Redeemer God

Introduction

We are at the beginning of a journey walking through some of the foundational doctrines of our faith. It is absolutely critical that we know what we believe because there is no better way to be prepared to give an answer when someone might want to know more. One of the first doctrines we must consider is what we believe about God. Last week, we examined scriptures that talk about God as our creator. We didn’t just focus on the creation account in Genesis 1, but looked throughout scripture and found many resources pointing to God as creator.

But there is so much more about God isn’t there? Today, we keep our focus on God, and perhaps more specifically on God the Father, but as with last Sunday, we can’t fully divide the Trinity and only focus on the Father because we worship One God in three persons. Our focus today is on God as our Redeemer.

Redemption is an interesting topic that we ought to consider as it is a connecting point between the God and those He redeems… namely us. But before we can talk about God as redeemer, we really need to understand what redempmtion is and why it pertains to us. Here is one definition that might help us get started:

Redeemer, Redemption. English words derived from a Latin root meaning “to buy back,” thus meaning the liberation of any possession, object, or person, usually by payment of a ransom. In Greek the root word means “to loose” and so to free. The term is used of freeing from chains, slavery, or prison. In the theological context, the term “redemption” indicates a freeing from the slavery of sin, the ransom or price paid for freedom. This thought is indicated in the Gospels, which speak of Christ who came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45).

Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Redeemer, Redemption,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1827.

So this morning, I want us to focus on this one thought: God redeems us. I want us to look more closely at this topic woven throughout scripture and to understand how important it is for us in our relationship with God.

The ultimate concern and plan of God is redemption. Redemption is not a peripheral matter, rather it cuts to the very core of Divine activity. From the foundation of the world God has determined to bring about redemption in Christ.

R. C. Sproul

Redemption for Israel

As we turn to scripture, consider these two passages to start.

Exodus 6:6 NIV

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

Numbers 18:15–16 NIV

The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

Redemption is inextricably connected to God’s freeing Israel from Egyptian slavery as well as to the idea that all firstborn belong to the Lord… a practice again having its roots tied to Israel’s Exodus, think about the final plague.

Everything belongs to the Lord, but the firstborn in particular belongs to Him in a way that is lost on our culture. Israel had to redeem the firstborn. Whether human or animal, a price needed to be paid and Numbers 18:15-16 lists that price. For Israel, the firstborn were literally purchased back from God. They needed to be redeemed.

Everything about Israel was intended to point to God. They were to be a specifically chosen people by God to be a blessing to the world around them. And what did it mean for them to be redeemed? To be set apart? It meant that they needed to live as though they belonged to the Lord. Even the commandments which they had to live under were a part of that redemptive relationship they had with God. But we do need to clarify something that can far too easily slip into the church. Salvation cannot be earned. And God’s redemption of Israel was similar in that it was not something they could earn.

They (The Ten Commandments) were given to a delivered and redeemed people. This means that the Ten Commandments were not given as a means of earning redemption, but rather as a means of expressing gratitude for that redemption.

Anthony T. Selvaggio

Redemption would echo through Israelite culture right down to birthrights and lineages. Rules and laws were given regarding what was known as kinsmen redeemers. The book of Ruth is a great exmaple of this and we will look at an example there in a moment. But for context, a kinsman redeemer was someone who would basically step into the role of a deceased loved one. If a man who married a wife dies childless, a kinsman redeemer would marry his widow and have children on his behalf. He would also assume responsibility/ownership of all his possessions, but there were also risks in that children raised on behalf of the deceased might affect the inheritances of the redeemers own children.

Ruth 4:7–16 NIV

(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!” Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.

Redemption has played a key role in the story of God’s interaction with Israel. From redemption at a national level to a family level, and then to a personal level.

We could dive into God’s plans throughout history and the fact that Ruth is David’s ancestor. We could talk about God’s promises that through David’s lineage a savior would be born. But unfortunately, there are sermons upon sermons worth of materials that we could touch on, but just don’t have time for. Our focus for today is on God’s redemptive plans through history, which of course does lead us to Jesus Christ Himself.

Redemption Through Jesus

But we can’t talk about God as our Redeemer without talking about Jesus through whom redemption has come.

Mark 10:45 NIV

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

God’s plan for redemption always pointed to and through Jesus. A price needs to be paid in order to redeem us and God had always intended to pay that price through the life and death of Christ. His resurrection assures us that the price has been paid in full and other promises made point to the fact that salvation is ours… that one day, we will be reunited with God the Father in heaven.

Onething that should jump out at us from that verse in Mark is that Jesus offers his life as a ransom. I want us to ponder what that means for a moment. Kidnapping is a horrid crime which puts the life of the kidnapped at risk. Payment is demanded for their safe return. A life is in danger. And something must be given in order for that person to be returned back to safety. In the case of Jesus, He offers His own life in exchange for ours. We are in immanent danger being enslaved to our sins. And the purchase price is innocent blood. Jesus freely and lovingly offers His own so that we might be released back into our Father’s arms!

The primary work of Christ in redemption is to justify, sanctify and ultimately to glorify a company of persons salvaged from the ruin of the human race.3

A. W. Tozer

The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionuary sacrifice of Christ.

Charles Spurgeon

I like Spurgeon’s use of the phrase “substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.” That’s literally what it is all about. Christ substitutes Himself for us, paying a price for a penalty we have earned.

The Irony of the passage that we are briefly examining here in Mark is that the context reveals the state of Jesus’ disciples… the first ones Jesus would have taught about redemption. James and John asked of Jesus to sit on either side of Jesus in heaven. They wanted places of honor and to be exalted over everyone else, including the other disciples! Their arrogance and pride were on display in full force.

Of course, they had no idea what they were asking and Jesus quickly puts them on the hotseat and grills them with questions about whether they could endure what Jesus would soon go through.

Mark 10:35–40 NIV

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

Not only does this passage reveal the heart of the Son of God for His disciples, but it also gives us a glimpse into the complicated relationship within the Trinity. Jesus Himself is not the one who grants people their places in heaven. He is their entry into heaven, but it would appear that the Father is the one who determines who will sit where.

James and John’s request understandably upsets the rest of the disciples and Jesus uses the opportunity to rebuke them all and teach them a little about His intentions for them as they do the work of establishing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Mark 10:41–45 NIV

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Greatness in the kingdom of heaven is measured differently than we would measure it here on earth. Seeking for glory here on earth is a sure way to follow the patterns of this world, but to seek greatness in the kingdom of God requires a different tactic. We must follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer who demonstrated through His life, ministry and teachings that greatness in God’s eyes is not measured by the power that we wield, but by how many we serve. Jesus, the greatest of all served His life up as a ransom for all who are willing to receive it.

Conclusion

As I bring things to a close this morning, I want to again underscore the point I want us all to remember. God redeems us. It should be something that we all know, but I hope that by examining the passages we have today, that we now understand what it means a little bit better. We needed to be saved, to be ransomed, to be bought back and saved from the path of destruction that we were on.

Redemption is a theme woven throughout scripture like a scarlet thread woven through a tapestry. I encourage you in your reading of scripture to keep an eye out for this thread as it comes up time and time again. And in so studying the topic, we begin to understand it better.

We have to work out, not our redemption, but our human appreciation of our redemption. We owe it to God that we refuse to have rusty brains.

Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)

Let’s close in prayer.