God’s salvation causes us to have real freedom; our possession is God, and our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God.
Today we may look around us and not see much physical slavery, or we may look at ourselves and think we are ok, we are free to do whatever we want to do. But actually unless we enjoy God, we do not have real freedom.
The ones in Israel who had to sell their possessions and even themselves into slavery might have been getting comfortable in being a slave, but God’s desire is that all His people would enter the jubilee to enjoy God as their possession and inheritance, and to be liberated from slavery.
Our God is great – He would never force or deceive us into doing something that we do not want to do.
When He created man, He clearly put man in front of two trees, and He interdicted man to eat of one of the trees. But man was deceived by Satan, who is so small and narrow that he would deceive man, lie to man, and cheat man so that he would illegally usurp man and get into man.
Because man fell, now we all are born as slaves to sin, Satan, and the world, and we are alienated from the life of God, being estranged from the enjoyment of God.
Our birthright as men created in the image of God is that we would enjoy God as our possession and we would live in the family of God, free from any slavery. But because man fell, we lost our birthright.
Therefore, the Lord Jesus came as God becoming man to redeem man and bring man back to his birthright, back to God as his inheritance and back to his family, his home, God’s household.
Now whenever someone believes into the Lord Jesus he not only receives the divine life but he also is freed from the slavery of sin and brought back to the family of God to enjoy all the riches of God together with the fellow members of God’s household.
We need to see that we as believers in Christ have been transferred out of the kingdom of Satan and into the kingdom of God, our of darkness and into light, and out of anything negative into God Himself.
We have heard the sounding of the ram’s horn and we have entered into the jubilee, and now we enjoy real freedom by enjoying God as our possession! Hallelujah!
And because we are so full of the enjoyment of God as our possession, we cooperate with Him to proclaim the jubilee by announcing the gospel to all those around us, to all those who are illegally under the deceiving and usurpation of Satan, who is the lord of this age.
In this article we want to see more concerning what it means to have real freedom, what we as believers in Christ need to be freed from, what those around us live in, and what is the way for us to be truly and really free.
God’s Salvation causes us to have Real Freedom, for our Freedom comes from our Enjoyment of God
If a man doesn’t enjoy God, he doesn’t enjoy real freedom, for our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God. Today many people talk about freedom, freedom of speech, equal rights, freedom of belief, and freedom of movement.
And there’s such an entity called, the United Nations, who wants to make sure that freedom and peace are maintained all over the earth.
People may march for freedom, they may have meetings about the civil rights, and they may go to court to obtain and uphold their human rights, but if a man doesn’t enjoy God, he cannot have real freedom.
The more people talk about freedom – without enjoying God – the more problems are produced, and many evil things are brought in.
Being really free and enjoying real freedom doesn’t mean that you’re able to do what you want, go wherever you want, get what you want, and be with whomever you want. Real freedom comes from the enjoyment of God.
Before we can have real freedom, we must be returned to God as our possession, and we must enjoy God. If we want to obtain freedom without being returned to God, the result is that we do not have true freedom.
If a man does not enjoy God, he cannot have real freedom. Freedom means release, to be freed from all bondage, all heavy burden, all oppression, and all enslavement.
If the Son sets us free, we are free indeed; if we enjoy the Lord and are sanctified by His word, which is truth, we are being made free (John 8:32, 36).
We all need real freedom, so we all need to give ourselves to the Lord to enjoy Him more.
May the Lord increase the enjoyment of God in all the local churches and among all the saints in the church life. If we don’t enjoy God, anything can be a bondage to us.
Everything in our life, whether positive or negative, whether useful or useless, can be a bondage to us, and we can be slaves under any matter.
Paul said that all things are lawful to him, but not all things are useful, so he would abstain from certain things and particular practices so that he would not be enslaved by them.
Even such a useful thing as a car or a house can enslave us, for we may care more for our car or our house than we care for the Lord and for the church. Many things are useful to have and lawful to possess, but we should not be brought under the power of anything.
May the Lord shine on us and show us what things, situations, and matters enslave us, and what or who causes us to live in bondage. And may we come to the Lord so that He may release us from any bondage through our enjoyment of Him.
Whenever we enjoy the Lord, we are free, for the Son sets us free! Amen! Before we can experience real freedom, we need to come to the Lord and enjoy Him, and He will bring us into true freedom.
Lord Jesus, we come to You to enjoy You and experience You with all Your riches. We want to stay in Your word and allow Your word to sanctify us and free us. Oh Lord, only by enjoying You can we find real freedom! Only You can set us free! Keep us enjoying You, Lord, all the days of our life, until we live in true freedom and we’re one with You to bring many others into Your freedom! Amen, Lord, may we proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of jubilee, for all Your chosen ones to be returned to You as their inheritance and be liberated from any bondage! Amen, Lord Jesus!
Being brought into Real Freedom from Satan, the Sinning Factor in us and the Lord of the Dunghill
We all can testify that we do NOT want to commit sin; rather, we want to do the good which we decide to do with our mind, but many times what comes out is the sin which we don’t want.
This is because in us there’s a sinning factor, an addiction to sinning; this factor is Satan himself, and man is his captive. Satan has captured man and he now dwells in him as the inciting sin.
First, through deceiving us, Satan captured us; then, he came into us to dwell in our flesh as the inciter, the instigator of our sins.
Satan has become our illegal master, and we have become his captives to the extent that we are unable to do the good we want but can only commit sins. The whole world lies in the evil one, lying passively in the sphere of the evil one’s influence, under his usurpation and manipulation (see Rom. 7:14; 1 John 5:19).
Also, in the Bible Satan is called Beelzebul, which means “lord of the dunghill” from the name meaning “the lord of flies”.
The top of a dunghill is covered with flies, and flies run to the dung. Satan as the lord of the dunghill specializes in leading sinners as flies to feed on the dung; hence, he’s the lord of the flies.
Because Satan is the lord of flies, all sinners are like flies that follow Satan to feed on dung; wherever there’s a stench, sinners go to feed on dung.
Some may go clubbing, others may go to parties, while still others may go to see a car race, a football game, or do some sports; there are many facets of the dunghill, and Satan leads the sinners to the dung.
Some people may be more refined and educated, and they think they do not sin, but they are slaves of sin, and Satan within them incites to do “more refined” sins and more “cultured sins”.
If a man does not have God, whatever he tries to enjoy apart from God is dog food, refuse, and dung (see Phil. 3:7-9; cf. 2 Pet. 2:22).
The apostle Paul, for example, has attained to a high extent in Judaism, but he counted all his attainments as dung, dog food, refuse, to gain Christ; he wanted to win Christ and be found in Him.
Christ is our prize; we want to win and gain Christ, and everything other than Him is refuse and dung. Everything other than Christ is refuse, vomit, and mud; Christ is the only beautiful and pure One in this universe. Oh Lord Jesus!
All descendent of Adam are captives of Satan; he has come into them and has captured them, and as Beelzebul – the lord of flies – he leads them to commit sins.
No one purposes in his heart to sin; rather, deep in their heart, all men desire not to sin, but when Beelzebul stirs them up and leads them “by the nose”, they sin. Afterward, people regret and say, Why did I do this? I was so stupid; I don’t know what got into me to do this. Oh Lord Jesus!
Like the Lord Jesus said, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34).
We all need to hear the jubilee and be brought into real freedom from Satan, who is the sinning factor in us and the lord of the dunghill. We need to be brought back to the enjoyment of God and thus be released from the slavery of sin and of Satan.
And we need to proclaim the jubilee to all those who are slaves in sin, those who are deceived, usurped, and led by the nose by Beelzebul to feed on dung and refuse.
Lord Jesus, bring us into the real freedom – freedom from Satan, the sinning factor in us, and freedom from Beelzebul, the lord of the dunghill. Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to return to You and enjoy You! Nothing else and no one else compares to You! We admit, Lord, that in our flesh we are slaves to sin, but we turn to our spirit, where You dwell, and we want to enjoy You as our inheritance and possession! Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You sufficiently until You bring us into real freedom from Satan and his usurpation!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1984, vol. 4, “The Jubilee,” ch. 3, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (2), week 11, The Jubilee (2).
- Hymns on this topic:
# Freedom from fear with all of its torments, / Freedom from care with all of its pain; / Freedom in Christ my blessed Redeemer, / He who has rent my fetters in twain. (Hymns #310)
# Lord there’s none in heav’n nor on earth / That I desire but Thee. / Though my heart and flesh faileth, Lord, / Thou ever my portion will be. / All is vanity, all is dung; / I count all other things loss; / Everything else drains my love / But You have captured my heart. / Lord, I’ve seen Thy preciousness, / Thy worth, Thy reality. / Now, my Lord, I must confess / My heart is only for Thee. (Song on, Mary poured out her love offering)
# What things were gains to me, / These I now count as loss. / Jesus has set me free / From what I was! / All of the things I had; / Everything, good or bad, / I count as refuse / That I may gain Christ! (Song on, What things were gains to me)
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