We Are Held Captive By Our Own Doing
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
Isaiah 61:1–3 [ESV]
As the Jews told Jesus that they have never been enslaved to anyone, so too, and Americans especially…we who are born free…
Say the same. Yet this is not really true.
A Redeemer would not be necessary, if that were the case.
Redemption means buying back that which is held until a debt is paid.
And everyone born has been in debt since conception.
You see…we have this addiction to the idea that it is all just a matter of our will and decision–that we choose to be in debt or free.
So how would…how does a slave get free? He can work as hard as he likes…and his master may be pleased…but what of it? If the debt is bigger than a life-time…if the debt is still piling up each day…compounding….
Then it is a life-long servitude.
So how could a slave find freedom? Can we run? Where to? Is there a place that God is not? Is there a place where God cannot see?
But Jesus says in John 8, that those who sin are its slaves.
No! Jonah tried that, remember! Even at the bottom of the sea, God was there…with Jonah…in the belly of that huge fish.
And the Psalmist tells us in Ps. 139, that even the darkest of places is like day to God.
It is simple. It must be paid back or we remain in prison…in debt…in hock…in servitude…stuck…sold into slavery forever.
There is no way around it. It is how God made the universe…creation itself knows in its very structure that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
To have, costs. To get means there has to be effort made to have.
Actions have reactions. There are consequences. You cannot get here from there…without exerting enough energy and time…
And the truth is we have not enough of either!
And the truth is that we were never meant to.
That same lie that says that the universe just happened, by chance…of its own self…
Is the same one that was in the garden that still convinces humanity…that keeps us thinking…that we can someday…somehow…
Do enough, have enough…have earned enough and so have the right to be free.
It will never happen. This because that is not how it was ever supposed to be… or happen.
As the universe did not give itself birth, so too we don’t…and can’t.
It was God who did and does. All things come from Him and all that is and will be is because He wills it and keeps giving, from Himself, so that it will.
And is this not what we expect from loving parents? Well, this is because God the Father was the example of how loving parents were to be.
Supplying every need…even life itself.
This is how God created things to be—how parents were to be and to do.
And He has maintained this mechanism…even if we break it all the time…in this world.
Because of this He has kept us from succeeding…for very long…with anything we do…on our own… without Him…
No, in the end whatever we do achieve…fades away…and we never can take any of it with us.
And then we meet the debt collector. The Judge. The owner. Then the scales are set up and things are measured.
The result? Not good for us.
So, might you ask…this then is all there is…?
Now, really…do you think He ever waits…or ever waited around for the scales to balance? Do you think He left it up to us to get it right… eventually?
No… and this, not even at the start.
The very nature of Good itself is to give and do for those that are loved…like I said, just like a parent would.
This is love…that even life would be sacrificed so that those that are loved would be kept safe…saved…
And yes, redeemed!
God is consistent. God does not violate His own laws…His own creation. It still cost. It still required a like-kind payment for the debt owed.
In order to redeem mankind, it required a man to pay.
Yet the debt was too big… and there were too many to pay for…to redeem. A world full. A human history–from start to last—full of people that were piling up debt that they could never pay back.
Everyone…the very crown of His creation sold into slavery…
For nothing. Like Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew…humanity sold themselves for a lie that they could be little gods… and be independent from their maker… that they could cause their own life to continue… to make their own way… to sustain all things with their will… to supply all that is needed.
And a lie it was. They failed.
Of course they did! They fail still… as we fail and die still… empty handed… with nothing to show for it… still owing… up and over our heads in debt!
So, because this debt was so big… so far-reaching… so deep… it affected all of creation…so much so that…
… it required God to be able to accomplish what was required.
And so, God became a man and paid. He paid our way—our debt…redeemed us…bought our freedom…covered our losses…
And that of all of creation. He became the new Adam so that a man could once again be the head of creation as was meant to be. Dependent upon God, His Father, as a man, yet still God to restore and fix all that was broken.
Born under the Law to do His Father’s will in the Law… killed to pay a debt owed… and resurrected to make a new race of men…
Free and righteous. Free not to be independent… but free to give and love as He does. Free to give everything… just as we are free to have everything, so to also to give.
This was what was promised by God from the beginning… and repeated… demonstrated by God… again and again…
This is what was meant by Isaiah’s Words from God. This was what Jesus came to do and did.
1The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
This was done, and continues to be done, in each generation until the last to be born…until that great day when we will see it as clearly as our Lord does now.
Jesus said it is finished. And it is, as He has done this. It is. Fact. Truth. And it is all ours in Jesus. Free in Him.
Amen.
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