He Came to Set the Captives Free

Merriam-Webster (Captive) 1. “Held under the control of another but having the appearance of independence; – 2. owned or controlled by another concern and operated for its needs …” 3. : being such involuntarily because of a situation that makes a free choice or departure difficult.”

All the world knows and understands what a captive is. The wars throughout the history of humanity have brought this dire circumstance into a desperate focus. Hitler’s concentration camps. The Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam during the brutal times of the sixties and seventies and the present-day hostages in Gaza. The captors aim to extract demands that will further their cause.

The capturers place little value on the lives of their captives. Their only value was to keep them jailed and out of the way of the captors’ goals.

Do any of our religions have the power to break the chain of our captivity? If we have the fortitude to look around at all religions, we can only conclude that they don’t, for where is their success? A fifty-word prayer of concession is not powerful enough to break the bonds of who we are.

Our world today is facing an unprecedented time in the chronicles of world history. This world is not just a physical world. It is a world with a massive spiritual purpose. It all began when Lucifer rebelled in his world and attempted to take the Great God captive and rule in his stead. Because he failed and, in the process, revealed his demented attempt in endeavoring to “do things his way.”

Luke 4:18: “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind (spiritually blind) to set the oppressed (burdened) free.”

Isaiah 61:1 ESV “…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;”

The whole of humanity was taken captive when God allowed Satan into the Garden. He allowed this snake to lie to the woman and impress upon her that she would be like God and that if she ate this fruit, she would never die. She took that fruit back to Adam and convinced him to eat this tasty yield. He then took it from Eve, and together, they disobeyed the direct command of their creator and, in doing so, became captives of the perverted nature of Satan.

Humankind now had a very rough road ahead, for at the beginning, murder was introduced into the first family. Cain killed his brother Able in a fit of jealousy. From that day until now, this world has been under the sway of Satan’s nature, and there is nothing that we can do to change that fact.

The advantage we have as the end-time generation is that we can look back and see the results of the failure of our first parents. Millions have been killed, butchered, or incarcerated because of the failures of humanity to “just get along.” We cannot get along with one another because of Lucifer; his arrogant and self-righteous nature is now our nature, and it is rebellious. War and mayhem can likely break out if someone believes something and another disagrees.

We are captives of Lucifer’s nature, and there is nothing that humanity can do about it. It is a totally self-centered nature without any moral direction. We are held as captives by the “god of this world.” You cannot pray it away. You cannot wish it away. It is a part of who you are; only Christ and his sacrifice can and will remove this nature.

We can repent of some of our actions, but we cannot repent of our nature.

Why did God allow our first parents to be seduced by this rebellious angel? Because our creator is perfect, his decision must be for his creation’s betterment, including you and me. If you haven’t caught the point yet, our creator is finishing his creation by creating in you a mind that understands the requirements for a peaceful society.

Our physical creation is to prepare us to respond in a peaceful way. When conflict arises in his world, we will respond as we should because we fully know the consequences of that folly. For this very reason, our human life is a learning process to ensure the furtherance of God’s plans for his world.

We are in the process of being perfected.

Remember: He is the potter – we are the clay.

Because Christ, our elder brother, came to this world to redeem the world and to set us free from the bonds that have caused such heartache and trouble. He, being part of the Godhead, has mandated that we live with this nature for our natural lifetime and then we are to die.

Our second birth at the resurrection will remove that corruption inflicted upon humanity.

He came to this earth on a rescue mission. He lived for a few years and was tempted as our first parents were tempted. He overcame Satan when he was taken upon the mountain in a failed satanic attempt to force him to succumb as he forced our first parents to disobey.

He, and he alone, can remove our battered and Satan-influenced nature.

He came to set the captives free.