The Fire that Sets Free
| from Michael Acquah |
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| In Daniel 3, the tyrant king Nebuchadnezzar threatened to burn alive 3 Hebrew men who defied his order to worship his idol. He mocked, ‘And what god would be able to deliver you from my hand’? Well, he soon found out, because he himself witnessed a fourth Man, one like ‘the son of the gods’, who strolled leisurely about the heated furnace with the three men, having set them free from both their bonds and the blazing fire. The word of God reveals that there is an evil, unseen Nebuchadnezzar-like force who holds people captive and forces them to do what he wants, outside the will of God for their lives (2 Tim 2:26, Ephesians 2:2). It is one of the main reasons why men, women, children are unable to break free from addictions and various besetting sins. However, 1 John 3:8 is emphatic that the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the work of the devil. The Lord Jesus Christ is that fourth Man in the blazing furnace who comes to set people free from the oppression of the devil. Apart from preaching and teaching the truth of the gospel, a main feature of His mission among men was, and remains, the liberation of people from anything which enslaves (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus Christ delivered people from the devil’s oppression everywhere He went (Acts 10:38, Matthew 8:16-17 etc). Because He gave that authority to His followers and His church, testimonies and transformed lives continue to prove that Jesus Christ’s power to set people free is for us and is just as powerful as ever. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Let us not settle for anything less than the complete salvation and deliverance that Jesus offers us. There is power in the Name of Jesus to break every chain, completely and permanently. Let us present every area of struggle and enslavement to Him in faith, and experience with the 3 Hebrew men that when the Son sets us free, we are free indeed (John 8:36). |
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