What Does Deliverance Mean? A Biblical Definition of Deliverance

What does the Bible mean exactly when it speaks of deliverance? What is a biblical definition of deliverance?

Deliverance as we know It

If we are delivering something like flowers to a loved one, we are taking something from one location to another. That means we take possession of it and take it to another place. If we buy something at the store, we take possession of it and take it home because we own it; we have paid a price for it and bought it and it belongs to us. When a people are delivered, like the Jews were delivered from captivity in the prison camps of the Nazi’s, they were delivered from their captivity and set free. That is a secular definition of deliverance and it is very much like the biblical definition of deliverance found in the Bible.

The Deliverance of Israel

When Israel had been subjected to severe enslavement by Egypt, God spoke through Moses “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment” (Ex 6:6). This was done because “they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor” (Ex 1:11) so God asks the rhetorical question “Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes” (Duet 4:34)? The obvious answer is no.

Deliverance from Captivity

There was a vicious cycle in ancient Israel. They would prosper, forget God, fall into idolatry, God will send them into captivity, they would repent, and God would deliver them from their captors. This happened dozens of times as we read in the Book of Judges “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years” (Judges 1:1) so deliverance can be sending something or someone into the hands of another as well as delivering them from something or someone as with Israel, for when they were in the captivity of the Philistines. Jeremiah prophesied of a day where God said “I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first” (Jer 33:7) and “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them” (Jer 24:6) for “In those days, at that time,” declares the LORD, “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God” (Jer 50:4). There will be one final captivity that will end this way: “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:15).

Delivered from Death

The counselors, satraps, and governors who were jealous of Daniel’s position and wisdom conspired to have him killed and so they tricked King Darius into creating “an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions” (Dan 6:7) and “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God” (Dan 6:10-12). When Daniel refused to bow down and pray to King Darius, the king was grieved because he highly valued Daniel but even so “the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you” (Dan 6:16)! Here the king wanted God to deliver Daniel because the king couldn’t go back on his decree and so after a restless night it was discovered that Daniel had survived in the lion’s and the “king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions” (Dan 6:20)?

Delivered from the Wrath of God

Today, everyone who calls upon the Lord God, Jesus Christ, will be saved (Rom 10:9-13) and they will be delivered from the wrath of God that is due all those who refuse to believe in Christ (John 3:36b). Through Jesus Christ, God “has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13-14) because it was through Jesus “who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25). The only way we could have been delivered was through “Jesus [Who was] delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23).

Conclusion

If you have been born again (John 3:3, 7) then you already deliverance and one day you will be presented to the Deliverer and that is Jesus Christ for you were bought with a price (1st Cor 6:20); by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, but if not, you will be delivered up to the wrath of God on the Day of Judgment that is surely coming upon all the unrepentant (Rev 20:12-15). I pray that is not you.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.