Unsearchable Riches

Some of the Relationships of Christ to His People

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 2

CHRIST OUR REDEEMER.

IT is only by the consideration of every aspect in which Christ is presented to us in the Scriptures, that we are enabled in any measure to apprehend what He is to, and for, us; as well as the fulness of the truth of our salvation. We have contemplated Christ as our Saviour, and it might seem to some as if this title included also what He is as our Redeemer; but we shall find, as we trace out the subject, that we are led into new aspects both of His work and of our condition.

As a matter of fact, indeed, He accomplished redemption before He could be presented as Saviour; for He is able to save only on the ground of His finished work. On God's side, therefore, redemption precedes salvation: but we speak here rather of the order in which Christ is apprehended in the soul.

Remarkably enough, He is never once in the New Testament—in so many words—given this title. He is said to have redeemed us; and we are said to have redemption in Him, through His blood, &c.; but He is never termed our Redeemer. In the Old Testament, on the other hand, the title is of frequent occurrence (see Job xix. 25; Ps. xix. 14, lxxviii. 35; Isaiah xli. 14, xliii. 14, xliv. 6, xlvii. 4, xlix. 26, &c.). But the fact of Christ having redeemed us, and therefore being our Redeemer, is found in almost every book of the New Testament Scriptures; and the elders in heaven, as they behold the Lamb taking the book of God's counsels, sing 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," &c. (Rev. v. 9). In every dispensation, there fore, God has been a Redeemer; and hence there is no subject more worthy of our meditation.

In the Hebrew Scriptures there are two words in frequent use to express the truth of redemption. The one signifies " to buy back; " " to redeem by the payment of a ransom " (נָּאַל); and the other, " to loose " (פָּדָה); and hence also, used very much in the same sense as the other, though the primary meaning is, " to loose." In the New Testament there is but one word (λυτρω); but it comprises the meanings of both Hebrew words—viz., to release on receipt of ransom. There are thus two thoughts in the word "redemption," the payment of the ransom, and the consequent deliverance; our being freed, and the state into which  

Before, then, we are in a position to look at Christ as our Redeemer, we must first consider the state in which we were, which necessitated His advent in this character. It is not only that we were sinners. " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. v. 12). Through sin, therefore, death reigned over the whole world. But there was more than this, awful as such a statement may seem. Through the Fall—man's sin—Satan had acquired rights over him, and held the power of death, wielding it, indeed, as the just judgment of God (Heb. ii. 14). He thus became, in that all had sinned, the prince of the world (John xii. 31, xvi. 11); the god of this world (2 Cor. iv. 4); holding all men captive under his power and thrall (Acts xxvi. 1 8; Col. i. 13). We therefore were in a state of hopeless captivity, sold by our sin under the power of Satan, who reigned over us, and afflicted our souls with the hard rigour of his bondage. And we were as helpless as we were hope less; for having fallen through our own sin under the penalty of death, and thereby under the power of Satan, and having no means to provide a ransom, we were shut up for ever, unless some one from without, competent and able, should intervene to deliver us from the prison-house of our captivity. Hence St. Paul says, " Ye were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience," &c. (Eph. ii. 1, 2).

Such was our condition. We had failed to answer God's claims upon us, and had consequently fallen under the penalties of sin; and, at the same time, we came under the dominion of Satan, who reigned over us through the power of death which he wielded as the judgment of God upon us on account of our sins. Then it was, when we not only had no claim upon God, but had incurred the just penalty of our sins, that He, according to the counsels of His grace, being rich in mercy, in His love and in His pity redeemed us—redeemed us not with corruptible things, as silver and gold. . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter i. 18).

We will now consider more particularly the method by which our redemption was effected. It consisted properly of two parts, the price paid, and the deliverance effected; the claims of God met, and our deliverance from the hand and power of Satan; and we shall find these two things historically illustrated in the redemption of Israel.

(1.) The price paid, or the ransom money. Speaking to the disciples, our blessed Lord said, " The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many " (Matt. xx. 28). In another scripture we read that Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time " (1 Tim. ii. 6). That is, He gave Himself in death — corresponding so far with the other scripture quoted, "gave His life." The significance of these statements will be explained by a passage from the Old Testament. " The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is THE BLOOD THAT MAKETH AN ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL" (Lev. xvii. 11). Hence, " without shedding of blood is no remission " (Heb. ix. 22). It was therefore the blood of Christ (for the life is in the blood) that constituted our ransom money: this was the price paid for our redemption. Hence St. Paul says, " In whom we have redemption through His blood " (Eph. i. 7); and St. Peter, in the scripture we have before cited, that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. It is no wonder that he terms it " precious," since it availed to meet all the claims of a holy God upon us, so that on that foundation he could proclaim salvation to all. For, in truth, it not only satisfied God's claims, but so infinite was its value that the Lord Jesus, by the shedding of His own blood, glorified God in all that He was,—in every attribute of His character, —and thus He can righteously justify every one that believeth in Jesus. Yea, more, He glorifies Himself, in bringing every believer to Himself, in making him His child, and if a child, then an heir, an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ (Rom. viii. 17).

The blood of Christ is, therefore, the redemption money; and hence every one who is under its shelter is safe for ever from judgment. This was prefigured in the case of Israel in Egypt. When God was about to smite the land of Egypt, to pass through it as a Judge, and had thus raised the question of sin, His own people —Israel —were as obnoxious to the stroke of the destroyer as the Egyptians. How, then, could Israel be as righteously spared, as Egypt was as righteously judged? In one of His messages to Pharaoh, He says, "I will put a redemption (see marginal reading) between My people and thy people " (Exod. viii. 2 3); and this was done in a remarkable way, when by Jehovah's direction, " Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two sideposts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you " (Exod. xii. 21 -23). The Lord thus redeemed His people by blood, —figure of the blood of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world (John i. 29). But mark an important distinction. The command was given to all to sprinkle the blood—the provision was therefore for all; but unless in the obedience of faith the people carried out the directions they received, they would not be protected. So now the blood of Christ is sufficient for the shelter of all the world; but unless there be faith it will be of no avail. " God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth (none other) in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life " (John iii. 16). " Whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood" (Rom. iii. 25).

(2.) The first part, then, of redemption was the payment of the ransom; and that, as we have seen, was done by the blood of Christ. But Israel was not redeemed —though perfectly safe under the shelter of the blood—as long as they were in Egypt. Hence the second part, or the completion of their redemption, was effected when God, with a high hand and an outstretched arm, brought them out of the land of Egypt through the Bed Sea, and destroyed Pharaoh and all his host in its mighty waters. On the basis of the shed blood, God—having been satisfied as Judge —can now act for His people as their Deliverer; and hence He brings them out of Egypt in power. Then they could sing—they could not while in Egypt " The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation. . . . Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth Thy people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation " (Exodus xv. 1-13). They are now, and henceforward, a redeemed people.

So with believers now, they cannot be said to be redeemed until they know deliverance; not only that they are sheltered by the blood, but brought clean out of the enemy's territory —through death and judgment —by the death and resurrection of Christ. In the case of Israel, since it was historical, the sprinkling of the blood and the crossing of the Red Sea were necessarily two successive stages. But now the work has been done, in the death and resurrection of Christ, which answers to both; and though, as a matter of fact, the two parts —the shelter of the blood, and deliverance —are often successive in our apprehension, there is yet no reason why the fulness of redemption should not be received and enjoyed at the same time. And it would be far more frequently, were a full gospel more commonly proclaimed; whereas it seldom goes beyond the forgiveness of sins, and hence souls are kept in ignorance of the completeness of the salvation which God has wrought out for them in Christ.

But it may be well to explain somewhat more fully how our deliverance is effected in Christ. It is, then, of the first importance to know that not only has God dealt with the question of our sins—our guilt—but that He also has dealt with sin—our evil nature— in the death of Christ. " God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." Already, therefore, He has judged sin, root and branch; and hence Christ met and broke the whole power of Satan (even as God broke the whole power of Egypt in the Red Sea— figure of Satan's power) in His death. The consequence is that, believing in Christ, I am brought through His death out of the old condition in which I was (out of Egypt), and by His resurrection I am brought into a new place —a place (in Christ Jesus) not only where there is no condemnation, but where also the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Romans viii. 1, 2). Consequently, God can now say to believers, " Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. viii. 9). Our redemption, therefore, is complete; God has acted for us—on His claims having been met and satisfied by the blood of Christ —and brought us out of our old condition unto Himself. "He has guided us by His strength unto His holy habitation." Already have we passed from death unto life, with death and judgment for ever behind. We are no longer in the flesh, looked upon as children of Adam; but since we have died with Christ, every tie that bound us to that state is snapped; and we are now in Christ, and in Christ where He is, and consequently a redeemed people. Now we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose; and assured that, according to that purpose, we are to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; that whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified; we can take up the apostle's triumphant language, If God be for us, who [can be] against us? Yea, we can rest in the full persuasion that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus -our Lord (Rom. viii. 28-39.

(3.) One thing, however, has to be noted. While we are redeemed —as to our souls completely, we have to wait for the consummation of our redemption as to the body. Brought out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, fully delivered, and receiving the Holy Spirit as the earnest of our inheritance, we wait for the adoption—the redemption of our body. For in truth, we are still in the wilderness, and through our bodies linked with a groaning creation; and hence we ourselves which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the time when even our bodies will be redeemed (Rom. viii. 23).

"Our earthen vessels break;
     The world itself grows old;
But Christ our precious dust will take
     And freshly mould.
He'll give these bodies vile
     A fashion like His own,
He'll bid the whole creation smile,
     And hush its groan."

"For this we wait until He returns to receive us unto Himself " (Phil. iii. 20, 21); and we thus see how gloriously complete is the redemption which He has effected for His people, so complete that nothing shall be left in the hands of the enemy; but spirit, soul, and body alike are rescued and made His own.

As we then survey this work in all its extent, we can surely acknowledge with joyful hearts that Christ is our Redeemer. And never should we forget at what a cost He has redeemed us to God. It is familiar to us to say—with His blood. But how little we apprehend the meaning of the words; how little do we enter into the wondrous fact that He gave Himself to die, went down under all the wrath that was due to us, was made sin for us that we might become God's righteousness in Him. Surely as we meditate upon it, it will evoke from our hearts the more constant cry of adoration, " Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen"¹ (Rev. i. 5, 6).

What, then, are our responsibilities as a redeemed people. First and foremost, the acknowledgment that we belong to Him who has redeemed us. This truth is continually brought out even in the Old Testament Scriptures: " But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, 0 Jacob, and He that formed thee, 0 Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by name; thou art Mine" (Isa. xliii. 1). Hence it is that the apostle, as we may notice more fully in the next chapter, so often terms himself the slave (δοῦλος) of Jesus Christ. For since the Lord Jesus has paid, in His wondrous grace and love, our ransom money, He has acquired the full right and title to all that we are and have. We are henceforward His property. But this involves a twofold aspect—privilege and responsibility. We have the privilege of belonging to Christ, of being His own, of being bound to Him by special ties (for He loved the Church and gave Himself for it), and there fore of being the special objects of His care, tenderness, and love. We now say, My Beloved is mine, and I am His; yea more, I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me (Song of Solomon ii. 1 6; vii. 10). And how sweet and blessed a thought it is that He has acquired, by a title which none can ever dispute, possession of us! What rest it gives to our souls to remember that we are His! In sorrow, trouble, or bereavement —in the silent watches of the night —in isolation from all about us—what unspeakable solace to raise our eyes to Him, and to be able to say, Thou hast redeemed us, and we are Thine —Thine for ever!

But the privilege involves the responsibility of showing practically in our walk and conversation that we are His—of living not to ourselves, but unto Him who has died for us, and risen again (2 Cor. v. 15). For by our redemption we are separated from all the peoples of the earth, and are, therefore, to be distinguished by testifying in our ways that we belong to our Redeemer. It is for us, each one, as before the Lord, to ask ourselves, How far we are doing this? Whether we, as a redeemed people, are as separate from those about us, as Israel was, for example, from the tribes that surrounded them when passing through the desert? True that, so far, this was an external separation; but surely this was meant to be a type and figure of a separation more real than theirs— more real because of the profounder character of our redemption. The question, however, is, Are we daily confessing with heart, life, and lip, that we belong to Christ?

And this question brings us to a special responsibility in connection with our redemption, as stated by the apostle Paul. He says to the Corinthians, " What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?... Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body"² (i Cor. vi. 19, 20). The Lord, therefore, claims our bodies because -He has bought us with a price; and there fore He would have our bodies as organs for the exhibition of Himself in this scene. Hence, after the full statement of redemption in the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle says, " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your reasonable service" (Rom. xii. 1). What an honour thus put upon us—that He should take up these bodies of ours, which were once the instruments of Satan, and make them the means of the display of Himself —that God might be glorified! Ah! Satan little knew what he was doing when he urged the Jews to put Christ to death. He succeeded in getting Him cast out of this scene; but what has been the consequence? That there are thousands of Christ's followers whose only business is to reflect His likeness, to bear about in their bodies the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in their bodies (2 Cor. iv. 10). How far are we individually meeting in this respect our responsibility? We all shall own it; and if we own it, and at the same time have to confess our failure in responding to it, we may, and surely shall, cast ourselves upon Him for grace and strength to yield ourselves wholly to God as alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God (Rom. vi. 13).

St. Paul also teaches that being redeemed, we should disown, and reject every authority that conflicts with that of Christ. " Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men" (1 Cor. vii. 23). It need hardly be said that he does not mean that we are not to have masters in this world. On the other hand, he has, by the Spirit, given special directions to those who are thus placed. But what he here asserts is the supremacy of the authority of Christ; and that we, since He has bought us with a price, belong to Him whatever our situation. " He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men " (1 Cor. vii. 22, 23). In like manner, enforcing the same truth, he reminds servants, in another epistle, that they " serve the Lord Christ " (Col. iii. 24). Whatever our position, therefore, in this world, however subject it may be, we are never to forget that we belong to Christ, that He has purchased us with His own blood; and hence our eye must ever be upon Him, for He is our Lord, and it is Him whom we serve.

Another scripture will indicate a further responsibility. "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works " (Titus ii. 14). We have already seen that the Lord has acquired us by redemption, and this thought is also expressed in the words, " purify unto Himself a peculiar people; " but two things are here added, which He desires should characterise the people whom He has redeemed. His object was to redeem us from all iniquity, both from its power (see Rom. vi. 14), and its practice; and that we should be zealous of good works. As being redeemed, therefore, we should be known by separation from evil, and separation unto Christ, marked out as a peculiar people —a people peculiar and proper to Him self, and known by zeal for good works.

It is well to judge ourselves often by such a scripture, that we may detect our failures and discover how far we are answering the mind of Christ about us— His object in our redemption. And especially may we apply the phrase " zealous of good works." For while there is no greater snare at the present time than excessive activity, in which the soul often loses all communion, and hence all power, there should never be a carelessness concerning works which are according to the mind of God. Indeed, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Eph. ii. 10). We are responsible, therefore to, be zealous of such good works.

If we now turn to 1st Peter, we shall find another character of responsibility in connection with our redemption. " If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: forasmuch 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, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot " (1 Peter i. 17, 18). St. Peter thus sets us down in the presence of God the Father, and sets us down there as pilgrims, that we should pass the time of our sojourning in fear, that holy fear which is begotten by His holiness according to which our works are even now judged. He would have us as pilgrims who have been brought out of Egypt, in our passage through the wilderness, to maintain holiness, to be holy, because God is holy (ver. 16). For it is to God that we are redeemed; and hence He requires us in our walk and ways to be suitable to Himself—to His own character. How watchful, then, should we be to keep apart from evil, to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, having the fear of God before our eyes, knowing that He marks all our ways, and that without holiness shall no man see the Lord (Heb. xii. 14).

Finally, we are ever bidden to look onward to the day of redemption. Thus we are told that the indwelling Spirit " is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession " (Eph. i. 14); and again, that we are not to grieve " the Holy Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption" (Eph. iv. 30). Then it is that the full fruits of redemption will be entered upon and enjoyed, when the Lord will take possession, in power, of all that has been purchased by His precious blood. We have already dwelt upon this as to the body. But there is more than this. We have the Spirit as the earnest " of our future full participation in the heritage that belongs to Christ —an inheritance to which He has a right through redemption, whereby He has purchased all things to Himself, but which He will only appropriate by His power when He shall have gathered together all the co-heirs to enjoy it with Him." It is for this we wait —not only for the coming of Christ, the resurrection of our bodies, and our being glorified together with Him, but also for the time when, as joint-heirs with Himself, we shall enter with Him upon the possession of all that scene of dominion, blessedness, and glory, which He has acquired through His death —His works of redemption—all being the purchase of His own precious blood. What wonder that we are told that this consummation is to the praise of God's glory! Our present acceptance in the Beloved is to the praise of the glory of His grace; our share with Christ in His inheritance will be to the praise of His glory. On that scene of blessedness and exaltation, by the grace of our God, we shall soon enter. For since we are children, we are heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; and He is waiting for the moment when He can accomplish the desire of His own heart in having us with Himself, according to His own prayer, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" (John xvii. 24). May He enable us to walk now as those who are waiting for the consummation of such blessedness!

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1) We do not enter in this paper upon the wider aspect of redemption. Christ also tasted death for everything (Heb. ii. 9); and hence every thing will be brought under His power (Ephes. i. 10; Heb. ii. 8). We are distinctly told that He bought the whole field (Matt. xiii. 44); and all men (2 Pet. ii. 1).

2) I do not add the words, "And in your spirit, which are God's," as they are without sufficient authority—the argument itself indeed showing that they are an unwarranted addition.