It was after the Union victory at Antietam that President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It took effect on January 1, 1863.
Lincoln’s proclamation freed the slaves of the Confederate states. News of the proclamation didn’t reach the state of Texas until June 19, 1865. For two and a half years, the slaves held in the state of Texas were free — but they didn’t know it. Juneteenth (a combination of the words June and nineteenth) is now a national holiday commemorating the day the news of emancipation reached all slaves. Why did it take so long? For the sake of this article, I’ll suggest two reasons:
First, slave owners suppressed the good news. The last thing they wanted was for their slaves to find out they were free. One of the most effective ways to keep someone in bondage is to keep them ignorant. Ignorance is not stupidity. Stupidity refers to someone who has knowledge or awareness, but doesn’t utilize it. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge or awareness — and ignorance is an effective way to keep people in bondage.
Your slave master, the devil, knows this strategy works, and he is working very hard to keep you ignorant. I am writing this article, and it’s possible someone else forwarded it to you because we don’t want you to be ignorant any longer. So, please keep reading.
Second, the slaves may have been fearful of believing the good news of freedom. For nearly two hundred and fifty years, they had known only brutality and captivity. Freedom seemed too good to be true — and stepping out into that freedom was terribly risky.
We often criticize the griping Israelite slaves as Moses led them out of bondage in Egypt, but as the old saying goes, better the devil, you know. In other words, it seems better to deal with an undesirable but familiar situation than to risk a change that might lead to an even worse situation. The Israelites feared the risks they were taking by leaving the security of slavery. Fear keeps people in bondage. John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Ignorance can be fixed — and we’re going to fix it right now. Friend, you are free. Two thousand years ago, Jesus won your battle over sin, death, and grave. He signed in His own blood an eternal emancipation proclamation for the entire human race — and that includes you. You are free!
It is possible you didn’t even know you were enslaved. In Hebrews 2:14-15 we read, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he (Jesus) too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
My friend, you and I were made for eternity, and deep down inside, we know it. Death is an intruder. It doesn’t belong in our story. When God created us, He made us to live with Him forever. Human pride unleashed death into our story — and we live our lives enslaved to it all day, every day. The fear of death puts us on the hangman’s gallows. It is the hood over our heads, the noose around our necks, and the trap door under our feet. We never know when the hangman will pull the lever. Living in the fear of death consumes those who live in its grip.
There is good news for you today! Our emancipation proclamation is found in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
You are no longer ignorant. Now that you know, you can choose to believe it and begin living in the freedom that Jesus died to give you. Today can be your Emancipation Day.
The fear problem is harder to fix, and here’s why. Slavery allows us the luxury of blaming our misery on someone or something else. Victimhood is what we choose when we are afraid to take account of our own lives.
When offering pastoral guidance, I often make this statement, “How you got to where you are may not be your fault, but where you go from here — you can’t blame anyone else.” Once you know you are free, you must begin making the hard choices that accompany freedom. Free people don’t blame others for their misery. Instead, they do the hard and risky work of overcoming.
Living in freedom isn’t easy. It always requires hard work, discipline, and sacrifice. Unfortunately, too many people find living in the misery of slavery to be easier than living in the responsibilities of freedom. Again, better the devil, you know.
My friend, you are no longer ignorant. You are now aware that Jesus has set you free from sin, death, and the grave. Now you have a choice. Will you choose to live in that freedom and do the hard work of overcoming it, or will you choose to live in fear as a victim and waste your life, blaming everything and everyone for your misery? The choice is yours to make. I pray you will choose to be free.
