Title: A Ministry of Freedom and Release

Series: Going Against the Flow: The Paradoxical Christian Life

Text: Isaiah 42:1-9

I. Hostage Roy Hallums

Can you imagine what it must be like to be a prisoner of war, or even worse to be a hostage held by hostile Islamist terrorists?

On November 1, 2004, 20 gunmen stormed a compound in Baghdad, kidnapping skilled workers from the United States and several other countries.

All the other hostages were released soon after their abduction, but American Roy Hallums was not released. He remained bound and gagged.

Three months later a video was released showing Hallums with a scraggly beard and a gun pointed at his head. The kidnappers were demanding $12,000,000.

His family was desperate to get him back, but could not and would not negotiate with terrorists.

They asked for prayers.

They set up a website asking for his release.

They offered a $40,000 reward for information leading to his release.

They even pleaded for his release on Al Jazeera.

Nothing had an effect on his hard-hearted captors.

It seemed that all hope was lost. Roy Hallums had been held captive longer than any living foreign hostage in Iraq.

After 311 agonizing days, on September 7, 2005, American forces stormed a farmhouse 15 miles south of Baghdad, freeing Roy Hallums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Hallums

http://royhallums.4t.com/

His blindfold and bonds were cut.

His constant fear changed to peace.

His companions changed from hostile terrorists to friends and family.

His treatment changed from abuse to love and care.

Our troops gave him freedom and release.

II. The Servant Songs

In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter 42, it is clear that Jesus came to give us freedom and release.

For those who know they’re in bondage:

They long for freedom and release.

They gladly accept Jesus as their liberator.

But for those who are blind to their bondage:

They see no need for freedom and release.

They stubbornly reject Jesus’ offer to cut their bonds and give them peace.

 

Isaiah 42 is one of four "Servant Songs" from the Book of Isaiah.

Isaiah chapters 42, 49, 50, and 52 all speak of God’s servant.

According to these four Servant Songs, God’s servant:

Will "free [the] captives from prison" (42:7)

"Will bring justice to the nations" (42:1).

Will "gather Israel" back to himself (49:5).

Will be "a light for the Gentiles" and "bring... salvation to the ends of the earth" (49:6).

So far this servant sounds like a victorious and benevolent conqueror.

Then in Isaiah 52 and 53, we find that God’s servant brings victory through his own suffering.

5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)

Without Isaiah chapter 53, we might think that God’s servant was an ancient king or even the nation of Israel.

God’s servant from the four "Servant Songs" of Isaiah is clearly Jesus, the Messiah.

In Matthew chapter 12, Matthew quotes our reading from Isaiah chapter 42 showing how Jesus fulfilled the first prophetic "Servant Song."

In Acts chapter eight, the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip who Isaiah was speaking about in the fourth Servant Song from Isaiah chapter 53. Immediately Philip responds by sharing the Good News of Jesus.

http://www.bibleresourcecenter.org/vsItemDisplay.dsp&objectid=C4F6ECE1-EFDD-43C2-9EDE642EEB8B678A&method=Display

Clearly, all four Servant Songs in Isaiah are prophecies about the ministry of Jesus.

In our reading from Isaiah chapter 42 – the first Servant Song – the Lord Almighty foretells the ministry of Jesus. In verse seven, He says Jesus will come:

7to open eyes that are blind,

to free captives from prison

and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 42:7 (NIV)

 

In Matthew chapter 12, immediately after Matthew quotes from Isaiah 42, Jesus heals a man who was blind and demon possessed:

This man found freedom and release through Jesus.

He was thrilled to accept his liberator.

He gladly had his bonds cut and his blindfold removed.

He refused to go back to his hellish prison.

 

Many of the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 12, had a very very different reaction to Jesus.

They did not accept Jesus as God’s servant. They did not accept Jesus as their liberator.

The Pharisees were biblical scholars. They should have known better.

Instead of proclaiming Him as God’s servant from the Servant Songs of Isaiah, they said,

"It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

Matthew 12:24 (NIV)

They were saying that Jesus was demon possessed.

They were using the Lord’s name in vain. They were committing blasphemy.

 

The blind and demon possessed man gladly received his sight and freedom from Satan.

But the Pharisees, who said they could see:

Stubbornly refused to have their eyes opened.

Rejected God’s servant Jesus.

And became more and more the servants of Satan.

 

We see something similar in John chapter nine. On a Sabbath day, Jesus healed a man who was born blind.

The formerly blind man was:

Poor and uneducated.

He had no theological training, yet he gladly embraced Jesus.

He boldly proclaimed him as his liberator from blindness!

He proclaimed him a prophet from God.

He even worshipped him as Lord!

On the other hand, some of the Pharisees, who should have recognized God’s servant as foretold in the Servant Songs of Isaiah said,

"This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."

John 9:16 (NIV)

"We know this man is a sinner."

John 9:24 (NIV)

"We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from."

John 9:29 (NIV)

I love the uneducated, formerly blind man’s response. He said,

30"Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. ³²Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

John 9:30-33 (NIV)

Instead of repenting, instead of falling on their knees before Jesus, these Pharisees threw this man out of the synagogue.

The blind could see.

Those who said they could see, clung to their blindness.

After the formerly blind man had been thrown out by these unbelieving Pharisees, Jesus said,

"For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."

John 9:39 (NIV)

In other words, Jesus came into this world:

To ⁷to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 42:7 (NIV)

But He also came into this world to expose those blind guides who seem to have sight, claim to have sight, for the unbelieving hypocrites that they are.

 

IV. The Same Was True in the Early Church

The same was true in the early church.

In Acts chapter three Peter and John were going to the temple to pray.

A beggar asked them for money.

Peter looked him in the eye and said,

6"Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." ⁷Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.

How did this formerly blind man respond?

8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.
Acts 3:6-:8 (NIV)

He gladly accept Jesus as his liberator.

He praised God.

He spread the good news!

 

In Acts chapters six and seven we see an entirely different response.

Like his Lord, St. Stephen was healing the sick and preaching the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.

Various elders, teachers of the Law, and members of the Sanhedrin became furious.

Act 6:15 tells us,

15All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Acts 6:15 (NIV)

They saw his holiness. They saw his righteousness. They saw his love.

How did they respond?

Acts chapter seven tells us:

57At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸dragged him out of the city and began to stone him [to death].

Acts 7:57-58 (NIV)

The Good News was so threatening to them, that they did not want to hear it.

They would rather remain blind, than have their blindfold and bonds cut.

They did not want freedom and release.

The same is true today:

Some want Jesus to bring freedom and release.

Others would rather remain blind and in bondage.

 

After a wonderful Christmas Eve here with you, Mary and I drove to South Carolina to visit our families in Anderson and Charleston.

On Tuesday we stopped in Columbia to have supper with our missionary friends Bruce and Cathy.

It’s been three years since we’ve seen them. They were back for a few weeks from Asia.

Roughly eight years ago they entered a Fundamentalist Muslim country – which they have asked me not to mention by name for security reasons.

They went write down their language for the first time. The government was glad for them to do this.

It took them several years to develop an alphabet, learn their unique grammar rules, and write down all their words.

At the same time they were beginning to translate the Bible into this newly written down language.

Three years ago, the government abruptly changed direction, expelling them from the country for life. At that time about 50 new Christians were imprisoned. Several young Christian women were forcibly married to older Muslim men. It was a very difficult time of persecution.

Late last year Bruce and Cathy completed both the books of Luke and Acts and had them printed in one volume.

They could not distribute them in that Fundamentalist Muslim country, but they could sell them in bookstores in India.

Only two bookstores agreed to sell Luke-Acts.

The Muslims were very very threatened by God’s Word.

They went to the first bookstore and paid the owner $25,000 not to sell Luke-Acts in their language. In India $25,000 is a huge sum.

They went to the other bookstore and tried to do the same, but this bookstore owner refused. They knocked over tables and ransacked the store.

Like the Pharisees of old, like the Sanhedrin of old, these people were not willing to listen.

They would rather remain in darkness, than risk being exposed to the light.

This year you have a choice:

You can close your ears to the liberating Good News of Jesus Christ and remain in bondage.

Or you can embrace Jesus as your liberator, and have your bonds cut and his blindfold removed. You can leave your hellish prison and come fully into the light of Christ.