Free

This is a federal holiday that marks a celebration that has been observed in many localities throghougt the years - at the core, there is the topic of freedom. We can read in 2nd Corinthians 3:
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Two weeks from today, we will be celebrating our independence as a nation; today, we think about an outgrowth of those initial principles, freedom from slavery. God does not want us to be enslaved to anyone or anything on this earth; He wants us to be devoted to Him. He has purchased us with a heavy price - with His own life, and because we belong to Him, He grants us true freedom - the freedom to overcome our sins and to live forever in Him.

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In the last four verses of Galatians 4 & the first of Galatians 5, we read about the freedom we have in Christ - remembering that God's chosen people, the children of Israel, were recipients of freedom from bondage, and we can walk in His freedom for ourselves. We can read these words:
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

In 1863, then-President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was intended to put an end to the enslavement of black people in the entirety of the United States, even though part of the nation had seceded.  In those days, communication was limited.

A piece on the Calvary Chapel website notes: "Juneteenth (June + nineteenth) celebrates the date in 1865 when the last stronghold of slavery in the Union, Texas, received a formal decree to liberate all slaves. Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been in effect for nearly two and a half years, many thousands of black slaves remained in bondage."  On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas and issued an order that "all slaves are free."  As the writer of the piece, George Scanlan notes:

He proclaimed that the freeing of slaves "involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves..." Finally, as General Granger read aloud "General Order Number Three," the last outpost of slavery within the United States was confronted with the biblical truth of the Imago Dei: all people are equally created in God's image, and deserving of dignity. 

Scanlan highlighted the views of Christian leaders regarding the topic of slavery, writing:

After experiencing a radical conversion to Christianity and having sought the counsel of John Newton about whether to remain in public office, a young William Wilberforce resolved to "commit his life and work to service of God" and to remain in politics with "increased diligence and conscientiousness." His later meeting with Rev. James Ramsay would prove momentously significant, as he heard firsthand of the horrifying conditions and treatment of slaves on British sugar plantations and transport ships. With a strong desire to put his Christian principles into action and serve God with his public life, Wilberforce soon began a quest that would outlive him, but would eventually result in the abolition of slavery in most of the British Empire.

Charles Spurgeon also championed an anti-slavery, abolitionist message from his pulpit and published works. He made his position on the equality of slaves plain by regularly receiving ex-slaves into his Pastor's College and his pulpit. He articulated well his feeling toward slave owners when he wrote: "I do from my inmost soul detest slavery . . . and although I commune at the Lord's table with men of all creeds, yet with a slave-holder I have no fellowship of any sort or kind. Whenever one has called upon me, I have considered it my duty to express my detestation of his wickedness, and I would as soon think of receiving a murderer into my church... as a man stealer."

Dean Nelson of the Frederick Douglass Institute and the Human Coalition wrote this at the WORLD Magazine website:

Slavery was a terrible stain on the United States for the first 87 years of its history. As the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass observed, the peculiarly evil institution not only brought unspeakable suffering to the slaves themselves but was also toxic to the moral health of slaveholders. It was at odds with the principles of our Declaration of Independence. Ridding America of legal slavery was the beginning of a long cleansing process that has made the country better and set an example for many other nations to follow.

Juneteenth is not a celebration of American perfection, because nations are never perfect. But it is a right and good celebration of our ongoing commitment to strive toward perfection, by admitting our sins and seeking to overcome them.

On this day, we can choose to embrace the narrative of freedom, of a country founded in a manner consistent with Biblical principles that paved the way for people previously enslaved to be free.  We can choose to be revisionist and divisive or choose to be reflective and unified.  

Last year, the Faithlife website published a piece by Tony Evans, who is heard weekday mornings at 9:30 on Faith Radio.  He wrote about Juneteenth and tied it to freedom in Christ:

We were acting like slaves because no one had told us we were free. In fact, we were so glad that someone finally told us, we made that date a holiday, and African Americans celebrate Juneteenth every year. Thank God, someone told us! If no one had ever shared the good news, then we would have stayed in slavery much longer.

Jesus Christ, on Calvary 2,000 years ago, signed your Emancipation Proclamation. He declared that you are free, but Satan is trying to keep it a secret from you. He’s trying to keep you from coming into the realization that you don’t have to stay tied down.

You don’t have to say “Yes, sir” to his control of your life any longer. You can now put down that plow and move “North.” You can now take the freedom that has been offered to you and act on it.

Just last year, the third Monday of June was designated as a Federal holiday to commemorate what had already been observed to some degree throughout the country.  There are several concepts here to consider.  One is the trajectory toward freedom.  This is a concept that is consistent with the Scriptures - we see how God freed the Israelites from bondage and how Jesus purchased our freedom from sin and death through His own death and resurrection. 

We see that freedom was built into the concepts of the founding of our nation. Craig von Buseck, writing at the Focus on the Family website, quoted from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which "expanded the notion that 'all are created equal.'"  The former President said: "…that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…"  von Buseck writes:

This new birth of freedom expands the original founders’ vision. This phrase captures the significance of that vision: “all are created equal” to people of every color, nation, tribe, and tongue. Finally, this hallowed concept has spread around the world. It lit the torch of freedom everywhere.

We can also consider what Dr. Evans said about being free in Christ, yet not living in it.  Through our knowledge of the Scriptures and our surrender to the Lord, we can discover what Jesus has done for us.  

I also think about how God empowers us to deal with delay.  I think about a prayer of Daniel and his encounter with an angel, who had been hindered from bringing an answer because of the barrier of the "king of Persia."  That was not a physical king, but a spiritual stronghold.  Impatience is not a spiritual virtue: when we perceive that there are hindrances or delays in our prayer life, we can continue to be persistent and trust God to bring the answer in the right time and the right way.