The Meaning Of Freedom For All (1)

Many people today, yearn for genuine freedom. Some make great effort to attain freedom from want, depravity, inadequacy. Even nations seek freedom from outside control, or subordination to other nations. But in reality, only few people know the essence of true freedom that comes from God.

The best example of true freedom is found in the Book of Exodus in the Bible chronicling the exit of the children of Israel from Egypt, and revealing much concerning God’s plan and purpose for every individual, family, community and nation. God broke the Egyptian bondage, yoke and oppression from the Israelites. He is unchanging; He will do the same today. “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians… behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.”

God hears, sees and feels the oppression of His people by the enemy. He called Moses for the singular purpose of delivering His people from the Egyptian bondage. His purpose in every generation of man is to set His people free from bondage and oppression. His plan and purpose was not just to use Moses to deliver one nation of Israel from bondage but to raise a more righteous and faithful “Prophet” to deliver the whole world. He told Moses: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”

This Prophet is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and Saviour of the world. And as the Lord planned redemption and deliverance for every Israelite from Egyptian bondage so has He sent Jesus Christ to purchase and provide redemption and freedom from sin, sickness and Satan for all men in all ages, the world over.

The description of the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt is a picture of the bondage of everyone in the world. Egypt is a figure of speech for the world while Israel represents every prospective beneficiary of the redemption that came through Christ. In Egypt, Pharaoh, representing the devil, “did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens”. Satan also set taskmasters over every individual who does not know Christ. He afflicts, torments and destroys them. Though satanic oppression and war exist, biological and population growth is multiplying.

The enslavement of the Israelites by the Egyptians was with rigour and unbearable hard labour. “And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.” The situation of the people in the world today is not any different. Many grieve and nurse bitter experiences of oppression and hard bondage. They go through horrifying experiences hard to bear; they are afflicted, tortured and vexed by the wicked in their personal and family lives. Pained to the marrow, they conclude that there is no hope of deliverance.

But sin is the cause of bondage. Without sin, there could have been no suffering, sickness, satanic oppression, or pain in nations. Sin gives the devil the leeway to enter and torment people. Paul the apostle realized this early, and openly relived his past life, which represents that of every sinner. What this shows is that majority of people in the world do not have control over their lives. The devil dictates their speech, actions and experiences, even if they are unaware of this, or openly admit it. Their many resolutions and decisions to turn over a new leaf fail because they lack the grace of God to do what is just and right. For as the Apostle admitted, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me”.

A lifestyle of sin and evil is at the root of all the sufferings, pain and bondages individuals and nations experience today. Through sinful conducts and practices come affliction, yoke, curse, poverty, oppression, sickness and broken homes, confusion, social unrest and insecurity, economic crisis and all other problems. Many people know that the way of the transgressor or evil person, or sinner is hard and will end in hell, yet they continue in evil because they are in bondage, and cannot help themselves. But the good news is, there is freedom for everyone.
Further Reading (King James Version): Exodus 3:7-10; Deuteronomy 18:15,18,19; Exodus 1:11-14; Deuteronomy 26:5,6; Romans 7:14-20; 2 Peter 2:14-22; John 8:32-36.