Unchained

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

     Imagine, just for a moment, a dungeon; foul smelling, dank, rat infested…a place of pure misery for a prisoner. Look at the walls and see the chains hanging down with shackles locked tightly at the end to clamp securely around a criminal’s wrists. Look down and see the chain on the floor with shackles at each end, fitted to give someone barely enough leeway to take a single step. Look around at the heavy door with only a small bar-covered opening that allows a guard to look in on the prisoner. Notice the darkness of the cell and think about the utter despair someone would feel to be locked up in that cold, unforgiving place of isolation. We all have been (or still are) in that dungeon. We were bound by the chains of sin, the shackles of death, and were completely lost. Thankfully, Jesus came to set us free from all of that. Through His death on the cross and His resurrection, He purchased our salvation, completely setting us free from everything that had bound us up. He walked right up to the door of our cell and unlocked it, then loosed us from the shackles and chains. We didn’t do anything to deserve that freedom, there was nothing that we could do to earn it, and yet He set us free because He loved us too much to leave us imprisoned in the dark.


     In Luke 4:18, Jesus is quoting the scripture from Isaiah 61:1, which says this:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He has set us free through His perfect work at the cross. And yet, so many times we find ourselves sitting unshackled, unchained, on the floor of the cell staring at the open door, but not moving. Why is that? When viewed this way, it doesn’t make any sense! But God HAS set us free, and yet we still sit there playing with our old chains and wallowing in the dirt of that nasty cell. Again, WHY? Habits, addictions, vices, “pet” sins, whatever you want to call it, it’s still the same…bondage. Jesus came so that we would have life and have it more abundantly, not so that we would be stuck in the muck and mire of the past. Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price so that we would be free and He did that so that we would walk in that freedom. Read that last part again: “…do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” Do not LET yourselves…this tells us that it is our choice! We must choose to not wear those old chains. We must choose to lay down anything that comes between us and the Lord. He won’t force us to lay those things down. He won’t force us to leave that cell. However, He has opened the door wide to allow us to walk out into the light of a new life in Him and into complete freedom.

     That isn’t just freedom from sin. We have freedom from addiction, gluttony, lust, pride, envy, and jealousy, but also from oppression, depression, anxiety, defeat, and so many other things that the enemy and our flesh would like to keep us bound up with. When we repent of our sins and ask God for forgiveness, and Jesus becomes our Savior, His Spirit then dwells inside of us. That means He is always with us, good times and bad, no matter what, always. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. When His Spirit is in us we have freedom in our lives every day. It’s up to us, whether we will just sit there with our chains and stare at that open door, or whether we will choose to get up, walk out of that prison and live in freedom through Christ. He has paid the ultimate price, the question we face is whether or not we will step out into the fullness of His grace and love to live the abundant life of freedom that awaits us. Selah.