The Glad Tidings

Present Freedom

Pay special attention to the words of Jesus to the woman, uttered while she was yet bound down, and unable to lift herself up: “Thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” “Thou art loosed,” present tense. That is just what He says to us. To every captive He has proclaimed deliverance. The woman “could in nowise lift up herself;” yet at the word of Christ she at once stood erect. She could not do it, yet she did. The things that are impossible for men are possible for God. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” Psalm 145:14. Faith does not make facts; it only lays hold of them. There is not a single soul that is bowed down with the weight of sin which Satan hath bound on him, whom Christ does not lift up. Freedom is his; he has only to make use of it. Let the message be sounded far and wide. Let every soul hear it, that Christ has given deliverance to every captive. Thousands will rejoice at the news. GTI 199.2

Christ came to restore that which was lost; He redeems us from the curse; He hath redeemed us; therefore the liberty wherewith He makes us free is the liberty that existed before the curse came. Man was made a king. It was not merely the one individual first created who was made king, but all mankind. “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam,” that is, man. Genesis 5:1, 2. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion,” etc. The dominion, we see, was given to every human being, male and female. GTI 200.1

This dominion was universal. When God made man, He “put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him.” Hebrews 2:8. The dominion was not confined to this planet; for when God crowned man with glory and honor, He set him over the works of His hands (Hebrews 2:7), and we read, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands” (Hebrews 1:10). This shows how free man was before the curse came; for it is self-evident that a ruler must have absolute freedom, at least as far as his dominion extends, else he is not ruler. GTI 200.2

It is true that now we do not see all things put under man; “but we behold Him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9, R.V.), and thus redeem every man from the curse of the lost dominion. “Crowned with glory and honor.” A crown implies kingship, and Christ’s crown is that which man had when he was set over the works of God’s hands. Accordingly, Christ (as man, mind you, in the flesh), just as He was about to ascend to heaven after the resurrection, said: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore.” Matthew 28:18, 19. This indicates that the same power is given to us in Him; and this is made certain by the inspired prayer that we might know the exceeding greatness of God’s power in us who believe, “according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet;” and this prayer is followed by the statement that God has made us alive in Christ, and “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1:18-22; 2:1-6. GTI 201.1

Christ has tasted death for us as man, and through the cross has redeemed us from the curse. If we are crucified with Him, we are also risen with Him, and made to sit together with Him in the heavenly places, with all things under our feet. If we do not know this, it is only because we have not allowed the Spirit to reveal it to us. The eyes of our heart need to be enlightened by the Spirit, that we may know what is “the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” The exhortation to those who are dead and risen with Christ is, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Romans 6:12. That shows that we are masters. We have authority over sin, that it shall have no dominion over us. GTI 202.1

We have redemption through the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sin (Ephesians 1:7); and when He “washed us from our sins in His own blood,” He “made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” Revelation 1:5, 6. Glorious dominion! Glorious freedom! Freedom from the power of the curse, even while surrounded by it; freedom from “this present evil world,”—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life! The freedom of the universe (power in heaven and on earth), so that neither “the prince of the power of the air” nor the “rulers of the darkness of this world” can have any dominion over us! It is the freedom and authority that Christ had when He said, “Get thee hence, Satan.” And the devil immediately left Him. It is authority “over all the power of the enemy.” Luke 10:19. It is such freedom that nothing in heaven or earth can coerce us, to make us do anything against our will. God will not attempt it, for we hold our freedom from Him; and no one else can do it. It is power over the elements, so that they will serve us, instead of controlling us. We shall learn to recognize Christ and His cross in everything, so that the curse will be powerless over us, and our minds and bodies will not be subject to every change in the weather. Our health will spring forth speedily; for the life of Jesus will be manifest in our mortal flesh. Such glorious liberty no tongue or pen can describe. Believe in it as the Holy Spirit makes it known, accept it, and stand fast in it; yea, stand fast! GTI 202.2