We live beside a family who is very interested in nature. They have many kinds of trees and different kinds of wildflowers that they enjoy in summer. They also have a bird feeding station that keeps their backyard alive with birds all winter. But if you step inside their house, you will also find two happy little birds just waiting to light on your head or shoulder or finger!
These little birds, Java sparrows, don’t know what it’s like to soar above the treetops. They have never had the freedom to fly for miles. Their tiny eggs were hatched inside a house, and they were fed by human hands. When their eyes opened, they were already familiar with human voices and the sounds of the house. They don’t know any other way of life and are happiest when people are around. They fight each other for the place closest to a person’s face and are constantly trying to “kiss” people’s lips. It takes a little while to get used to having birds suddenly so close.
Although it is an interesting experience to be around birds so tame, it is still rather sad. They are, after all, prisoners. No, they are not in a bird cage, but they do not have the freedom to fly outdoors in the open sky. The house they live in is their prison.
Who could explain to them that life in a house is not what was planned for them? Who could explain to them that God planned for them to enjoy the freedom of a warm climate and to use their wings to fly where they pleased? Only if someone could become a Java sparrow could he tell them so they would understand.
What a picture these little birds are of every member of the human race. We were born into a sinful world, far from God. His plans for us on earth were spoiled when man sinned, and we were, in a way, stolen by Satan. We are in Satan’s prison.
But God wanted us back. He wanted to tell us that this was not what He had planned for us. He wanted to tell us how very much He loved us. But He lives in heaven, and we live on earth. How could He tell us so we would understand?
God found a way. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to become a man here on earth. Jesus would show us how much God loved us. And He did.
But Jesus did even more. God had told Him that He wanted to buy us back, that He wanted to redeem us from our sins. And Jesus offered to pay the price for us. The price was not money. He went to Calvary’s cross and shed His blood to pay the awful price that God required for the sins of every person who would trust in Him to be bought back. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)). “Ye are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:2020For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20)).
Would you like to be delivered from Satan’s prison of sin? All you need to do is believe in your heart that Jesus died on Calvary’s cross for your sins. He promises to redeem you and make you a child of God. Satan can never steal you again. God says, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine” (Isaiah 43:11But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (Isaiah 43:1)).
ML-04/17/2005