Introduction
As Christians, we may be inclined to overlook reading and meditating on some of the Old Testament books, but the Lord gave the entire Bible to humanity to learn from and use the examples presented as a means of teaching us about His ways. Furthermore, all the Word of God remains relevant for us today, even though we live in a society with different norms and principles from those of the Old Testament societies. God’s plan of salvation remains the same for all humans, and it will never change: the only one way to the Trinity of God is through faith in the Lord Jesus, the beloved Son of God. As followers of the Lord Jesus, the Lord can speak to us through the Holy Spirit through any passage in the Bible. For instance, Exodus 21:1-6 may not seem particularly relevant or applicable in our current society, but as believers in the Lord Jesus, we can still find ways to apply its lessons to our lives.
Exodus 21:1-6: Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them. If you buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free, then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
One might wonder how we can apply this passage to our daily lives today. Nowadays, there is no slavery in the traditional sense; we work for various companies and often feel that we are not slaves as in the past, believing that we have more freedom after completing our daily tasks. In the Gospels, the Lord Jesus teaches us about the concept of slavery, emphasizing that we can become slaves to sin. This teaching raises an important question: Are we sometimes caught between working for the Lord and serving our employers as if we are slaves to our jobs? We need to ask ourselves: When I put all my energy into my work for the company, do I also dedicate myself fully to my work for the Lord? Which one am I truly serving? If I work diligently for the company but do not apply the same effort to my service for God, then I am effectively allowing myself to be a slave to sin.
However, let us consider how often we feel insecure about our jobs, our health, and our overall future. In many ways, we are poor souls, and our souls are oppressed in many ways. So, what does a poor soul need? A poor soul needs a compassionate and loving master. The Lord Jesus loves us and died on the cross for us all and shed His blood so that we can find freedom and peace with the Father and have eternal life.
The Lord Jesus is the Master Who Can Set Us Free
In John 8, the Lord Jesus speaks about Himself to all humans, and He reveals six essential facts about Himself:
- He is the light of the world.
- He judges the hearts of humans, and His judgment is true because the Father is with Him.
- The Father sent Him to earth, and the Father and Jesus Himself testify for Him.
- He is from heaven and speaks as the Father Himself has taught Him, and He will go back to heaven to be with the Father.
- We must believe that the Lord Jesus is who He claims to be so that we may receive forgiveness for our sins and be saved.
- He died on the cross for all humans.
Moreover, the Lord Jesus tells us that if we abide in His Word, then we truly become His disciples, and the truth of the Word will set us free from the hand of the dark. Therefore, He is the only One who can set our souls free from the hand of the dark master, and we should all come to Him in humility and ask the Father to forgive us, cleanse us, and take us to Him. The Trinity of God is the true, gentle, and loving Master who is waiting for us in His beautiful kingdom. Let’s analyze John 8:31-36 and discover how we can be freed from unjust soul masters by being set free from the bondage of sin.
31 Jesus, therefore, said to those Jews who had believed Him, If you abide in My word, truly you are My disciples,
As the verse has told, listening is not enough; you must also abide in His word. All true believers should know this deep in their souls: the beloved Son’s word, every word has meaning. He did not speak useless words at all during He has spent life on earth in human form.
“If you abide.” Belief is only in the mind, but abide is deep to the soul; the soul will follow according to the teaching of the beloved Son of God; when the soul has done that, both mind and soul will obey every word the beloved Son of God has taught. In those times, the beloved Son of God was with them, but now He has given the Holy Bible to all humans. Now, it is easy to find the Holy Bible, but people do not all do that. In the past, they did not have the Holy Bible to read but had the Holy Son to listen to. Human hearts now and then are stubborn, in the same way; when you have the Holy Word, abide in the Holy Word by reading, meditating, and following all that has been written, and that is when you can say you are a true believer of God.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
When you have believed in His word, meditate, and follow, then the truth in His word will set you free, as the verse tells us.
“... the truth will set you free.” The truth of the Word will set you free from the hand of the dark. If you have the Word in your soul, the dark cannot put a hold on you; the Word of the beloved Son will be the shield for protection to your soul.
33 They answered to Him, We are Abraham’s seed, and have never yet been in bondage to anyone. How do Thou say, You will be set free?
His people thought only about Abraham’s children; they considered themselves to be the descendants of Abraham himself, but when the beloved Son of God told them that “you will be set free,” He did not talk about physical freedom but about the slave of the soul to the dark, instead of being the slave to the light through the Holy Word.
34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone committing sin is a slave of sin.
The beloved Son of God has told them here that when anyone is sinning, they have surrendered their soul to the dark, and that is why they have become in bondage to the dark side, and the dark will use them as slaves according to the dark side’s will.
35 But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
“But the slave does not remain …” The slave abides according to the slave master’s will, but when the slave master does not see any benefit from the slave, they will not be kind to them but torture them deep in their own soul itself. But that slave will not abide in the slave house forever if that slave, at any moment, has realized that he is a sinner and comes begging for mercy from the beloved Son of God with deep, true repentance in their soul; this way, they will find the way to break through from that slave house.
“… the son abides forever.” In this part of the verse, the beloved Son of God is talking about the true believers in Him; all of them will become children of God, and they all will abide with Him forever in heaven, not with bondage but with joy to receive the position of slave to serve the God Almighty.
36 If therefore the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
As the verse has told us, when the beloved Son of God has taken you in as His brethren, you will never again be a slave to the dark as long as you truly abide in His teaching. So, when the Son of God has set you free and taken you to be by His side, that is free as He is free from all.
The Father gave a bridegroom to the church, His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, and we are part of the church; we are the Lord Jesus’ bride (See Matthew 9:15, Ephesians 5:22-33). The Lord Jesus did so much for us. He sacrificed His life on the cross so we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Therefore, we should be like the servant in the Exodus 21:5-6 passage, and we should go to the Father and say, “Father, I want to be in your house; I love my Lord Jesus so much; He is my true Master, He set me free from the burden of sin, so bore my heart to the cross of the Lord Jesus and make me your servant (slave) forever.”
Conclusions
In conclusion, when we truly surrender our hearts to the Lord Jesus, and have our hearts pierced to His cross of salvation and ask Him to be the Master of our souls, our commitment will echo the words of Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.” This surrender also aligns with Romans 14:7-8: “For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Son of Man, and He alone should be our Master. Please visit our blog article: “The Lord Jesus Christ: the Son of God and the Son of Man.”
Meditation Tasks:
- Read and meditate on Psalm 139. Pray and ask the Lord to examine our hearts and speak to us if there is any sinful way within us, then come to the Lord for forgiveness.