|
Today is our Freedom Day! Some of you are looking kind of bewildered. You probably are thinking, I thought it was Easter Sunday. What does she mean that today is our Freedom Day? Well, that is because Easter Sunday is our Freedom Day! We, who were in bondage and slaves to sin, have been set free through the resurrection of Jesus the Christ! So today is our Freedom Day!
Satan no longer holds any authority over us. Jesus destroyed the chains of the Enemy that kept us in bondage through His sufferings and death on the cross. Then when Jesus overcame death through His resurrection, He set us free to live forever with Him. In the Gospel of John, chapter eight, verse thirty-six, Jesus said, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
Sadly, some of us are continuing to wear our grave clothes. Even though we have been resurrected with Christ into a New Life and given the robes of righteousness through the waters of baptism, we have not quite got our mind set caught up with the reality that has taken place within our spirits. Spiritually we have come out of the tomb, but we have not left some of our old ways behind us. Our human nature wants to cling to our grave clothes of sin and not walk in the righteousness that Christ bought for us on the cross. Apparently, the old grave clothes have become comfortable and we are reluctant to put on the righteousness that is now ours.
Like Lazarus, whom Christ raised from the dead, some of us remain in bondage. When Lazarus came out of the grave, the scriptures tell us that he was bound up in his grave clothes. John writes,
“Then he (meaning Jesus) shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face.”
Jesus did not let Lazarus remain bound up in his grave clothes. Instead, Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him loose.’”
Jesus not only brought Lazarus back from the dead, but then set him free from the bondage of his grave clothes. The grave clothes restricted Lazarus’ mobility. Until Lazarus’ grave clothes were removed from him, he could not move about freely in his new life. Under Jesus’ command Lazarus was set free.
Today on this glorious Easter Sunday, Jesus wants to set all of us free from our grave clothes. He does not want us to live our lives in bondage. Jesus already paid the price for our freedom on the cross. He wants us to enjoy our freedom in Him now, because of His love for us.
Some of us think we have to wait until we are physically dead to become dead to our sins, but that is not the case. Jesus told Lazarus’ sister Martha,
“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all.”
There are some of us Christians, who have been resurrected, but have yet to grasp the reality of our new life in Christ.
What we need to do is to follow Christ’s example at His resurrection. The Apostle John writes about what the Apostle Peter and he saw when they went to Jesus’ tomb. He writes,
“Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed…”
When Jesus rose from the dead, He did not come out of the grave wearing His grave clothes like Lazarus did. Instead, Jesus left His grave clothes behind Him in the tomb. Our risen glorious Lord who freed us from sin and death did not want any traces of bondage to remain on Him. Jesus set the example that we need to follow. We, who have been baptized into Christ, need to live in His freedom. Like our Savior, we too need to leave our grave clothes behind us. For death no longer has dominion over us.
Through Jesus’ resurrection we have been made new creatures in Christ. We have been given a new life with new clothes. These clothes are the robes of righteousness, which we need to wear daily. No longer can we allow sin to hold us back, because through Christ we have been made more than conquerors.We are Christ’s witnesses to the world.
How we act is our testimony of what Christ has done for us. If we choose to keep on our grave clothes, then what good is our freedom in Christ? We are called to follow Jesus’ example that He gave us while on earth. The Apostle Peter in the Book of Acts tells us that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil”. As Jesus’ followers this is now our mission on earth. We need to be doing good deeds for the glory of our Lord and praying for healing for all those who remain in bondage. This is how we can let the world know that we have truly been set free through Christ’s Resurrection.
Let us mark this Easter Sunday as our Freedom Day! May we share the good news to all that Jesus Christ, who was crucified, overcame death and rose victorious from the grave. So that we who were bound by sin may be set free. Whom the Son has set free is free indeed! Happy Freedom Day!
Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
|
