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;”

In our previous verses we’ve seen the foretelling of the coming Messiah, a brief description of him, and closed with the promise that there would be a new covenant that would free prisoners from the pit which was a reference to the Law which was a shadow of those things to come. Now we go from the description of the Messiah and a short address to Him to an address to those prisoners freed from the pit.

“Turn you to the strong hold”
The prisoners in the previous verse have been set free. This freedom is not a freedom to do whatever, but rather, a freedom to act. The freedom we find in Christ is not a freedom to do whatever we please, but a freedom that allows us to choose Him whereas we could not before, being slaves to sin and the Devil.
Thus we find here, once the prisoners are freed by the blood of the covenant, they are directed to flee. Flee where? A strong hold.

What is this strong hold? This strong hold is Jehovah himself. There are numerous references to this: 2Sa 22:3, Psa 18:2, Psa 144:2 to mention a few. There is another verse that I think even more fitting in Proverbs 18:10: The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.
It’s almost a complete parallel with Zechariah 9. How and where does this fit into the timeline of actual events? That’s where the real beauty of this passage comes in!
Consider the message of the early church: they preached and taught in the name of Jesus! In fact, they taught that for one to be saved, they needed to be baptized into that name, quite literally, immersed in the name of Jesus.
This message was preached to the Jews (Acts 2:38), Samaritans (Acts 8), Gentiles (Acts 10), and John’s disciples (Acts 19). They would proclaim before the Sanhedrin, “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved!” (Acts 4:12)
The new convert of the early church was meant to die to themselves and take on Christ. That’s the whole point of baptism. We are buried with Christ (Rom6:4) His name is the strong tower that we are directed to run to!

” ye prisoners of hope:”
I previously mentioned on my notes on verse 11 that the prisoners in the pit are there voluntarily. I believe this is evident based on this description. The prisoners are not there by force, but by hope.
I will not explore this in great detail, but hope is something that is not mentioned a whole lot by the modern church but was considered vital by the NT church.
In Heb 6:18-19, we find a parallel passage for Zec 9:12:
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
And again in Rom8:24 where Paul declares, “For we are saved by hope.”
Hope is a critical element of your Christian walk. It’s looking forward to what is to come – the restoration of all things. That brings us to the final part of Zec 9:12

“Even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee“
All of what has proceeded, the coming Messiah and the establishment of His blood covenant now brings us to the timing: ‘to day’. Now that the Messiah had come and brought a new covenant, something was going to take place from that moment on: God was going to return double to those prisoners of hope who fled to the strong tower.
What does it mean to render double? The answer is found in Moses’ law. In Exodus 22:4 where God is dealing with theft, the Law states that if a man has stolen something and it’s found alive in his hand, he will restore double.
Therefore, when we read that the prisoners will have double restored, we understand then that they have had something stolen that has been recovered and now the thief must make double restitution.
Now let’s put that into the context of Jesus Christ and why He came. Humanity lost something precious in the Garden of Eden when Satan deceived them. Now the Messiah has evidently found that which was stolen and He is restoring it with double for the theft. In Eden we see paradise and life lost. In Christ we find paradise and life restored. In Rev 1:18, Jesus declares that He has the keys of hell and death. He promises in John 10:10 that He has come that His sheep may have life more abundantly. That’s the doubling. There’s not just going to be a restoration of what use to be, but there will be a double restoration.
In this sense, we see a paradox almost if you please, for in Zechariah we read that ‘today’ double will be restored, yet we still suffer in this world which has clearly not been restored. What do we make of this?
1. All the debt that was ever present has been paid. Now we are waiting for when God says time is enough. There is no more payment to be made, the next advent is judgement.
2. We see and understand that this statement is covering a long period of time for us. Mind you, for God it’s the blink of an eye. That’s why a literal interpretation of Revelations is critical. Revelations sees paradise restored beyond what was originally there. There is a river and a tree of life once again. It’s the final act of restoration if you please.
3. The ‘today’ is not specifically saying that it would all happen in the one day. It was referring to a point in time in which it would be declared that there would be restoration of what was stolen. This ‘today’ I believe is best pinpointed as the resurrection, for when Christ rose from the dead, it was made evident that there would be more to come for all those who trusted in Him. Thus we can best understand that what is being said in this passage is the Lord declaring His intentions and showing the proof by the resurrection of the Messiah that there would be a complete and utter victory and restoration over man’s ancient foe. As such, we find the infilling of the Holy Spirit referred to as the ‘earnest’ or pledge. (2Co 1:22, Eph 1:13,14)

Let’s quickly recap all the verse we’ve covered thus far in a light of their fulfilment:
Jehovah would surround and protect His house and the enemy would no longer pass through. (We see this happen with the Roman peace that would see Judea experience a long period of peace) Then this happens, the Messiah will come to the people of Jerusalem – He will be afflicted, bringing salvation, and riding on the colt of an ass. There would be a cessation of war and invitation would be given to the Gentiles by the Messiah. He will establish a kingdom that would cover the entire earth.
The Messiah will make a new covenant which would free His people from the Law. Once freed, they are directed to enter the new covenant in which they take on His name and identity in baptism. This marks the declaration of the Lord to restore all that was stolen as well as the extra according to the Law.

The accuracy of the prophecy made over 400 years before its fulfillment is astounding. May we today, as we look to the second coming of Christ, ensure that we are hidden away in the strong tower of the name of Jesus. There’s no other name like the name of Jesus. It’s the only name that can save, and we are prisoners of the hope of His coming again.

Notes:
– In this verse, we see illustrated that God follows His own law. What was stolen from man was found in the hands of the thief, and now double must be restored.