REDEMPTION

^[p. 338] REDEMPTION

Romans 3: 24; Ephesians 1: 7; 1 Peter 1: 18, 19

I want to say a little about redemption, and in mentioning the word one is reminded of the thought of purchase, which establishes a proprietary right. You will recall how Abraham, being in need of a burying-ground, purchased a field, and how in paying for it according to the currency of the times, he established a proprietary right over the field. The thought of currency is prominent today, especially with those who trade; men have become accustomed to consider the current value of things, of money, and it suggests to my mind the currency that passes with God; there is a currency that is valued in heaven. It is said of Abraham in Genesis 23: 16, that he weighed out the price of the field according to his agreement, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. It was current with the one capable of valuing it; and so there is a currency that has value with God.

I refer to Abraham to illustrate what I have in my mind. In paying for the field he established a right over it. Not, indeed, that he needed the trees, or that he needed the field for cultivation: he needed it for one purpose only, and that was, for a burying-place. It suggests the Lord’s proprietary rights over this earth. He has in it a burying-place, not that the Lord is ever seen or spoken of as burying anyone. We may say with Martha, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”. (John 11: 21) He remained away in order that Lazarus should die. He did not hasten the funeral, and He did not attend the funeral. When He arrived at Bethany he had been dead four days. The Lord does not bury in that sense; nevertheless He owns the earth, and for the moment it is the burying-place of His dead. We may speak ^[p. 339] as believers in Christ of our dead. Those whom we love, who have fallen asleep, they are our dead, and we may speak with intelligence of His dead. With the others in a sense we have nothing to do, for the Lord says, “Let the dead bury their dead” (Luke 9: 60); but we have to do with our own dead, and in the light of the death of Christ, we may use the field for them.

The Lord has established a right over the field which He recognises, which He maintains and asserts, for He has bought it with current money, and in that field His dead are laid. I have been speaking of the Lord not being at the death-bed, but I am not ignoring the fact that all who die in Christ are put to sleep through Him. That is an act of love. So it says, “If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”. They are put to sleep through Jesus, and God brings them with Him. We have no anxiety in regard to our dead, for they are in the Lord’s hands; but we have to bury them, and so the field is the burying-place of those that are Christ’s. They will all be raised. Christ is the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s, at His coming. He knows where they are He knows all the graves, and if He comes to a grave, He simply opens it and the body will come out of it alive. He said, “Lazarus, come forth”.

I only speak of that because of the field. Another thing: the Lord is said to have died and risen again that He might rule over the dead and over the living. That gives Him a wonderful scope. He died to that end; He has rule over the dead. No earthly potentate has yet attempted to extend his rule there; no one ever yet ruled over the dead. The Lord spoke of not fearing those that kill the body, but He said “Fear him who has power to destroy body and soul in hell” (Matthew 10: 28) Christ, and Christ only, rules over the dead and over the living; He has the keys of ^[p. 340] death and of hades. Think of the extent of the realm over which Christ exercises sway! What triumphs are His in those who believe! He will come and use the keys of death, and call forth those whom He regards as His own. We cannot say that of the wicked dead, although He rules over them; they will hear His voice, and it will be the voice of authority, an authority that none can dispute, even in the realm of death. His voice shall be heard throughout the silent domain of death. He utters His voice as the One who has been into death and risen again. Think of the terror involved if anyone here dies in his sins! He rules over you now in grace, for He is on a throne of grace; He exercises pure grace, and nothing else. He proposes to you the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Supposing that you refuse all and die in your sins; you will have to see Him; you shall hear His voice, the same voice that speaks now in the gospel from the Father’s throne. It shall then be heard from the great white throne. In the synagogue at Nazareth His words were words of grace; that marks the gospel to the Gentiles to the end of this period but then the words are words of authority, the authority of Him who died and rose, and whose throne is white, repelling all that is contrary to God. The throne of grace is not repellent. It was said of Jesus, “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them” (Luke 15: 2); but then heaven and earth will flee away from before the face of Him that sits on the great white throne. What shall you say then? Nothing. Every mouth will be closed; everyone will be conscious of the righteousness of the verdict of the Judge; there shall not be one who is not convicted in his own conscience that the verdict is according to truth. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth. But He rules now over the ^[p. 341] living. One cannot employ language strong enough to emphasise the character of the rule of Christ. It is pure, unmitigated grace. There is nothing for a sinner but grace; grace reigns through righteousness. What a rule is the rule of Christ! He has authority to rule through redemption, and He is exercising that rule in grace. He said, “The Father judgeth no man”, and so the Son sits on the Father’s throne in order to emphasise, during this present period, that it is not a period of judgment: it is a period of grace. I do not believe even the Lord’s people understand fully the throne of grace. Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may receive help in time of need. It is always there for you.

So the Lord is ruling over the living; He exercises His sway over all the races of mankind now. What they do in the way of forcing Him out is another matter; He holds to His position. Whatever men may do, they cannot alter His present position on the Father’s throne. So during the entire acceptable year, it is the rule of grace, expressed in the most sympathetic way by His own words, “having nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both”. (Luke 7: 42) He can do that on the ground of His redemption work. He can take up that attitude in regard to any soul here. You admit that you have nothing to pay; He will frankly forgive, however heinous the crime, however crooked the path; the Lord meets all in grace because, and entirely because, He is on the Father’s throne. He will not do anything to discredit that throne; He maintains the character of that throne. All judgment is in the hands of the Son of man, but for the moment He is on the Father’s throne. So all are met and dealt with on the same principle.

So here: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. That is how I stand: justified freely, or gratuitously;

^[p. 342] that is, there is nothing in you to merit it; it is all the outcome of what God has wrought. And so it goes on to say, “whom God has set forth to be a mercy seat through faith in his blood”; that is, the mercy seat becomes effective. If you have never done so before, turn to God now in faith. The blood of Christ is current with God. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you”. (Exodus 12: 13) Think of God passing over you. He has passed over me, and many here; we know it in our souls. All was met in the death of Christ; the judgment was borne there. So the apostle says, “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Do we know that grace? Although He was rich beyond all computation, He became poor; not, indeed, poor in material things, but poor in condition, divested of all that in which men live down here. One may have this world’s goods and be poor in that sense. Then on the cross the face of God was turned away from Him. He sought comforters in Gethsemane, and found none. How perfect His feelings. As the supreme moment drew near, His disciples were unequal to it. He was left in absolute isolation; we cannot emphasise that too much, absolute abandonment on the part of God. The majesty of God demanded it. God was dealing with sin according to the majesty of His throne; so the Lord says to God, “Thou art holy”. He became poor, that we through His poverty might be enriched.

One looks round at the people of God, and one has to admit the practical poverty of the saints of God; and yet the Lord became poor to the very end that we should not be poor, that we should be rich, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. Think of that, heirs of the kingdom that God has promised. The glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ are available to you and to me. I was speaking to some Christians lately on 1 Corinthians 14, and I ^[p. 343] was struck with the twenty-sixth verse: “Each of you hath ... ..”. What have we, dear brethren, in the way of spiritual help? The Lord became poor that we might be rich, rich in faith, not only the faith that brings redemption and forgiveness into my soul, but the faith that gives me a position according to all that is in Christ. So in Ephesians, Paul says of Christ, “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”. (Ephesians 1: 7)

In Romans you are told where redemption is on God’s side: redemption in Christ Jesus. It is there for the whole race of mankind. When you come to Ephesians it is from our side: “in whom we have redemption”. Can you joy in that? It is not only now that I have it, but the One in whom I have it. I would not have it elsewhere. The more you apprehend what Christ is, the more you will say, I would not have anything outside of Christ. All must be there; God has set it there, and I have it there. Then I understand what it means for me: for me it means forgiveness. For Christ it means that He owns me. For me, it means that I have forgiveness according to the riches of His grace. One would love to be able to define just what that means: according to the riches of His grace. God not only forgives you according to your estimate of the death of Christ, but according to His own estimate of it. Do you know what it is to have redemption in Christ Jesus, and to have it there according to the riches of God’s grace? Think of the wealth of grace expressed in the word riches! How it bows the heart when you come to ponder for a moment how God has acted for Himself and according to Himself in Christ, and that all His dealings with us are according to that. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. That is what God is to us in Christ. Not only does He bless us with every ^[p. 344] spiritual blessing, but it is in the best place and in Christ.

I now turn to Peter, who dwells on things according to their intrinsic value; he uses the word precious. If a man possesses a stone that is of great intrinsic value, he would employ that word. Peter deals with things, not so much in their largeness, as according to their intrinsic value. So he uses the word lamb. It is not a sheep, nor a goat; it is a diminutive word, speaking of what is precious. “Behold the lamb of God”. (John 1: 29) “With the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot or blemish”. Peter wrote to Christians, and he says, You know the meaning of your redemption. He enforces holiness in saying this. I would just bring that home to every heart, as having to do with the things of this polluted world, to remember the cost of redemption; it is the precious blood of Christ. If He has purchased us at such a cost and with such precious currency, what is the end, but that we should be without blame and without spot? If the type of a lamb is employed, it speaks of the intrinsic value of the saints under God’s eye. Our redemption price is the blood of Christ, the precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, and so the assembly is to be presented to Christ, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; altogether according to God.

May God bless His word!