VARIOUS BONDAGES AND OUR FINAL REDEMPTION . My Egyptian friends may be wondering how I could term their land as the land of slavery or house of bondage. Well, it is not literal statement, but a figurative statement. Figuratively, the land of Egypt represented the house of bondage to the people of Israel, for in history, Israel was in bondage in the land of Egypt for a space of about four hundred and thirty years of slavery within the land of Egypt. . The God who brought the people of Israel out of Egypt was the One who also described the land of Egypt as a house of bondage to them. As it is written, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” [[Exodus 20:2-3]] . However, it is not just the land of Egypt that is figuratively referred to as the place of bondage in the scriptures; rather it is all the lands on the surface of the earth, where the people of God were held captive or held in bondage. Example of lands or places referred to as place of bondage or captivity include: • EGYPT was figuratively referred to a house of bondage because the children of Israel were held there for more than four centuries (Exodus 13:14, Judges 6:8). • JERUSALEM OF FLESH in the middle east, including Mount Sinai in Arabia are all in bondage with their children – As it is written, “For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia (including Saudi Arabia), and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children” [[Galatians 4:25]]. Note this: Midian is in Saudi Arabia – Midian is the place Moses fled to when he escaped from Egypt, and there in Midian, Moses married the daughter of Jethro, Zipporah and gave his first son’s name, “Gershom” meaning, I am a stranger in a strange land (Exodus 2:22, 15-25). That strange land was Midian; and Midian is currently in Saudi-Arabia. Now mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) where Moses met God and was asked to remove his shoes was either close to Midian where Moses lived or within Midian. That tells you whether Mount Sinai is in Saudi Arabia (in Median precisely) or very close to its borders. But Mount Sinai is in Arabia (Galatians 4:25), and the hub of bondage with her children. • BABYLON is figuratively the house of captivity. • SODOM AND EGYPT are figuratively the place where our Lord was crucified (Revelation 11:8). . It does not mean there are no people of God among the Egyptians; for Egypt shall be called the people of God. As it is written, “In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” [[Isaiah 19:24-25]] . Again it is written, “Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God” [[Psalms 68:31]] ……………………………………………….. Now let me categorize bondage into four kinds: 1. Bondage of man 2. Bondage of the Law or elements of the world 3. Bondage of fear 4. Bondage of corruption ……………………………………. BONDAGE OF MAN . This is a man-made bondage or yoke of slavery on other men or animals. When man makes another man or animal his slave, we can classify that bondage as the bondage of man. E.g. when Egypt subjected the people of Israel into bondage, and enslaved them; or when the whites enslaved the blacks through colonialism, hypes and slave-trading. But it is written, “…the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing” (Isaiah 10:27). ……………………………………… BONDAGE OF THE LAW OR ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD . This is bondage that has to do with people who are under the Law or under the rudiments, ordinances or elements of the world (Colossians 2:20-23). Those who tried to subject or observe the laws of Moses after they are set free by Christ are bringing themselves into bondage e.g. Observing Sabbath days, observing days, and festivals according to the law, observing those things in the laws etc. bring men into bondage (Galatians 4:9-12, 1-31). All those who are under the Law of Moses by observing them are in bondage with Jerusalem of Mount Sinai, which is in bondage with her children – those under the old covenant according to the Law of Moses. But it is written, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” [[Galatians 5:1]] ……………………………….. BONDAGE OF FEAR . This is the bondage in which majority of Christians are now held captive of the devil. Many are brought into bondage by so little demons of fear. Those Christians shall soon realize that fear leads people into the lake of fire; for the fearful are among those that shall have their parts in the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8). . 1. Those who fear death are still in bondage; but they can be delivered. As it is written, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” [[Hebrews 2:14-15]] 2. Those who fear in love shall be tormented. As it is written, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear: because fear has torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love.” [[1 John 4:18]] But it is written, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” [[2 Timothy 1:7]] Again, it is written, “For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” [[Romans 8:15]] ……………………………………….. BONDAGE OF CORRUPTION . There are two kinds of corruption: 1. Corruption of unrighteousness - also known as pollution, defilement of the man [[2 Peter 2:19-21]]. 2. Corruption of mortality . Both corruptions bring men into bondage. . Everyone living in corruptible flesh is under the bondage of corruption of mortality. But it is written, “The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” [[Romans 8:21]] . Now, we the children of Christ in truth are not in any bondage except one – bondage of mortality or corruption of our mortal bodies. For this reason, I said, after being set free from slavery, we still walk in the land of slavery as strangers. That land of slavery represents our mortality, which is also bondage. . This introduces what is called, “Groaning within our body.” We groan in our body, just as Israel groaned in their land of bondage (Exodus 2:23-25). The reason we groan in our body is because we are also in bondage in our mortal body, just as the people of Israel were in bondage in the land of Egypt. But the freedom we seek is not by exodus from our body just as in the case of Israel from Egypt; rather it is in God’s redemption of our body from mortality into immortality in what is called the translation or the Change. Therefore, it is written, “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” [[Romans 8:23]] Again, it is written, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” [[2 Corinthians 5:2-8]] . It is not enough that our body carries the Holy Spirit; for we still groan for our body to be immortalized and redeemed. Even the Holy Spirit in us also groans within us to help our infirmities – for the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26).
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 21:52:27 +0000
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