CHAPTER II. THE THREE AREAS OF REDEMPTION
We shall begin our study with the meaning of the word redemption, and an overview of the three dimensions of our full redemption in Christ.
To redeem a person or thing is to restore him or it to the original or rightful owner by means of paying enough money or other compensation or by means of regaining possession by force.
We speak of redeeming property on which money was lent, by paying off the mortgage. We regain, release what had been taken from us.
The terms redeem, redeemer, and redemption are employed throughout the Scriptures. The concept is that of restoring to the original owner or releasing from bondage or captivity someone or something that has been brought under the power of one who did not possess him or it in the beginning.
The person or possession has been taken over by forfeiture or force by someone who is wiser, richer, or stronger. If the original owner ever is to gain back his goods or freedom the act of redemption must take place. The first owner may redeem himself or his property or someone else—a redeemer—may assist him.
The redeemer must have enough money or strength, or both, depending on the conditions of servitude. The redeemer must produce the price of redemption. He must use force also if the mortgage holder is not willing to release the property when the price has been paid.
In the case of the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus, Chapter 25), a person who redeems another person must be his close relative—someone near of kin who redeems his weaker or poorer relative.
Our need for redemption. Every man, woman, boy, and girl born on the earth, with the exception of Christ, is in need of redemption.
Every one of us was created with a spirit, a soul, and a body. We were made in the image of God Almighty. God created us from the clay of the ground and placed us in a paradise on the earth.
Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey the Lord God. As a result the whole race of mankind came under the authority and power of Satan, sin, sickness, and death. There is not a man, woman, boy, or girl born into the world who possesses the price or power to redeem himself or any other person from the kingdom of darkness. We are born under the sentence of death and judgment. Because of this we live out our lives on earth in misery.
No matter how righteously an individual lives (and there is none who is thoroughly righteous except God and His Christ) there still is the guilt of his "father and mother," Adam and Eve, hanging over his head. Payment must be made for inherited sin as well as for acquired sin.
We human beings do not possess the payment for the guilt of sins that we have committed or for the guilt that we have inherited from Adam. "In Adam all die." Therefore, we must accept the payment that God has made by the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. "In Christ shall all be made alive." (I Corinthians 15:22).
The Lord Jesus has chosen to become our near relative, naming Himself the Son of Man as well as Son of God. By becoming our near relative He is qualified to redeem us, according to the laws set down for the Year of Jubilee, the year of redemption (Leviticus, Chapter 25).
Our Redeemer has appeared. Apart from Him we are captives without hope. He has the authority and power to deliver us—spirit, soul, and body. Christ's blood is the payment for our redemption. It alone avails to pardon the guilt of our sins. There is no other payment that God will accept.
Any person, young or old, rich or poor, who rejects the blood of the Son of God, Christ, as the payment for his redemption is rejecting the only means of being redeemed—of being saved from Divine wrath.
If you never have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, the Passover Lamb of God, put this book down now and receive Christ by faith.
It would be an exceedingly great tragedy for you or for any other person to be required to stand before God Almighty in the Day of Judgment in the filthy rags of your own self-righteousness, now that Jesus already has paid the price of redemption for you and stands ready to receive you.
Accept Christ as your Savior now before you continue reading.
Redemption: past, present and future.
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (I John 2:2)
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:12)
Although our redemption was purchased in its entirety—once for all time—on the cross of Calvary, it manifests itself in our lives as a process. Therefore we can say that our redemption is past, present, and future. We were redeemed the moment we received Christ as our Lord and Savior; we are being redeemed by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit; and we shall be redeemed in our bodies when the Lord Jesus appears from Heaven with the saints and holy angels.
Our redemption is confirmed when we continue faithfully to the end of our discipleship.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; (Hebrews 3:14)
As we have stated, man is spirit, soul, and body. Our spirit, soul, and body already have been purchased, provided we have accepted by faith our personal Redeemer and have been baptized in water according to His commandment.
We do not experience the fullness of the fruits of the Divine redemption the moment we receive Christ. It is necessary that we press forward each day in faithful discipleship in order to lay hold on the redemption of our spirit, our soul, and—when Jesus returns—our mortal body.
When Christ was crucified, He carried our sins out of the camp and descended with them into the interior of the earth. He left them there in the "land not inhabited" (Leviticus 16:22). No matter what we may have done in this life, as soon as we receive the forgiveness of God through Christ our sins are gone! buried! removed! There is no guilt left behind.
We now are without condemnation in Christ. We who have believed in Christ have left the authority of Satan and are under the authority of Jesus. It is the Lord's intention that sin no longer be able to rule us (Romans 6:14).
Yet there still is apparent in most of our lives the power of sin, the bondage, the hold that the committing of sin has on us, the lusting, murdering, hating, criticizing, evil speaking, coveting, envying, idolizing, unforgiving that we (saved and unsaved alike) cannot seem to stop. These all are proceeding from the law of sin that is working in our flesh.
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:7)
The above verse may be explained as follows: when we conduct ourselves in a righteous and holy manner we are accepted of God. When we disobey God, then Satan—that author of all sin—crouches at our door desiring to snare us. Each sin we commit denotes a certain amount of enslavement to Satan, although we may not realize it. To the degree that we practice a sin it has power over us; it holds us in bondage. Through our Redeemer, Christ, we are able to overcome sin.
Isn't it true in your life that there are some actions or attitudes that are difficult to refrain from practicing, although the doing of them results in more grief than the sin is worth? The reason you or I may continue to behave in a manner of which we ourselves do not approve is that Satan is exercising dominion over us. The impulse or desire is ruling us against our will. The force of the sin is binding us even though we have received Jesus as our Savior.
We have stated that the work of a redeemer may include two aspects: the payment of the price, and sometimes the imposition of force. The blood of Christ redeems us from the guilt of our sin but it is the power of the Holy Spirit, acting on the authority of the blood, that conquers the force of the sin that binds us. In order to gain entrance through the gates of the new Jerusalem we must be delivered from both the guilt and the power of sin. There is no sin in the holy city.
We now (if we are confessing our sins and gaining victory over them) are in the process of being redeemed from the power and effects of sin—from all that remains in our personality of the person and ways of Satan. The Body of Christ is to have nothing to do with Satan, the "prince" of this world. The almighty Christ can and shall release us now—in the present age.
The deliverance phase of redemption is taking place in the life of the faithful saints as the Holy Spirit brings the sins we are committing to our attention, and we confess them to God as sin. God is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He provides the grace so that in the future we will not remain bound in sin.
The Lord Jesus is accomplishing more than saving us in our sins. He is saving us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).
We are not debtors to our flesh that we are obligated to live according to the appetites of our flesh. We who belong to Christ have crucified our flesh with its appetites and lusts and are learning how to live in the holiness of the Lord. Our powerful Redeemer is enabling us to strip away the graveclothes of sin that compel us to serve sin, and by the power of His Holy Spirit to repent, to confess them, and to walk in newness of life each day of our Christian experience.
If you are a Christian but are continuing to practice some sin concerning which the Spirit of God has reproved you, confess that sin to Christ vocally, clearly, and specifically. Do not make a vague statement to the Lord. Come to the point in frankness and honesty. God cannot be deceived.
When you confess your sin, God will forgive you and cleanse you through your High Priest, Christ. Christ has the authority and the power to forgive you and to deliver you fully. It never is God's will that one of his sheep walk in known sin. Christ has the power not only to deliver you from sin but also to break all the bondages in your life, including the bondage of sickness—one of the effects of mankind's sinful condition.
If you are a Christian and are suffering from sickness in your body, believe Jesus for your healing. Healing is included in your redemption. Jesus died so that you may be "preserved blameless" in body, soul, and spirit (I Thessalonians 5:23).
Sometimes the most devout Christians are required to endure sickness and affliction for a season. After we have petitioned the Lord for our healing, and have thanked Him for His goodness and mercy toward us, we are to rest in Christ.
Never give up. Keep on believing in the redeeming virtue of Christ and you will receive your healing, according to the wisdom of God, unless it is time for the Lord to take you to glory. Christ has healed me several times and also members of my family. He will heal you if you will seek His will for your life.
Only believe. All things are possible to the person who believes God. Come to Him and see for yourself.
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:12)
We have explained that our redemption is past, present, and future, and we have considered our past redemption on the cross of Christ along with our ongoing redemption through the power of the Holy Spirit. The completion of our redemption is coming in the future. Jesus counseled us to rejoice when we behold the signs of the end-time coming to pass. He exhorted us to rejoice because these signs reveal to us that our redemption is at hand.
The redemption that is coming with the appearing of the Lord Jesus will bring incorruptible bodies to the saints and liberation to the remainder of the creation (Romans 8:21).
If you are a Christian and are worrying about the economic situation, the riots and unrest, the rise of the Antichrist, wars, rumors of wars or anything else, it is time for you to be encouraged in the Lord. Ignore these fears. Look away to Christ. Jesus is coming again with unlimited authority, power, and glory to bring deliverance to His Church, and to the nations of the earth that will receive His lordship over them.
The fullness of redemption is coming with our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no person, power, spirit, or anyone or anything else that can hinder the Lord. He is coming and bringing redemption to all who will accept His blood atonement and His absolute rulership.
Do not continue to worry about what men or devils can do. Look only to Jesus and you will not have a care except to please Him. He is your Redeemer—past, present, and future.
Redemption in the Scriptures. The Scriptures have much to say on the topic of redemption. It is one of the principal subjects of the Word of God. The twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus, which has to do with the Year of Jubilee, is of help in the study of the concept of redemption. There are so many additional scriptural references that it is not practical to quote them all. The following are a few of the many passages:
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalms 130:8)
And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. (Jeremiah 15:21)
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; (Psalms 107:2)
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: (Job 19:25)
And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:38)
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)
And not only they [the material creation], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:23)
But of him are ye in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (I Corinthians 1:30)
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: (Galatians 3:13)
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)
Which is the earnest [pledge] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:14)
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:14)
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people [people for God's own possession], zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Hebrews 9:12)
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (I Peter 1:18,19)
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9)
From these and other Scriptures we can see that a work of redemption was wrought on the cross of Calvary. Redemption is deliverance from the guilt and power of sin. We shall understand this more as we study the three areas of redemption in depth in subsequent chapters. Let us begin with an overview of each as a ground on which to expand our concepts.
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