“You have sold yourselves for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money.” Isaiah 52:3
Dear Ones:
If ever there was proof of a good and gracious God, it is declared and revealed to us in the word, “redemption.” Upon this word hangs the entirety of the meaning, purpose, and end of man. The word basically means, to be bought…purchased. When Christ died on Calvary, not only did He pay the “price,” the debt and judgement, for our sins. He also paid, in His precious blood, the price of a soul…declaring the value of that soul, and the inexpressible worth that God puts upon it. What is it about the blood of Christ that makes it so valuable to God, and consequently, to us? Peter writes in his first letter: “You were NOT redeemed 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 1:18-19) He goes on to add that Christ was “…foreordained before the foundation of the world,” to be this spotless Lamb of God. (v.20) Herein is worth and value, that the blood of Christ by which ONLY we can be, and are redeemed, or purchased, “…shall NEVER lose its cleansing power, until all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.” There is NO corruption, change or alteration, no diminishing in the nature and quality of Christ’s blood shed for us. It is precious because Christ was “without blemish, without spot” in His love and devotion to the Father. Herein is power, power to redeem, power to cleanse and forgive. It is the worth that the Father puts upon the sacrifice of His Son, which exceeds all else.
The story of Israel as a nation is a monumental picture and declaration of God’s mercy, and a revelation of His ways. Throughout the writings of Isaiah, and the prophets, we see Israel rejecting the goodness and mercy of God, to pursue her own “worship” and way of living. She brings upon herself untold suffering and sorrow, having abandoned the “fountain of living waters.” She pays dearly, the Lord bringing her to the end of herself, so that He can save her FROM herself. It is then that we catch a glimpse of His ways. He takes the initiative in declaring to her that “her warfare is ended,” that He is “returned to Jerusalem.” He speaks to her of a new beginning and the outpouring of the Spirit, and the blessing of God. Right in the middle of this entire message of hope and restoration we find Him bringing her to realize that it is ONLY by the mercy of God that this can, and will be done. Also, it is ONLY by the eternal Sacrifice of Christ, the shedding of His precious blood, that she will and can be redeemed, purchased, restored, revived. The value of her soul, and the souls of men today, are too precious to be redeemed by any other means. Only God can redeem the souls of men, only by HIS way. But redeem them He will, by the sacrifice of Christ…by a life that is sinless, spotless, beyond value and worth to the Father, revealed in His precious blood.
Dear Father, give us to grasp the fact that You never change, nor do Your ways. You always deal with us on the basis of Your mercy, and the manifestation of the love of God in the perfect, eternal sacrifice of Christ. We thank Thee that you redeem us by the blood of Christ, not with the perishable, and changing things of earth. Thus, we are secure in Thy love, a love that has purchased us to belong forever to Thee. We praise and thank Thee in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad