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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace to the nations; His rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. (Zechariah 9:9-12)
The prophet Zechariah is talking about Jesus, as he does so often. And he says to God’s people, “As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope.” Can any Christian hear those words without thinking of Jesus’ death?
Because it is Jesus’ suffering and death, Jesus’s blood, which washes away our evil and brings us into God’s family as His own children. The covenant God speaks of is one we can never break, because it depends entirely on what God does for us—becoming a Man, living and serving among us, suffering, dying, and rising from the dead.
Jesus has done all this for us out of sheer mercy and lovingkindness, and as a result, God says, “I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” None of us will end up in hell; because we belong to Jesus and trust in Him, we have His living water to quench our thirst and make us alive with Him forever.
We aren’t prisoners anymore, either—or if we are, we are “prisoners of hope”—that is, people who are looking forward to complete freedom in the future, when Jesus returns to set heaven and earth right, and the kingdom of God has fully come. On that day, we will run and dance and celebrate freely, because there will be no longer any evil that can threaten us or harm us in any way.
Until that day, God bids us “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope”—that is, take refuge in Jesus, who is our strong place of safety. Stay where it’s safe, in Him. No matter what happens in our lives, we will not be destroyed. The evils of this world can cause us pain and grief, but they cannot take away what Jesus gives us. Because He loves us, we have life, joy, peace, and forgiveness forever.
WE PRAY: Dear Lord, You have given me everything, because You love me. Use me now to bring Your love to other people. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
- What is the difference between being a prisoner in a pit and a “prisoner of hope” in a safe refuge?
- How do we take refuge in Jesus when we are afraid or in danger?
- Who do you know who needs to find out about Jesus? Pray for them now, and ask the Lord to open a way for them to come to faith in Him.
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