city would be defended by unseen angel forces. “I will encamp about mine house as a garrison, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor shall pass through them any more; for now have I seen with mine eyes.”
All these predictions were literally fulfilled within a few years by the invasion of the third of the great world-conquerors, Alexander the Great. Syria, New Tyre, and the old seaboard, including the cities of Philistia, fell under his arms; but both in going and returning, he spared Jerusalem, being much impressed by a dream, in which he was warned not to approach the city, and by a solemn procession of priests and Levites, headed by Jaddua, the high priest.
Then a stream of exalted prediction ensues, sweet as the refrain of an angel’s hymn, which, as the
Evangelist tells us, was fulfilled when, in lowly triumph, Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of the week in which He died. “This came to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” What sublimity there is in the prophet’s words, in which stress is laid on the fact that the king who saves is lowly; that his steed is not the richlycaparisoned war-horse, but the humble ass; and that he needs neither chariot nor battle-bow for the overthrow of his foes; but speaks peace unto the nations, as though waving his hands in priestly benediction over the troubled waters; and lo, there is a great calm (v. 9, 10).
Then follows the remarkable promise alluded to in the heading of this chapter. “As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee.”
In eastern lands, liable to long spells of drought, it is customary to hew cisterns out of the solid rock for the storage of water, that provision may be made against the failure of the rains. These abound in Palestine. “They hewed out for themselves. cisterns.” When these were empty, they might be used for other purposes, and at all times provided a useful retreat, or hiding-place, from the Philistines or other hostile neighbors, who periodically poured up through the valleys, carrying fire and sword to the peaceful pastoral and agricultural hamlets. Such use of the rock-hewn cisterns is referred to in these words, It seemed to the prophet as though Israel might be compared to a terrified peasantry, sheltering in some dark, dry, mountain cistern, far up from the valleys, dreading every day lest their hiding-place might be discovered, and themselves dragged forth to dye with their blood the green sward.
Thus, in every age God’s people have been imprisoned. You may have been caught in the snare of this world’s evil. You have no sympathy with it, yet somehow you have become involved in the snares and toils of malign combinations. As the wild thing of the forest, bounding carelessly down the glade, suddenly finds itself at the bottom of the dark pit prepared and hidden by the hunter; so you, who began life so guilelessly, and passed your early days so blithely, have awoke to discover yourself involved with people and things, from which you cannot disassociate yourself. You have no desire for them — they chafe and try you — but you cannot get them off. It seems as though some evil spirit has lassoed you, not indeed in your soul, but in your home and circumstances.
Or, perhaps, you have been led captive by the devil at his will. There is no doubt about your sonship; in your better moments, God’s Spirit witnesses clearly with yours that you have been born again;
Ur
f ar
A
GOOD NEWS FOR PRISONERS OF HOPE. 95
you have strong yearnings after the souls of others, and at times are marvelously used for their awakening and comfort; and yet, during long and sad periods of experience, you seem the bound slave of the great enemy of souls. Swept before strong gusts of passion; careening in the dock; water-logged until progress in the divine life seems impossible, and you can only drift helplessly to and fro on the tides.
Or, perhaps, you have fallen into deep despond-
ency, partly as the result of ill-health, and partly because you have looked off the face of Christ to the winds and waves. The clear-shining of his love is obscured, and at times it is difficult to believe in anything but the pressure of your own dark thoughts. Some of God’s children seem to choose the valley of the shadow of death as the site of their dwelling, and then employ doubt, dread, and despondency, to design and build the house, which is sadly like a gaol. They affect the somber tint, and the despairful tone; and — strange anomaly ! — appear happiest when abandoned to the profoundest melancholy.
All such are prisoners, but they are prisoners of hope. There is a sure and certain hope of their deliverance. Out of their prisons they shall ultimately emerge, as Peter, angel-led, from his. The clouds might more easily succeed in imprisoning the sun than any of these dark conditions permanently hold one of God’s children. They belong to the light and day; and, though they see it not, Hope,
ee as God’s angel, is standing near, only waiting his signal to open the prison door. The prisoner, on whom the sentence of capital punishment has been passed, and who has no strong, wise friends to interfere on his behalf, may well abandon hope as he passes within the massive walls of the fortress, and hears the heavy gates, one after another, slammed and locked behind him. But where justice and truth are on his side, when he has been the victim of craft and guile, if there be a good wife and strong friends to espouse his cause, though he be incarcerated, bound with chains on the Devil’s Island, and though the weary years pass over him, yet he is a prisoner of hope, and shall come forth again into the light of day. All God’s children are prisoners of hope.
Their hope rests on the Blood of the Covenant. “Because of the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit.” When God entered into covenant-relationship with Abraham, the sacred compact was ratified by the mingled blood of an heifer of three years old, a she-goat of three years old, a ram of three years old, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And, in after years, when beneath the beetling cliffs of Sinai, Moses acted as mediator between God and the children of Israel, he sent young men, because the order of priesthood was not established, which offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled part on the altar, and part on the people, saying, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words” (Gen. xv. 9; Exod. xxiv. 7, 8).
Similarly, when the new covenant — the provisions of which are enumerated in Heb. viii — was ratified, it was in the blood of Jesus. As He took the cup, He said: “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many unto the remission of sins.” “And for this cause He is the Mediator of a new covenant.” The shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God indicates that God has entered into a covenant relationship with Him, and all whom He represents, who are, by faith, members of his mystical body, the Church. On his side, He promises to be a God to us, and to take us to be his people; on our side, Christ promises, on our behalf, that we shall be a people for his own possession, zealous of good works. This covenant embraces all who have believed, shall believe, and do believe in Jesus. It embraces thee, if thou dost at this moment simply believe in Him as thine, and art willing to be evermore his. And in placing the cup to thy lips at the Holy Supper, thou dost visibly and solemnly attest thy belief that there is a special relationship between God and thee, not in virtue of thy worthiness, but for the sake of his Son, that great Shepherd, who, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, was brought again from the dead.
Because of the Blood of the Covenant, God will send forth each of his imprisoned ones out of the pit. That blood binds Him to interpose on their behalf.
Wherever they are, and however thick-ribbed the walls of their prison, God must deliver them. That they might have strong consolation, He has confirmed his word by an oath. He will bow the heavens and come down, will ride upon a cherub and fly, will certainly rescue from the entanglements and complications of evil.
Suppose two men were bound in the closest, tenderest friendship, not needing to exchange blood from each other’s veins, as the manner of some is, because heart had already exchanged with heart; and suppose one of these, traveling in Calabria or
y Anatolia, was captured by brigands and carried into some mountain fastness, threatened with death unless ransomed by an immense sum of money: can you imagine his friend at home, in the enjoyment of opulence and liberty, settling down in circumstances of ease, and allowing his brother to suffer his miserable fate, with no effort for his deliverance? It is — impossible to imagine such a thing! With tireless perseverance, he would leave no stone unturned, and the captive might rely on every possible effort being made for his deliverance. So it is with God. Whatever be the sad combination of disaster which has overtaken us, He is bound by the Holy Covenant, sealed by the blood of Jesus, to spare no effort till our soul is escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowler, until the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
There is a remarkable illustration of this in the story of the conquest of Canaan. By guile, the men of at betrayed Israel into making a covenant with them. Three days after, their lie was exposed; but ij the princes said, “We have sworn unto them by the, 4° Lord, the God of Israel; now, therefore, we will not touch them.’’ And when Ai was besieged by,: neighboring kings, out of pure revenge, and an, appeal was made for help, it was at once furnished, because of Israel’s troth. So, child of God, if you I have made Jesus your King, He is sure to succor you. Behold, thy King cometh, O prisoner of hope!: He is just, and therefore he has salvation.
Is not this the reason why some of us are not delivered? We should be glad enough to accept deliverance, but are not prepared to pay the price. We have not observed the divine order, and crowned Jesus King of our hearts and lives. We are wishful that He should be our Saviour, but not altogether prepared to accept Him as King. This is our mistake; God hath exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour 4 He is first King of Righteousness, before He is Priest after the order of Melchisedek: and it is only when we confess with our mouths Jesus as Lord, that we shall be saved.
But do not fear Him. His footfall is very soft. He is lowly, and rides upon a colt, the foal of an ass. No prancing steed, no banner flaunting in the breeze, no long train of warriors. Soft as the summer breeze; irresistible as the summer sunshine, before which great tubular bridges bend. Lowly as a child — thy King, thy King is here. And before his advent the bars are broken, as though ice were thawing drop by drop in spring, and letting the imprisoned ship through the close-set floes.
The King speaks peace; but He uses his emancipated ones as weapons in the great fight. “I have bent Judah for me” (as a man might bend his bow) ;. “I have filled my bow with Ephraim” (as with an arrow). This, in the first instance, refers to the struggle of the Maccabees against Alexander’s successor — Antiochus — as appears in the following words: “I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man.” But there is a deeper meaning, which applies to us all — Jesus first saved us, and then we become as arrows in the hand of a mighty man.
O prisoners of hope, lift up your heads! your salvation is come out of Zion. Turn you to the stronghold! The enemy has been driven from his position. There is no more fear of his attack. Take up your abode in the stronghold of God’s care and love, in the fortress of his Righteousness, in the keep of his Covenant.
As we turn from this chapter, we cannot but feel that it contains unexplored depths, which no previous fulfillment has exhausted; and which are probably awaiting further developments, which, at present, we cannot prognosticate. When the closing verses tell us of what God will do for his people, “seen over them,” “defending them,” “saving them, as the stones of a crown glittering on high over his land”; when our attention is called to the greatness of his goodness and beauty reflected on the people of his choice — we cannot but feel that days are coming in which He shall yet more conspicuously and victoriously interpose on their behalf, and when, literally, his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. And if such a surmise be true, this chapter is closely related to the scenes which are delineated in the last chapters of this book, and which probably lie just in front of us, waiting for the withdrawal of the veiling curtain, which often appears to move with preparations for the events behind it.