In this lesson, we begin to cover five objective aspects of God’s full salvation that solved our problem before God. The first item is the redemption which Christ accomplished for us by His death on the cross. First, read Ephesians 1:7: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace.”
What is redemption? Redemption is the noun form of the word “redeem.” [The word redeem means to purchase back something which originally was yours but which had become lost. This hymnal belongs to me. If the hymnal becomes lost and I pay the price of buying it back, I would be redeeming the hymnal. Thus, redemption means to repossess at a cost.
We originally belonged to God. We were His possession. However, we were lost. Nevertheless, God did not give us up. He paid the price to have us back, repossessing us at a great cost. This is redemption. Even after we had become lost, He desired to regain us. However, this was not easy for God to do because our being lost involved us in sins and in many other things that were against His righteousness, holiness, and glory. Because we were lost, we had many problems with God in respect to His righteousness, holiness, and glory. We were under a threefold demand, the demand of righteousness, holiness, and glory. Many requirements were laid upon us, and it was impossible for us to fulfill them. The price was too great. God paid the price for us, repossessing us at a tremendous cost. Christ died on the cross to accomplish eternal redemption for us (Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:12; 9:28). His blood has obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12, 14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).]
We are not righteous according to God’s righteousness. We are not holy as God is holy. Our destiny was holiness, but we fell from it and received a sinful nature. As a result, we are not expressing God, but expressing Satan. So, we have come very short of God’s glory. What a dreadful condition!
Because of sin, transgression, and lawlessness, we became lost. We were under the demand of the law, and, according to this law, we were cursed to die.
But, praise the Lord! Jesus Christ came to redeem us. By His righteous death, He redeemed us back to God and to His purpose. To accomplish this, His precious blood was the price. Because we could not pay such a high price, He paid it for us. We were destined to die in sin, but now we may come back to God, be forgiven by God, receive God’s life, be filled with Him, and express Him. What a wonderful redemption!