Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee
verse 4 of And can it be, by Charles Wesley
This is one of my favourite hymns and loved by many.
This verse describes Peter’s escape in Acts 12 from the clutches of King Herod:
5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.
6On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison. 7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. 8“Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
9So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He only thought he was seeing a vision. 10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.
11Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
12And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying. 13He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. 14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”
15“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded. 17Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.
18At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.
Herod was not a very nice person.
God had plans for Peter and by this miracle, He rescued Him to enable Him to carry those plans out.
At the same time, it describes the miraculous rescue of sinners everywhere. They were imprisoned by a life of sin. They didn’t have to be particularly bad people, but our works and righteousness are as filthy rags in the sight of God. So even the best of us are bound down by sin…until we see the light of Christ, and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, calling us to Jesus. Then, our chains fall off, and our hearts are free!
We are standing in the Marvellous Light and follow Him! It is such a joyful thing to do!
Verse 5, the first line: No condemnation now I dread; That is from Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We are free from the chains of sin. We now wear the robes of His imputed righteousness. We have eternal life and have passed from death to life. (John 5:24) We are God’s adopted children; co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). We have been bought with a price(1 Cor 6:20).
We are His. Nothing can take us out of His hands. John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
No one can condemn us. Freedom is ours. All because of grace. Eph 2: 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
And we do HIS works, that have been prepared beforehand, not our own works, and we are walking in them.
The hymns we sing, as well as praising Him, are often mini sermons: the Proclamation of the Gospel!
Light of Christ 