A Promise of Freedom

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A Promise of Freedom

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One hundred and fifty-three years ago today, Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It is remembered most for its promise that at the start of the new year the United States government would make American slaves “then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

The Day of Atonement represents a promise of freedom—freedom from sin and from death that comes as a result of sin.

What an exciting promise! What a change for people who had been held in abject slavery for generations. No wonder the Emancipation Proclamation is revered and remembered! Because it was long ago, and because slavery did legally end, we tend to overlook how much that document was a promise, rather than a fulfillment. It proclaimed that slavery would end within a few months, but it proclaimed freedom to slaves living in areas that were completely outside the control of the United States. That meant that if the North did not win the Civil War, those slaves would not gain their freedom. They had no power to free themselves. They had to look to an outside power to give them freedom.

God's promise of freedom from slavery

Thankfully, the North did win, and soon after slavery was legally put to an end in the United States. This year that date should remind us of a different promise of freedom. That promise is to every human being on the planet. When the sun sets on Sept. 22, 2015, it will mark the beginning of the annual commemoration called the Day of Atonement, known in Jewish communities as Yom Kippur. The meaning of that day, as explained in the Bible equates to an emancipation proclamation for all humankind.

Why would we need to be given freedom today? Slavery has been outlawed in most nations around the world. Citizens of Western nations enjoy freedoms and luxuries that could not have been imagined 150 years ago. However a passage found in the Bible says that we are slaves if we practice what it calls sin. The apostle Paul wrote, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" (Romans 6:16).

People debate what exactly sin is (1 John 3:4 gives the answer), but being held in slavery to it is definitely not good—and that is where the Day of Atonement comes in. That day represents a promise of freedom—freedom from sin and from death that comes as a result of sin. That is because the meaning of the Day of Atonement, as described in the Bible, includes having the sacrifice of Jesus Christ pay the death penalty that sin brings. The word atonement actually means reconciliation through the payment of a penalty.

Importantly, the Day of Atonement also represents the confinement of the great evil being, known as Satan. A study of Scripture shows that Satan bears responsibility for much of the world’s sin. As long as he influences people, they can never really be free. That is the condition of the world today. Evil influences cause people to sin, and they have no power to free themselves.

Yet, there is a promise of freedom that will prevail. As the Emancipation Proclamation 133 years ago promised that an outside power would soon free American slaves, so the Day of Atonement promises that an outside power will free mankind from a different type of slavery. Just as Americans were still held in slavery on Sept. 22, 1862, but they could take courage from the promise of freedom to come. Even so we live in world where sin still prevails, but we can be encouraged by the promise of freedom represented by one of the holy days of the Bible.

If you would like to learn more about the meaning of the Day of Atonement, along with other biblical Holy Day, annual days, please read God’s Holy Day Plan: The Promise of Hope for All Mankind.