Jesus, The Christ - Redeemer

In the last post, we looked at four Truths that are foundational to the Universal Church, and should be foundational to every bible-teaching local church.We are going to dig in to each one of these Truths individually (it will take more than one post for each one), exploring more in depth what they mean and how to apply them to the local church in a way that pursues the glory of God above all else.

All of this is the beginning of our journey into the question "What is church according to God's Word?" We are looking to the Word in an effort to discern what God's design is for the local church within the Universal Church, while recognizing what we as humans may have added or removed. It is important that we be fully aware of anything we are doing (or not doing), or any beliefs/ideas we may hold to, that may rob God of His glory. As always, the purpose of digging into God's Word is that He be most glorified! 

These are the four truths, the highlighted one indicates the one we are currently looking at:

1. What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ?

2. What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of the living God?

3. What does it mean that this is Jesus' church?

4. What does it mean that Jesus is the one building the church?

We looked briefly in the last post at what the word "Christ" means. In Greek, Christ means anointed,  Messiah (which means one who is anticipated as, regarded as, or professes to be a savior or liberator). When Peter professed Jesus to be 'the Christ', he was regarding Jesus as the Anointed One that the Old Testament points to so many times. 

Calling Jesus 'the Christ' refers to the work that He accomplished as Savior of our souls. The power of this work is proclaimed throughout the Word of God, and can be described in this way: Jesus redeemed and reconciled us through His atonement for our sins. 

We will look at each of these three terms in detail, because it's so important that we understand the redemptive, reconciling, and atoning power of Jesus as our Savior - and how all of this reinforces the foundational Truth that Jesus is 'the Christ'. Failure to clearly understand what these descriptions mean will prevent us from fully grasping the power of the work of Jesus as 'the Christ', which opens the door for possible deception to creep in, deception which can ultimately lead to false teaching and false doctrine.

However, we can be encouraged! Jesus promised us that He is building His church on the rock of Truth that He is the Christ! If we keep coming back to these Truths with an earnest desire to know who Jesus is, we can know that the gates of hell will not prevail against us! So let's dig in!

Jesus the Christ - Redeemer

What does it mean to redeem something? According to Websters dictionary, redeemed is defined as:
 - to make (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) better or more acceptable
 - to exchange (something, such as a coupon or lottery ticket) for money, an award, etc.

 - to buy back (something, such as a stock or bond)

We see the words redeem, redeemed, and redemption show up a lot in God's Word, both in the Old and New Testament. In Psalms, David talks a lot about redemption in the context of being set free from his enemies. Some examples: 

Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!  Psalm 44:26

Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies! Psalm 69:18

Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise! Psalm 119:154

David also refers to redemption as it applies to being set free from affliction and hardship:

But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity,  2 Samuel 4:9

And the king swore, saying, "As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, 1 Kings 1:29

The word that is translated redeem in the verses above is defined this way in the original language: 

to sever, that is, ransom; generally to release, preserve. to rescue. 

The context here is about making something that is unpleasant (or almost unbearable in this case), better or more acceptable. God rescues David (and us) from many dire situations (including condemnation), preserving David (and us) as His children - releasing us from the bondage of sin. This is only possible because Jesus, the Christ, paid the ransom.

 

In Leviticus, the idea of redemption is primarily about a piece of property being bought and returned to the original owner. Take a look:

And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land."If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold.  If a man has no one to redeem it and then himself becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it, let him calculate the years since he sold it and pay back the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and then return to his property.

The word redeemer is translated as 'next of kin' in the King James Version, which sheds more light on this passage. The redemption taking place in this passage is by close relation to the original owner. The relatives of the original owner are purchasing his property back for him if he is unable to purchase it back on his own.

We can take away from this Leviticus passage on redemption the idea of buying something back. In Adam and Eve, we were originally a part of God's family. After the fall, we could no longer be in relationship with God.  God's Son, Jesus the Christ, the Redeemer, paid the full price and purchased us.

In the next several verses, we will look at how this transaction or purchase is alluded to in the Old Testament, and how it actually plays out in full power in the New Testament.

---------------- Old Testament promises  ----------------

Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.  Exodus 6:6

O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.  Psalm 130:7,8

He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name!  Psalm 111:9

Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.  Micah 4:10

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.  Micah 6:4

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.  Deuteronomy 15:15

----------  New Testament rescue  ----------

In those beautiful verses on redemption in the Old Testament, the underlying theme is rescuing a people from their affliction - be it slavery, sin, hardship, enemies. All of these verses point to a spiritual rescue that we see fulfilled in these New Testament verses:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus  Romans 3:23,24

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption  1 Cor. 1:30

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"  Gal 3:13

 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  Gal 4:4,5

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace  Ephesians 1:7

in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:14

who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.  Titus 2:14

and the verse that sums it all up: 

He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 
 Hebrews 9:12

There are several Greek words in the New Testament that are used in the verses above to convey this idea of spiritual redemption. These are the translations of those words:

ransom in full, that is, riddance, deliverance

to buy up, that is, ransom;  to rescue from loss (improve opportunity)

to ransom

a ransoming

We can see in these verses that the underlying theme here in the New Testament is the idea of a ransom being paid. Websters Dictionary defines ransom:

a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity 

This is a very important reminder that the relationship we have entered into with a Holy God did not come free, it came at a very very high price...a ransom that we could not afford. Let's go back to our original definition of redeemed:

 - to make (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) better or more acceptable

 - to exchange (something, such as a coupon or lottery ticket) for money, an award, etc.

 - to buy back (something, such as a stock or bond)

While we have seen an emphasis on rescue and ransom, the multiple aspects of redemption we see above are displayed throughout God's Word, including (but definitely not limited to) the verses we looked at. 

How does all of this fit into the context of Christ's church? If we, as the Church, accept Jesus as 'the Christ', then we must accept Jesus as 'the Redeemer' - this is not an option but rather a foundation block that must be in place. Accepting Jesus as 'the Redeemer' means that, individually and as a church, we recognize that Jesus alone set us free spiritually from our bondage to sin by paying the ransom in full.

Any church rooted in Christ must acknowledge that salvation rests solely and completely on this this rescue, this purchase, this deliverance, this great exchange -
 this ransom paid in full.