Bulletin Articles: Full Article for Record Number 1037
Liberty And Freedom’s Big Day!
by Larry Ray Hafley
Many had suffered much for this day. They had endured hardships of body and mind. Ridicule had been heaped upon them. Some left family fortune and its attendant security in order to bring the light of liberty. Now, at last, the weight of oppression was to be lifted. No longer would they suffer under the rule of a cruel king who sought only to exploit them. Liberty and freedom’s big day came when their declaration of independence was delivered for all to see and hear! For the very first time, on this festive, national day, repentance and remission of sins were preached in the name of Christ (Lk. 24:47; Acts 2:21, 38). Yes, the Jewish feast day of Pentecost had dawned, and, with its arrival, the Spirit descended upon twelve chartered and commissioned men with "the glad tidings of great joy."
With great power and earnest conviction, they testified of what they had seen and heard (1 Jn. 1:1-3). They reminded their audience that they, too, knew their victim had been approved of God (Acts 2:22). He who had been their victim was now both their sacrifice and their Savior, their justice and their Judge, their ransom and their Redeemer.
Their new King broke and destroyed the power of their former ruler (Heb. 2:14; 1 Jn. 3:8). He said he had been "sent to...preach deliverance to the captives, and...to set at liberty them that are bruised" (Lk. 4:18). Now, that purpose and promise of God was announced. They who came to a knowledge of it were set free to stand in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free (Jn. 8:32; Gal. 5:1).
Today, let us, the heirs of that freedom, ring it abroad throughout the land as we celebrate the joy of liberty and freedom’s big day.
