Freedom!
The Ten Commandments are introduced by God’s priority: He loves to set slaves free! It’s in the preamble: I rescued you from slavery, from the house of bondage. Then the very first command when He lays down the rest of the Torah is:
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“These are the laws you are to set before them: If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.” (Exodus 21:1-2).
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What a strange subject with which to start a new code of government, spiritual life, and ethics! But God is determined that His people should not be in slavery – they are to be free. This is the message of Passover. That is what the Exodus was all about. God is serious about making His people free. He told us it is His first priority. It is the purpose of Christ's crucifixion.
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The Four Stages of Liberation
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When God first approached Moses with His request to work with Him in liberating Israel, He tells him:
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“I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore, say to the Israelites:
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‘I am the LORD, and
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– I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
– I will free you from being slaves to them, and
– I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
– I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.
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Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 6:5-7)
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We can see the depth of God’s seriousness about our liberty.
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Have you personally explored His seriousness about your freedom? It is worth consistent, prolonged consideration; until we experience breakthroughs in our relationship with God that transforms our lives’ patterns. May your liberty be fruitful and multiply!
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Implicit in God’s desire to develop your liberty is the similar desire to increase your experience of grace. God has always been focused on grace in His relationship with His people. We tend to see the negative in a few chapters in the Torah. We don’t normally understand the zealous concern for our emancipation from sin. It is such a radical departure from our thinking it requires more than communication. It needs to be experienced. This is how we ‘put on’, in Greek wording, as clothing; covering ourselves with the new man, designed by God for rich liberty. We need to absorb God's image for true liberty.
Colossians 3:10 NRSV
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“and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.”
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