PERHAPS the last thing we are naturally prepared to admit is that we are not free; that we are under the bondage of sin. Yet how true it is! “Surely every man walketh in a vain show” (Psa. 39:66Surely every man walketh in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. (Psalm 39:6)). Apparently free in his actions, carrying out his own thoughts; yet under the discerning eye of God, he is seen to be walking “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:22Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:2)) ―a captive held by his subtle deception, on the one hand, and by the pleasures of sin on the other.
There is only One who is able to meet the case of such a captive and set him free. It is the mighty Servant of Jehovah, His Holy One, who has already exposed the enemy’s deception, done God’s will, and will eventually establish that will in the universe. All authority is now placed in “the day of salvation” He can say to the prisoners, “Go forth”, and to them that are in darkness, “Show yourselves”. That day of salvation as foretold by Isaiah (chap. 49) is Now. And let it be noted, the word is to the “isles”, and the “nations from far”. So that any prisoner, anywhere, wanting liberty from the slavery of sin under Satan’s power may be set free Now. You and I, once poor benighted Gentiles, are now favored with light from above through the declaration of the gospel.
Most people are ready enough to admit that they are sinners. It seems to be accepted as a general term. But admit they are bond-slaves, Never! The Jews, with the Roman yoke heavy upon them, indignantly retorted to the Lord Jesus, that they were “never in bondage to any man”. But He, the Truth, had said to them, “If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31, 3231Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31‑32)). It is the aim of the enemy of souls to keep men in ignorance of the truth about God, and His thoughts of good toward them; and so succeeded with the Jews that, ‘through ignorance’, they actually crucified the gracious, loving Saviour.
We remember reading of some slaves on a slave ship, who were deluded by those who had captured them to believe that the English tortured all the slaves they captured; and when the English ship, employed in the suppression of the slave traffic, bore down upon the privateer, they actually helped the slave dealers to fire on their would-be rescuers!
May its emancipating beams shine into your heart, reader, if it has not yet done so. The One who has revealed God ― His Own Son ― is still on the throne of God; and all the glorious results of His finished work are available to all.
You may have read that when Paul and Silas were thrown into the dungeon at Philippi, that they sang praises to God, and the prisoners heard them. They were the praises of free liberated men, once prisoners themselves; and their songs of victory and joy were for the benefit of other prisoners.
May you hear in the gospel the voice of Him, the Lord Jesus, who has broken the power of Satan, and borne the judgment due to sin, that He might say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth’. How gladly He does so! But let it be remembered that the insidious bondage of sin is not a temporary term, such as prisoners of earth serve; it has an eternal consequence.
The gracious One, who alone had power to forgive sins, had to say to some, “Ye shall die in, your sins”; and in Revelation 20. we read that those who die in their sins are raised and judged according to their works.
How blessed, then, to be made free, in this day of salvation! But if we are not set free we are still held captive. L. O. L.