The Civil War is a war worth remembering. It pitted brother against brother. Some declare the war was the north against the south. I might suggest the war was much greater than that. It was a war that sought to bring about the most innate idea of man. This war, the Civil War, was a war about freedom. It was a war wherein some thought it OK to enslave others while others were beholden in the idea that all men were created equal. As such, equal men have no right or authority to enslave other men.
So, the Civil War would be fought. President Abraham Lincoln would be the Commander-in-Chief during this time as some states decided they no longer wanted to be part of the union. President Lincoln struggled as the young nation fought for what some saw as states’ rights. Meanwhile, the torn President prepared the Emancipation Proclamation which was to free some slaves and would later be the impetus to the eradication of slavery in the United States. The war would be won by those seeking freedom but that the first Republican President would lose his life by way of an assassin’s bullet. Much blood was shed and that shed blood was for one reason; freedom.
It was the year 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect. It would be about two years later when the Union soldiers would find their way to Galveston, Texas to bring word to the enslaved that they no longer had to live in the bondage of slave masters. As a result, we now have an unofficial holiday for most and a state holiday in Texas called Juneteenth. It is a day commemorating the word getting to the slaves who were free but did not realize their freedom.
When considering the events of this day of freedom it becomes impossible to ignore the fact of spiritual slavery and freedom. You see, Christ came into the world to free those held in the bondage of sin. Like those slaves in Galveston, many do not know they do not have to give in to and live under the tyrannical hand of the slave master, sin. With the idea of freedom in mind, Paul uses Galatians chapters four and five to bolster the basic concept of freedom. Galatians 5:1 is Paul’s encouragement to maintain certain freedom. His words, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
These same words could have easily been used in an expression to those in Galveston. They had been made free but that the bondage of slave masters would not allow the celebration of freedom. Still, that yoke of bondage remains today both theoretically and literally. Theoretically, many have the mindset of being enslaved by a slave master who has already released the yoke. That yoke was released yet some see themselves as still being under the tyrannical hand of the slave master. In a sense, they may be correct. As long as those in “bondage” see the slave masters ruling over them they will never be free.
The same concept holds true for those choosing to enslave themselves to the yoke of bondage, sin. Sin will keep you under its control as long as you allow it. Sin is a slave master that will not release its grip of its own accord. Yet, the Son has come that we might be free. That freedom means serving the tyrannical master of sin becomes a thing of the past. It means putting off the old man, that man of sin, and picking up the new man, the man of salvation. Salvation is the act and process of being delivered from the power of sin. Once delivered from sin that sin becomes as irrelevant as the slave masters of old.
With this in mind, we celebrate today because of certain freedom from the hands of slave masters. There is, however, a greater celebration. We must celebrate the liberty in Christ and that liberty is freedom from the power and influence of sin. The bottom line is that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. The spilled blood of those fighting for freedom should not be in vain. Neither should the spilled blood of Christ be in vain. Let us, therefore, walk in and celebrate this day of freedom.
