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I Know that My Redeemer
Liveth
Job 19:25-27
(KJV)
For I know that my
redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth:
{26} And though
after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see
God:
{27} Whom I shall see for
myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and
not another;
though
my reins be consumed within me. Definitions:
"To Redeem" =To pay the required price to secure the release
of a convicted criminal,
"Redemption"=the process therein involved.
"Redeemer"= and the person making the payment.
In early Hebraic use, the idea and these words are related to legal
and commercial activities. They provided Biblical writers with one of the most
basic and dynamic images for describing God's saving activity toward mankind.
Old Testament
The following Hebrew words express the legal and commercial
use of the redemptive concept. "Padah" was used only in relation to the
redemption of persons or other living beings. For example, if a person owned an
ox which was known to be dangerous but did not keep the ox secured and the ox
gored the son or daughter of a neighbor, both the ox and the owner would be
stoned to death. If, however, the father of the slain person offered to accept
an amount of money, the owner could pay the redemption price and live (Ex.
21:29-30; compare v. 32). Numbers 18:15-17 shows how religious practice adopted
such language.
In addition, the Hebrew word kipper or "cover" came to extensive
use in strictly religious concepts and practices. It is the word from which
"Kippur" is derived in "Yom Kippur," Day of Atonement, or Day of Covering,
perhaps the most sacred of the holy days in Judaism. The verbal form in the Old
Testament is always used in a religious sense such as the covering of sin or the
making of atonement for sin.
The Biblical concept of redemption flows out of the custom of buying back something which formerly belonged to the purchaser, but for some reason had passed into the ownership of another. The original owner could regain ownership by paying a redemption price for it. In the case of salvation, the souls of man were
originally created to be in fellowship with and thereby
"ownership" by God. Adam's disobedience against God in the Garden of Eden
effectively broke that fellowship with God, and placed the souls of men
(and women, of course) into the ownership of sin. The price to buy back our
souls from the slavemarket of sin was the sacrificial death and shedding of the
Holy Blood by Jesus Christ. Hence, He is our "Redeemer" since He payed the price
which buys us back and delivers our souls once more into the ownership
of God.
New Testament
The New Testament centers redemption in Jesus Christ. He purchased
the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28),
Acts 20:28
(KJV)
Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock,
over the which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers,
to feed the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his
own blood.
Jesus Christ gave His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51),
John 6:48-51
(KJV)
Jesus says, I am that bread of
life.
{49} Your fathers did eat
manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
{50} This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven,
that a man may eat thereof, and not
die.
{51} I am the living bread which
came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall
live for ever:
and the bread that I will give is my
flesh,
which I will give for the life of the
world.
As the Good Shepherd Jesus laid down His life for His sheep (John
10:11)
John 10:9-15
(KJV)
I am the door:
by me if any man enter in, he shall be
saved,
and shall go in and out, and find
pasture.
{10} The thief cometh not,
but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more
abundantly.
{11} I am the good shepherd:
the good shepherd giveth his life for the
sheep.
{12} But he that is an hireling,
and not the shepherd,
whose own the sheep are not,
seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the
sheep, and fleeth:
and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth
the sheep.
{13} The hireling fleeth,
because he is an hireling,
and careth not for the sheep.
{14} I am the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and am known of
mine.
{15} As the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father:
and I lay down my life for the
sheep.
Jesus demonstrated the greatest love by laying down His life for
His friends (John 15:13).
John 15:11-17
(KJV)
These things have I spoken
unto you,
that my joy might remain in you,
and that your joy might be
full.
{12} This is my
commandment,
That ye love one another, as I
have loved you.
{13} Greater love
hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for
his friends.
{14} Ye are my
friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
{15} Henceforth I
call you not servants;
for the servant knoweth not what
his lord doeth:
but I have called you friends;
for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made known unto you.
{16} Ye have not chosen me,
but I have chosen you, and
ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth
fruit,
and that your fruit should
remain:
that whatsoever ye shall ask of
the Father in my name,
He may give it you.
{17} These things I command
you, that ye love one another.
The purpose of Jesus in the world was to make a deliberate
sacrifice of Himself for human sin. He did something sinful people could not do
for themselves. He brought hope to sinners, providing redemption from sin and
fellowship with the Eternal Father. As the Suffering Servant, His was a costly
sacrifice, the shameful and agonizing death of a Roman cross. New Testament
redemption thus speaks of substitutionary sacrifice demonstrating divine love
and righteousness. It points to a new relationship to God, the dynamic of a new
life, God's forgiveness for the repented sins of the past, and the call for
humility for the future.
In other ways and language, the centrality of redemption through the death of Jesus Christ is expressed throughout the New Testament from the Lamb of God who lifts up and carries away the sin of the world (John 1:29) John 1:29 (KJV)
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith,
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.
and to the redeeming Lamb praised by a multitude because He was slain, and
by His blood redeemed unto God's people of every kindred, tongue, and nation
(Rev. 5:8-14).
Rev 5:6-10
(KJV)
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the
throne and of the four beasts,
and in the midst of the elders, stood a
Lamb as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes,
which are the seven Spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth.
{7} And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon
the throne.
{8} And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and four and twenty
elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps,
and golden vials full of odours, which are
the prayers of saints.
{9} And they sung a new song,
saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to
open the seals thereof:
for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood
out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation;
{10} And hast made us unto
our God kings and priests:
and we shall reign on the
earth.
Based on a Study in the Holmann Bible
Dictionary
IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN GROWTH DEVOTIONALS
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