Heaven & Hell and the More Important stuff (4)

Redemption

How did all we have been talking about come about?  Let’s turn once again to the apostle to whom was given the revelation of the new covenant good news and of the ekklesia of God: Paul. (See Galatians 1:11-12).

In chapter 4 of this same letter, he couldn’t be much clearer:

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.  So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.  But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Our righteousness and our justification come as a direct result of the redemption that Jesus accomplished by his death, burial and resurrection.  The result is our full and total salvation.  Time and again I refer to this illustration.

 

I have a more extensive treatment of this subject in my “Household of God” series; if you haven’t seen it, I can send you a copy upon request.  Let me highlight a little of it here.

Redemption is a practice common to many societies throughout history.  It often refers to matters of land title and ownership.  It is also a part of what has been, throughout history, one method of borrowing money and raising capital for some particular purpose.  An item of value (often land) is given up in exchange for cash or in payment of a debt.  When the original owner of the item of property is ready to reclaim it, he approaches the one to whom it was surrendered for a price to ‘redeem’ his property.  When the price is paid, the item is released from its bondage and returned to its owner.

In ancient Israel, the legislated practice was that such an exchange could not be permanent when it came to land.  In the “Year of Jubilee”, all land reverted to its original owner, outstanding debts were cancelled and slaves released.  A central reason for this practice is that, without it, life can spiral into poverty and the inevitable injustices that come with it.  Leviticus 25 explains a lot of the detail of this special part of old Hebrew society.

This is the root of the concept of redemption – whether the price is paid, or the obligation cancelled because of the ‘Jubilee’.  This is what lies behind Paul’s words to the Galatians above.

And this is the idea that comes from the heart of God not just in matters of human labour, monetary debt and land title, but in terms of the spiritual health and well-being of the human race.  We are part of His creation who have been traded for a bit of tawdry gain; His plan and program is to pay the price and redeem us – buy us back – and the asking price was the death of His son, Jesus of Nazareth.

The Psalmists in Psalm 49 well understood that “No man can by any means redeem a brother or give to God a ransom for him—for the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever...  But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.”

We cannot redeem ourselves; neither can we (as I argued earlier) justify or ‘right’ ourselves.  No other human can redeem, justify or right us either, despite what many religious persons think and practise and theologise about.  And no religious practice or rite can redeem, justify or right us either – no matter how often or how sincerely it is done.

And we should note that God is not waiting for us to decide in favour of Him before He takes action to redeem us; even while we were still in the place of rebellion or total ignorance, He has effected His plan of redemption.  That’s what Paul was writing about in Galatians 4 above.  It was also what he was writing about when he wrote to the Romans (chapter 5):

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly... God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

In this small passage alone, we are saved, justified, reconciled by the love of God operating in and through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  Small wonder Paul says, ‘and that’s not all; we exult in God via Jesus because of it.’

For a moment, let’s focus on this word reconciled.  The word that is used here was originally what we might call an accounting term – used in the context of finance and keeping accounts.  When two people with a common interest in a transaction had differing views of that transaction, to reconcile was to come to the same view – to agree and settle on a figure.

 

If your financial records show a balance of $1000 but your bank statement shows a different figure, you need to reconcile them.  When the various additions and subtractions are made and the balances agree, your account is reconciled – you’re no longer at odds with your bank.

So let’s apply this.  God believes the state and condition of our ‘account’ before Him (without the death and resurrection of Jesus) is an impossible debt; then God (Galatians 4) “...sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”  With the death and resurrection of Jesus, the price is paid and the “impossible debt” is eradicated.  All that is necessary is our coming to agree with God on this (i.e. repentance) and fully trusting in God to keep His word (i.e. faith).

 God’s redemption and reconciliation; our repentance and faith; new birth, adoption as sons, the free gift of righteousness in the Holy Spirit.  “Those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”  (Rom 5:17)

As Paul said: we were enemies; and while we were still enemies, God – through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus of Nazareth – reconciled us to Himself.  The result: we are justified and counted righteous and the righteousness of Christ is credited to our account as a free gift.  Paul expressed it this way: “He made Him who knew no sin [i.e. Jesus] to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [i.e. Jesus.]

Songwriter David Ingles in 1976 penned this verse:

I am the righteousness of God in Christ

A brand new creation in him

I can now approach the presence of God

With no condemnation of sin

I am the righteousness of God in Christ

I am now complete in him

I’m a partaker of his divine nature

On me he will not impute sin.

And John Wesley penned this one:

My God is reconciled;

His pardoning voice I hear;

He owns me for His child,

I can no longer fear;

With confidence I now draw nigh,

And ‘Father, Abba, Father’ cry.

 

Reconciliation is not awaiting our good behaviour; it has already been achieved.  It awaits our full trust – our return from ‘exile’, so to speak, to the open arms of the Father.  (See Luke 15).

 

 

This simple illustration from “The Art of Soichi Watanabe” evinces the humility, repentance, trust and worship of the son, along with the love, forgiveness, mercy and grace of the Father.

Reconciled!  And in the Luke 15 story, a party ensues as the Father welcomes home the son he had lost but is now returned.  But to me, the most precious moment in this story from Luke is verse 20: “So he got up and returned to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

But there was a son, an older brother, who didn’t go “off the rails” and run away.  He stayed (albeit grudgingly) and worked for his father and asked for nothing in return.  And he resented the fact that his father welcomed the other son back and threw a big party for him.  The two sons represent Israel and their religious system (the older brother) and Gentiles who were considered ‘dogs’ by the Jews at the time (the runaway).

While this was a story Jesus told, he told it illustrate how God the Father relates to and deals with his runaway humans – us.  So let me pose a bit of a tricky question: what’s the difference between this story of the ‘prodigal’ son and New Testament passages like Matthew 23:13ff with its “Woe to you...  Woe to you...  Woe to you...”?

“Woe” is to those who know the truth; who have known and experienced first-hand the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth; and who flatly refuse and reject that love and kindness, and who do so a) to the murder of Jesus and b) to their own last dying breath.  Clearly that is not a description of the prodigal son; he repented and returned in contrition and confession to his father – who was watching and waiting for his return!

However, time after time, right up to the days of Jesus himself, Israel has had access to everything God has to offer but they chose their beliefs and their system of law over God.  That choice was set in concrete as Peter said to them on the day of that first new covenant Pentecost (Acts 2):

Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this one, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death.  But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power...  This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.  Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear [right now]...  Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him, this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Peter was here addressing the Jews in Jerusalem.  A few short years later, one of the apostles is writing to the Jews (Hebrews) and saying this (6:4-6):

In the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

It seems to me that both are addressed to the same people – perhaps not exactly the same individual human beings, but people of the same heart and spirit, and maybe the next generation; people who had lived through the crucifixion, resurrection and that first Pentecost.  In the Acts account, many comprehended their guilt and repented like the prodigal son.  Clearly, many others did not and pursued Jesus and his apostles to their death.  Perhaps the “woes” and this Hebrews passage apply to such.



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