May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we can consider his word. Let us turn
to the prophecy of Zachariah, the ninth chapter, and we'll
read verse 12. The prophecy of Zachariah, chapter
nine, and reading verse 12. Turn you to the stronghold, ye
prisoners of hope. Even today, Do I declare that
I will render double unto thee? This was a wonderful statement
to Israel and perhaps more particularly to Judah because Zechariah was
a prophet who lived during the captivity And by that I mean
the captivity of Israel when it went down to Babylon. He was
a companion of Haggai. The two were prophets that prophesied
more or less at the same time. And he gave wonderful encouragement
to the people as they returned to Jerusalem. They'd been absent for those
70 years, 70 difficult and hard and sad years. And they were
bitter years, really, because they realised that they'd brought
the situation upon their own heads. They couldn't point the
finger anywhere else. They could only point the finger
at themselves, because they had turned away from the gracious
words of the Prophets which had been spoken to them for a good
number of years. But now the Lord in his sovereign
mercy and faithfulness was bringing and had brought some of these
people back into Jerusalem. And of course it hadn't been
easy going. There were enemies, there were
oppositions, People didn't want to see Jerusalem rebuilt again. They hated the thought of that
being a place where Israel could worship and therefore they did
all they could to halt that scene. Well we know if we read Ezra
and Nehemiah we have a clear account of how the Lord appeared
very wonderfully for them and eventually the walls of Jerusalem
were rebuilt. They were rebuilt as we're told
in Troubles times they weren't easy and the temple was rebuilt
and once again the people able to have Worship there and so
here we have really in this verse the double view as Indeed most
of the Word of God contains a double view it contains a natural view
and it contains a spiritual view and And so we should be aware
that here we're encouraging words to ancient Israel, and they are
encouraging words to the Church of Israel down through the ages. And so here were the words of
wonderful advice. Turn you to the stronghold, ye
prisoners of hope. They were returning to Jerusalem,
but effectively they were still prisoners of the Chaldeans. But
of course they were prisoners of hope, because we know the
Chaldean kings had encouraged them to go back and to start
building. And they were told to turn you
to the stronghold. The stronghold was, of course,
the city of Jerusalem. And of course, central in the
city of Jerusalem was the temple. And so the instruction, the encouraging
words to them was to turn to that place. Not to be turned
back, not to wander back, but to hear the word of God. To turn
to that stronghold, those who had a hope And it was indeed
a good hope, because it was a hope based upon the promises of God,
that God would indeed enable them once again to come, return
to Jerusalem, the place be rebuilt, and they're able to worship.
And so it was written, spoken to these people, ye prisoners
of hope, even today do I declare that I will render double unto
thee. They were to receive double blessings. What a favour that was. You think
how wrong they'd been. How sinful they'd been. And to
hear words like this from God's prophet. They must have been
surprised. They must have been amazed. As
they looked at themselves and realised how they treated Almighty
God, and then to hear words like this, that I will render double
unto thee. Well, we know, of course, that
God did fulfil His promise, and that Israel did return. Jerusalem
was rebuilt, and they were able to worship the Lord once again
in the beauty of holiness in the temple. And so we have the
fulfilment of the Word of God and the promises of God relating
to the historical account of Israel. But now let us turn to
the spiritual Israel. Perhaps there have been those
times in our lives when we've not followed our God. Perhaps when we've rebelled against
God. Perhaps we've gone a contrary
way, and in essence we've said, I will not have this man to reign
over me. Just like Israel has said, hadn't
they? They said they wouldn't obey the Lord. Who is the Lord? And my friends, let us not forget
the devil is very active today. And his great aim is to turn
us away. the word of God, from the truth
of God, from indeed himself. Now we have a wonderful picture
here, the stronghold. The stronghold surely is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the word is, turn you,
you and me, turn you to the stronghold. Turn to the Saviour. Turn to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Leave yourself behind. Leave all your schemes and ideas
behind. but turn you to the stronghold. Ye prisoners of hope. Do we have
a hope? Do we have a hope in God's mercy? Are we perhaps a prisoner? We may be in prison. We may be
in prison because the Lord has ordained that we should be, as
it were, taught a lesson. The Bible tells us, if we walk
contrary to God, he says, I will walk contrary to you. We don't
take that to heart, really, as we should. Because it's very easy for you
and me to walk contrary to God. not following his way, not following
his word, not following the path that he has ordained for us. We may have thought, no, that's
just a bit too narrow, that's a bit too rugged, I really don't
think I can go that path. And therefore we may have left
it, gone out of it, and we may have found what we thought was
an easier path, but the problem is we've left our God. The problem is that we brought
ourself into a difficult situation and we are not walking as we
perhaps used to walk or not walking as we should walk. And in those
situations we find perhaps the things of God irksome. And yet we have a nagging conscience
that tells us where we've erred and what we're doing wrong. And
yet we're unwilling, as the word tells us here, to turn to the
stronghold. Because we know we're guilty,
and we become rebellious and hard-hearted, how amazing then, the Lord should
come and say, turn you to the stronghold. And it's addressed
to a particular people, ye prisoners of hope. Now in that condition
that we may find ourselves in, there will be still, as it were,
lurking underneath, strange as it is, that hope. That hope for
God. We may not always quite understand
and appreciate and realise how we should pray, but yet somehow
there is that hope within. The Lord will look upon us and
have mercy upon us. And we may not have really been
able to pray for that. But when the Lord comes then,
in that condition, and then when he speaks to us, and then we
recognise that we have been, we are a prisoner. But we're
not a prisoner without hope. because we do have a hope and
that hope is surely based upon what God has in his infinite
love and mercy done for us and said to us and directed us. And there we have that hope. It may have been almost covered
over but it's still there. What a blessing it is that God's
people The hope never dies, never dies. And so here we have this
word addressed to such people, prisoners of hope. And the only way of deliverance,
the only way of blessing is to turn to the stronghold, to turn
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the amazing thing is to know
the Saviour doesn't turn us away. We may have feared He would.
We may have feared He would have shut us out. But the Lord is ever gracious. He's ever merciful. He is kind
and he is full of compassion because he remembers our frame
and he knows that we're but dust. And so, here we have this statement,
turn you to the stronghold. Turn you to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's a wonderful statement,
isn't it? It's a wonderful encouragement.
And you see, as the Lord gives us then that grace, remember,
it's the Lord that's speaking, it's the Lord that does everything
for us, and it's the Lord that helps us then to come and to
turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, turn you to this stronghold,
ye prisons of hope. And as we receive that grace
to turn to the Lord, we see there all that you and I need. There is forgiveness with God
that he may be feared. Perhaps we felt that we should
never be forgiven. And sometimes these things are
very strong, when we think that we've sinned against light and
knowledge. When we turn our back upon God,
when we disobey God, we know what his word tells us, and we've
gone against it. We might fear that no longer
will there be any mercy. And yet, where are we? Prison
of hope. prison of hope. We can't throw
away our hope because it's been implanted there by Almighty God. And so as we are blessed with
this true hope from God, although we're a prisoner, and as the
Lord gives us that grace to turn to the Saviour in our condition,
in our weakness, in our foolishness. Because it is weakness, and it
is foolishness. And we realise that we ought
to hide our face in shame, because of our situation, because of
our attitude. And yet, here we have this encouraging
word, turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. And what
does that do then? It directs us to this great and
glorious Saviour. And to think then that He will
receive us. He won't cast us off. He'll receive
us unto Himself. Just like that time when of course
the temple was rebuilt and they were able to gather again for
worship. What a blessing when we're able
to return to the Saviour and once again be able to worship,
to bow down before God, to have the stubborn heart removed, to
be given a heart of flesh, a feeding heart where we are influenced
by the blessed Spirit of God with that desire then to turn
away from our own will come and say, nevertheless, not my will,
but thine be done. And so we come then to this stronghold. And as we turn to him, we see
that all that we needed, a God who looks upon us, a God who
takes us, perhaps by our hand, and leads us in the right way. Takes us out of that way we wandered
into and brings us back into the narrow way, the difficult
way. And we're not complaining now
because this good hope is now bearing fruit. Because now we are being made
willing in a day of His power. You see, it is the power of God
that brings us to this position, to this condition, where we are
willing to turn to the Lord. Turn away from the things that
we've been following after, down that wrong road, and now are
made willing to return. and to turn about. It really
shows to us, does it not, a picture of repentance. Because we were
going away from this stronghold and now the Spirit of God is
directing us to turn around and to come to this stronghold. What
does that indicate? That indicates the blessing that
the Lord gives. repentance, true repentance. And what is it doing? It's obeying
God's word. As God speaks to us, as God directs
us. We don't suddenly think, oh well,
I think I'll change tack and I'll do something different now. It's when God commands. It's when God speaks. When God directs us with that
word of power. then we are willing to turn round,
turn round and leave that way which we've gone into, turn you
to the stronghold. Ye prisoners of hope, isn't it
amazing that we have such a kind and gracious God who doesn't
deal with us as our sins deserve, but is full of compassion Why
is it? It's because of his love to our
souls. That's the reason, that's the
influence, because of his great love wherewith he loved us. He causes us to turn once again
to him and he receives us unto himself. Yes, there we'd been,
a prisoner. But remember, there was still
that hope, that good hope through grace, that it would be well
with our souls. It's quite wonderful, isn't it,
that the Church of God can never really give up their hope. However
far off they may have wandered, however it may seem to be covered,
The hope still is there. And then you see in time, in
God's time, in God's way, he brings it right back up to the
surface. And we then have to understand,
and then we're pleased to understand, that it is through the sovereign
grace of God that is dealing with us as sons and daughters
of the Most High God, And He's dealing with us to show us our
foolishness, our weakness, our sinfulness, and to direct us
to His wonderful mercy and grace and love. Turn you to the stronghold
you prisoners of hope. He then goes on to say, even
today do I declare that I will render double unto thee. Now this is even more amazing,
isn't it? to think that this great God has dealt with us in
such a wonderfully gracious way and renders to us double. The blessing is doubled. What
a wonderful favour it is. Isaiah in his prophecy gives
us a little view of these things and we can read of his wonderful
mercy, wonderful favour in the 40th of Isaiah, we read the words
of God. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Now, prisoners of hope, they
need words of comfort, don't they? We need words of comfort,
don't we? And so here is the Lord speaking.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. figure of Jerusalem, and cry
unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. I think the Lord deals so gloriously
and so graciously with us, not as we deserve, but these are
exceedingly comfortable words, aren't they? To an unworthy sinner,
to a prisoner of hope, to have such a word spoken into our hearts,
yes, our iniquity, those sins against God, the harshness of
our heart, well, I believe When the Lord speaks to us in this
way, it has a wonderful effect. What does it do? It makes us
bow down. It makes us fall down and worship the Lord, confessing
our terrible condition, our evil state, the vileness of our life,
confessing our sins, bowing down before the great God who is so
gracious and who is so kind and is so merciful to us. And then
in a later psalm, the 61st psalm, again, Isaiah says, for your
shame, ye shall have double. And for confusion, they shall
rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land, they
shall possess the double. Everlasting joy. shall be unto
them." Everlasting joy. You might think,
well, is this a reward for my sin? Well, it can't really be
a reward, can it? Because a reward naturally for
our sin would be imprisonment. But here the Lord brings us out
of prison. He brought Israel out of Babylon. And he brought them out really
in an amazing way when the king of Babylon's heart was changed
to allow Israel to go back, all those martyrs of Jerusalem, those
who had been captive, taken captive. But you see, no one can stop
the purposes of Almighty God. And the Lord deals with his people,
deals with you and deals with me, to instruct us. And what it does, it instructs
us, as it shows us ourselves, not in full measure, but in some
measure, to show us how evil we are, how wretched we are,
how ungrateful we are, on the one hand. And then on the other
hand, to display to us his wonderful goodness, his wonderful favour. Indeed, we read together, didn't
we, in the last verse in this ninth chapter, for how great
is his goodness and how great is his beauty. You see the change. You see how the tone alters.
You see the favour of God. It brings us to such a condition. were able to come and say, by
the Spirit of God, for how great is his goodness and how great
is his beauty. Christ becomes attractive. There
was that time, wasn't there, when we weren't turning to the
stronghold, we saw no beauty in Christ. No, he was, as it were, a root
out of a dry land. There was nothing attractive
about the Saviour. But, like here, the Spirit of
God turns the person, turn you to the stronghold, there is then
a drawing power. Yes, there's an attraction. because
Jesus becomes very suitable. We see there is our hope in what
Christ has done. We can never let that hope go,
but now it's come to the surface and we can say, my hope is built
on nothing less but Jesus' blood and righteousness. And what has
happened really? The Lord has been gracious and
he's taught us. He's instructed us. He's been
very favourable to us, to such unworthy sinners. And the result
must be that such a sinner, saved by grace, redeemed by the blood
of Christ, must come really and give thanks unto his God. And to realise that the truth
is the Lord then blesses us abundantly. And I believe it's really that
statement of double. We realise then what a great
God we have. It is infinite mercy toward us.
in not dealing with us as our sins deserve. And the double
blessing really is, as we realise the amazing love of God in dying
for such an unworthy wretch. We may never have realised, perhaps
how bad we were, I suppose we never really will realise how
bad we are, But nonetheless, the Lord does sometimes direct
us and shows us a little of that which dwells within, within our
heart. We feel there like an unclean
thing. We look inside, we see blackness,
we see sin, we see evil, we see violence. We have to say, can
ever God dwell here? And yet, when we see the Spirit
of God directing us out of ourselves. We look at ourselves, it will
sink us low, won't it? We look out of ourselves to the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it is, we have some
understanding of this great and glorious truth when He says,
even today do I declare that I will render double unto
thee." And this word, declare, really means a statement, and
it's a declaration. It isn't something which is just
whispered, as it were, and something which is false. It's a declaration,
and he says, I declare that I will render, give, double unto thee. So as we come this evening, thinking
of this position, remembering the occasion Zachariah was called
to prophesy. It was really a time when many
of Israel were taking it easy again. They'd come back to Jerusalem
and they'd been stopped building and they were more concerned
about building their own houses, more concerned about looking
after their own position. And then these prophets Haggai
and Zechariah were moved by the Spirit of God to go and proclaim
the great truths of the Gospel, and what a good effect it had.
My friends, it may be so today that we're like that, we're more
concerned about our own houses than we are about the things
of God. So here we have this statement,
turn you, turn away from those poor things of time. The poor
things of time which perish with the using. The poor things of
time which never really bring true happiness and true peace. It's always something which causes
a problem or difficulty. Or with something that spoils
what you and I anticipate as being a perfect situation. Never arises. We find sin in
our hearts. That spoils it. Many other things
may spoil it. But you see as we are given that
grace to turn to the Saviour. Leaving behind all those things. And there we've been, prisoners
of hope involved in those things. And then to be blessed with this
wonderful blessing. Wonderful blessing, double, the
forgiveness of all our sins. Everything washed away as the
Spirit of God directs us to the Saviour, this stronghold. We
must observe He suffering in our place. As the Spirit of God
leads us, as it will, He's left us to the stronghold, led us
to the Saviour, He'll lead us to Calvary. And we'll see there
the blessed Saviour suffering for our condition, for our hardness,
for our rebellion. And all our sins laid upon Him. Every sin. laid upon the Saviour. What a view! Is it not receiving
double? Is it not an amazing blessing
that Almighty God should direct us to this view? To see the Lord
Jesus Christ agonising, sighing, dying, that we might receive
the wonderful gift of this double portion This wonderful gift of
full forgiveness. Nothing left. There is therefore
now. That's what he said, even today. There is therefore even now.
What? No condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. This is a stronghold to those
who are in Christ Jesus. Well, my friends, today, are
we indeed? Have we? Do we desire to be turned
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Those words in Isaiah 45, 22
are very precious, aren't they? Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. There's no other saviour. There's
no other way. Bless God, if the Holy Spirit
comes upon us with divine power and gives us that grace to hear
his word, prisoners as we may fear to be, and yet hoping, turn
to this stronghold, that Lord Jesus Christ, even today, do
I declare that I will render, give, double unto thee. Amen.