The Unfolding Story of Redemption

Job 19:25 ESV

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

There are many common themes that run throughout the Bible.

But if I was going to pick one main theme that dominates from beginning to end, it would be redemption.

Understanding God’s redemptive work that He has accomplished and revealed to us through His Word is very important for every believer.

In Genesis 3 God makes clothing for Adam and Eve from skins. An act of Redemption.

Then in Genesis 6 God commands Noah to build an ark to save his family from judgment. Another act of redemption.

Genesis 6:5–8 ESV

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Genesis 37-51 tells us the story of Joseph, how God sends him to Egypt to save many lives and preserve the covenant God made with Abraham.

Genesis 45:5–8 ESV

5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Then God delivers the Israelites from slavery in Egypt through many signs and wonders.

Exodus 20:2 ESV

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

This event is so important that God reminds His people over and over again to remember how He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

The passover being the sign for remembrance to be observed every year.

In Judges you have this cycle of sin, judgement, and redemption established that continues to run through the OT.

You have all the times in the OT that God miraculously delivers Israel from her enemies.

Jericho walls fall down, the day the sun stood still, David and Goliath, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, the fiery furnace, Daniel in the lion’s den.

For Jesus to make sense you have to understand this thread of redemption that has run through the last 1,000 years of history.

Everything has been building to this point.

There is one final act of redemption of which everything else has been a foreshadowing.