Homiletic Review 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; God is not content with merely promising some refuge for stricken souls, but fascinates our faith with the wealth of imagery by which He declares it. In this verse He calls, "Turn you to the stronghold." Fortified places were provided generally on the top of some steep mountain, or approached only by a narrow defile where one could withstand a multitude of assailants, and into which the people ran from the villages and fields when the land was invaded. In other passages God is represented as a "hiding place," where evil cannot even find and attack the soul (Psalm 32:7); a pavilion, where safety is supplemented with comfort and delight (Psalm 27:5); the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, the caves and overhanging cliffs (Isaiah 32:2), beneath which travellers and cattle escape the intense heat. How He assures us that our refuge is not through human expediencies, but Divine interposition in the "Rock that is higher than I"! Indeed, our refuge is something better than even a Divine expediency; it is in God Himself (Psalm 62:7, 8: "My refuge is in God." Psalm 57:1: "In the shadow of Thy wings"). Emphasise the personality of the Divine comfort. I. THE COMPLETENESS OF THIS REFUGE. From the guilt of sin through the Cross — from the power of sinfulness in us through the Holy Spirit; from fears of all sorts — His promises so many and so varied between us and anticipated evil, like the many stones of the fortress facing outward in every direction; from depression, the cup He gives us "running over" —the spiritual overplus as opposed to the depressive occasion in the flesh or in the circumstances; from the ennui of secular pleasures and business, His revelation lifting our minds to the contemplation of the vast and glorious truths of both His earthly and heavenly kingdom; from unrest — He will keep in perfect peace the mind that is stayed on Him; from the weariness of all selfism, imparting the spirit of love and unselfish devotion, etc. II. HOW SHALL WE FIND THIS REFUGE? It is not far away; need not go to Rome for it (Popish pilgrims), nor to Jerusalem (Crusaders' expectation of finding relief at the Holy Sepulchre): "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart," etc. 1. It is not a mysterious refuge, or one hard to understand. There is no Esoterism of Christian experience, no favoured few, no especial soul light in theological refinements; Grotius prayed for the faith of his serving man. 2. It is not difficult to attain. "Knock," "Ask," "All things are ready." The great heart of the Eternal is close about us; no whispering gallery so quickly catches sounds as God's quick intent to bless catches the soul's desire. (Homiletic Review.) 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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