Jesus Came to Set Us Free

Jesus came to set us free.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered Him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never 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 practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. –John 8:31-36

Each year millions of people around the world celebrate Christmas, or at least our Western notion of the holiday. We get caught up in the gift giving, food, and parties that mostly miss the reason for Christ’s coming. Our favorite songs are guilty of this as we sing about a peace on Earth that has more to do with the absence of conflict between nations than peace between God and His creation. But the truth of the Gospel in the advent of Christ is far more offensive than we’ve made the holiday out to be. You see, the birth of the Christ was an invasion (to use military terms)—a beachhead established against sin and the easy-believism that so dominates our day. How fun would our Christmas parties be if we sang songs about Jesus’ statement in Matthew 10:34, “Don’t suppose that I’ve come to bring peace to the earth...but a sword.” Not very merry I would imagine!

John 8:31-36 is another example of advent truth. Jesus, speaking to people whom Scripture regards as having ‘believed Him’ mind you, said some very confrontational things, namely that relationship with God isn’t about a right ethnicity or heritage or even about hearing the Word. Jesus even went on to tell them that they wouldn’t know truth if they heard it and were yet still slaves to their sin. How’s that for heart-warming? But in the midst of this passage are words of Christmas truth for the believer and unbeliever alike—that a relationship with God is about accepting and acting in accordance to His word in such a way as to provide the believer with the capacity to know genuine truth and to forevermore escape their bondage to sin. To use Jesus’ words, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”