Galatians 4:5 - From slaves to Royals...!

"...in order that the ones under law He should redeem, in order that the adoption we should receive."

-Bondage, slavery sets up the possibility of deliverance, a release made possible thru some kind of rescue or ransom.  We're talking Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.  And Jesus is our "Conductor".  But this slavery is not about race - it is universal.  And no hidden highway, this.  No need to slink around in the shadows to avoid being recaptured and reenslaved by the man.  This release is 100 percent paid in full and permanent, for any and all who believe.  I gare-on-tee.  There is no going back, not ever - free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last!  I think many of us in the west, the cradle of democracy, are prone to take freedom for granted and have almost no appreciation for the magnitude of this deliverance.  We've been born - most of us - into a society where we enjoy a vast unprecedented measure of freedom.  Freedom to do and say what we want, freedom to spend our time and our days and our lives pretty much how we want.  The closest we come to experiencing something which even closely approximates slavery might be our jobs or perhaps some extreme family or schooling situation (those can be very real, to be sure).  But most of the time we have (or should have) legal protection, AND we have an out.  We can take that job and shove it.  Not so for slaves.  There is no escape.  No hope.  No freedom, no relief whatsoever from being subject to the whims and wants and requirements of the one who OWNS you.  But Jesus Christ bought us back, purchased our freedom, paid the full price of our release from slavery, from our bondage to the law, to the elemental things of the world, to that antiquated ineffective law of works.  We were born into that bondage, we needed to be ransomed out of it, and He paid the price - in blood.  The precious, spotless blood of the Lamb of God.

-Having been purchased out of the bonds of slavery - get this - we became free to be adopted into the Royal family!  This it turns out is the very reason why God sent His Son.  He wanted us to be a part of His family!  Despite the fact that we were not only slaves but rebels.  As best we can tell, adoption was not so much a Jewish concept, but a Roman one (not mentioned one single time in the OT).  For the Jews, sonship was about physical descent.  But what we’re talking about is a complete change of legal status, and it began in the heart of our heavenly Father.  He so wanted us in His family, so desired for us to be His children, that He was willing to do whatever it took, pay any price in order to make it happen.  No cost was too great.  He had to secure our freedom, and only He was able to pay the price.  Because He wanted to adopt us.  He wanted to adopt you.  He wanted to adopt me.  Warts and all.  Slaves to royals - that's our story.  The King of the universe wanted to buy us back and bring us into His family, because He made us.  He designed us in the first place, full of wonder and glorious potential.  Just waiting to be released.  Thus were we.  And thus did He.  And now... we’re free, free to be all we were ever meant to be...