The bible is clear—we're all prisoners.
In biblical terms, humanity is caught in an enslaving web of Sin and Death. We're chained to destructive thoughts, feeling, patterns, and actions. We're infected with brokenness and despair. We're selfish and curved in on ourselves.
But we don't need a few bible verses to believe this. An honest look in the mirror is truth enough.
Enslavement is the status quo
We're prisoners to our longings and our loves, the things that have a hold on our heart.
Some are slaves to pornography, prisoners of a false love on the other side of a screen. Others of us are enslaved to affirmation, needing the constant approval of others to feel validated, secure, and like we’re enough.
Many are trapped with a hungering desire for more. More excitement and experience. More clothes and square footage.
What all of these prisons have in common is the fruit of despair. The tighter the chains lock around us, the deeper into desolation we spiral. Slowly, subtly, this despair sinks into our skin, breeding bitterness, self-righteousness, and doubt.
Slowly it sucks our God-given joy and life away.
A better prison
But this doesn’t have to be our reality. This doesn’t have to be the end of our story. There’s a better option, a better prison, for us.
This is the prison of hope.
We find this when God speaks to His people in Zechariah 9.
Writing to a people overrun by foreign powers and lost in the rubble of defeat, God offers a message of comfort. Everything around the Israel of Scripture pointed to despair. Everything was lost. Their land ravaged, their political power evaporated, and their religious spaces defacated.
Yet God announces that all is not lost. One day Israel’s true king will come to restore righteousness, justice, and peace. You’ll know him when you see him.
Then, God describes those who are waiting for this king.
Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
    even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. (v. 12)
As you look for this king, as you eagerly await his arrival, return to your fortress and be who you are—prisoners of hope.
A people who can endure all that the world throws their way.
A people who are living for a deeper reality, an unseen horizon.
A people who are relentlessly confident that God is faithful to His promises. Whose security isn’t dependent on what they see around them but the God in whom they’re trusting.
A people who are prisoners of hope.
Pick your prison
So, what’s your prison?
Here’s a hint, it’s probably the thing your hope is in. The thing you’re counting on to bring life, satisfaction, and security.
It’s a paradox of the Christian faith but there’s only one prison that doesn’t lead to enslavement but to freedom and life. It’s the prison of the hope which is anchored in the promises of Immanuel—God with us.
Yes and amen!