The Meaning Of Deliverance – Commonly, Spiritually & in the Bible

In some Christian fellowships, the meaning of deliverance is associated with a general sense of freedom applied to different areas of life. But I was wondering what deliverance stands for and did some research.

The actual meaning of deliverance expresses the action of being rescued or set free. Biblical deliverance refers to God delivering us out of physical, emotional, and spiritual bondage. In reference to modern-day Christianity, it’s a term for casting out demons of oppressed or possessed people.

Let’s look at this in more detail.

The Common Understanding of What Deliverance Is

When thinking of deliverance, you might imagine an amazon package being “delivered” to your doorstep or having flowers delivered to a loved one.

You might also think of a mother “delivering” a child or minorities being forcefully delivered out of persecution and turmoil.

You could say deliverance expresses something being handed over, changing the possession from one person to another.

It’s something formerly confined and suddenly being set free into life.

It’s someone rescued from a bad situation and brought into restoration.

The latter is not even that far from the official definition that I found in the oxford dictionary.

It says deliverance is “The action of being rescued or set free.”

You can see this principle is applied in the Bible.

Sin and bondage entered through the fall of mankind in Genesis 3.

Because of sin, man couldn’t be in the garden anymore and had to leave God’s presence.

The man was now under the influence and in the bondage of sin.

Then God came up with a plan of deliverance that repeated itself over and over again, manifesting in different ways throughout the generations.

The most prominent manifestation of God’s plan to deliver mankind was through Jesus and His work on the cross.

God wants to deliver mankind because we are bound in so many ways.

So much suffering, sickness, and darkness that doesn’t need to be if someone would release God’s freedom like Jesus.

He wants His people to be free from the things that keep us from coming closer to Him.

This video really hits it on point for you in under 5 minutes:

You can also go more in-depth about Deliverance in the Bible in this article I made for you.

What is the Biblical Meaning of Deliverance?

The biblical meaning of deliverance describes the process of God delivering a nation out of an oppressive situation or a person who is being oppressed or possessed by an evil spirit. The Bible portrays this kind of deliverance as an act of faith in God’s power.

In the Bible in Luke 4:18 we read of Jesus saying:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;”

He basically told everyone what His ministry would be about.

Jesus announced he will preach the good news of God’s salvation to the needy in heart.

He would heal the emotionally hurt.

Jesus would preach freedom to the spiritually bound and heal the physically sick.

And of course, actually deliver and set free those who are tormented and oppressed by demons.

(Find out what a demon is and how they can come into the life of people).

People thought Jesus would come to overthrow the Roman Empire in the physical.

But He came to destroy the kingdom of darkness in the spiritual.

You can read in all the four gospels that Jesus didn’t just talk the walk, but He actually walked the talk.

Everywhere He went He preached that “the kingdom of God is at hand.”, and to “repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

And then He would heal, deliver, and restore people in bondage.

It’s amazing because they brought many people to him and all were healed or delivered.

Wow!

I am writing all this to tell you, that even though Jesus died and rose again, and is now seated next to His Father in heaven, He has not changed His ministry here on earth!

Jesus is still doing this deliverance ministry through His Holy Spirit today.

All the suffering, oppression, sickness, mental torment, depression, fear, addictions, and so on, He wants to deliver from you.

He wants to set you free like no medicine or counselor could do.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian, what denomination you belong to, or if you don’t even believe in Jesus yet.

In Him, there is still true deliverance of everything you could think of.

All healing and restoration you need for your life you will only find in Jesus.

The Spiritual Meaning of Deliverance

With all the darkness that could be on in your life, it is important that you know it is only Jesus who can take you out of that darkness into His light.

If you really want deliverance you need to know that God, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)

It was Jesus “who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:25)

Your and my sin, our darkness was the reason that He went to the cross and died.

He could have skipped it. He had the option to not die for you, He is God after all.

But He chose to do it anyways. Because He loves you more than you can imagine.

He doesn’t want you to live a life of darkness, but a life filled with joy, passion, strength, and freedom.

I want to encourage you, if you want to get out of the darkness in your life then you need to give Jesus your whole life.

That is the start of real deliverance.

Deliverance is not something you just obtain knowledge about in a blog article. Deliverance is something you have to experience and receive in Jesus.

Choose life, choose your freedom, choose Jesus!

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

There Is Personal Deliverance For You Today

See, this deliverance stuff is really not only for Bible times.

You might have been taught, when you are saved and under the blood of Jesus, you are completely free.

Well, let me ask you then:

If everything is under the blood, why are so many Christian men bound by pornography?

If Jesus has “set you free by dying for you”, why are so many Christian marriages being destroyed?

How come so many Christians are severely sick even though “the curse has been broken”?

And don’t tell me it’s all the flesh… Because it’s not.

Don’t get me wrong I am not minimizing the power of the cross.

Really quite the opposite. I am saying there is more than “just” salvation. There is also healing, deliverance, and restoration, for you today!

Jesus tells those who believe and follow him to “cast out demons” and to “lay hands on the sick, and they will recover”. (Mark 16:15-19)

That was not merely a cool suggestion. It was a command and a promise for Christians.

He said, “Those signs will follow those who believe:”

When you do quick research on deliverance ministry on Wikipedia it tells you that “In Christianity, deliverance ministry refers to the activity of cleansing a person of demons and evil spirits in order to address problems manifesting in their life as a result of the presence of said entities and the root causes of their authority to oppress the person.”

That’s what deliverance is, that’s what the full gospel is about.

Our struggles in life are not just emotional or come out of the flesh.

They are usually rooted in a demonic activity where Jesus wants to set you free to be able to walk in your calling.

It shouldn’t only happen at “revival services” or with “special guest preachers”.

Jesus is all about healing and deliverance ministry every time everywhere.

Learn more about Healing & Deliverance Ministry in this article.

Related Posts: