Giving Thanks, Part Three
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An End to Oppression
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? Romans 6:16 nasbu
An American living in this age can have little basis for knowing what it is like to live under the oppressive rule of an evil dictator. We have enjoyed freedom from such things for so long, that our perspective would be hopelessly skewed. Indeed, some in our country, as well as around the world, have become so used to their comfortable liberty that they blithely denounce honorable effort to remove such evil--as if they just can't believe such things even exist. But evil does exist. In the Soviet Union, under Stalin's regime before the war, evil killed millions of its own citizens. In the killing fields of Cambodia, under the atheist Pol Pot, evil killed more than a million of its citizens by execution, or by working or starving them to death--some for simply praying. In Bosnia evil slaughtered thousands for nothing more than that they belonged to the wrong ethnic group. Evil under the Taliban in Afghanistan brutally enforced a perverse brand of Islam, dictating the length of men's beards, the isolation of women, even the squeakiness of shoes. Under the Taliban, women were summarily beaten to death for just being on the street with someone other than a male relative. And then there was the evil that ruled in Iraq. Under Saddam Hussein and his malevolent sons, women were beaten and raped, men were imprisoned and killed, or their tongues ripped out for speaking against the tyranny. Citizens were tortured and hideously murdered sometimes for no other reason than the "entertainment" of the Hussein brothers.So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:31-36 nasbu
Unregenerate life--life under the hand of the ruler of this world, Satan--is not unlike life under one of those hideous regimes. Oh, Satan may not be ripping out tongues, raping women, or exterminating entire ethnic classes of people, but he is the author of the evil exercised by those who do. His citizens live as much under tyranny and oppression as those under the old regimes in Iraq or Cambodia or Afghanistan--or today's North Korea. Kingdom life--life under the hand of God, through the blood of Jesus Christ--is something all together different. Our sovereign is benevolent, considerate, loving. He desires only good for His people. Rather than taking delight in their misery (a la the Hussein brothers), God takes delight in giving His citizens a productive, fulfilling, even bountiful life. More than that, His love for them exceeds that which man has ever imagined in his loftier dreams. His love is so deep, so profound as to be almost inexpressible. But, of course, it was expressed, on a cross long ago. And in the sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus believers find their best reason for thanksgiving.