“Who the Son sets free is free indeed!” John 8:36
It’s the truth we know that sets us free. So I can only imagine how the slaves who were waiting to receive word of their constitutional freedom might have felt in the days and years following the Civil War. The expectation had to be overwhelming because they were finally going to receive CONFIRMATION of something they had always known in their hearts and souls.
They were human beings, far more than sub-humans with skills and strength only ideal for forced labor. Slaverly had been their plight but it would not be their future. Many of them knew it. Long before the war was won. The proclamation made it official, but God had already written His truth on their hearts.
A confirmation of a known reality.
We are equal.
We have a Creator.
Our Creator has given us rights that no one can deny.
As a matter of Florida history, the 20th of May in 1865, Union Brigadier General Edward McCook read the “Emancipation Proclamation” from the union army headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida, acknowledging that the enslaved in the state of Florida were free. That date has more significance for me, a Floridian. But Juneteenth is and will always be a collective celebration of — Black resilience, a civil war to end slavery in the Confederate states, and a host of answered prayers. 🙏🏾 🇺🇸
What a day of jubilee!
When a wrong was righted in American history because freedom had already been granted by God.
Really,
Leah
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