4) Sacrifice as Redemption

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Redemption is another old-fashioned word but does still have one or two uses today. I’ve never used a pawnbroker, but I understand that if someone suddenly needs cash, they can get it by giving the pawnbroker something valuable in exchange. When their situation has improved, they can redeem their possession with a suitable payment. Mortgage companies still use the word redemption to describe paying off the mortgage on a house. As you can see from these two examples, redemption involves ownership and payment.

freedom

The redemption of people, however, as found in the bible, has no equivalent now. People are no longer considered property but in bible times they were! Such a situation is found in the story of Ruth. In it, a relative had the chance to redeem a piece of land for a price, but there was a person who also needed to be redeemed as part of the exchange. The relative speaks first:

And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” (Ruth 4:4-5 ESV)

Naomi was a widow and owned the field which was offered to her relative. However, this relative would also be purchasing Ruth, the widow of Naomi’s son. Since he didn’t wish to marry her, he refused the redemption opportunity, so Boaz redeemed the property along with Ruth instead. They were married and, as a consequence, he had the honour of being the great grandfather of King David through this generous act of redemption.

The first great bible story involving redemption was when the Children of Israel were promised freedom from slavery in Egypt. The Lord said:

“I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. (Exodus 6:6-7)

The redemption price here was in fact not paid by God, it was exacted by God. This price of redemption was the death of every firstborn person and animal living in Egypt. The people of Israel avoided this price by sacrificing a lamb and marking their doorposts with its blood. These houses were ‘passed over’ and nothing died within. The sacrificed lamb was known as the ‘Passover Lamb’ and the occasion was remembered each year in the Feast of the Passover, or as it was also known, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This first redemptive sacrifice carries great significance throughout the rest of the bible, as we shall see when we follow the thread of the redemption story.

ransom

The understanding that God is our Redeemer was an ancient one. It was people's inward conviction that even though we were sinners before God, yet he had an eternal plan to save us and not just destroy us. Job famously confessed his faith in this even when under the severest of trials:

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; (Job 19:25-26)

Noah too when he had been delivered from the destruction of the Flood, made sacrifices as a thanksgiving for being saved. Redemption has a price, and a sacrificial offering became the price that was paid. This was how Noah paid that price:

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. (Genesis 8:20-21)

The sacrificial price paid for redeeming something was also referred to as the ransom price. Jesus spoke of Himself in that way:

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

The price that Jesus paid to redeem us has many aspects to it. We cannot simply say that Jesus redeemed us so that we could all go to Heaven; it means so much more. Here is an overview of all that redemption in Jesus means.

Redemption from sin

First of all, the blood of Jesus, representing the sacrifice which he made, is so much more powerful and significant than all the sacrifices which preceded His. Hebrews describes it in this way:

He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, so obtaining eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:12)

In the earthly Temple, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place only once a year with sacrificial blood. He had to do this repeatedly each year to ensure forgiveness of sins for the people. But Jesus only entered once into Heaven as a perfect High Priest because He was offering His own precious blood. His sacrifice was a one-off price of eternal redemption for all who believe in Him.

His sacrifice of Himself means we can know forgiveness of sins, as we read:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8)

This ransom was no ordinary one but one which came from God’s loving desire to have a people for His own possession. It represented lavish love; it was not simply a business undertaking; it was not a formality of exchange. God was demonstrating a richness towards us through the death of His Son by pouring out grace on all who would believe. No wonder we should respond with our own lavish love to such grace in redemption.

Redemption from self

Our deliverance from sin means we are also delivered from the fruits of sin which affected the way we lived. Christ’s redeeming sacrifice was so valuable that it demands a complete change of life. No longer are we to live according to the motives of empty self-interest, but to live according to the new ways of holiness. Christ’s blood was precious; our lives must take on a precious quality in God’s sight, as Peter wrote:

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

The redemption of the Children of Israel was from slavery to Egyptian rule. Our redemption is from the slavery of sin’s rule. This is how Paul explained it:

But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)

But being set free from the mastery of sin enables us to submit to the mastery of God’s rule in our lives. The price of redemption is that we have been bought by Jesus to live as His servants. Paul again:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

We must no longer use our bodies in pursuit of the pleasures of self but in honouring the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus. God’s Temple is holy, and the Holy Spirit makes our bodies a Temple. We are to be no longer possessed by self but possessed by God!

Redemption from Law

This can be easily missed when we consider all the benefits of redemption. Law, or keeping religious rules, is a way in which we can continue to serve our own self-interests in the guise of serving God. Being a good religious person can have personal benefits in some cultures. But Christ has to redeem us from the principles of Law. Here is Paul on this subject:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Galatians 3:13-14)

Paul is making a very theological point here about the Law of Moses; he quotes the Old Testament. But although we no longer have to follow the Law of Moses, there can still be a misunderstanding in people: they may think it possible to get right with God by keeping religious rules. This is a cursed understanding. In the chapter we just read, Paul explains that Abraham was made right with God by demonstrating faith, not by keeping rules. We will never be filled with the Holy Spirit by keeping rules; this can only happen when we respond to God with faith. Keeping rules is destined to fail. No one apart from Jesus has ever managed to keep all the Law of Moses. We try to get round this by simply agreeing to the rules which we know we are able to keep. We all have different weaknesses and if we really tried to keep all the Law of Moses we should fail in some way or other. Paul put it this way:

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
(Romans 7:14-15)

We are redeemed to live according to the law of love: loving God and loving one another to the same standard that we love ourselves. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to fulfil this command.

stewards

As we have seen, redemption involves ownership. This is complicated when we consider that even though God might redeem something, in fact, He already owns it. The sacrifices we make are a sign of our agreement with God's right of ownership: we are only stewards of what we own any way; and when we die, our ownership is forfeit. Sacrifices are a reminder to us all that this is God’s world, and a reminder to God that we acknowledge what is His! The reason that the firstborn were killed in Egypt is because God claims the firstborn for Himself. The firstborn was always taken as a sign of God’s blessing in fruitfulness both in producing children but also producing the bounty of the land. The priests were God’s representatives on earth and because of this they could lay claim to what was offered to God. Here is the law of the firstborn and God's gift to the priests:

The first offspring of every womb, both human and animal, that is offered to the Lord is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals. When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. ‘But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep or a goat; they are holy. Splash their blood against the altar and burn their fat as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. Their meat is to be yours (Numbers 18:15-18)

Sacrifice is a principle of every heart which is committed to serving God. The sacrifices we now make as Christians can involve many things; but whatever they might be, they are to show our continued acknowledgement that we are God’s and everything that we own is His too.