Freedom

Definition

In its broadest sense and as used in the Bible and in the field of government it means merely “acting at will”. It is the acting and the performance of acts freely according to one’s will, with or without restraints, for the general welfare. The subject of freedom involves the faculty of “free will”, which God as Creator Superior has given to angels and men so that they can conduct themselves voluntarily in a way pleasing to their Maker. It is this field of “free will” action wherein governments, both theocratic and man-made, grant con­trolled liberties and freedoms.

Jehovah as Sovereign Superior Solely Enjoys Absolute Freedom; Acts at Will Without Restraint. He Alone Is Independent

Isaiah 40:13, 15 “Who has di­rected the spirit of Jehovah, or being His counsellor has taught Him? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are ac­counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, He takes up the isles as a very little thing.”

Romans 9:20, 21 “O man, who, then, really are you to be an­swering back to God? Shall the thing molded say to him that molded it, ‘Why did you make me this way?’ What? Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for an honorable use, another for a dishonorable use?”

Isaiah 45:11, 12   “And would you question Me about the fu­ture? would you dictate to Me about My work? says the Eternal [Jehovah], Israel’s Maker, Is­rael’s Majestic One, I, I who made the earth, I who created man on earth, I who stretched out the heavens with My own hands, I who ordered all their host!”

Jehovah is a God of Freedom; His Organization Dwells in Climate of Freedom

2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now Jehovah is the spirit; and where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.”

Galatians 4:25, 26 “Now this Hagar means Sinai, a mountain in Ara­bia, and she corresponds with the Jerusalem today, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

Man Made in God’s Image Granted Climate of Freedom, a Vast Field of Freewill Action

Genesis 1:26, 28-30 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. … and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have domin­ion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.”

Perfect Man’s Original Freedom Relative. Restricted by Law for Man’s Good

Genesis 2:16, 17 “And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.”

Man Loses Original Freedom, Enters Slavery of Sin and Death. He Went Beyond the Bounds of His Safe Freedom

Genesis 3:11, 12, 17-19 “Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I com­manded you that you should not eat? And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And unto Adam He said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, say­ing, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.”

Romans 5:12 “Just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”

Also: Romans 6:16.

Faithful Mankind Promised Res­toration of Original Safe Free­dom in a Jubilee

Romans 8:21 “The creation itself also will be set free from enslave­ment to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

Leviticus 25:10 “And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.”

Isaiah 49:8, 9 “Thus says Jeho­vah, In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate herit­ages; saying to them that are bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.”

Mosaic Law Foreshadows Re­demption from Slavery by a Near Kinsman

Leviticus 25:47, 48 “And if a stranger or sojourner with you be waxed rich, and your brother be waxed poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger … after that he is sold he may be redeemed; one of his brethren may redeem him.”

Christ Jesus, the “Son of Man”, Is Man’s Kinsman, Redeemer, Liberator

John 1:14 “So the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of His glory, a glory such as belongs to an only- begotten son from a father.”

Matthew 20:28 “Just as the Son of man came, not to be minis­tered to, but to minister and to give His soul a ransom in ex­change for many.”

1 Timothy 2:5, 6 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a cor­responding ransom for all—this is what is to be witnessed to at its own particular times.”

John 8:36 “If the Son sets you free, you will be actually free.”

Romans 5:18, 19 “As through one trespass the result to men of all kinds was condemnation, likewise also through one act of justifica­tion the result to men of all kinds is a declaring of them righteous for life. For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, likewise also through the obe­dience of the one person many will be constituted righteous.”

Accepted Bible Truth as to Christ Leads to Freedom

John 8:31, 32 “If you remain in My word, you are really My disci­ples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Galatians 5:1 “For such freedom Christ set us free. Therefore stand fast and do not let yourselves be confined again in a yoke of slav­ery.”

Romans 6:18 “Since you were set free from sin, you became slaves to righteousness.”

Luke 4:18 “Jehovah’s spirit is upon Me, because He anointed Me to declare good news to the poor, He sent Me forth to preach a re­lease to the captives.”

Christians Now Set Free from Bondage of False Religion and Satan’s Organization

2 Corinthians 6:17 ” ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’ “

Revelation 18:4 “And I heard another voice out of heaven say: ‘Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.’ “

Colossians 1:13, 14 “He delivered us from the authority of the dark­ness and transplanted us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, by means of whom we have our release by ransom, the forgive­ness of our sins.”

Beware of Those Falsely Offering Freedom and Endeavoring to Destroy Our Christian Rel­ative Freedom

2 Peter 2:18-20 “For they utter swelling expressions of no profit, and by the desires of the flesh and by loose habits they entice those who are just escaping from people who conduct themselves in error. While they are promis­ing them freedom, they them­selves are existing as slaves of corruption. For whoever is over­come by another is enslaved by this one. Certainly if, after hav­ing escaped from the defilements of the world by an accurate knowl­edge of the Lord and Savior Je­sus Christ, they get involved again with these very things and are overcome, the final conditions have become worse for them than the first.”

Galatians 2:4 “But because of the false brothers brought in quietly, who sneaked in to spy upon our freedom which we have in union with Christ Jesus.”

Follow the Kingly “Law of Freedom”

James 1:25 “He who peers into the perfect law that belongs to freedom and who persists in it, this man, because he has become, not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, will be happy in his doing it.”

James 2:12, 13 “Keep on speaking in such a way and keep on doing in such a way as those do who are going to be judged by the law of a free people. For the one that does not practice mercy will have his judgment without mercy. Mercy exults triumphantly over judgment.”

James 2:8, 9 “If, now, you prac­tice carrying out the kingly law according to the Scriptures, ‘You must love your neighbor as your­self,’ you are doing quite well. But if you continue showing favoritism, you are working a sin, for you are reproved by the law as transgressors.”

Assured New World Freedoms Now Near

Freedom from want

Isaiah 65:21, 22 “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another in­habit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people, and My chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”

Freedom from fear

Micah 4:4 “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah of hosts has spoken it.”

Freedom of worship

John 4:23 “The hour is coming, and it is now, when the genuine worshipers will worship the Fa­ther with spirit and truth, for, in­deed, the Father is looking for such kind to worship Him.”

Zechariah 14:16 “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Freedom of speech

Ephesians 3:11, 12 “According to the eternal purpose which He formed in connection with the Christ, Jesus our Lord, by means of whom we have this freeness of speech and an approach with confidence through our faith in Him.”

Freedom from sickness

Revelation 21:4 “And He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, .. . neither will mourning nor out­cry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”

Freedom from death

Revelation 21:4 “And death will be no more.”

Freedom from gravedom, Hades

Revelation 20:12, 13 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. .. . And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually accord­ing to their deeds.”

Freedom from animal hostility

Ezekiel 34:25, 28 “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth de­vour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.”

Freedom from attack or injury

Isaiah 11:9 “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy moun­tain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”

Freedom from war

Micah 4:3 “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Freedom from past record of sin

Jeremiah 31:34 “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more.”

1 John 2:2 “And He [Christ Jesus] is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, yet not for ours only but also for the whole world’s.”

Freedom of education for life

Revelation 22:17 “And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.”

Isaiah 55:1 “Ho, everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that has no money; come ye, buy, and eat.”

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