Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18:19, &
Galatians 5:1& 21
Isaiah, the fore-teller and fore-runner
of Christ, in the Spirit of the LORD told the Israelites the LORD gave him good
news to preach. The good news he told them about included healing for the
brokenhearted, freedom for captives, release from darkness, comfort for those
who mourned, and a day of vengeance by God. When Jesus began His earthly
ministry, He read Isaiah’s prophecy in the temple and said, “Today, this
scriptures is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The freedom Isaiah spoke about and
Jesus gave with His death and resurrection is precious. For the Israelites in
captivity, it gave them hope that God had not forgotten them though they had
sinned and fallen very far away from Him. God still called them His chosen
people. He would not allow their sin and captors to take them away into
permanent captivity. Jesus came to proclaim the same. He came to give freedom
from sin and the death penalty that is attached to sin. Jesus stood before the
men in the temple and proclaimed He is God’s way to salvation.
In Galatians 5, Paul encouraged the
Galatians to keep standing firm and strong in the strength of Jesus Christ. His
power to overcome sin and death is the power available to all God’s children to
defeat the sin that Satan puts in our way to make us stumble or lose hope. Paul
reminded the Galatian Christians Jesus gave them freedom from the slavery sin
had them in. He said, “Do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”
Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection
removed the power of sin – to ensnare and trap us into believing we have no
hope and leads us to death. His power over sin and death gives each of us the
same power if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. We Christians each day have
the opportunity to choose to follow Jesus and live the life He offers or to
follow the desires of our flesh. The first brings hope, love, and power. The
latter brings darkness, stumbling, and entanglement. With Jesus there is
freedom from sin, which entangles and draws a person into darkness and despair.
We have a
choice –
Freedom in
Christ Jesus, which brings hope and life
or
Slavery to
Sin, which brings death and despair.
You have a
choice.
Choose
Freedom.
