On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became law by executive order. It liberated slaves in certain southern states. After the war, the 13th amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in the United States of America. Approximately four million former slaves became legally free. No longer were they the property of another man. But how free were they?
The book of Exodus begins with the death of Joseph and the Egyptians forcing the children of Israel into slavery. A Lifetime turned into a generation, a generation into centuries, and still Israel was in bondage. Three hundred years later Exodus records the following words. “Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.” (Exodus 2:23-25) God appointed a deliverer who would lead the children of Israel out of bondage. This deliverer was Moses. The path to deliverance was not easy. Pharaoh resisted, even after numerous plagues. Finally, Pharaoh relented. He issued an Emancipation Proclamation that pre-dated President Lincoln’s by thousands of years. We read about in Exodus 12. “Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said. “Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.” (Exodus 12:30-32) So, the children of Israel were delivered from their bondage and had freedom. But how free were they? Let me rephrase the question. How free are you?
Romans 3:23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Everyone who is alive today is a sinner. We have violated God’s command of perfect obedience (1 Peter 1:16), and are therefore sinners. About sinners Paul writes, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16) Ironic, isn’t it? We may be free in that we are not owned by another, but as sinners we are slaves. We actually serve another through our sin. Who does the sinner serve? “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:1-2) The sinners walked according to the course, not only of this world system, but of the one who dominates this world system – Satan. Satan is the “prince of the power of the air.” Free physically, but enslaved spiritually. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves from their spiritual bondage anymore than Pharaoh’s release free the children of Israel from their spiritual captivity. It is a sad thing indeed to be trapped in the prison of sin, “having no hope, and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12)
Praise be to God, that He did not leave the sinner without a remedy for their spiritual bondage. The scripture says, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17-18 ) What is “that form of teaching” that the author of Romans was referring to? “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Romans 1:16-17) The gospel is the message of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, by faith alone. Once the sinner has been freed from the bondage of sin, he is transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light; from serving the “prince of the power of the air” to serving “the Prince of Peace.” Instead of a slavery that brings only death, the believer is bound to the One who gives eternal life. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) Jesus Christ becomes the sinners Emancipation Proclamation.
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