Happy Juneteenth Day. June 19 (called Juneteenth) is now known as America’s second independence day. The holiday was virtually unknown until Joe Biden signed a law in 2021 declaring the day a new national holiday. Juneteenth celebrates the day that slaves in Texas were set free.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 during the middle of the Civil War. The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” But, the news did not reach Texas until June 19, 1865 when about 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas and announced that 250,000 slaves were being set free. They rejoiced and the African American community has celebrated Juneteenth as the day the slaves were set free ever since.
The story of Juneteenth reminds me of the story of how Jesus sets us free from slavery to sin. Like the slaves in Texas, not everyone has heard the news yet that Jesus has set them free. But once people hear the good news, they will celebrate! Let’s take a look at how Jesus gives us our freedom/
In the beginning of time, Adam and Eve were created free. They were made in God’s image and as children of God they walked in complete freedom. They were spiritual alive.
But, Satan came and tempted them and when they disobeyed God they became slaves to sin. It was like they walked into a big cage and they shut the door behind themselves. When they entered the cage of sin, they died spiritually and became slaves.
When Adam and Eve had children, the children were also born as slaves. The children of Adam and Eve were not born free, they were born into the cage of sin just like their parents. Their children are also spiritually dead.
Sometimes it seems harsh to say that all have sinned because when you see an innocent newborn baby and you think, “That baby has never sinned. How can the child be a sinner?” But once I visited a women’s prison and I met a mother with a baby. The baby never committed a crime but it is born inside the prison because of the crime of its mother. Did the baby do anything wrong? No, but because of the condition and circumstances of its mother it was born inside the prison.
As the baby grows up, it does not learn to be good and kind and generous. Instead it learns to behave just like a prisoner, angry and fighting and scheming and it becomes just like the other prisoners. Why? Because that is its environment. That’s the way we are as sinners in a sinful world. We learn to hate. We learn to get even. We learn to be afraid
Today, all humans are slaves to sin. Adam and Eve became slaves voluntarily but the rest of us were born slaves. The children of slaves are born slaves. The child of a sinner is born in sin. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we were born sinners.
The problem with the cage of slavery is that you cannot open the slave door from the inside, you can only open the slave door from the outside. A slave can’t free himself. Adam and Eve walked into the slave cage and closed the door behind themselves. How much does a slave get paid for his work? Nothing. He can never save enough money to be able to ransom himself. The slave cannot work hard enough to get out of slavery. The harder he works, the more valuable he is as a slave.
It is impossible for one slave to free another slave. This is why men like Buddha, Mohammad, or Joseph Smith can never set anyone free from the slavery of sin.
Only someone on the outside of the cage can open the door to let the slaves out. This is why Jesus came from heaven to earth. In order to open the cage, Jesus could not be born as a child of Adam because all of Adam’s children are slaves. Jesus is the Son of God. He was born as a Son of God, not as a Son of Adam. Jesus came into our prison from the outside. He had done nothing wrong but He came into so He could open the door so we could get out of the slave cage.
When Jesus died on the cross, He went to hell and He took the keys to death and hell away from the slave master, Satan. Jesus took the keys to the slave market and opened the door of the slave cage. Now anyone who wants to walk out of the slave cage can do so. Some people choose to stay enslaved to sin, but some people choose to trust Jesus for their salvation. When you get saved, Jesus sets you free from sin and you become spiritually alive. All you have to do is walk out. Jesus opened the door for you.
If you want Jesus to set you free today, just say this prayer, “Dear God in Heaven, please set me free from my slavery to sin and the devil. I believe Jesus died and rose again to set me free. I choose to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. Amen.”
ABOUT DANIEL KING
Evangelist Daniel King, D.Min is on a mission to lead people to Jesus. He has visited over seventy nations preaching good news and he has led over two million people in a salvation prayer. He is often called “The Evangelism Coach.” To support King Ministries in our quest for souls, click here!
