The Bride of Christ Lesson 3b (The Bridegroom: Redeemer)
Last week we began looking at the third characteristic of the Bridegroom: Redeemer. We learned that we have been delivered by our Redeemer. Today we will continue to look at other words/phrases that describe and illustrate for us the depth of what it means that we are redeemed.
Second, through our redeemer we have been liberated.
The Webster 1828 dictionary defines liberate as: to free; to release from restraint or bondage; to set at liberty.
Webster defines liberty as: freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind.
Liberation of Auschwitz:
Soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates of Auschwitz Concentration Camp on January 27, 1945. About 7 thousand prisoners awaited liberation in the Main Camp, Birkenau, and Monowitz.i
"It is impossible to describe in human words the meeting of the imprisoned, saved from certain death, with their liberators," recalled Regina Grimberg, a French Jew who belonged to the resistance movement in occupied France. – “Soviet officers and soldiers in rags, exhausted, freezing cold, but victorious, cried like little children at the sight of piles of corpses in front of barracks and people in agony, resembling skeletons, stacked on bunks. The female prisoners screamed, sobbed, and lovingly touched the clothes of their liberators to find out that these people were real, and kissed their hands."
“It may be sorry to say, but it is no big deal for a soldier during an offensive to see bodies of the dead, he had seen enough of them after all. But it was different here. These people did not die in the fight – it showed. A pile of emaciated bodies against the wall of the barracks. Snow has already covered them. And then a group of those who were shot. Men, women” – recalled the Soviet lieutenant Yuri Ilinsky. – “Children… children behind the wires. It left the strongest impression on me, on my soldiers. A whole crowd of children. From tiny two or three-year-olds to teenagers. Skinny, ragged, sick, hungry. We gave them everything that was in our backpacks."ii
The brief account above is not adequate to describe the inhumane and detestable atrocities suffered by those Hitler wanted to annihilate. What Hitler and his regime did demonstrate the depths of human depravity. For those who survived, however, there was a day of liberation. Most had probably given up hope of ever being rescued. But on January 27, 1945, their prayers we answered.
We too, as believers in Jesus Christ, have been liberated from the enemy’s camp!
Liberation or freedom is an excellent description of the biblical idea of salvation. In the Bible the word “salvation” means the action or result of deliverance from danger. In the Old Testament it tends to refer to the escape of God’s people from their enemies, and in particular the escape of the nation of Israel from the bondage of Egypt and Babylon. In the New Testament it refers to deliverance from the power of evil — from sin and death.iii
Isaiah 61:1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
Luke 4:17-19, “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 heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
In the verses in Luke, Jesus, our bridegroom, is quoting from Isaiah the prophet. He is listing, for his listeners, the mandate/mission he had been given by his Father.
Our bridegroom came to liberate mankind from the 5 major conditions that effective us all.
Poverty: To preach the gospel to the poor.
The poor here has a twofold meaning. First, it means those who are physically without financial means. Those living in poverty. Secondly, it also means those who acknowledge their total dependence upon God. This dependency applies to both those who are literally poor and dependent upon God for everything, as well as those who understand their spiritual condition and put their full dependency on God to sustain them.
In the Old Testament, “the poor” were those who had no inheritance, who were financially impoverished and of low social status, or who were downtrodden, oppressed, disadvantaged, and destitute.
The "poor," like the "prisoners," the "blind," and the "oppressed," are not only the unfortunate of this world but those who have special need of dependence on Godiv
These concepts of “the poor” continue into the New Testament, as people living in poverty and the humble who live by faith in God are “the poor.”v
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus addressed this idea of dependance upon God. Luke 6:20 says, He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Matthew 5:3, “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (NLT)
The “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3) are people who recognize their own spiritual poverty—they realize their desperate need for God, turn to Him, and receive the richest blessings He graciously offers through faith in Jesus Christ.vi
In Revelation 2:9 God is speaking to the church in Smyrna, “I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich).”
With special tenderness, the Lord tells His suffering saints that He knows their tribulation thoroughly. To outward appearances, they might be poverty-stricken, but as far as spiritual things were concerned, they were rich. As Charles Stanley said, “There was peculiar honor in being near and like Himself, who had nowhere to lay His head. I have learned this: Jesus is specially the partner of His poor servants.”vii
Sorrow: To heal the brokenhearted.
Psalm 34:18, The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent. (AMPC)
The LORD knows how to resist the proud, but He cannot resist a broken and contrite heart. He keeps Himself accessible to the brokenhearted, and is always on hand to rescue the crushed in spirit.viii
Revelation 21:4, ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death.’ Neither shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain, for the former things have passed away.”
In a touching metaphor of motherly love, John says that God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes". These tears have come from sin's distortion of God's purposes for the human race. God now has defeated the enemy of humankind and liberated his people and his creation.ix
Questions for reflection:
1.When was my Liberation Day? The day I was freed from the enemy’s camp and made a child of God?
2. Am I living in total dependency upon God? If not, why?
3. Am I walking in pride in any area of my life? If yes, in what areas?
4. How can I begin to walk in brokenness (humility) in the area(s) listed above?
Works Cited:
i https://www.auschwitz.org/en/history/liberation/day-of-liberation/
ii https://www.jhi.pl/en/articles/impossible-to-describe-liberation-auschwitz-january-27-1945,4900
iii http://www.thetransformedsoul.com/additional-studies/spiritual-life-studies/spiritual-liberation#:~:text=God's%20desire%20is%20to%20increasingly,result%20of%20deliverance%20from%20danger.
iv Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament Copyright 2004.
v https://www.gotquestions.org/proclaim-good-news-to-the-poor.html
vi https://www.gotquestions.org/proclaim-good-news-to-the-poor.html
vii Believer's Bible Commentary Copyright © 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2016 by William MacDonald.
viii Believer's Bible Commentary Copyright © 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2016 by William MacDonald.
ix Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament Copyright 2004.
Note: All Scripture references are from the MEV unless otherwise specified.
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