Although God delights in us and has made us the objects of His grace, we still need redemption because He is the righteous God. Our Father who delights in us is righteous and cannot tolerate unrighteousness, wrongdoings, or offenses. Such things insult His righteousness. Therefore, His righteousness makes the accomplishment of redemption necessary. Redemption fulfills God’s righteous requirements and pleases God. God is not only a God of love; He is also righteous, and anything unrighteous displeases Him. Everything related to Him must satisfy the requirements of His righteousness. This is the reason that, in order to please God, the beloved Son had to go to the cross to accomplish full redemption for God’s chosen ones.
The Son’s redemption is through His blood shed on the cross for our sins (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Because the Son’s death in the flesh on the cross has fulfilled God’s righteous requirement, His blood becomes the very instrument for our redemption.
The Son’s redemption through His blood is the forgiveness of our offenses (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:22). Redemption is what Christ has accomplished for our offenses; forgiveness is what Christ accomplished applied to our offenses. Redemption was accomplished on the cross, whereas forgiveness is applied the moment we believe in Christ. Redemption and forgiveness are actually two ends of one thing. We have seen that the forgiveness of offenses is the redemption accomplished through the blood of Christ. However, two terms are used because this one thing has two ends: the end of the accomplishment on the cross and the end of the application to us at the time we believed. Although redemption was accomplished on the cross when Christ shed His blood, it was not applied to us at that time. The application did not take place until we believed in Christ and made confession to the righteous God. At that very moment, the Spirit of God applied to us the redemption Christ had accomplished on the cross. Hence, redemption is the accomplishment, and forgiveness is the application.
Verse 7 says that redemption is according to the riches of God’s grace. According to our concept, it would be easy for God to forgive us because He is sovereign and almighty. However, it was not that easy. The accomplishment of redemption was a very weighty and serious matter. Because of its seriousness, it required the riches of God’s grace.
Now we need to consider why redemption required the riches of God’s grace. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Therefore, in order for us to be forgiven, blood had to be shed. But in this matter the blood of animals could not avail (Heb. 10:4). The blood of the animal sacrifices was simply a shadow. For the actual accomplishment of redemption, there had to be the blood of a higher life, a blood altogether sinless. Where could God find this kind of blood among the human race? It was impossible because all men are sinful. Among the fallen human race there is no sinless blood. Moreover, God’s chosen ones number in the millions. If a sin offering were to be offered for each one, millions of sin offerings would be required. Therefore, in addition to a perfect, sinless blood, there was the need of a sin offering that could include millions. This indicates that the blood through which redemption was to be accomplished had to be not only sinless, but also all-inclusive, able to redeem the millions of God’s chosen ones. Only Jesus Christ could be the sin offering with a sinless blood shed for these millions of chosen ones. By the shedding of His blood once upon the cross, the eternal redemption of God’s chosen ones was accomplished once for all (Heb. 9:28; 10:10, 12).
Now we need to see how it was possible for God to obtain such a sinless and all-inclusive blood. Obtaining such a blood was vastly more difficult than creating the universe. In order to create the universe, God simply had to speak. For example, He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3). But redemption could not take place in this way. God could not simply say, “Let redemption be accomplished.” In order for God to create the universe there was no need of grace. But for Him to accomplish redemption, there was the need of the riches of His grace.
Consider how the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, was conceived. In order for the Lord Jesus to be conceived, there was the need for the Holy Spirit to contact the virgin Mary. We cannot say how the Holy Spirit conceived the Redeemer within the womb of the virgin. For this, the riches of God’s grace were required. According to Luke 1:35, the child conceived in Mary of the Holy Spirit was called the “holy thing.” This indicates that the conception of the Lord Jesus was absolutely a holy matter. (Holiness refers to something conceived of the Holy Spirit.) For nine months this “holy thing” remained in Mary’s womb. Who can tell how much grace this called for? What grace was needed for Jesus, Jehovah the Savior, to remain there in the womb for nine months!
Until the age of thirty, the Lord Jesus worked as a carpenter. Great grace was required for the One called Emmanuel, God with us, to work as a carpenter for so many years. Eventually, He came forth to begin His ministry, which lasted three and a half years. Although He was concerned for sinners, they opposed Him, persecuted Him, and plotted to kill Him. Betrayed by one of His Apostles, He was arrested. Actually, He was not arrested, but handed Himself over to those who came for Him. He could have asked the Father to send twelve legions of angels to rescue Him, but He refrained from doing so (Matt. 26:53). After He was arrested, He was tried before the high priest, before Pilate, and before Herod. Then He was nailed to the cross and hung there for six hours, from nine o’clock in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon. What great grace was needed for all this! On the cross the Lord Jesus died for our sins. Then He was buried, resurrected, and ascended into heaven to receive repentance and forgiveness (Acts 5:31). Because of the riches of God’s grace, we are able to repent and receive forgiveness of sins. Do not think that your repentance originated with you. No, God the Father gave repentance to the Son, the Redeemer, and He gave it to you through the Spirit. Along with repentance, we have received forgiveness. All this is according to the riches of His grace. How limitless and immeasurable is God’s grace!