Zechariah 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.
Your Greatest Expectation
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There is a certain let down for so many people at the start of the new year. Once Christmas and New Year celebrations are over and the polish has worn off of your new-year resolutions, you think, “What else is there to look forward to except gray, dreary days?” Then you think, “Valentine’s Day is coming.” Then you keep thinking of things to which you can look forward, but at some point that runs out. Now I do think that it is good and healthy to always have something, whether a goal or something pleasant, to which you can look forward. But ultimately there is an end to that.
Most people are limited in their expectations. They look forward to a raise and a vacation. Then what? Your greatest expectation is the one that governs all others. I am not saying that the expectation that governs all others is going to be your greatest expectation, but that the most far reaching hope you have is the one that governs all others.
For many people that, frankly, is death. “I get a raise, go on vacation, have a great time, then I die.” Everything else is a brief distraction from that ultimate expectation.
There is a better way to live! While we can enjoy the pleasures of this day, there is more to life than the mere moment. We enjoy the things in this life more when we have more that we can enjoy, namely God and fellowship with Him eternally.
In Zechariah, God is speaking through the prophet to His remnant who had returned from captivity in Babylon. God also delivers a burden, a prophecy with a heavy weight, to the Gentile nations of the world that would be conquered by Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great would take everything in his wake including the buffer zones, like Tyre and Sidon, that Philistia had counted on to protect them.
God essentially said to these Philistines, “Your hope that these other city states will be a buffer for you is going to be disappointed. Your pride is going to be brought down, Philistia, and your expectation will be ashamed.”
That is in stark contrast to what God said to His own people in verse 12 which says, “Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee.” God was saying, “If you have an opportunity to come back to Jerusalem, don’t stay where it is safe. Come back where I will provide safety for you and defend you. He calls them “prisoners of hope.” What a difference between an expectation that is short-lived and short-sighted and one that is based on being a “prisoner of hope.” These Jewish “prisoners of hope” were putting their trust in a God Who is timeless and will always reign supreme.
Verse 17 says, “For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!” How true that is! Those who trusted in the might of places like Tyre and Sidon are long gone. Those who are prisoners of a hope that is based in Heaven have that hope still today.
Your greatest expectation is the one that governs all others in your life. Look forward to celebrations with family, to vacations, and to pleasant things. Those things are significant and have their place, but remember that ultimately you have more to look forward to than what is next month, next year, or in five years. This life is better because eternity is sure. How big is the hope that has captured you?