At Christmas-time, the Royal Mail in the UK delivers many cards and parcels, and they are simply one of the many companies working to get presents from A to B! It can be a frustrating time, waiting for deliveries (I am rarely home and so it is often a logistical nightmare trying to arrange collection of parcels, often leading to much frustration!), and sometimes parcels don’t arrive on time.
On the whole, though, I’m grateful for our postal and delivery services which do a fantastic job, often in very unpleasant weather. When we talk about God as our Deliverer, though, we are not really thinking of this kind of delivery. Nor are we talking about the kind of delivery we hope politicians may give on their manifesto promises! Deliverance is all about being rescued and set free.
Christmas reminds us that the Son of God came to set us free (Gal 5:1). Paul says, ‘In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.’ (Eph 3:12) Because God delivers us from sin, the penalties of sin and the punishments for sin, we can now know freedom and confidence. Frequently in the Old Testament (particularly in the book of Judges), we are told that God raised up a deliverer for His people (see Judges 3:9,15; also 2 Kings 13:5). We can now rejoice in the Deliverer sent by God to rescue all people!
