The Grace of Redemption

When I was a child I heard many times a story I still remember today. A father and son from Chicago made a massive kite. It was beautiful, big, and the one everyone would notice at the beach along Lake Michigan. One Saturday a wind storm came. The father had a rare day where he had to go into the office to work. He told his son not to fly the kite because the wind was too strong.

After the father was gone, the boy thought about how fun it would be to have his massive kite up in that strong wind. It could soar higher than ever. He decided to add an extra length of string to the kite so he could get it up real high. As he watched the blustering winds through the window, he kept telling himself how fun it would be to get the kite way way way up in the sky.

Eventually he snuck out the door and went to the beach. The wind was really gusting and he knew it would be easy to get the kite in the air all by himself. Sure enough, as he put the kite on the sandy beach and began to unwind the string, the kite took off all on its own. Up and away the kite flew. He got to the end of the original line and the kite just kept climbing. When he had the kite much higher than it had ever been he was so proud of himself.

Suddenly an extra strong gust of wind began to blow. The knot the boy had tied in the two seperate lines did not hold! The part connected to the kite pulled away and the kite really took off. Sadly the boy watched the string he was holding drop to the ground.

When the father came home from work, the crying boy told his father that he had lost his kite forever.

The next year the family was on vacation in South Haven Michigan some 250 kilometres away from Chicago, but just across the lake. Since it was a nice day the father took the family to the beach. At the beach was a kite shop that sold new and used kites. When they walked in the front door, both the father and the son looked at each other in amazement. There on the wall behind the checkout counter was a kite exactly like the boy’s kite. They asked if they could see it up close. At the top of the Kite’s tail was a young boy’s signature. They tried to tell the shop owner that it was his kite and that was his signature, but the shop owner did not care. He had found the kite on the beach abandoned and unwanted, so he took it to the shop and put it up for sale.

It was a big kite, so it was very expensive. The boy promised to do his chores for no allowance money for a year if his dad would redeem the kite for him. The cost was great, but it was a price he was willing to pay.

Definitions:

Tyndale:

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.

Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary (p. 1114). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.

New Bible Dictionary:

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Redeemer, Redemption

Redemption means deliverance from some evil by payment of a price.

Oxford Dictionary: 1 To buy back or pay off. 2 To save a person from judgement. 3 To make up for faults or wrong deeds

My Shorter Definition: The secured release of a person or object at a cost.

We have Redemption

Easter week brought us redemption from Jesus. God bought us back!

The New King James Version Chapter 1

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

While it is not nice to think about, the redemption that is offered to all people comes from Jesus willingly giving up His blood, His very life, as a payment for us. No sin is to great, no life is beyond saving. The “riches of His grace” has that price covered!

You are valuable to God. He paid a lot to have a relationship with you!

Having redemption means we are forgiven by God!

The New King James Version Chapter 1

14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Our redemption means we have forgiveness!

People around us can also have forgiveness from their offences because Jesus already paid the asking price for that redemption.

It may cost us our pride to forgive someone who has done us wrong, but it cost Jesus His life!

Our redemption will last forever!

The New King James Version Chapter 9

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9.12 says, Our redemption is eternal! This world may be harder as we age, but we know we have an eternal redemption in an incorruptible body that will not fade or pass away that is waiting for everyone who believes.

Verse 15 says that because our redemption is eternal our inheritance is also.