Luke 1:72-75 - Political and spiritual freedom

1:72,73

Israel requires God to show mercy, mercy for all the sin that Israel has committed throughout history. All this is done in the light of the covenant that God has made with Israel, and indeed with the whole world. In Genesis 12:23 God promises that all peoples, not just Israel, will be blessed through Abraham. The fundamental problem in the Bible is this. God has made a covenant with the people, but the people are all sinners, no one is worthy. How can this dichotomy be solved? It is only in Christ that the solution comes.

1:74,75

Again we have the idea of being rescued from our enemies, but this time with the added promise of being able to serve the Lord without fear, and in holiness and righteousness before Him. Now there is a fascinating mix here of political and spiritual freedom. The Israelites spent much of their time under domination, and have been victims of persecution, and much, much worse, at many times in their history. To be able to serve God without this fear is a very real blessing. Christians have in many places and at many times been persecuted, and have not been able to serve the Lord without fear. Now in the West though there is not violent persecution, our views on sexual morality in particular are increasingly becoming almost illegal.

Then there is the spiritual side. Anyone who genuinely seeks to do good, to serve God, becomes increasingly aware of their own sin, their own abject lack of “holiness and righteousness”. In Christ both the spiritual and political are dealt with, but the spiritual comes first. Israel wanted the political to come first, it is human nature to want the political, the circumstances, to change first. They wanted freedom from Rome, Jesus came first to bring us freedom from sin. In Christ we are made righteous, completely justified, and a work of sanctification begins in our lives. One day He will return and the old earth and heavens will pass away, the old order will go, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Political change will come, far more radical than any human revolution or mere change of government has ever brought. But it is Christ who brings this, not us. In the meantime we are in the days of people being set free spiritually, being set free from sin, and we are part of the means that God uses to bring that freedom to people. As we see a disintegrating world around us we are to make known the love of God, in Christ, to people. We do this through what we say and what we do.