12-5-2015

Good Morning All!!     

         Leviticus 25:25; “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold”

    Most of us do not fully understand the role of the redeemer.  In the ancient world, there was no department of social services, there were no insurance policies, there was no bankruptcy court, and there was no social security.  There were very few types of charity and a person who was in debt could be thrown into prison until he paid the debt he owed.  So if a person was in dire straits and either going to sell some of his land or even sell himself into slavery, a near relative was obligated to step in and repay the debt.  This was done to keep the family land in the family and to keep your kinsmen out of bondage.

    The interesting thing about this was that the relationship between the redeemer and the one who was redeemed is changed.  The bound between them became much closer.  In the case of Boaz and Ruth, they became husband and wife but there was always a sense that the one who was redeemed became extremely close to the redeemer.  The redeemed became almost as if they were brother, sister or child.

    This is the image that God wants to impress upon us.  You and I were in dire straits.  We had sold, hocked, traded or gave away everything of value to the devil through our sin.  We were in bondage and slavery to sin.  We were unable to extract ourselves from this situation.  There were no other options for us.  So God stepped into our condition and became our kinsman-redeemer.  He paid our debt of sin to the Law and we became his people.  We became his family through this redemption.

    Jesus emphasized this during the institution of the Lord’s Supper.  When he took the cup of wine after supper, this was called “the Cup of Redemption.”  When He took this cup and said “this is my blood”; he was telling his disciples (and us) that his blood was providing the redemption of for our sins.  By this purchase, by this redemption, we have now been brought into this new relationship with God.  We are now his people; we are now his family.

   So with this redemption, we are now Jesus’ family, claimed by his precious body and blood.  We are now his family and thus we are now co-heirs to his eternal kingdom.  We are now the recipients of the blessing of this life and the life to come.  We know that we will always have life because our kinsman, our redeemer lives and goes the path that we will follow.  We have eternal life and all the benefits of being family with Jesus the king.  We are blessed because we are redeemed.

Father of all mercy, you have redeemed us through Jesus’ sacrifice. You have made us your people through this exchange of our sins for the righteousness of Jesus.  Through your great mercy we now know peace.  Through this wonderful grace, we are your people.  Keep us confident in your great love.  In the precious name of Jesus our Redeemer we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret