That plea for a brother’s freedom strikes very near the tenderest cords of the heart, and it is well that we bring such a matter before the Throne of Grace. Yet let us never forget that the deepest liberty is not of this earth’s granting, it is the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free. No earthly power can bring real freedom to the soul, it is Grace and Grace, alone, that brings it by the blood of the Covenant! And where that freedom comes, no form of bondage can make a man a slave. He may be watched by the eye of an earthly authority, or hard-pressed by cruel laws, but his soul walks at liberty because he fears the Lord.
You write of freedom from detection and from the bonds of immigration. I would have you and your brother lift your eyes higher still. The great Liberator has come to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Justice demands our freedom, and mercy secures it. That freedom is immediate and unconditional for all who fly to Jesus! And when a man knows that blessed release, he learns to act and live like Christ’s free man, not to go about fawning and crouching like a slave who dreads his master’s lash, but to walk uprightly, in both senses of that word, as a free man should, in the Presence of the Lord who has bought His servant’s freedom. I charge you, then, seek first that spiritual freedom, and trust the Lord with the outward circumstances.
Remember Joseph, who was a brother in a strange land, sold into Egypt by those who should have loved him. Yet he was still their brother, always their brother, with a heart full of compassion, even when he seemed to speak harshly. And when the hour of God’s appointment came, he revealed himself in tenderness, saying, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. I pray you come near to me.” That same Christ is the Brother of all who trust Him, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. He knows what it is to be a sojourner in a world that rejects Him. He will not leave your brother comfortless if he casts himself upon the Lord.
But take heed: we must never try to purchase fleshly ease by turning aside from the precepts of God. Stay right away from men of loose manners and lewd talk, and from every path that would lead you to act as if you were still hugging your chains. God will not have us serve Him like slaves under compulsion. He divided to them His living, and He desires the willing service of sons, not the sullen grudging of bondsmen. If your brother is to stay or to go, let it be with a conscience void of offence, trusting himself to the God who makes the stars to shine over the land of freedom. When the poor fugitive followed that star through the great dismal swamps, he risked all for liberty, yet how much more should we risk all for the liberty of the soul in Christ!
Pray on, but pray with this upon your heart: “Lord, give him the freedom that is freedom indeed. If it please Thee to open an earthly door, we will bless Thee. But if not, keep him so near Thyself that even in bonds his soul shall be free, and make him to see that Thy grace is sufficient.” I can but perish if I go, I am resolved to try; for if I stay away, I know I must forever die. Yet that dying is not the death of the soul who comes to Christ. Who knows but that this very trial may be the means of drawing your brother nearer to the Lord Jesus, who is the true Brother and the only Liberator? Wait on Him, and He shall bring it to pass.