“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
~ Ephesians 1:7 (emphasis mine) ~
For us to begin to understand what Christ-based, biblical redemption is, we first need to seek to comprehend who the sovereign (supreme) creator God of the universe is. This is extremely important because from our human perspective, it appears clear to this writer that we tend to think that God can do whatever He pleases, with no limits whatsoever.
However, if we take a closer look at the scriptures, His Word, which He has provided, this gives us a better picture and insight into His character, not based on our assumed human notions nor our conventional way of thinking.
P.S. This is Part 2 of our series on redemption. If you have not read it yet, start with Part 1: Why Humanity Needs Redemption: God’s Holiness, Justice, and Love.
What the Sovereign God of the Universe Cannot Do
According to the Bible, there are things that God cannot do, not in spite of who He is, but because of who He is. In other words, there are things He will not do.
I know that sounds like heresy to most “religious” church going people and completely wrong or untruth to probably most others. This is because it appears clear that the generally accepted belief by those who even do believe in God, is that He can do anything He wants.
But what does His Word actually say?
That can be a whole separate topic in itself, but for now, here are a few things to consider in what He says about Himself, keeping in mind that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God” (literally God breathed; 2 Timothy 3:16).
He cannot lie (Titus 1:2), go back on His Word (Isaiah 55:11; Luke 21:33), deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13); He cannot sin (Hebrews 4:15), be wrong (Acts 1:3), be ungracious or unmerciful (Nehemiah 9:31), be unloving (1 John 4:8), and He cannot be unjust (Psalm 89:14).
It is that last character and nature of God, i.e., He cannot be unjust, that we want to focus on because it is key to understanding how and why His sovereignty can help us grasp His redemption.
What Exactly Is Biblical Redemption?
It appears clear from scriptures that God cannot forgive sinners without the full penalty demanded by His justice being paid. This is where redemption comes in. Everyone needs redemption, even those who may not think they do because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Redemption, from the root word redeem, means “to buy out of.” The term was used specifically in reference to the purchase of a slave’s freedom. That reference is undoubtedly offensive to most people who are not in Christ because they do not see themselves being “a slave” needing to be set free. But the application is to Christ’s death on the cross signifying that our prior condition was one of slavery in bondage, not to a physical human slave master but to sin or the Old Testament law.
Even though the Old Testament law was specifically directed and given to the Jewish nation, the moral laws of God have been written on the hearts of all people everywhere (Romans 2:14-15). Christ’s death paid in full the justice the law demanded.
From God’s perspective, this was and is the only way for His justice to be satisfied.
How do we know that?
Because in Matthew 26:36-46 NASB, we read the account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion, and in verse 39 He said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will”. (emphasis mine)
He made the same supposition and condition in verse 42 by using the word if again, “My Father, if this cup (referring to the suffering He was about to endure) cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done”. (emphasis mine)
Surely, if it was possible to save humankind and provide salvation any other way, His Father would not have allowed Jesus to endure the excruciating pain and physical suffering of the cross and the infinite spiritual agony and anguish the penalty His perfect justice demanded upon sin.
So apparently, even for the omnipotent (almighty) God there was no other way based on His own standard. That truth is extremely difficult for us to even begin to understand because of our nature compared to that of God and the things He cannot and or will not do. Our inclination is usually bent to do whatever it takes to accomplish something, in the least painful or costly way to us.
As alluded to in the previous blog on this subject, but to make this point clearer, if a son stood before a judge having been found guilty of multiple murders and indeed clearly was in fact guilty, despite the judge’s love for his son, the judge must uphold the penalty demanded by the law. Love cannot nullify justice.
The only way God could forgive us and remain just would be for Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins (Romans 3:21-28). In this example, it would be like the judge (God) removing the robe and taking our place and punishment for us.
Why Not Just Forgive Us?
The question and thought some pose is, couldn’t God just simply have forgiven Adam and Eve, and thusly us, and move on? Obviously not, otherwise He would have done so.
There appear to be several reasons why, all of which require us realizing that God acts not only sovereignly, but in love, grace, mercy, kindness, justice and truth. His sovereignty is exercised only in perfect harmony with all these other attributes of His.
God would have had to go back on His Word, which He had sworn that the penalty for disobedience would be death, i.e., eternal separation from Him. God’s perfect justice demanded payment of that penalty, and for Him to set that penalty aside would have undermined His integrity, thus putting everything else He said into question, voiding out His perfection which would have been impossible.
His attribute of infinite love could not nullify His equal attribute of infinite justice! That truth is obviously impossible for us humans to fully comprehend and understand.
From God’s perspective it would not only have been unjust but would not have solved the basic problem. Our original parents’ willful disobedience had apparently contaminated humankind beyond repair as evidenced by the offences and rebellion we see recurring repeatedly throughout history, even as God has forgiven.
So, from the very beginning as recorded in the first chapters of the Bible (Genesis), we are faced with key issues that have been debated, discussed and questioned among philosophers, theologians and laypeople alike for millenniums. Why would God create humans whom He knew would rebel against Him?
That question necessitates a separate presentation of its own, the depth of which we cannot cover here, but the argument from “atheists” and others goes something like this:
“If God is too weak to stop evil and suffering, then He isn’t God. But if He is powerful enough to stop it and doesn’t, then He is a monster.” Thus, disproving the existence of God.
That argument may sound plausible on the surface, but when viewing things from our everyday experiences, it is obvious that our Creator has given us the intelligence to come to our own conclusions and make choices.
Without those abilities we could neither love one another whom we see, let alone God whom we cannot see. For God to stop all evil, He would have to override the free will He created us with, which would effectively turn us into robots living meaningless lives. We would be no more than puppets. All the evil, pain, suffering, and yes even death itself, is not because of God. It is threefold.
- First of all, by one man sin entered the world, resulting in disease, sickness and ultimately death (Romans 5:12). God calls death an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), so it cannot be from God like many people apparently think. See the teaching, What is Death and Why Does Death Happen?
- Second, it is people’s inhumanity to one another. You do not have to look far at all to see this. From the multiple hundreds of millions killed by wars over the centuries, to the hundreds of thousands of homicides committed by individuals since the beginning of time, e.g., Cain killed his own brother Abel (Genesis 4:8).
- Third, the earth itself and the animal kingdom were affected by the fall of humankind (Romans 8:22). All the “natural” disasters we see happening, from floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, etc., are a result of the initial fall. Animals were initially herbivores, not carnivores (Genesis 1:30), attacking and killing one another as we see today. Genesis 1:31 states, “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good…”
There is more than could be said on that point, but not here. All creation was and is, in dire need of being rescued.
God Himself Had to Become One of Us
Only the infinite, perfect Creator God becoming a sinless man and paying the required price for all humankind’s sin, could satisfy His divine justice. This was only possible because God is a triune Being: “…the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). The Son—not the Father or the Holy Spirit—would die in our place.
This is probably the most difficult truth for us humans to comprehend. I do not think any of us can really grasp or understand how that could be. The Almighty creator God of the universe becoming a human!
I submit that if we struggle with that, which is not uncommon, it may help to listen to or read our blogs entitled:
- The Human Body – Clear Evidence of God
- There is No Creator God? – Really?
- In the Beginning God – A Logical Argument for God’s Existence
When we honestly examine the amazing complexity and extremely intricate details of the human body, along with the vastness of the known universe and how so many things in life have to come together in precise fashion for us to even live on this planet, God becoming a human (the incarnation) should make it easier to believe, though we will never completely comprehend that truth.
The Bible tells us that the Messiah–Redeemer could not be born on earth until “the fullness of time came…” (Galatians 4:4).
That could only happen after lengthy periods of preparation. This involved exposing how abominable sin is to God and thereby establishing a system of sacrifices that would point to the redemption the Messiah would fulfill, which God revealed through the many prophecies in the Old Testament that identified Him beyond question when He came (one-third of the Bible is prophecy).
Related: Prophecy: Proof the Bible Is God’s Word
Messianic Prophecies
There are a number of prophecies in the Old Testament that clearly point to the coming Messiah and who He will be. Though limited by space in this blog post, the ones we point out should be compelling to those with open hearts to receive.
The first prophecy of the One who would redeem humankind was in Genesis 3:15, “the woman…her seed… shall bruise your (serpent) head [a mortal wound]…” which was a veiled reference to the virgin birth of Jesus because usually offspring is spoken of as the seed of a man.
The first picture of the redemption that God was going to provide for humankind was when He killed animals, shedding their blood so their skins would cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness (Genesis 3:21).
Blood is the life-giving part of man and beast (Leviticus 17:14). Science only discovered this truth in 1628 which was stated in the Bible approximately three thousand years prior.
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life (soul).”
~ Leviticus 17:11 LSB (emphasis mine) ~
That first animal sacrifice instituted the system of blood sacrifices as a temporary spiritual covering for those who would believe. God made it clear that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22) of sins.
I am aware that there are many people who are appalled and even offended by God at the mere thought of killing innocent animals for sacrifices of sins as seen in the Old Testament. They apparently see themselves as more righteous than almighty God.
The Old Testament sacrifices were pictures of the coming Messiah who would be the Redeemer for all humankind.
In Numbers 21:6-9, is the account of God instructing Moses to “make a fiery (brass) serpent and put it on a flag pole;… that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” The people had been grumbling and complaining about their condition, so the Lord sent fiery serpents that were killing them.
Jesus referred to this incident in John 3:14, applying it to Himself, and again even clearer in John 12:32-33, as a picture of His death on the cross for redemption of humankind.
The most frequently sacrificed animal was the lamb, which was always a type of the Messiah: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
In Genesis 22:8-13, is the account of “a ram caught in the thicket by its horns” which God provided to Abraham as a sacrifice in place of his son Isaac, i.e., Christ alone had the power to pay sin’s penalty.
The Passover lamb in Exodus 12:5 had to be “without blemish, a male of the first year” picturing Christ’s perfection and sinlessness. God instructed that the blood be applied “to the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it” (v. 7). The Lord said, “…when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt” (v. 13).
The entire book of Leviticus is devoted to instructions regarding the various sacrifices that temporarily covered sin until Jesus the Messiah came. The word “holy” occurs over eighty times in this book. All the foreshadows in the Old Testament pictured the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ, which alone could redeem humankind.
As is clearly stated in Hebrews 9:11-12:
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption.”
~ Hebrews 9:11-12 (emphasis mine) ~
Conclusion
There are more examples and pictures of redemption we could present, but space does not allow for them here.
From the clear reading of scriptures, the foundation for understanding biblical redemption is laid in the Old Testament. There, the word “redeemer” is found each of the 18 times it appears in the Bible. Not one of the pictures of redemption in the Old Testament was effective for only a selected group.
That background allows us to see that exactly as the Old Testament sacrifices looked forward to the Cross, Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, centuries later, was not limited to a select group, but is effective for all who will believe.
