WE will endeavor to enter upon a little Bible study with our young friends, and so fulfill the request of many. Let us begin with a subject—we shall find a profitable and practical one in redemption.
Both in the New and Old Testaments we find redemption; in the New, its plain doctrines; in the Old, types and figures of the doctrines. As is the safe plan, we will go first to the plainly-expressed truths, next to the pictures or illustrations of them. If we attempt to explain the meaning of one of God’s illustrations, without first taking the plainly-given meaning of the truth which He illustrates, we shall be in danger of allowing our imagination to run its course; and, as a result, may find ourselves falling into some false doctrine, some wrong thoughts of God.
For our subject we need keep before us the redeemer, the ransom, and the redeemed.
The redeemer is the person who buys out what another has acquired; the ransom is the price paid; the redeemed what has been purchased.
The Lord Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. The price paid for our redemption―the ransom―is spoken of in the following verses: “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give HIS LIFE a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:2828Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28); Mark 10:4545For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45).) “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave HIMSELF a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times.” (1 Tim. 2:5, 65For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:5‑6).) And again in this passage, which, though it does not give the word ransom, states what it is, “redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ.” (1 Peter 1:18, 1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19).) His LIFE, HIMSELF, His BLOOD, are thus spoken of as the price paid for our redemption.
Observe the precious ransom was bestowed of His own voluntary will; the Lord came to give His life, and He gave Himself. Thus not only is the priceless gift present to our eyes, but also the boundless love that bestows it.
In the verses quoted, the context in each case will help us to see why His life, Himself, His blood, are variously mentioned as the ransom, or the price by which we are redeemed.
When the Lord spoke of His coming to give His life as the ransom, the end of His ministry on earth was near; He had ministered to man for some years. He had fed the hungry, healed the sick, and taught man about God, and the end of His life-service was at hand. But His blessed mission from heaven to earth was not His life-service only; that would not have affected our redemption; His serving man in His life would not redeem man. The only price at which we could be released from sin’s captivity and doom was that of His own life. It was necessary that He should die―should surrender His life―to ransom us.
The blessed Lord in His life-ministry relieved men from much of the suffering and sorrow sin had brought into the world; but God hates sin as sin―it is utterly contrary to His holy nature―and by no means short of Christ’s giving up His own blessed life could satisfaction be made to God.
In the next passage we read that there is “one Mediator between God and man―the Man Christ Jesus.” Here God and man are presented to us: the holy God, sinful man; the Man Christ Jesus stands between the two—between God and the human race. No other mediator does the Bible speak of between God and man save the incarnate Son the Man Jesus our Lord.
But it is the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for man, blessed be His name―Himself in all His perfection, and nothing less is the ransom price for guilty sinners.
He gave Himself not merely for the Jews but the Gentiles also, a ransom for ail, and the price He paid by the gift of Himself stands before God as of such value, that whosoever pleads this gift shall be redeemed.
The testimony hereto is being borne now in these Gospel times of grace, the joyful-news is being spread abroad over the earth that the Man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the ransom for man. Let us seek to witness to this great fact with hearts brimful of love to Him who has redeemed us; let us endeavor to spread the Gospel to every creature―to all.
“The precious blood of Christ” is ever a sentence of sweetness to every believer’s ear and heart. Not all the wealth of the work could have procured our ransom, nor could its riches have bought out from the vain traditions of the religion of shadows one single soul. The reality alone could do this―the blood of Him who died for us. The blood witnesses His death―His actual death. “The life is in the blood thereof,” say the Scriptures, so when we speak of “the precious blood of Christ” we speak of Him who has given His life, who has given Himself the ransom.
We close this opening of our subject at this point. Will you search the New Testament Scriptures for next month on redemption, and try to classify the texts according to their different teachings?