“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Galatians 5:1
There is freedom that comes from the cross, a blessed and wondrous freedom that can only come from the salvation that was granted in Christ Jesus and his encompassing sacrifice that was made at the heights of Calvary as he died for us and all of our sins. Once where we were held in the dark bondage of slavery to sin, death and the Devil, the Messiah came, the Son of God was made man, and he set captivity captive as he ransomed each and every one of us, freeing us from that yoke that once held us in such dark and meager estates.
But then, as it was triumphantly proclaimed, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
By God’s grace, by Christ’s love, by the Spirit’s power, life is valued and preserved through the compassion that is freely shown unto each and every one of our Heavenly Father’s precious and beloved children. It is the wondrous miracle of hope, the amazing blessing of liberty that is granted through the precious blood of the Lamb that washes us clean. The bitter slavery that would chain us in our iniquity and our sins would be broken, no longer to have any power or authority over us as we came to know that there is a God in Heaven who is forever there for us and for our freedom through any and all of the challenges that we face in our life.
Knowing that do not have the strength to go it alone or to do it by ourselves, He, in the most significant of ways, showed that we never have to but that instead there was a purpose and a love that was in our lives that would guide us through the darkest chapters of it. No longer did we have to abide in fear wondering about the inevitable time of our deaths, no longer did we have to live scared believing that there was no hope in our lives as we felt the courage and the strength drain from us, knowing it will only be a matter of time before the old Adversary, in his wicked contempt, would come to claim us. We were reconciled to the Lord by the power of His light cutting through the darkness in our lives as Christ made way the path to righteousness and the Spirit led us down it.
If this is then the love that God showed us in even the greatest of challenges, if this is the power that the Lord demonstrated even in the heaviest times of trial and adversity, how much devotion He had for us even as we found ourselves so lost and hurt, then how much more authority does He demonstrate against the forces of evil and wickedness in this world as it seems to be on the rise, marching forward, setting the world ablaze in the chaos that it seeks to inflict? If this is the might of the Lord during those dark and trying times then can it really be thought that as the captives and the slaves, the prisoners and the hostages held amidst this world are going to be left to the wickedness of brutal oppression and spiteful subjugation?
The Lord God Almighty is a God of freedom who does not let His children suffer in captivity and slavery, as their lives are held cheap by the forces of evil working their wicked ways amidst this world. He is a God of freedom who has liberty in His hand and justice in His will, always and forever moving as a force for good as He shows that He is the ever present, ever vigilant strength that moves through this world, bringing the dream of freedom to fruition through the power of His might. He does not abandon His people in their hour of need, nor does He forsake them to the yoke of slavery or the bondage of captivity as they find the life is choked from them by those who would hold them in such grim estate.
The Lord God Almighty is a God of deliverance who does not just turn a blind eye when the evil is on the rise and their wickedness is on the move, using iniquity and transgression to oppress their fellow man in the most brutal, the most spiteful of ways. He does not let those who hold the life that He has created in His divine image so cheaply and without value stand as He shows that He is on the move, forever weaving Himself through the course of human events to work miracles in the lives of those who are chained amidst the hatred of contempt filled men letting their own sin rob the dignity from the lives of others. He does not fail those who are in such desperate places, nor does He just ignore their cries and their pleas as they find themselves in such places of despair and agony as misery overtakes their spirit and soul.
The Lord God Almighty is a God of mercy forever bond to the course and the destiny of His people as He looks upon their faces with compassion and kindness in the wondrous glory of His encompassing love. He is at work, moving through this world even as cruelty seems to be all around us and everything seems so cast amidst chaos, to show that He is there and that it is His power that has authority, not just in the present age but throughout all of the generations that have since come and gone. He does not just hide His face when the challenge is on and when pain and suffering seems to be so prevalent. Rather He is there to show that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. That light just happens to be Him, putting to flight the power and the grim hold of the darkness that would seek to so overshadow and imprison people in the brutality of the hard, harsh slavery that can be inflicted onto them.
This is the wondrous miracle of God’s great love and one that all people, in all places can put all their hope and their reliance on through the promises that the Lord has made. His assurances stand even when it seems like everything around us is collapsing. It is then that His great compassion shows itself, contending with the plight of those who are held in captivity, knowing nothing more than darkness that can be afflicted against them. He is there, through the darkness to shine His light and His truth, His righteousness and His mercy showing Himself to be the Deliverer with liberty pouring forth from His hands.
And so even as the challenges seem great, even as the struggle may now seem as if it was on us, put your hope and your faith in the Lord, that God of freedom who works His will and His ways amidst this world, knowing that He will show forth His love in all things, through all things according to the great mercy that He has. Just as Christ has delivered the people from sin, ransoming that lost and fallen race whose fate was so bitterly decided as they found themselves forever held in the dark bondage of slavery to sin and iniquity as the Prince of this World asserted his dominance over us, so too now does God continue to show forth the same love against the ever present dangers that would seek to so ensnare us in this world and rob the life from them.
It is in that love, it is in that power that you can place all hope and reliance, in the faithful trust then that you have in the Lord. What a wondrous blessing that truly and richly is in all the struggles and ordeals, in all of the trials and turmoil of this world.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen.
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