Zechariah 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double to you; The multitudes in this fallen world need some other place of refuge than that which they have already discovered. If they had already found peace and security, there could be no necessity for directing them to "turn" to any new stronghold or place of defence. I. THE FIGURE UNDER WHICH THE TEXT DESCRIBES THE GREAT MASS OF MANKIND. 1. "Prisoners." Even the real servant of God finds much to remind him that he has not yet reached the region of perfect liberty. As to the man of the world, he is altogether a prisoner. 2. They are "prisoners of hope." All who have fallen from God are to be considered as "prisoners of hope." To whom shall we deny the privileges of hope? While there is life there is hope. II. THE COUNSEL GIVEN IN THE TEXT. 1. A stronghold is here pointed out to you. By stronghold is meant every refuge which the mercy of God has provided for His guilty creatures. But especially the love, the merits, and the righteousness of the Saviour of sinners, the Son of God, the Redeemer of a lost world. 2. We are directed to turn to the stronghold. (1) We must be persuaded of the inefficiency of every other. (2) We must be persuaded of its sufficiency for our safety. (3) It is essential that we actually take possession of it. Inferences — 1. What a confirmation do topics such as this lend to the authenticity of that faith into which we are baptized. 2. If the provision made in the Gospel for the wants and distresses of human nature be one mark of its Divine origin, let us take care to apply it to the use for which it is so emphatically designed. (J. W. Cunningham.) Parallel Verses KJV: Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee; |
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