Still searching for that last minute ‘perfect gift’? Need some advice? Try identifying what might be that person’s greatest need.

God’s people had been waiting for a long time... anticipating a promised Messiah who would come, sent from God... to deliver them from their oppressors and enemies.

The whole story of Exodus and how God raised up Moses to lead His people out of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt was a dress rehearsal of sorts, a foreshadowing or ‘type’ of the ‘real show’ that would take place at a much later time, when Jesus would come to set His people free. And this time, it wouldn’t be just the Jewish nation He would liberate.

All of the prophets of old pointed to this coming Deliverer, offering up clues and hints as to where and how ...”behold, a virgin shall conceive...” (Isa. 7:14) and that the Promised One would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Pinpointing the exact time as to when this would happen had been sketchy...but the people knew He was coming...for ‘it was written’.

Where the wires got crossed was in the fact that people who were around at the time of His arrival were looking for a coming King would deliver them from their current oppressors, the Roman Empire, who at that time, had occupied their land for roughly 60 years. They only saw their ‘enemy’ as a physical one, an empire that was ruthless and quite oppressive and made life difficult for the Jewish people. Ironically, not much has changed since those days as most people still... fail to see who their ‘oppressor’ is, even today. And it ain’t the Romans!

So who is our real oppressor, you ask? Well, let’s start with Acts 10:38 where Peter affirms how “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by... the devil, for God was with Him.”

Jesus made it quite clear as to why He came, shortly after His time of testing in the wilderness which lasted 40 days. He returned first to Galilee (in the power of the Spirit) and then on to Nazareth where He appeared in the synagogue and read from the scrolls of Isaiah.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed...”(Luke 4:14-18)

Jesus followed that up by handing the scrolls back to the attendant and with all eyes fixed on Him...declared: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (21)

It was NOT...the Romans whom Jesus came to free them/us from; nor was it the Egyptians, or the Taliban or ISIS or the ‘Left-Wing-Liberals’. Our ‘enemy’ has never been the Communists, the Russians or the Chinese or all those ‘illegal aliens’ who cross our borders... or any other ethnic group that you are not fond of.

That is not to say this world hasn’t seen its fair share of ‘wicked’ nations and oppressive people. There has always been ‘wars and rumors of wars where nations would rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms’ as Jesus indicated in Matt. 24:6-7.

If you truly desire to know the source of all the conflict that continues to exist today, along with all the evil and despair, you only need to spend more time re-examining scripture, because it is clearly laid out for us to see...at least for those who ‘have ears to hear’. “

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)

I often find myself thinking- if there was just one single verse that I could share up front with any ‘unbelieving’ individual to begin a conversation and explain the reason as to why God sent His only begotten Son into this world, it would be this one verse -

“We know ... the world around us is under the control of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19)

Now it is understandable to see why many, if not most... would scoff and roll their eyes, possibly having no interest to discuss the topic any further. And for those who may not be sold on such a claim but are willing to sit up and say : “Tell me more”, to them I say- you might be surprised to learn just how Jesus came to ‘set at liberty...those who are oppressed’. And yes, even to those who claim to be a part of His church already ...you might be just as amazed, since it is not what most of us have been taught.

Friends...what I’ve been trying to share here daily for the past 4+ years...is centered around one main truth, backed with verse after verse, from Genesis to Revelation; and it could fill in so many ‘blanks’ and ‘missing pieces’ for many of you, along with providing answers to so many of those nagging questions we’ve all wrestled with. And for whatever reason God has at this time, He’s trying to get our attention and ‘wake us up’... before it’s too late.

God did not send Jesus into this world to destroy us, but that the world through Him might be ‘saved’ (John 3:17). “God our Savior...desires ALL people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4) (I wonder what ‘truth’ that might be?)

I continue to humbly submit to any who read these postings...that I believe far too many sincere people have fallen short in their understanding as to just what...we are being ‘saved’ from, not to mention grasping the full knowledge of this ‘truth’ He came to bring.

If you want to talk about what God’s greatest ‘gift’ to mankind was when He sent Jesus to die on a cross (John 3:16), you might give thought to asking what was mankind’s greatest need? Can I tell you now, at the risk of raising a few eyebrows...that it was not ‘forgiveness’, that was our greatest ‘need’...it was our ‘freedom’.

Join me tomorrow?