Psalm 2:3

³ “Let us break their chains and throw   off their shackles.”

It had been reported that in the past generations, masters secured slaves with chains and shackles. Slaves who were chained and shackled had no freedom to go anywhere they desired to be present. Chains and shackles are symbols of slavery and oppression.

Before Stephen was murdered, he narrated how the Lord freed their ancestors from the Egyptian slavery. He said in Acts 7:37-41, ³⁷This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ ³⁸He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us. ³⁹But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. ⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ ⁴¹That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.

The Israelites were oppressed in Egypt. They cried out to the Lord, and God freed them from the Egyptian slavery, but they did not appreciate their freedom totally. They still desired to return to Egypt; they still wanted to become slaves again. Such reality practically illustrates Christians who return to their old selves. By faith we believe that Christ freed us from the slavery of sin. When we sin, it is like putting again on our self the chains and shackles of wickedness. It says in Proverbs 26:11, ¹¹As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

It is foolishness to return and become slaves again. When we sin, we follow the part of us that still controlled by sinful nature and not yet fully submitted to the Lordship of Christ. We can completely submit all aspects of our life to the authority of Christ only by his gracious help.

Lord Jesus, please inspire me to resist sin always.

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