(Audio)
The high priest rose up and all his companions,
that is, the party of the Sadducees,
and, filled with jealousy,
laid hands upon the Apostles and put them in the public jail.
What is keeping us imprisoned today? The LORD has plans for us. He doesn't want to see us trapped and unable to follow him. He wants to set us free.
But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison,
led them out, and said,
"Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life."
When the world saw this deliverance it could not help but be amazed. The prison seemed inescapable. It seemed like it was part of our very nature as humans that we would stay bound to fear or to sin. It seemed that our circumstances were immovably set to prevent us from living as missions for Jesus in the world. It wasn't just a matter of rearranging the furniture in the cell. Deliverance had to come miraculously from the hand of an angel.
"We found the jail securely locked
and the guards stationed outside the doors,
but when we opened them, we found no one inside."
Nothing about our circumstances or our inner life can keep us from the freedom God has for us if we just receive it. Yet the freedom he gives us is ordered toward our proclamation.
"Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life."
The main reason God won't leave us imprisoned is because he wants to use us to share his love with others. He is not content to see us waste away in darkness when he has done so much to reveal his love to the world.
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
Without the Gospel the world remains imprisoned to ignorance, darkness, and sin. We can't stay in the darkness with them. They prefer the darkness because their works are evil. But we can offer them the light of the world, Jesus Christ. We can show them that freedom is possible and that the light is better than the darkness.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.
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