Get out of jail free...

"The high priest...filled with jealousy, laid hands upon the Apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, led them out, and said, 'Go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life.'" --Acts 5:17-20

Satan, filled with jealousy, has laid his hands upon us, and put us in public jail. He has, through deceit, chained us in sin, separating our souls from God. But in this night, this blackness in our lives, the angel of the Lord comes, and opens the doors of our prison, inviting us to the light, inviting us to testify to the saving power of God--to the Truth of this life, of the life He wishes to give us. The angel leads us out--he does not leave us on our own. He releases us from under Satan's nose, with Satan's minions reporting to him, "We found the jail securely locked and the guards stationed outside the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside" (Acts 5:23). This is the power of the resurrection--to release us from our bondage, in a way that Satan could not counteract, could not understand. Did he not think that he had won when he had Christ crucified on that Cross? When he heard Christ say "It is finished" (John 19:30)? How surprised he was to find Christ come to hell to destroy him, and to raise up the dead! Did his minions not report, that the nails were fast in Him, that a spear had been thrust in His side, that He had breathed His last? And yet Christ was released from that prison, and turned the Cross into the very freedom that we are now free to partake of! How glorious is the resurrection of our Lord!