Christ Our Redemption
In the wisdom of God, the plan of salvation was fully
accomplished by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Such wisdom is hidden from
the wise and learned of the world, but it revealed to the humble believer of
Christ.
Christ alone personified the wisdom of God. “But by
His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and
righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is
written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31, NASB
1995).
Christ is our redemption.
From the moment we put out faith in Jesus Christ alone to save us, we were
“Sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). We already have the “first
fruits of the Spirit” as we wait the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23).
The wisdom puts to shame
the high and mighty people of the world. The wise men of the world cannot
understand how God’s grace in Jesus Christ changes sinners into saints. The
mighty men of the world see the grace of God as foolishness and weakness (I Cor.
1:25-29).
God in His grace changes
lives when they accept His wisdom and believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Salvation must be all of
grace so that He alone gets all the glory. “We are made righteous, holy, and
redeemed in Christ Jesus. Redemption comes here last for emphasis through the
very foundation of righteousness and sanctification,” notes A. T. Roberson. We
are “Justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). God has ransomed setting free the person enslaved in sin.
There is a sense in which
the believer is redeemed the very moment he believes on Christ as his Savior.
But there is also the greater expectation that our redemption will not be
complete in its fullest sense until the work of God is perfected in him or her.
We are now hidden with
Christ in God, and our redemption will come to consummation when Christ returns
in glory (I Thess. 4:17). At that time “We shall also bear the image of the
heavenly” (I Cor. 15:49). We shall be glorified with Him.
Yes, our redemption is our
present possession (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14). We enjoy forgiveness of all our sins,
and we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the first fruits and down
payment of greater things to come. The full renewal and reward of our
redemption is yet to come at the last day.
The foundation and basis
for these great events is the death of Jesus Christ as our ransom (Mark 10:45). Christ came “To give His life as a ransom for many.” The meaning is Jesus paid
the price for a slave who is then set free by the one who bought him. Jesus
gave His own life as the price to purchase our freedom from the slaves of sin.
Jesus vicariously suffered
death on behalf of the many who have fallen victim to death. His death was the
ransom payment to redeem us (I Pet. 1:18-19). Christ “Gave Himself for us, that
He might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14).
The word “redemption” here
probably embraces the totality of Christ’s work of salvation of the sinner. It
embraces rescuing men from sin and Satan by the payment of Christ, and it
extends to the believer’s final resurrection and glorification. It looks back
upon the cross to the blood that bought our freedom, justification (Rom. 3:24),
sanctification (Heb. 10:10), and forward to our resurrection and glorification
(Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 4:30).
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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