The Illusion of Bondage

Isaiah 52:1-2

Often, we who have grown-up in western nations may understand the meanings of words like slavery or captivity, but most of us have never experienced the loss of freedom.   Most of us go and do as we wish without asking for permission to do so, that is unless we are under our parents control, have joined the military, or have entered into a contractual relationship with an organization.  Even with such restrictions, it is hard for the mind of such people to grasp the fullness of what Israel has grown accustom to over its many years of captivity.

Listen to God’s prophet once more telling the Israelites to “Awake, Awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.  Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”  God, speaking through the lips of Isaiah, is telling His people they are no longer to live as if still in bondage, they are now living in Jerusalem, the holy city, and it’s time to renew, refresh, and restore Jerusalem, for it is no longer under the control of the uncircumcised.

Freedom can be an illusion to people who have long been under the control of someone or something, and often it requires a person to address the issue, and to remind them they are free to choose.  In my lifetime I’ve observed the illusion of bondage, where people of color whose great ancestry were brought in bondage to our nation and for many years were slaves, but a great war divided our nation and many men died so that today they could choose to live as free men.  Many of these people who have never known slavery, and neither have their parents or grandparents, but the illusion of slavery holds many in bondage.  This is what Isaiah is telling the people of Israel to awaken from the illusion, and to live as free people.

Many of us who go by the name of Christian have also bought into the illusion of sin and death as if it still has control over us, as if we were without a choice, but God is telling you to awake, for if you have entered into Christ you are no longer under the control of sin or death.  Each day, an often many times each day, we are given the opportunity to choose, and Channel One the deceptive channel that mimics our voice, and we listen and choose the way of sin and death.  But it is a choice for Channel Two, the Holy Spirit is also telling us to choose life, to love God, and to love our neighbors.  God has instructed all who are in Christ to renew our minds, if that was not possible then God would be setting us up to fail, and we know that is not true.  Romans 6:12 gives this insight; “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”  And Romans 6:14, makes clear that we are free to choose; “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

And yet many Christians are being taken captive, for they are not awakened to the fact that it is a choice, and they are walking by feeling and not by faith.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice