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True Liberty in the Power of Gospel Truth |
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Both William Penn and George Fox wrote several papers on true spiritual liberty as contrasted with false freedom which leads to secular oppression. Liberty in the love and power enables us to expostulate the essence of God's truth, to love all creatures, to feed the hungry and, above all, perhaps, to liberate the oppressed. What Fox and Penn expressed in love is that we must be faithful, faithful to the spiritual promptings of our heavenly father. Those of us who are conversant with the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament writings are cognizant of the telling fact that God has frequently, as He is doing today, liberated His people from earthly oppression. The Book of Exodus, as an example, delineates how God liberated His covenant people from Egyptian tyranny. He raised the prophet Moses to educate and lead his people from utter darkness to the light which is Christ. God separated the Red Sea which enabled the Hebrew people to exit Egypt and eventually reach the promised land where they did not always exhibit obedience or even loyalty to their heavenly Liberator. Still God through Moses sent them the written laws on stone for the Hebrew people to embrace. Unfortunately they did not accept liberty from and in the Lord. Many of the oppressed just rebelled. Still God continued to love His people - He loved them so much that in Jeremiah's words, he wrote His law of liberty often in their rebellious hearts. To discern the commands of our Heavenly Father, they needed to wait on God to receive the grace to understand the inward laws before they were able to follow them in obedience to God. Unfortunately the rulers did not adhere to God's enactment of liberty and, as a result of their rebellion, imprisoned Jeremiah while emulating the practices of heathen rulers. Yet our liberator Lord did not abandon His covenant people. To the contrary, God sent them the prophet Isaiah who announced that eventually He would send His Son to free them from the yoke of oppression. This Jesus would unite Jews and Gentiles into one people, which He is doing today, if we accept His liberation in obedience. Meanwhile, in the Lord's power Isaiah called called on His followers to eliminate their outward weapons of violence as a sign of obedience. Nevertheless as God promised His prophet Moses, He sent His Son to liberate us completely from the beastly spirit. Christ as God's only begotten Son teaches us to love our enemies in the anointing He provides us among other teachings. Once we begin loving potential oppressors, as Jesus commands, we are bringing people into the process of seeking and finding the Lord. This gospel liberty enables us to become a people of our loving Lord. As a people, we need to wait on God for His discernment for us to understand true liberty. Then we will be a liberated people in obedience to God.
Arthur Berk |