Luke 23:33-34;46
33) And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34) Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
46) And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.
First, God died. We all know that.
Acts 7:25
25) For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.
Normally, what we as Christians tend to think is that all people know of Gods delivering power, but very few do. Just because they have God "in their heart," doesn't mean that they know the full extent of His almighty being.
So like in Acts, they didn't know God would deliver them. As Stephen exlained the plan of Moses and the deliverance not only the Hebrews had, it showed how Moses himself was delivered.
Acts 7:35
35) This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
The Hebrews cried out and God heard them. Just like in Luke 4:18 , Stephen taught of the power and authority God has over the spiritually bound.
Luke 4:18
18) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, Luke 1:68-74
68) Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69) And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70) As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71) That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72) To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73) The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74) That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
This is where we see the promises of deliverance. A covenant/oath was like swearing something. In Gods eyes, it was something that could not be broken under any terms.
So we see in Luke that God started his covenant/oath from salvation in Davids house, and blessings from Abrahams.
Matthew 1:21
21) And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
This is our promise! The promise of deliverance. God is our deliverer, and by His birth and the prophesy of His saving grace, it is fufilled.
Hebrews 7:25
25) Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
He is able to save them to the uttermost. Broken down to its origianal form, uttermost becomes utmost, which in Websters Dictionary mean "the greatest or most distant." Guess what? That means you're not too far from God!!
Romans 6:8-14
8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13) Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14) For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
When we come to God, nothing else matters but our relationship with Him! In verse 14 it specifically says "For sin shall not have dominion over you..."
Ezra 9:8
8) And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.
So many people are bound with the things of this world. From X-Box, to music, to lust, to drugs, depression, or many other things. If it takes away from time with God, you're bound. Ezra 9:8 clearly states that the nails put into Gods hands was so that we would not be held down by the things of this world, but by His word.
Gods exchange with us is simple. He went to the cross with our eternal guarentee to hell. He put His time, love, energy, but most importantly His life into our unmerciful hands. This was His choice, and now our eternity is secured by the nails and crown of thorns that held Him to the cross. This is our deliverance. Our promise. But God rose. His resurrection exemplifies the way we should exploit ourselves to this world. Yes, we get bound and we fall, but by the loving grace of God, and with His helping hands, we may rise. We may overcome.