Redeemed By The Savior Near You

The word "redeem" nowadays seems to have lost some of its luster. It denotes some form of transaction in our society, usually it is viewed as a monetary transaction. The use of it in Christianity is often times well intended but not well utilized nor well defined. People carry over their presuppositions of what they understand the word redeemed to be and because of this only scratch the surface of the Biblical meaning. Because of this "redeemed" is not often well understood in proper context either. It is viewed solely from a “I Give, You Take” transaction point of view which IS a correct understanding but totally fails to convey the picture in color. It only delivers the idea of redemption through Jesus Christ in black & white. By losing some of the old and true contextual meaning, words like “redeemed” in the Bible no longer convey a visceral impact to a reader. They are only a space filler in the form of a verb. We lose the gratitude of believers because the depth and gravity of the sacrifice made by Christ is diluted into a gray and muddled meaninglessness. I believe this is exactly what Satan wants to happen and we see it around us on the street every day. It is called apathy and indifference. I do not think this is acceptable for Christians. I intend to explain some of the historical background to add color back into the idea of “redeem/redemption”. Perhaps, by adding context back into words that are slowly losing significance in modern society, we can redeem that society? We need to start doing this with the Biblical vernacular. Putting the Salvation back in Saved and putting Christ back in the Christian. We need to put the flesh back on the dry bones of emaciated and misused words. If we have emaciated and abused words we end up having emaciated and spiritually abused believers. We need to preach and teach the conquering Lion of Judah in Revelation 5:5 not the thin, pale and frail Jesus from 16th & 17th Century artists who had dubious moral or political motives for painting Jesus the way they did. Teaching emasculated ideas through sterilized words only partially nourishes. We need meat, not milk as we mature In Christ.

In the Old Testament a person's property, animals, persons (slaves, kinsmen) and nations were all “redeemed” by the payment of a price. The right or duty to play the role of a “kinsmen redeemer” is even outlined in the story of Ruth and Boaz. It was the story of buying back property which had been alienated, in order to keep it in the family or tribe. Animals, the firstborn males of all livestock belonged by right to God (Yahweh). Unclean animals such as donkeys could be redeemed by the owner. In the case of individual human Israelites, each had to pay a ransom for his life at the time of the Israelite national census. Firstborn sons (since the literal Passover) belonged to God. Especially those in excess of the number of Levites who replaced them, had to be redeemed. If a man had a dangerous animal and it attacked or killed a man, the owner of the animal was also to be put to death…unless…he had adequate money to redeem himself through payment of a fine. Indentured slaves could later redeem themselves back out of slavery or a family member could do it for them. In all these cases there was a costly intervention and a price paid to free up property, animals or a human life (Stott 176). It saved animals (and occasionally persons) from slaughter, it saved people from slavery and even saved people from death penalties. This kind of brings it home for you, doesn’t it? Jesus is not a Divine coupon used to redeem salvation at God’s supermarket before a certain date. What He is, is infinitely more. How much more depends on the type of relationship you have with Him after being redeemed. We are saved "In Christ" as Paul was so fond of putting it. By faith His righteousness is imputed in us. Jesus Christ is a guarantee of eternal life when we accept by faith the atoning sacrifice made by His blood. It requires no work on our behalf. We need only believe.

Lastly, this redemptive mentality was what existed in ancient times and was the type of culture the people of the Old Testament lived in. The family and its sanctity was the strength of society. Divorce was difficult because marriage was so highly valued as a stabilizing factor of society. It was expected of those family members around you that loved you to step in and help. Families and honor meant something back then. In today's culture it means little or nothing. Back then strangers were often treated like family. Family was treated as if it was one's self. They treated family as if they were literally an extension of themselves. Today? Hardly. Today people shoot at strangers and ask questions later. Families are being destroyed by the infiltration of the world's warped ideas of "rights", "lifestyles" and "social justice". The State has become the stewards of our children (or so they think) or "in loco parentis" Latin for "in the place of a parent". Children, day by day are being viewed as wards of the State (Marxist). Not wards of the parents. The Bible clearly states that family is an institution under God and His authority (Gen.1:26–28, 2:20–25). A systematic dismantling of the family is occurring concurrently with a systematic dismantling of a law abiding and God-fearing society. Destroy the family and society will shortly follow. People wonder why things are so bad? Godless ideas make up and constitute the meaning of words used nowadays. There is no righteousness in words bantered around. This makes thoughts and ideas have no righteous meaning. You then have no real way to gauge what is right or justifiable. No righteous meaning or justifiability, means that rules cannot be formed because there would be no right or wrong. No right or wrong means no rules and that means chaos, disorder and anarchy. It isn't really that hard to figure out. How do we fix it? Put absolute truth and absolute righteousness back into words that now only have meanings applied to them on an ad hoc basis and often don't mean what they use to.

Stott, John R. W.. The Cross of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986. Print