Sozo

"The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me...to proclaim deliverance to the captives...” (Luke 4:18)

This is only a portion of the verse. In its entirety it is: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed,” (Luke 4:18) To proclaim deliverance to the captives is just one of the things Jesus was anointed to do.

Who are the captives? What did Jesus mean by the word captives. A captive is a prisoner, someone held, confined and bound. Jesus was not talking about physical captivity, but spiritual captivity. To understand how captivity applies to us, we have to remember God’s purpose for creating man. God created man in His Own image and created a beautiful place for man to live. By man, I mean man and woman. (Genesis 2:4-24) Man was created to have dominion over all of creation. “And Jehovah God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) In that beautiful place called The Garden of Eden, there was only beauty, love and joy. It was a place where man met and walked with God. In fact, we know that God usually walked in the garden. (Genesis 3:8) But only the last walk is recorded, when Adam and Eve hid from God.

The disobedience of Adam and Eve had grave consequences that had terrible repercussions for earth and the generations that followed Adam and Eve and that will continue until the end of the world. Paul wrote a basic Gospel Truth to the Romans that tells the principle of being captive spiritually. “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to him whom you obey; whether it is of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness.” (Romans 6:16) When Adam and Eve obeyed the devil, they came under his jurisdiction which extended to all who would come later. So, the captives are men and women who are under the authority and dominion of the devil. They don’t know it. I didn’t know it. I just knew I was miserable and sick physically and mentally. This is the fruit of sin and darkness.

That’s why we needed a Savior, Someone Who was sinless, untouched by man’s fallen nature. It had to be God because all of mankind was touched by man’s fallen nature. “For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21) But although Jesus was born flesh and blood, He did not have the seed of fallen man. God speaks about the Savior being from the seed of a woman when He curses the serpent. But women do not have seeds. What is meant is the egg. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15) Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit using Mary’s womb to birth this man who was all God and all man, untouched by sin. “Then Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. Therefore, also that Holy One which will be born of you shall be called Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-35)

Only Jesus could be the sacrificial Lamb that God could accept. All of man was defiled by sin and in captivity. Only Jesus could be an acceptable sacrifice. It is only through the sacrifice of Jesus that we are freed from the captivity of sin and death. And only the Gospel can free man. Paul wrote about that freedom that Jesus got for us. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not again be held with the yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1) To think that our disobedience to Jesus can again bring us into bondage is horrible. Here Paul writes that it is possible. Many times, we hear of a brother or sister who seems to have suddenly regressed into sin. But it didn’t happen suddenly. There is a process of disobedience until there is no longer a love for God nor a fear of God.

The Gospel that Jesus preached set people free. If we share that Gospel, people will be set free. Many fail to share because they don’t know the Scriptures word for word and think they will have to preach in order for the “captives” to be set free. But the Gospel is easy. Share what God has done in your life. That’s the Gospel. God so loved the world, that He sent Jesus to heal our spirits, heal our souls (mind, will and emotions) and heal our bodies. The Greek word for salvation is “sozo” which means complete healing and deliverance, spirit, soul and body. And we can only have “sozo” when we believe on Jesus and make Him Lord over our lives. The Gospel is the hope that people are yearning and seeking. It is the joy and love from the Lord they will experience when they believe and receive God’s gift.

To sum up, the captives are those who are still under the dominion of the devil. Jesus preached the Gospel and set people free. We can share the Gospel through our lives and share how the Lord has set us free.

Let us pray:

Father God, thank You for the Gospel. Thank You Father for sending Jesus. Thank You for Your love that has set me free from the slavery of the devil. Lord, I pray that Your Gospel may be shared throughout the world to set the captives free. I pray for those who are under the dominion of the devil. I know that they are suffering terribly in spirit, soul and body. Send Your laborers Lord. Send me Lord. Open my mouth so that Your love and Your Word touches souls and turns them to the Lord Jesus so they can be free. Give me the boldness and courage to do this. I need Your anointing because Lord, the flesh is weak, holds back and fears. Deliver me from fear in the face of rejection, hatred and opposition. Open eyes and ears of understanding. Let Your Holy Spirit speak to hearts clearly so that they can understand the Gospel. Thank You Lord. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.