Releasing the Prisoners

Today, the prison warders are nervous. They have increased their patrols and jangle their keys with particular menace. There’s talk of a planned prison breakout, but the governor is having none of it. Oh, it’s quiet enough to the untrained eye. The jail ticks along as it always has, the inmates go about their business, some working, others eating and drinking. Some have been imprisoned so long, they can’t imagine freedom. Indeed, they barely need their doors locking at night. But the guards are still anxious. In the past, large scale breakouts have occurred, and the governor was furious. When this happens, morale suffers and even those prisoners that don’t escape become fidgety. Security was enhanced, and the large break-outs reduced accordingly, though some prisoners still occasionally get past the fence. The odd run-away isn’t so bad, reflect the guards. Some of them think it’s inevitable that odd break-outs will occur from such a vast prison. Staff are over-stretched, you see. But this planned rescue operation is being strenuously opposed by the prison management. Extra staff have been drafted in and the prisoners have been warned against leaving their cells.

The One behind the prison breakout is powerful but his agents come and go, and they vary in effectiveness. The guards say that they are no match for their governor, and yet the governor is sore afraid. The great Enemy, called the Redeemer, has promised to close down the prison one day; until then He masterminds individuals’ escape. The governor has put up posters and notices around the prison to distract the inmates and remind them that it’s a very nice prison, and that life outside its walls is not as good as some like to make out. He has started playing loud music so the inmates can’t hear the Redeemer’s instructions to gain freedom. He’s even persuaded some of his inmates to claim that they escaped once but that it wasn’t very nice, so they came back. The prison authorities have given the place a new lick of paint, which both keeps the detainees busy, and takes their minds off running away.

A report comes in. The governor laughs; his Enemy has chosen one of the toughest corners of the prison to crack- Blackpool. And yet, he knows that some even there will find their freedom, because the Redeemer always succeeds in releasing some, even the ones most tightly bound and chained. 

Jesus said: 

“He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed” Luke 4:18

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5. 

http://www.martintop.org.uk/content/lancashire-festival-hope