THE LORD LOOSETH THE PRISONERS

The author of this Psalm was the beloved King David, a man beloved of his God. He begins this Psalm with the exaltation of his God, and ends with praising his redeemer the Lord.

His life had been a life of warfare. Though he was an anointed King he remained a child of Adam, weak and mortal. This he confessed in 2 Sam. 3:39. “And I am this day weak though anointed King.” From his youth he had been frequently in captivity. His enemies had often had him in derision, as he came nigh unto death. 1 Sam. 20:3. “There is but one step between me and death.” But the Lord had delivered him. He had heard the prayer of His anointed though often in captivity. For the Lord looseth the prisoners. David had ceased to place any confidence in man. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” Ps. 118:9. In his last prayer he exalted the name of the Lord for the deliverence He had wrought. “For He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.” Ps. 72:12.

The word prisoner in our text also has a special and spiritual meaning. The word prisoner means; a person who is captured or held captive; as a prisoner of war. Many of our men and boys who have been in the service of their country, and who fought in the enemies land have been taken captive; some who are still alive may never return to their native country. Their loved ones in all their sorrows see no hope of embracing them again. Great as these sorrows are; they have learned to place no confidence in man, whose breath is in his nostrils. The enemy holds their prisoners captive with no release. We are presently also living in times of great unrest and distress, hearing of wars and rumors of wars. In several nations many are being deprived of life, or are placed in prison camps. Satan the enemy of the church of Christ has but a short time as we see the signs of great persecutions approaching over the whole world. The Antichrist will not stop seeking the destruction of the church of Christ Jesus. This however he will not be able to do, for the kingdom of Christ shall continue through all the revolutions of time, to the utmost ages of eternity.

In our deep fall in our covenant head Adam we have become willing servants of Satan who is the adversary of both God and man. Having transgressed the Holy law of God, we became enemies of our heavenly benefactor. We have brought ourselves under the captivity of Satan. In bitter enmity Satan will do his utmost to keep his captives enslaved. The Lord however fulfills His sovereign will with His own, promising them that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His church. Matt. 17:18. He will deliver His elect, those who are written in the book of life. “Thy people shall be a willing people in the day of Thy power.” Ps. 110:3.

By nature we are now in the state of utter darkness, totally dead in trespasses and sins. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. In our natural state Satan has us in such bondage that we willingly love him and obey him. We have fallen lower than the beasts in the field. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Is. 1:3. Scripture teaches us our total depravity. We are all like the barren fig-tree living under Christ’s divine curse: “No man eat fruit of thee for ever.” Mark 11:14. Spiritual life is only found in the TREE OF CHRIST’S LIFE. “He is the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. Being totally enslaved, and at enmity with our creator our eyes are blinded for the gift of God’s eternal Son, Christ Jesus. Therefore there remaineth NO FREE WILL in man ever to return to his maker. It was prophesied of Christ that He would come: “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” Is. 42:7.

In the work of regeneration, when man’s conscience and heart is first opened, he realizes the miserable state of slavery in which he has lived under the bondage of Satan. Being awakened out of the spiritual state of death, his conscience reveals that he has offended the High Majesty in heaven, confessing, “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speaketh, and be clear when Thou judgest. Ps. 51:4. They now learn to know themselves, as without God in the world. Having affronted all His Holy attributes they ask; by what means can we escape His just punishment, and be again received into the favor of God? They are like unto the three thousand pleading at the day of Pentecost: “Men and brethren, WHAT SHALL WE DO?” Acts. 2:37. They become willing by the work of the Holy Spirit to do anything that may be required of them, to be delivered from the heavy bondage of Satan, world, and sin. The Apostle Paul was no stranger to this: “And trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Having been a transgressor of breaking all the Holy commandments of God, they learned to love the law of God; for this selfsame law which condemns man, now has become their schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, that they may be justified by faith. Gal. 3:24. This law discovers their wounds, but can not give them the remedy. By the first discovery of sin they try their utmost to keep God’s commandments but to no avail. By this awakening, sin becomes as a heavy burden, too heavy for them to bear. That which they formally hated they now begin to love, and that which they formally loved they now hate. Why, you ask? Because they have entered a spiritual warfare; flesh against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. This we find in Rom. 7:21. “I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.” It remains an undeniable fact indeed, that the law of sin testifies in man, in whatsoever state the person is, whether under the law, or under grace. Paul speaks of the power of the law, refering to the sin that dwelleth within.

In our unregenerated state this warfare is unknown. We may have a head knowledge that there is such a law but it leaves us unconcerned. It is another thing for a man who experiences the power of this law in himself. He envies the fowl in the air, the cattle in the field, and the fish in the sea, which have not a never dying soul, and are not guilty of the great breach which man has wrought. Their guilt becomes inconceivably great and presses down their souls to death. All true believers experience the efficacy of the law of sin, by the indwelling sin within them. This was the experience of those saints who lived under the Old Testament dispensation whose hearts were filled with sincere love to their maker. This we find in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of David of whom we read: Ps. 139: 23,24. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” This likewise is the experience of God’s people who live in the gospel age. This we find in the life of the apostle Paul when he said: “O wretched man that I am! who shall ever deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Rom. 7:23, 24.

It is from this law of sin that Christ looseth the prisoners. The love of Christ is effecatious, therefore there is in the heart of the true believers, not withstanding the inhabitation of this law of sin, the habitual inclination of their will unto good. Christ became the perfect ransom for sinners, where neither themselves or an angel could pay the ransom for them. Christ voluntarily became the guilt bearer, enduring the condemnation and curse, and granting them life eternal. He has become the GREAT Prophet who teaches them, the Priest who intercedes for them, and the King to rule over them.

Those who are brought out of the state of darkness, experience a Spiritual refining. Peter speaks thereof in 1 Peter 1:7. “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than the gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” They learn that their heart is deceitful. Jer. 17:9. They are likened unto a laden ship which is within reach of the enemies territory, whereupon the enemy prevails to a total surrender, while an empty vessel is ignored. The oppression of their sin which dwelleth within becomes so great at times that they fear that the enemy of their soul shall prevail against them. One is tempted with pride, of which none is exempt, another with slothfulness in the work of their New master and Lord, another with worldly toils which usurp their alloted time, another with their financial cares, another with the neglect of their inner prayer chamber, another with deceitfulness, another with lusts, and another is tempted with blasphemous thoughts, which cause them much grief whereof they often cry out: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.” Ps. 35:1. Every regenerated sinner has his or her chief or hidden sin, which remains with them till the end, while Satan often reproaches them, saying that for such sinners as they are there is no deliverence. The sin of their youth, middle age, and old age testifies against them. It is for such enslaved prisoners to sin that Christ grants deliverance from their captivity, comforting them with these words: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you the rest.” Matt. 11:28. If your tears are remembered in His bottle, your sins shall be remembered against you no more forever, and your souls shall find eternal peace with God.

Dear Reader - have you ever experienced this spiritual imprisonment?

Hope in God, ye waiting people:
Mercies great with Him abide.
With the Lord a full redemption,
From the guilt of sin is found.

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