If someone asked you to name a great emancipator in history, what would be your answer? Living in America, I believe most people would answer by naming President Abraham Lincoln as a great emancipator. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation signed into law on January 1, 1863, freed forever “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State…in rebellion against the United States.” These slaves were African American men and women who lived in the United States, as well as those states that comprised the confederacy at the time in our Nation’s history.
Some people over the years have also attributed Moses from the Old Testament as a great emancipator. He led the Israelites to freedom from their 400 years of slavery in Egypt. God chose Moses to lead his chosen people to freedom in the Promised Land, free from oppression imposed by Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
No doubt, both of these men were great leaders in their time. Both men had strong convictions about slavery and stayed on course with the objectives God inspired them to accomplish – Free God’s people from mankind-imposed slavery. God wanted ALL of His people to be free. Free to love, serve, and honor God for who He is.
But I offer one more person who walked this earth as the “Greatest Emancipator” of all time – Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t just free the Jews, or the African Americans, or any other slaves at that time; He freed ALL mankind, Jew and Gentile from the beginning to the end of mankind on earth. He freed us from the Satan-imposed bondage to sin and death. Jesus brought us eternal salvation through His sacrifice and death on the cross on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday. The shackles and chains were removed forever. Hallelujah!!
The Jewish people in Jesus’ time on earth did not fully understand His purpose as the Messiah. Throughout the Old Testament the prophesy of the Messiah led them to believe the great conqueror would come to free them from the oppression of the Roman Empire who was occupying their homeland. The scholarly Jews were skeptical of Jesus and His teachings about God, being born again, and receiving the spiritual blessings of eternal salvation. They didn’t understand the great blessing of forgiveness coming their way, personally delivered by the Son of God.
When Jesus died on the cross for all of us, He destroyed that figurative Wall of Jericho that had separated mankind from God. His sacrificial love for us enabled the direct relationship to occur between God and all of His children that He created. We no longer had to be slaves to the sin, worries, anxieties, fears, doubts, and despair that life inserts into our hearts and minds in this world. These distractions take our focus away from serving and trusting a loving God. Jesus wants to free you and me from this type of slavery. He died and rose from the dead for us to ensure we would no longer be slaves to the distractions and sins of this world. All we have to do is believe in Him, believe that He died for our sins, was resurrected, and we trust Him as our Lord and Savior.
As written in John 5: 12-13, Jesus said to His disciples, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (NIV)
During this year’s Holy Week as all Christians recall the events captured in the New Testament, let’s remember what Jesus did for all of us in obeying God’s will to lay down His life for all mankind as atonement for our sins. And then three days later, He was raised from the dead; resurrected into a new life to lead the way for all mankind to join Him in an everlasting life with God in His heavenly kingdom.
Perhaps this can be the year where mankind-imposed slavery is finally wiped out of America, and even the world. Modern day slavery has many, ugly versions such as human trafficking, sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking, racial injustice and inequality, oppression, prejudice, hate, and violence. No on one on earth has the right to enslave another person for any reason. We must love each other as God loves us. We must also forgive each other as God forgive us too. We are all God’s children; freedom-loving people who choose to love and serve Him.
Jesus died on the cross to free ALL of us from the darkness and slavery to sin. Let us rejoice in the freedom God’s Son; our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave each of us. And we can do likewise to honor Jesus’ sacrifice by not trying to impose any type of slavery on our fellow human beings. Glorify His name and show our gratitude for His sacrifice by staying focused on God and pleasing Him by loving and serving other people. Let God’s love flow freely into your heart by breaking down that Wall of Jericho surrounding your heart, mind, and soul that has been enslaving you to focus on the sin and multiple distractions of this world.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 – NIV)
Let God’s true freedom ring loud and clear throughout the land. Accept God’s peace for your soul. Rejoice that Jesus is Lord over all the earth, forever and ever.
Have a happy and blessed Easter!! Alleluia!!
Live, Learn and Grow in Jesus!!
Blessings,
Jerry
