Return To Your Fortress

A child of God lives in hope even in the midst of a hopeless situation and therefore we are all prisoners of hope. The Earth where we live is a hopeless world, uncertain of what is going to happen - epidemics, world war, recession, natural calamities etc. However, even in the midst of such fearful situations a child of God still has hope because of the assurance of eternal life in Christ Jesus. This hope however does not permit anyone to commit suicide so as to get to the other shore. Many feel that if they kill themselves, they will escape all the problems of this world to enter into a problem free place. But the Bible says otherwise in the following verses : If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Since our body is the temple of God, we are not allowed to destroy our body. The last enemy of man is death, but Jesus who defeated Death and was raised to life lives in us.

Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

This gives us great hope.

Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

If we live it is for Christ and if we die in Christ it will be glorious. If we have this attitude in life, we will never feel hopeless.

Zechariah 9:12
Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

God will give me double for my trouble!

Expats are those who live outside their native country and we have Malayali expatriates all over the world. Here, return to your fortress means return to Jerusalem which had been a stronghold and which was now to be built again - after 70 years, the period of banishment is over and therefore return to your native. The Lord is my fortress! You may have been held captive in your life in certain areas, but rejoice, because today, your period of captivity (captive to various addictions, debts, sorrows etc) is over!

A stronghold is a place where you are impenetrable by the enemy forces. Kerala is a place where we’d find the maximum number of compound walls whereas in many countries we usually find lawns/picket fencing instead of the compound wall concept. Compound walls are built as a part of our culture and for safety reasons.

Zechariah said this word of prophecy when God was about to bring His people back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and the city. God calls ‘prisoners of war’ as ‘prisoners of hope’. God sees things differently.

Today, return to God and He Himself will be your fortress, your Saviour, your Redeemer and Restorer. If Japan underwent a rapid and sweeping transformation in the years following the end of World War II, with God’s help we can rebuild our lives from ruins. Amen!