Yesterday, I talked about justification and how God uses it to forgive the sinner and provide an eternal salvation. Today, I want to look at another great aspect of salvation in the topic of redemption. This certainly ought to be a cause of great rejoicing for believers.
Redemption first pictures the condition (state) of the sinner before God. It carries with it the idea of being bought back, or purchased.
Now, think about this carefully. If the human race had to have a Redeemer, or One Who will provide redemption for us, then it means that we belonged to some else first. Who was that one we belonged to? To Satan, of course. We were sold under sin, as Paul states in Romans 7:14: “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” We sold ourselves to work iniquity against God by choice, and the result is condemnation and Hell.
Our sin incurred a debt that must be paid before we can be released from the punishment we deserve. The problem is that it is an eternal debt in Hell – and we can never pay it and go to Heaven, too. We need someone else to pay our debt for us because we never can – we need a Redeemer.
The idea of a Redeemer occurs all throughout the Bible. Christ as our Redeemer is first promised in Genesis 3:15, where God reveals that He will be born of a woman and will ultimately defeat Satan; and He is then seen at various places afterwards. Job spoke of Him in Job 19:25: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” It is an interesting point that this man who is twice said to be “perfect” (Job 1:1,8) needed a Redeemer – revealing that “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:23), and also that salvation is not obtained by our works.
So, the whole human race is bound in sin and is a slave to it and to Satan. If we were to ever be able to go to Heaven, a redeemer, in our case, would need to be able to do three things:
1. Be without sin
2. Pay our debt in full
3. Take us off the slave-market of sin (had to be stronger than Satan)
Christ paid the debt we owed in full on the cross. Two Scripture verses that state this clearly are:
• Romans 3:24 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
• Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”
There had to also be a fourth thing that Christ had to accomplish in order to fully redeem us:
4. Had to give us a new position from which removal is impossible
Because He knew we would not yet be sinless, He had to remove the law from us, so that we could not again fall under condemnation. As if this was not enough, He took it even one step farther:
Galatians 4:5 “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
That’s right, He not only took away the Law that condemned us in the first place, but He made us (the saved) the children of God. This is an eternal work that will never be revoked once it is completed, as seen in Psalm 49:8: “(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)” This means the Redeemer will not lose anyone that He has redeemed!
In all this work that He did for us to become our Redeemer, we also see one more important thing. Why did He want to give us redemption? We see the answer to that in Titus 2:14: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Yes, it means that He has purchased us. If you are one of Christ’s people, He paid a great price to redeem you and make you one of His. Are you bringing glory to Him now by departing from sin, drawing nigh to Him daily, and are “zealous” to do many things for Him?
I pray that you are, and that you know His grace and power, too.
Evangelist Mike Valles
Feel free to ask me questions related to this topic.