Redemption
“I know that my Redeemer liveth,” declared Job. He believed, in the midst of excruciating pain and bewilderment, that there was One who was on his side. One who would eventually come to his rescue. Job’s faith in a divine redeemer foreshadows the faith of the Christian who rests his hope in Jesus Christ. Jesus is not only Savior, but Redeemer. The “plan of salvation” is the “scheme of redemption.” But redemption says some specific things about the wonderful manner in which we have been saved.
What Redemption Is. “Sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon, paid the debt and made me free.” Redemption has to do with freedom. To redeem a person is to obtain his release by paying a ransom. Jesus, of course, came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). A dear price was on our heads, but we can be free from the tyranny of sin because the Son of God paid our ransom.
Looking at it in a slightly different way, we can say that redemption means to “buy back.” In the Old Testament, when a poor man had to sell his land, he always retained the right to buy it back later when he was able (Lev. 25). Having “sold” ourselves to sin, we were utterly incapable of redeeming ourselves. But our Lord graciously paid the price to buy us back.
There are still other pictures of redemption. Sometimes in the old days, a generous soul would buy a person out of slavery, purchasing the slave with a view to setting him free. When Israel groaned in Egyptian slavery, God said, “I will redeem you with a stretched out arm” (Ex. 6:6). He mightily rid them of the lash of the slavemaster. In our case, that was sin, and Jesus has purchased us out from its terrible oppression.
When and where did Jesus pay the price of our liberty? At the cross, and the price was nothing less than His life. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, … but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18). It is in Christ that “we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14).
The Life of the Redeemed. “I gave My life for thee. My precious blood I shed, that thou might’st ransomed be, and quickened from the dead. I gave, I gave My life for thee. What hast thou giv’n for Me?” Redemption does not just mean the Christian has been rescued from the consequences of his past sins. It also means he is being redeemed from the power and practice of sin in the present. Peter wrote that his readers had been redeemed by Christ’s blood “from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers” (1 Peter 1:18, NKJV). The redemption was from sin as a way of life, as well as from the guilt of sin.
Redemption looks forward, as well as backward. The Christian has been redeemed from the bad unto the good, and the latter is no less important than the former. Redemption and obedience go together throughout Scripture. Christ “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). The redeemed people of God are to be clean and pure. Their lives are to reflect glory to the Lord whose blood was shed for their ransom. In love and gratitude which go beyond mere words, the redeemed must live for God.
The Redeemed in Heaven. “Ever we’ll sing praise to the King, singing redemption’s song.” It is in heaven that those delivered from sin will be fully and finally redeemed. In the meantime, those who belong to the Redeemer bear the spiritual stamp of His ownership, awaiting the glorious inheritance of all he has promised (cf. Eph. 1:13).
What a thrill it will be in heaven to gather with the saints and sing redemption’s sweet song. We will be in the presence of a Father who refused to abandon us to the slavery of our own sins. When we groaned in servitude to the evil one, He could justly have turned His back upon us in disgust. But His heart yearned for us, and He ransomed us. Heaven will mean being in His presence forevermore. It will mean being in the unbroken company of the people of God, those who joyously and obediently received the gospel message of redemption and lived out their earthly sojourn in devoted faithfulness to their Lord. Those who suffered shame and persecution in order to claim God’s promise of redemption will never shed another tear. What a day it will be when the redeemed get home!
Redemption. No word ought to tug more tenderly at the Christian’s heart or more powerfully move him to faithfulness. It holds before us the Son of God who purchased our salvation at the greatest of personal costs. He gave Himself to deliver us from sin. “Redeemed—how I love to proclaim it—redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am!”
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