“He opened the book and found the place where these words are written-
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He has sent Me to proclaim RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:17-19, Phillips
How often have we read these words and felt that inner stirring of His Spirit bringing hope, blessing, and assurance of our victory in Christ. Again and again this Word has been preached, and confirmed with signs following– healings, miracles, people set free from habits, chains of passion, emotional and mental bands, etc. Yet just as often we find ourselves singing a chorus that expresses a deep longing and desire–
“Set my spirit free, that I might worship Thee, Set my spirit free, that I might praise Thy name, Let all bondage go, and let deliverance flow, Set my spirit free to worship Thee.
While we rejoice in the many tremendous workings of God, the revelation of truth, the inworkings of grace, going from strength to strength in Him, yet there remains that consciousness that we are yet captives– waiting for the “redemption (i.e. loosing away) of the purchased possession…” (Eph. 1:14). For as Paul expressed it so well, we find that it is an on-going process of release. “Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us.” (2 Cor. 1:10). We have been, we are being, and we are yet to be fully set free– released from all the “bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:21)
This “has been” and “yet to be” release of the captives is also found in Psalm 126:1-2, “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord has done great things for them.” What rejoicing, what singing, when God works a new degree of deliverance for us– and we give testimony, “The Lord has done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” (verse 3).
Yet the work is not finished within, for the very next verse the Psalmist prays, “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south.” We need a further loosing– more of the progressive unfolding mercies of God.
“As the streams in the south.” Here is an interesting analogy, and the interpretation seems to be two-fold: first is the thought that the streams of the south would dry up during the heat of the summer, then periodical rains would come and again fill the channels. Likewise, our “times of refreshing (which) come from the presence of the Lord,” (Acts 3:19), work in us degrees of deliverance, followed by other times of testing and dryness, hence the many cycles which we pass through.
But another scholar gives a different view, that “in the south” spoke of the hill-country of Judaea where the streams are turned about in their beds between the rocks and the gorges. This, too, finds an application in our experience, with all the twists and turns, we often find ourselves between the rocks and in narrow passageways– but all of this being used to further His work in us, bringing self to an end, that His life might flow out. The releases are many and varied, but they are truly HIS HANDIWORK. Praise God!
Then the Psalmist gives the positive assurance of victory, regardless of how difficult any phase of our processing might be. Verses 5-6, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” While the Psalm primarily alludes to a temporal release which Israel experienced, yet it represents the blessed effect of spiritual redemption, and that glorious “nevertheless afterwards” when we enjoy “the peaceable fruit of righteousness,” (Heb. 12:11), the fullness of His life.
“This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For He has looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem; when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.” (Psalm 102:18-20).
It is a glorious truth that “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him.” (Ps. 22:27). “TO SERVE HIM with one consent.” (Zephaniah 3:9). And thus shall “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ (anointed ones); and He shall reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 11:15). All shall know Him, all shall SERVE HIM, from the least to the greatest. Blessed be the Lord! And to bring about this desired victory there is an outworking of REDEMPTION– a loosing of every man from bondage of sin, into the new creation life in Christ Jesus. It is a work which has begun IN A REMNANT FIRSTFRUITS, and ultimately reaches out to all mankind.
There are those prisoners which are groaning now. And there is a threefold aspect to this groaning. “For we know that the whole creation GROANS and travails in pain together until now.” – “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.” But then the Word also tells us that “The Spirit also helps our infirmities: … (and) the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with GROANINGS which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:22-23, 26). For God has so identified Himself with His creation, and in participation with us in all that we are going through, that He JOINS US IN OUR GROANINGS, that we might reach out for that ultimate liberation which He purposes for all creation.
It was God who “has concluded them all in unbelief, (or, literally, shut them all up together) that He might have mercy upon all.” (Romans 11:32). First He makes us all captives, shut up in unbelief, and then in His own sovereign way and purpose, “The Lord looses the prisoners: the Lord opens the eyes of the blind: the Lord raises them that are bowed down: the Lord loves the righteous.” (Psalm 146:7-8).
This He promised: “He shall speak peace unto the heathen: and His dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” That covers the whole of them that have been shut up in unbelief. Then the promise goes on, “AS FOR YOU ALSO, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit where there is no water. Turn you to the strong hold, YOU PRISONERS OF HOPE: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto you.” (Zechariah 9:10-12).
As for you also– now we zero in for the individual that has been apprehended for present inworkings of grace. Not only have we shared in that more universal captivity– subjection to vanity, and all of the other more general frustrations of futility, there is also a company who are rightly called “PRISONERS OF HOPE.” When God quickens to you a revelation that you are to be redeemed, a release into the glorious liberty of God, then you’ll find that you become GRIPPED BY A HOPE. “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for that we do not see, then with patience we wait for it.” (Romans 8:24-25). So, having received a revelation of this REDEMPTION TO COME, we now become “prisoners of that hope,” and are held in its vision, to await the time of its consummation.
Now this we perceive, that FIRST He works the release INTO US, and then He will give us a ministry whereby He works through us to deliver others. As we have often stated, “The message, and the messenger, must become one.” Out of our innermost being will flow the message of truth which we have become. We’ll share out of an experiential reality. We, who have been as prisoners of hope, will ultimately be fully LOOSED INTO ITS REALITY, and then shall we share in the ministry of loosing other prisoners. That “in you shall all nations be blessed.” (Gal. 3:8).
“Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; THAT YOU MAY SAY TO THE PRISONERS, GO FORTH; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.” (Isaiah 49:8-9).
This much also is true, just to remove the bond is not enough, there needs to be an impartation of His life and blessing to enable them to walk on with God. Even with the “in part” measures of his time, Peter said to the lame man, “Silver and gold I do not have, BUT WHAT I DO HAVE I GIVE YOU:…” (Acts 3:6), and the prisoner was loosed, and invigorated, “And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” Yes, it was “IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST,” it was FAITH IN HIS NAME, and it was a life-force of spiritual dimensions that supplied the strength to rise and walk. How we long to IMPART THIS LIFE!
In Psalm 116:16 we read, “You have loosed my bonds.” The Hebrew word here is “pathach” and means: to open. God knows how to OPEN UP every fetter and set us free. We might groan under the circumstance which has us hemmed in, the difficulties which bind us tight, but only HE can open up the way for us to come forth. And we are learning that there is a vast difference between escapism, and overcoming. Much of our LOOSING is the result of HIS ENABLING US TO OVERCOME– and then the victory is sure. Escapism says, “I am in trouble, pray me out of it.” But the overcomer says, “I am in a very tight place, pray that He give me GRACE FOR OVERCOMING.” For now we desire that every loosing– every OPENING be of His direction, His outworking, so that we might be found to His praise, overcoming as He overcame. Not so as to escape out of a situation, but so as to COME THROUGH with His victory, by the enablement of His Spirit. HE alone is the looser of our bonds.
The Greek word “apoluo” means: to loose off, or away, and from the same root word comes the word “redemption.” There is another Greek word for “redeem” which means: to buy back. But the thought is clear, not only is there a price to be paid to redeem– “Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ…” (1 Peter 1:18-19), but, once the price has been paid, THERE NEEDS TO BE THIS ACTION OF LOOSING, setting free, making experiential that which has been paid for. Jesus said to the “woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. – Woman, you are LOOSED from your infirmity.” This Word produced AN ACTION, “immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” (Luke 13:11-13). All of the price-paying is of little value if it does not PRODUCE A CHANGE, a loosing from the bondage of whatever made us captive.
Paul writes, we have been “SEALED with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance UNTIL THE REDEMPTION of the purchased possession.” (Eph. 1:14). “SEALED unto the day of redemption.” (Eph. 4:30)
There is an appointed DAY OF LOOSING– when all of that which has been working in us by degrees shall be climaxed in a total REDEMPTION. We have been BOUGHT BY HIM, but He has left us here, subjected to the bondage of vanity, the tyranny of change and decay, the futility and frustration that characterizes this present kosmos (arrangement). We are IN the world, but NOT OF IT. We do not belong to the world, we belong to Him, “You are not your own. For you are bought with a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Yet we wait for that complete LOOSING AWAY from this entire world system. However, we are SEALED unto that day. He has placed His mark upon us, signifying His ownership, and guaranteeing the fact that “IN THAT DAY” we shall be loosed. It is His INDWELLING SPIRIT, the earnest of our inheritance in Christ, that now witnesses to us that the promise given shall be consummated in HIS due time. The APPOINTED DAY is sure– and what a loosing that will be!
We find a happening recorded in 2 Kings 25:27-30, which serves as a parable for the outworking LOOSING OF THE PRISONER which He would work in us. There are seven distinct blessings mentioned that are wrought in the loosing.
“And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison.”
Under the disciplinary action of God, Jehoiachin was brought low and placed into captivity for 37 years– and you thought your processing was going on a long time? We’ll not delve into the historical record, suffice it to say that Evilmerodach, son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, was moved by God to have compassion, and so brought about these blessings in Jehoiachin’s life.
Note the phrase, “DID LIFT UP THE HEAD,” for it is more than just a play on words, it bespeaks the first step of working in our loosing, namely, a real deliverance from “prison mentality.” IT IS A CHANGE OF ATTITUDE, OF MIND. We have thought bondage, captivity, for so long, that we need a LIFTING UP of our head. “Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. But You, O Lord, are a shield for me; my glory, AND THE LIFTER UP OF MY HEAD. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill.” (Psalm 3:2-4).
Ps. 27:6, “Now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.” No longer thinking the same negative thoughts that the enemy thinks, my head is lifted, my attitudes are raised to a higher realm, and I am no longer conscious of the doom and gloom. God is purging out the prison mentality and revealing a life of freedom in the liberty of His Spirit. Thoughts of redemption– of being loosed into the fulness of His life. Nor are we even devil-conscious any more, for our eyes are becoming single to the Lord. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). When our head is lifted up we no longer see the secondary causes, for we see HIM as the FIRST CAUSE of all that touches our life. This is the beginning of a LOOSING that goes far beyond words– it must be experienced to be rightly known. And the verse goes on, “Therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.”
How beautifully this is illustrated in Paul and Silas, (Acts 16:25), after having been cast into prison, at midnight they “prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” Long before they were literally, physically set free, they were FREE IN HEART AND MIND, and sang praises to God, rejoicing in the liberty of His Spirit which could not be restrained by prison wall, chains, stocks, etc. Nor were they worried about what the other prisoners might think– they sang loud enough to be HEARD– there was a confession to be made, and they made it in prayer and song. Not having a prison mentality– the FREEDOM WITHIN was their prelude to freedom without.
Luke 21:26, “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Fear has torment, literally, a RESTRAINT– like shackles upon the soul. Cannot move, cannot act, bound in chains more real than those of iron. Prisoners of fear! But when God LIFTS OUR HEAD we no longer look only on things coming upon the earth, for our eyes are “Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” (Jude 21). God-conscious, mercy-conscious, means freedom in Him!
Yes, we are still captives to this world’s system– paying rising tax bills and enduring all the stress of our times. The natural outlook is not very pleasant. But we do not have to have tax-servant, earth-burden mentality. For “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19). Therefore, “Set your affection (Greek, MIND) on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2). “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Eph. 4:23). A christed mind is loosed from all poverty-consciousness, devil-consciousness, stress-consciousness, because it is loosed from the negativity of the low realm of the flesh.
2 Kings 25:28, “AND HE SPOKE KINDLY UNTO HIM.” Not only is our head to be lifted up, but immediately there is a different message given to us, for HE SPEAKS KINDLY. Not a message of hurt, hell-fire, punishment, doom, because He is the Author of GOOD NEWS– the gospel of our salvation. Of Him it is written, “Never man spoke like this Man.” (John 7:46). He says, “Neither do I condemn you.” (John 8:11). And He said, “As My Father has sent Me, even so send I you.” (John 20:21). And, “God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17). So the question is rightly asked: If you come condemning, who sent you? Not the Father, nor the Son, for they do not condemn, they will speak kindly. If God ever sends you to a prisoner, to say to him, “be loosed,” there will not be any hint of condemnation in your message, only His grace. “Not imputing their trespasses unto them; (for He) has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:19). No more will we make people sin-conscious. Rather, “Comfort yes, comfort My people!” says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.” (Isaiah 40:1-2). Hallelujah!
It is a KINDLY WORD, a GOOD message. “–who proclaims peace; who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation; who says to Zion, Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7). Truly we need our HEAD LIFTED UP, before we can speak kindly, speak of victory, of salvation, of His life for all!
“AND SET HIS THRONE ABOVE THE THRONE OF THE KINGS THAT WERE WITH HIM IN BABYLON.” With a higher vision, and higher message, it follows there is a higher position– ABOVE ALL BABYLONISH CONFUSION. Because “He has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ.” (Eph. 2:6). And there “sin shall not have dominion over you.” (Rom. 6:14). For to the OVERCOMERS “Will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” (Rev. 3:21). This is not speaking of a literal throne, but of a realm of dominion, power and authority, of victory. Thus “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ (anointed ones) …” (Rev. 11:15).
In the lifting up of our heads, He is also beginning to impart a vision of SHARING THE THRONE, of becoming “kings and priests unto our God.” To where we are free IN the circumstances– as Paul said, “I have come to learn, in the circumstances in which I am placed, to be independent of these and self-sufficient.” (Phil. 4:11, Wuest). “Self-sufficient in the sufficiency of Christ.” (Amp.) That is another degree of loosing even in our now, as we LIVE IN, WITH, BY His Spirit, and self-flesh-sin, etc. do not have any dominion over us– for we have been given a throne above our enemies.
“AND CHANGED HIS PRISON GARMENTS.” “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 (be a disembodied spirit), but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.” (2 Cor. 5:2-4). Gone will be the filthy garments of our own self-righteousness, for “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” (Isa. 61:10). And with the spiritual garments in place, it follows, “He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body…” (Phil. 3:21).
“AND HE DID EAT BREAD CONTINUALLY BEFORE HIM ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE.” How marvelously does He “prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” (Ps. 23:5). For He said, “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” (Rev. 3:20). Here is a communion that exceeds all the fellowship we have known heretofore. It is a covenant relationship and sharing together– as we pour out our hearts before Him, and He also reveals to us of the secrets of His heart. Bread continually– O wonderful and bountiful supply. For, “I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.” (Psalm 132:15-16).
“HIS ALLOWANCE WAS A CONTINUAL ALLOWANCE GIVEN HIM OF THE KING.” All that He would ever need– continual, on-going– total sufficiency in the Christ.
“A DAILY RATE FOR EVERY DAY, all the days of his life.” Not only provision unending, “Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16), but it shall be ministered to us in such a way that it can be LIVED, used, enjoyed moment by moment. Fulness is wonderful– but it must then be applied to each need– step by step, moment by moment, a daily rate. But note this word “rate” for the Hebrew word is “dabarl, meaning: a word. “For ever, O Lord, Your WORD (dabar) is settled in heaven.” (Ps. 119:89). There is a DAILY WORD, a present truth, ever fresh quickening that is continuous; it is never stale, never old, thus it shall sustain us through all ages.
O may God lift up our head from the prison mentality of negativism, while He speaks kindly to us His GOOD NEWS, raising us up into the new position in the heavenlies, changing our garments into His own righteousness, bringing us into that on-going communion, and sharing of His fulness, so that day by day we live to His glory and praise. What a release for the captive, and may we even now, however “in part” begin to taste of its reality. Amen.
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