This past year my wife and I were privileged to stay a few nights in the city of San Francisco, and while we were there we made a visit to Alcatraz.
After a short ferry ride, a steep hike up the hill brings you to the main prison cell block where one can take a tour through the corridors and cells of notorious prisoners like Al Capone and “Machine Gun Kelly”.
Alcatraz was made famous in the movies with the story of the escape of Frank Norris and John and Clarence Anglin. These three resourceful characters placed dummy heads made out of soap, cement and paint under their blankets, and in the middle of the night they made their escape through the air-vents of their cells and crawled into the utility corridor that lay between two rows of cells. Climbing up to the roof, they slid down a drain pipe and made their way down to the shoreline where they put together a raft made out of raincoats. They were never seen again and no-one knows to this day if they actually survived the icy waters or drowned in the attempt.
As we walked about the corridors of Alcatraz listening to the many stories that were being told through the tourist headsets, one of the things that left an impression on me was just how close the island actually was from the mainland and the city of San Francisco. Only one and a quarter miles in fact. The view of the city skyline and Golden Gate Bridge are truly impressive, and apparently, this was one of the greatest mental tortures for a prisoner locked away on Alcatraz. From the prison exercise yard a prisoner could see the whole city of San Francisco going about its business in total freedom. On still days, voices would travel across the water. Sometimes, the prisoners could hear the laughter of people partying. Some prisoners had even written down on paper some of the actual conversations that they had heard as the words had come floating across the water. Freedom always seemed so close, and yet it was a lifetime away. Every day they were faced with a visual picture of what it was like to be free if they could only just get outside the walls. To those who were locked up inside for many years, any prisoner that managed to get out or break out, no matter for how short a period of time, was the envy of all inside because the rule of thumb was “if you can get outside the walls, you’re a free man”.
And this is the simple truth that struck me......for the prisoners to be free, they didn’t have to BREAK IN, they had to BREAK OUT.!!
The free world was all around them...... it was the prison walls that kept them bound and locked inside. The walls weren’t there to keep people out, they were there to keep people in. And it seems to me that this is a truth that we so often seem to fail to realise. Gods kingdom is the universal set. Satans is not. The kingdom of darkness is a subset, the Kingdom of God is the superset. To become a part of Gods Kingdom, you don’t have to break in.... you have to break out... of Satans Kingdom. The walls are there to keep people in, not to keep people out. So if you break out, you’re free.!! Get outside the walls of Satans compound and you’re in the kingdom of God where true freedom reigns.!!
Why then, do we so often seem to live as if Gods Kingdom has walls and parapets that are designed to keep us out.? And why is it that we live as if the only people who can get in to Gods Kingdom are the chosen few like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and our local Pastor.!! The truth is, that every day, the walls of Satans Kingdom are crumbling, they’re falling down, and prisoners are being set free and released into the Kingdom of God. Gods Kingdom has no walls..... and if you’re outside the walls, you’re a free man.!!
