Liberty for the Oppressed

Four hundred years is along time for a people to be victims of slavery. (Acts 7:6)  From the seventy ancestors of Jacob, God increased the children of Israel to at least multiplied hundreds of thousands. These descendants became slaves in Egypt and served the political purposes of Pharaoh.  Their oppression increased when “There arose a new new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” (Exodus 1:8).  His insecurities prompted him to escalate hostility toward his Hebrew slaves. (Ex. 1:9)   It was this increased rigor in slavery that caused the Hebrews to cry out to their God for freedom. (Ex. 2:23)  “God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” (Ex. 2:24) and He acted on behalf of His oppressed children.  

God shows Himself to be the Liberator of the oppressed throughout the scriptures.     

In Judges 4:3 God is the Liberator, “And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.”  He showed His rescuing power again in Judges 10:18 from the hands of the “Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites”.  Yahweh came to their rescue during the oppression of Syria (2 Kings 13:22), the Babylonians (Daniel 5), and the Medo-Persians (Daniel 6 and Nehemiah).  God works in the lives of His children to set the captives free.  He is the physical Liberator of those with whom He has entered into covenant.  As we continue to unfold the pages of the Bible we find that God especially acts on behalf of the oppressed.  He shows a particular interest in those recipients of such horrible injustices at the hands of others and He reserves a specific retaliation for those who treat others so unjustly.  In Psalm 9:9, “The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.”  This divine concern for the afflicted extends beyond the ethnic people of Israel to what could be considered in the Bible simply as “the oppressed”.  He extends His active hand “to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed” (Psalm 10:18).  The LORD is depicted as arising to judgment “to deliver all the oppressed” (Psalm 76:9) and He “executes justice for the oppressed” (Psalm 146:7).  

The physical liberation by God’s hand is well established.  It is also appropriate to recognize the liberation God provides from spiritual oppression.  The physical nature of God’s emancipating activity is clear but it is also important to note its dual function as it foreshadows the work done in redeeming people from the slavery of sin.  The redemption that occurs is evident in spiritual salvation but also continues in the sanctifying work of divine grace.  Peter speaks of God’s sanctifying power even as far back as “righteous Lot” who was “delivered” from the oppression “of the filthy conduct of the wicked.” (2 Peter 2:7)  Paul speaks of liberty in certain practices that would have been restricted before faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 8).  He reminds us that although we are free by God’s sanctifying grace we must not take advantage of our liberty which might cause another to stumble.  This liberty is produced by the presence of the Holy Spirit, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)  So now is the time to escape the oppressive hand of sin and live in the freedom that comes by walking in the Spirit of Christ.