Redemption

Exodus 15:1-18                       Redemption

5/17/15            D. Marion Clark

Introduction

We are continuing our walk along the Emmaus Road. The two disciples used a particular word to describe the common Jewish expectation of the Messiah: “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Redeem is the primary term by which the Jews understood the Messiah’s work.

Text

You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
    you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.

Redeemed – the nation of Israel loved to proclaim it and the Jewish people still do today. And the redemption that they love to proclaim is the deliverance from bondage in Egypt. That is the big event. Listen to a couple of recollections:

You are the God who works wonders;
    you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ You with your arm redeemed your people,
    the children of Jacob and Joseph.

¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God,
    when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
    indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
    the skies gave forth thunder;
    your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
    your lightnings lighted up the world;
    the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea,
    your path through the great waters;
    yet your footprints were unseen.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron (Psalm 77:14-20).

He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
    and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
¹⁰ So he saved them from the hand of the foe
    and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
¹¹ And the waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them was left (Psalm 106:9-11).

This is how God himself described his work of deliverance:

Say therefore to the people of Israel, “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6).

To be redeemed by God is to be delivered from bondage. It is to be redeemed from the power of the enemy by the power of God. When the people of Judah were sent in exile to Babylon, God again promised to redeem them.

Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
    shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
    O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
    and will be glorified in Israel.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
    who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
    who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who spread out the earth by myself…
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
    and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
    and I will raise up their ruins’…
who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,
    and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
    and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid’” (Isaiah 44:23-4, 26b-8).

And so, the Jews looked for redemption to come again, this time by the power of God to deliver them from bondage to the Romans, this time through the Messiah himself. God would send his Servant who would be their Redeemer. This was whom the disciples on the Emmaus Road was referring to, whom they had hoped Jesus was. Those hopes were dashed by the crucifixion. No doubt Jesus gave them a lesson on the meaning of the word for redeem.

The Hebrew term for redeem (ga’al) is a specialized word. It does not merely mean to deliver or to rescue. More closely connected to the word is the concept of ransom – paying a ransom to reclaim a person or object. Someone becomes impoverished. He must become a bondservant in order to pay his debts, but his brother pays the debt so that he is released. That brother redeemed him. Or this same man must sell his land to pay his debts. Again, his brother steps forward and buys the land back. This time he redeems the land.

You might notice that each instance that I give refers to a relative redeeming a relative or acting on the part of a relative to redeem something that belonged in the family, such as land. A person could redeem his own house or land or animal, but when he could not, his hope lay in his kinsman-redeemer to come to his deliverance. The primary illustration of the role of a kinsman-redeemer is the book of Ruth. Happy Perkins tells me that one law professor described the story of Ruth as about a property transaction. There is truth in that.

Boaz was referred to as a redeemer, a redeemer because he was a relative of Naomi’s husband who had died. Naomi, the relative’s widow is poor and needs to sell her husband’s land. She and Ruth are looking to Boaz to step in and save the day. He is willing but there is another relative closer in kin to Naomi’s husband and so has first dibs. Let Boaz explain.

Then [Boaz] said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. ⁴ So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance” (Ruth 4:3-5).

Fortunately the other relative turns down the terms. Boaz steps in as the kinsman-redeemer who redeems the land and Ruth. They and Naomi live happily ever after. The land stays in the dead man’s family; Ruth is taken wife of Boaz, and so the name of the family continues on to the next generation (which eventually produces King David). In this case, Boaz prevents the land from being sold outside of the family. If it had been, he would have paid a ransom price to get it back. If Ruth had sold herself as a bond-slave in order to support Naomi, Boaz would have paid to free her from that bondage. That is what it means to redeem.

There was another way that a kinsman-redeemer might act. Abraham illustrates it. His nephew Lot was once taken captive after a battle. Abraham took his men, tracked down the captors, delivered Lot through battle. It was upon him to rescue his relative.

Can you see how this all fits in with the redemption of Israel, at that time known simply as the Hebrews? They had been reduced to slavery in Egypt. They were in bondage. They needed a kinsman-redeemer to rescue them. They needed a kinsman who claimed them. They could not appeal to neighboring kings for help. No one claimed them; no one was going to pay for them or fight for them. No one but a kinsman, and that kinsman turned out to be no less than God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had made a covenant with these three fathers of the Hebrews to deliver their descendants, and he had not forgotten that promise.  

Here then would be Jesus’ lesson to the disciples. The Messiah is your Kinsman-Redeemer. What you saw as humiliating defeat on a cross was actually glorious victory. He won the battle against Satan and against death itself. He rescued you from your bondage to these foes. He had to suffer on the cross to fight the battle; he had to yield himself to death to win victory over death through his resurrection.

The real Messiah fulfilled the hope of redemption in its fullest measure. Not only were you rescued, you were paid for. A ransom price was met. Your life was forfeited because of your sins; you owed your blood. Your Redeemer paid the price of his own blood. No one can put you back into bondage. Your debt has been paid in full.

This is the real redemption. The reason the disciples missed the Messiah was that they misunderstood the redemption he was bringing. If they had been more discerning of the Scriptures, they would not have missed him. The book that most uses ga’al for God’s redeeming Israel is Isaiah, and when the prophet uses the term, he adds another dimension to it – that of repentance and forgiveness of sin. We read earlier from Isaiah 44 about God’s redeeming Israel by delivering the people from Babylon. Here is the verse that preceded that passage:

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
    and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you (v. 22).

Israel, or Judah, was in bondage because of her sins. Her redemption rested in her repentance.

Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
    and those in her who repent, by righteousness (1:27).

What then, did John, whom Isaiah prophesied as the one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” – what did he preach? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). What did Jesus preach? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).

It is deliverance from bondage to sin that is the redemption of the Messiah. Therefore, what is needed is not a band of followers ready to join the Messiah’s army against heathen sinners, but a repentant people willing to deal with their own sins. Who cares about Romans, when it is sin that leads one to the eternal bondage of hell? That is the battle of redemption won on the cross; that is the payment of redemption on the cross by our Kinsman-Redeemer. That is the redemption that Jesus’ followers came to understand, as indicated in these sample verses.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (Galatians 3:13).

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant (Hebrews 9:15).

Lessons

What we have seen is how the exodus of Israel from Egypt and the return of the exiles from Babylon foreshadowed the redemption of Jesus Christ. We who profess Jesus Christ are the redeemed. We are Israel redeemed by Christ from bondage to sin. We are the exiles who were separated from God because of our sins and now brought back to him through the redemption of Christ. Jesus fought a great battle against Satan and death to deliver us out of our bondage through the sea of death and into the promised land of his kingdom. Jesus paid the ransom price by shedding his blood on the cross, making full restitution for our debt, and setting us free from judgment. We are the redeemed.

How is it then that we often live as though we are still in bondage and still living in exile? Here is what I mean. When the Hebrews were redeemed from bondage to captivity in Egypt, before they had barely began their journey after the crossing through the sea, they acted as though it were better to return to their captivity. Just ten verses after our passage they make this complaint:

“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (Exodus 16:3).

Four more times they would make the same complaint, even one time ready to elect a leader to take them back! What they discovered as that following the Lord was not so easy. They got hungry; they got hot. There was no interstate highway with air-conditioned cars to transport them. There were times in which they were going to have to actually fight! That is not what they had signed up for.

We act the same way. Following Christ is not so easy. We experience the same trials of life that our unredeemed neighbors face. We thought following Jesus meant that our troubles would be taken care of. Our kids would turn out well. Our marriages would be smooth. People would like us because we are so nice. We did not anticipate being fired from jobs; we did not expect the illnesses, even the deaths that intruded into our faithful following of our Redeemer. We did not sign up for that. Just like the Hebrews, we are tempted to want to return to our bondage, where at least it seemed that life was just as good.

Or maybe we feel like we are still exiles in Babylon. Has God really forgiven our sins? Are we truly redeemed? We feel like we must do our part. We still sin, and so we must need to work harder to rid ourselves of sin or to make restitution to our Redeemer for what he has done for us. We are thankful for his redemptive work, to be sure, but we have got make sure we are repentant enough; that we have faith enough; that we are doing our part. We act as though we are still in exile having to earn God’s favor.

Let us remember that we are the redeemed. Jesus Christ has fought for, has paid for, our redemption, and there is nothing more that we can add to it. God has redeemed us with an outstretched arm, and our puny arms can add nothing to his work. We glorify him not by adding our might but by recognizing our helplessness and his sovereign might and grace. Let your sins (as bad as they are) push you toward God instead of away from him. Let them serve you as reminders of how great his mercy is to you.

Let us remember what we have been redeemed for – for the true Promised Land. Our inheritance is heaven, even beyond heaven to the new heaven and earth that will be restored at the coming of our Lord in his glory.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Yes, we hunger and thirst and grow weary like our neighbors. Yes, they seem to have at times more fortune than we. They pursue the sinful pleasures of this world without guilt, while we must deny the sins that we desire. Yes, we are despised for what we believe and for what we reject, while they are even honored.

But we are the redeemed! Our Redeemer gave his life for us. Our Redeemer even now protects us. Our Redeemer will lead us through this life to the eternal life of glory. And if you do not have that hope; if you signed on because you thought redemption was all about being among some nice folks and coasting through this life – open your eyes to the redemption of Jesus Christ won on the cross. He did not shed his blood that you might have a good bank account or that you might live carefree. He shed his blood that you might be saved from the pangs of hell and that you might enter into the eternal Promised Land. Is that not enough? And all that is asked of you is to believe in his redemption. Do you need more proof? Do you need to feel that you have to contribute? What better contribution can you make than to believe God? Believe that when he says he will redeem you, then he will redeem you without your help? Believe that his provision of eternal life in glory is of infinite more value than the temporal pleasures of this world?

There is a Redeemer and only one Redeemer. Some day, we who are redeemed, who have called upon his Name, we will stand in glory before him. Stand with us.