Prisoners of Hope
Press the play button to watch the video above or press 'more' to read the transcript of the daily devotion below. Please read Zechariah 9:9-17 (use your own Bible or use the link above to access the in-App Bible).
‘Hope you have a good Christmas’ is a common statement we all hear as we finish work or school for the festive season. ‘What do you hope to have for Christmas?’ is another familiar phrase used, the closer we get to the 25th December. Hope. ‘I hope the results are good ones…’ a phrase we hear so often during all seasons throughout the year and one that is not as joyous as the others. What is this hope that is so commonplace in our daily vocabulary?
In this passage of the minor prophet Zecharaiah, which speaks so clearly of the coming of the Messiah, we read of the ‘prisoners of hope’. This phrase really caught my attention as an unusual paradox. Can we be chained to hope? Is being a prisoner not a negative experience whereas it is hope that keeps us going? Paul shows us in Acts 16 that this is not the case. His hope, and that of Silas, was in the gospel of Christ, even choosing to remain imprisoned when the prison doors flew open after an earthquake. They were not bound by physical doors but by their eternal unshakeable hope in their Saviour. The same is true here in Zechariah where he speaks of the Messiah who will set prisoners free as their hope is revealed and completed in Him.
A number of years ago my husband and I experienced a miscarriage. A compassionate nurse said, ‘Well, at least you have Christmas to look forward to.’ Those words stayed with me. Even today, as I write this, awaiting medical results, I have Christmas to look forward to. I am imprisoned to hope. No matter what this physical earth brings or threatens to bring, the Messiah came and will come again. My hope, regardless of how I feel, is chained to my Saviour.
In these last few days of Advent, as we prepare for the coming of our Saviour, let’s remember that whatever our circumstances our hope is the gift He has given us as we wait for Him. Remember – we have Christmas to look forward to.