Articles
Freed
It isn’t hard to understand why the apostles (and Jews in general) expected the Messiah to be a military leader who would free them from the Roman oppression and restore the glory of Israel. After all, Jesus Himself quotes a prophecy from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord” (Lk. 4:18-19; Is. 61:1-2).
When Jesus quoted that prophecy, everyone stared at Him, waiting for what He would say next. “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:21). What an exciting time to be alive, to witness ancient prophecies coming true! However, Jesus’ statement should have given them a hint that the coming kingdom was not about defeating Rome; it wasn’t an earthly kingdom. It was early in Jesus’ ministry when He said, “Today,” but He hadn’t done anything in opposition to Rome at that point. What He had done, was come in “the power of the Spirit” (Lk. 4:14). Matthew’s parallel passage explains what that means, “Jesus was going through all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread through all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them” (Mt. 4:23-24).
Go back through the prophecy and you will see most of it spelled out in what Jesus had already done. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, in that He performed amazing miracles. He preached the gospel, just as He was prophesied to do. He gave sight to the blind (though that one is not specifically spelled out in the Matthew 4 there are several instances where Jesus would heal the blind later on and it is reasonable to think He had already done that early in His ministry). But, when did Jesus proclaim release to the captives?
He did not go into the Roman prisons and free the Jewish prisoners. He did not go to the distant lands and bring home the Israelites who were scattered during the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Nor would He do any of those things later on in His ministry. What Jesus had already done, though, and would continue to do, was to cast out the demons who were enslaving humans through cruel and painful possessions. In so doing, Jesus was binding His strong enemy, Satan and plundering his house (Mt. 12:29). This was an act of releasing the captives and freeing those who were oppressed. It was our spiritual enemy that Jesus came to defeat.
In America, we recently celebrated the emancipation proclamation in which the slaves were set free. Truly, this is something to rejoice about. Let us continue to celebrate, as it is all of mankind that has been set free of Satan’s oppression. No longer does he hold the fear of death over us (Heb. 2:15). We’ve been set free! No longer does sin enslave us and doom our relationship with God (Rom. 6:17; Is. 59:1-2). “Our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:6-7).
Jesus has fulfilled the prophecy and His mission. The captives have been released. Like those who were finally freed from their demon oppression, let us rejoice and worship God. We too, have been freed!
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
