Today’s devotion is based on Week 4 of “Resolve”: Listen to the right source! (WATCH HERE)
We have heard a lot about presidential pardons in the last month. President Biden on his way out of office and President Trump as he began his time in office. We can have spirited debate on the power of the president to pardon or commute one’s sentence and if pardons for death row inmates or January 6 rioters is appropriate, but one thing I believe is certain for most who are on the receiving end of a presidential pardon: Gratitude.
Especially if receiving a full pardon (vs. just a commutation of sentence), the person is completely free from their sentence and restored to the rights they had prior to a conviction. While a presidential pardon may not expunge the record from a person’s file, it is as one lawyer put it, “the government forgiving your offense.”
As Jesus stood in the synagogue of Nazareth and read from the scroll of Isaiah, there was more than a few thousand people who needed a pardon. It was the whole world, including those sitting in the synagogue…and also you and me.
Jesus said,
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
Proclaiming freedom for the prisoners is something I can do. I mean I can say the words, “You are free to go!” standing outside a federal prison. The words would fall on deaf ears and I would be looked at funny by any guards outside the prison. I would probably be asked to leave and not come back.
Why?
Because I have no authority to free the prisoners.
However if I was a lawyer and had a certified document signed by the President that said a certain prisoner was free, that authority would lead the guards to open the cell of the said prisoner and let him go.
Jesus not only proclaims freedom for the prisoners, but he has the authority to do it.
Not prisoners of the federal government, but prisoners to sin. Ones like you and me who have a rap sheet a mile long of offenses we have committed against the law of our holy and righteous God. A sentence that if fully executed would make life miserable for all of time and horrendous in hell for eternity.
But Jesus comes with a complete pardon for our sins. He hands his perfect life, innocent death and glorious resurrection to the heavenly Judge, the Lord as payment in full for all of our offenses. The judge sees the penalty that has been paid for our sins through Jesus and writes with Jesus’ blood on our conviction: Forgiven. Paid in full.
We are free! Free from the guilt and consequence of sin. We are restored to live a new and holy life to the glory of the One who pardoned us.
Enjoy the freedom Jesus won for you today!
Apply: Take a few minutes and honestly write out a “rap sheet” of all the things God the Father would convict you of. Then take a red pen and write: Forgiven by Jesus! I am free!
Prayer: Lord God, thank you for sending your Son not just to proclaim freedom, but to do all that was necessary to secure my eternal freedom with you! Help me each day to live to your glory as a free from sin child of God! AMEN.