The Syndrome of the Released Captives

UV 1507/10000 The Syndrome of the Released Captives

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 35 v 10

Believers in Jesus are called the “ransomed” as we were paid for by His death on the cross and we are freed from the captivity of the enemy of our souls, returned or restored to God. Our captivity to sin and its author is a kind of spiritual abduction. For each of us and all of us to be saved, an absolute price has to be paid for absolution. God paid the highest price or ransom for the potential salvation of all mankind and the specific salvation of all who accepted that He has made the payment of the highest price in His own beloved Son Jesus the sinless One. When victims of kidnapping or abduction are freed, they are filled with a sense of gladness, relief and joy even as earlier while in captivity they felt fear, dread, sorrow and hopelessness. Long after they are freed that sense of joy remains as long as they are alive and remember the trauma of their captivity. It is a different kind of “Stockholm syndrome” that describes the change in the beliefs, behaviour and feelings of the victim once free. When we are freed, we become part of the Kingdom of God or Zion. We sing songs as we are filled with joy at being freed from the limitations or hamartia of sin. We sing the song of Moses for our physical salvation and the song of Jesus the Lamb for our eternal and spiritual salvation. Our joy unlike the joy of the people of this world is not temporal or temporary or fleeting. It remains on our heads as an invisible crown of eternal life and salvation. We have the assurance of eternal life, security and freedom from fears of every kind. When fears flee we are filled with gladness. When sin, disease, loss, defeat or death attempt to attack us, we should hold this note that is stamped on us, “ PAID FOR BY JESUS. No more payment is required of me.” The only response required of us is to continue to walk in faith.

As we walk in faith and joy of knowing Jesus as Saviour in this world and forever, we will be overtaken by pleasant surprises ranging from good news to great news that the Lord loves to send our way. We will not be overtaken by sorrow or regret. Though we might suffer sadness and defeat from time to time like the rest of the world, we will not be overcome for our hope holds us up. Our soul will be a well watered and fenced garden. All our fountains or sources of joy will be in the Lord. We will go, grow and glow from strength to strength. Our cup will no longer be half full or empty but will be overflowing. No more “hamartia” or shortage of joy but “hyperbole” or more than we expected, more than we asked or dreamt of. For the Lord nothing is an impossibility, an exaggeration or a challenge for all things are possible with Him and faith opens the way for those who believe. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord. He will turn our mourning into joy.

The Lord will open new streams in our lives. There is never a dull moment in the life of a believer. The Lord does exciting and new things in our lives. The natural, the supernatural and the spiritual will mingle in our lives. Old wells of blessing that have been choked or blocked by the enemy will be opened again. New wells of joy will spring up from within us. No man or force or circumstance can take away our joy or Shalom from us. The Lord will bring us into a spiritual oasis in the desert of our lives: an Elim with twelve wells and seventy palms. He will satisfy our physical as well as our emotional and spiritual hunger and thirst.

Prateep V Philip