The believers are also freed from the labor and burden under the law and religion or under any work and responsibility. In Matthew 11:28 the Lord Jesus sounded out a call: “Come to Me all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” This promise was spoken especially to those who were trying to keep the law. It refers in particular to the labor of striving to keep the commandments of the law and religious regulations. To have rest here means to be set free from labor and burden under law and religion. All who are burdened under the law should come to the Lord Jesus, and He will release them. Under the law, we have no rest. True rest is found in Christ.
The labor mentioned in Matthew 11:28 refers not only to the labor of striving to keep the commandments of the law and religious regulations, but also refers to the labor of struggling to be successful in any work. Whoever labors thus is always heavily burdened. Therefore, the Lord calls this kind of people to come to Him for rest. This rest refers not only to being set free from labor and burden under the law and religion or under any work and responsibility but also to perfect peace and full satisfaction. If we are burdened under law and religion or under any work and responsibility, we should come to the Savior, who will transfer us out of our burden into His glorious freedom.
In order to be made a new creation, we have also been freed from our flesh, which is most troublesome. In Colossians 2:11 Paul tells us that in Christ “you were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.” Here Paul speaks of a circumcision not made with hands. This circumcision is the circumcision in Christ, a spiritual circumcision. The circumcision in Christ involves the death of Christ and the power of the Spirit. When Christ was crucified, His crucifixion was the genuine, practical, and universal circumcision. His crucifixion cut off all negative things, including our flesh. However, along with the death of Christ, we need the Spirit as the power. The crucifixion of Christ becomes practical and effective by means of the Spirit. By the Spirit as the power Christ’s crucifixion is applied to us and its effect is executed upon us. Then under the power of the Spirit we are circumcised in an actual and practical way.
The words “putting off” in Colossians 2:11 mean to strip off something, as to strip off clothing. The circumcision that took place by the death of Christ and is applied by the powerful Spirit accomplishes the putting off of the body of the flesh. Our body of flesh was crucified with Christ and has been put off. Regarding this, we must exercise our faith and not consider the apparent situation. By faith we declare that we have been freed from the flesh, for the body of the flesh has been put off on the cross and by the powerful Spirit.
In Colossians 3:9 Paul speaks of the believers “having put off the old man with his practices.” The old man is of Adam, created by God but fallen through sin. To put off the old man is like putting off an old garment: first, putting to death the physical lusts (Col. 3:5), then putting away the psychological evils (v. 8), and finally putting off the entire old man with his practices. Colossians 3:9 indicates that the totality of the old man, the entire being of the old man, is to be put off as if we were putting off an old garment. The total person of the old man must be put away. In this verse Paul speaks of our having put off the old man because we put off the old man in baptism. Our old man was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6) and was buried in baptism (Rom. 6:4).
The New Testament indicates that the Lord Jesus has released the believers from Satan’s oppression. In Luke 4:18 He says that He was anointed “to send away in release those who are oppressed.” Here the word “oppressed” comes from a verb meaning to break in pieces (Matt. 12:20). “Those who are oppressed” are those oppressed under Satan in sickness or in sin.
Consider the case of the healing and releasing of a bent-double and Satan-bound woman (Luke 13:10-17). This woman “had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bent double and utterly unable to stand erect” (v. 11). Literally, the Greek words rendered “bent double” mean “bending together.” This may signify the demon’s oppression over a person to an extreme extent, so that the person is bent toward the satanic world only and is unable to stand erect to look into the heavens. The Lord Jesus saw the woman who was bent double, utterly unable to stand erect, but forced to look down to the earth as a result of the oppression exercised upon her by Satan. The Lord said to her, “Woman, you have been released from your infirmity; and He laid His hands on her, and instantly she was made erect, and glorified God” (vv. 12-13). When the Lord Jesus healed this woman, He released her from Satan’s oppression. This case, therefore, is a fulfillment of the proclamation made by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18.
Another verse which indicates that the believers have been freed from Satan’s oppression is Acts 10:38. This verse tells us that the Lord Jesus “went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the Devil.” The words “doing good” refer to miracles, especially healings, which the Lord did to release people from their sufferings of diseases and the possession of demons. This work, carried out in Christ’s humanity with the divine power, released people from the oppression of the Devil. As believers in Christ, we have been freed from Satan’s oppression.