Freedom Isn’t Free

As we focus on Passover and Resurrection Day this month, the phrase “Freedom isn’t Free” echoes in my heart and mind—not just from a historic speech or a popular song—but as the biblical key to receiving and proclaiming the gospel.

The Cost of Liberty

Passover is all about God liberating Israel from slavery in Egypt. And yet Israel’s liberty—or freedom—wasn’t free. It cost the Egyptian people the lives of their firstborn sons, and it would have cost Israel the same, except for the blood of a sacrificed lamb.

Just as freedom from bondage comes at a cost, so does the post-bondage life of freedom. The people of Israel no longer belonged to Pharaoh, yet they were not free to live however they chose—they belonged to God and were obligated to trust and serve Him. They had to step out in faith and into a life of obedience that included wandering and seasons of deprivation.

Proclaiming Liberty

God reminded Israel that freedom and obligation go together when He instituted her 50-year Jubilee. Note the seeming contrast between “Consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land” and “For the people of Israel … are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 25:10, 55; emphasis added). Belonging to God liberates us to serve Him. As Jews for Jesus approaches our own Jubilee, our 50th year of ministry, we feel these verses at our core.

We are especially captivated by that beautiful command to proclaim liberty. This resonates in our Jews for Jesus DNA—to us it is a clarion call to serve God through even more widespread gospel proclamation. We are celebrating our 50th year with a three-month series of 20 very different evangelistic outreaches to proclaim liberty to our diverse Jewish audiences. I am so grateful that you are sharing in this wonderful proclamation celebration.

The heart of our message remains the same.

While we’ve worked hard to discover meaningful ways to approach each group, the heart of our message remains the same. Proclaiming liberty means pointing to the reality of spiritual slavery and the price Jesus paid to set us free. He became our Passover Lamb. By His blood and through His sacrifice, we can be free. We are committed to this message—but our proclamation doesn’t end there.

As the blood of the Passover lamb had to be applied to the doorposts throughout Israel, we need the blood of the Lamb of God, Yeshua, applied to our lives. We need to step out in faith and into a life of obedience that may include seasons of wandering and deprivation.

The Obligations of Freedom

Our freedom places a profound obligation on us that includes a brand-new identity that is chosen for us, not by us. “Do you not know … you are not your own? For you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). That’s not an easy verse to live by, but we need to embrace it tightly because it is crucial to experiencing and to proclaiming real liberty—especially during this cultural moment in time. The world declares and celebrates that people are free to carve their own path and choose their own identity. This false notion of freedom wreaks havoc, enslaving people to their own misguided opinions and desires. The fallout from this “freedom” is brokenness, bondage, and despair.

Our freedom in Jesus runs contrary to popular notions and so must our message. Our identity has been paid for and chosen for us by God. We belong to Him and are obligated to Him, but that obligation goes hand in hand with freedom. We are both free and obligated to love God and others, to serve God and others, and not be bound by selfishness and sin. And there is no greater joy than to see others find that new life, new identity, and new purpose in Jesus.

Jewish People Are Still Being Set Free Today

Recently a man who had lived most of his 30-plus years in one of the most restrictive of ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities came to faith and entrusted his life to the Messiah, Jesus. His wife took his children and left him. His community shunned him, and he was deprived of his only means of earning a living. Yet this man possessed an irrepressible joy. I asked him how it was that he seemed so free to celebrate his newfound faith despite all that he was enduring. His answer was simple. “Because now I belong to Yeshua.”