Faith for Freedom
Guest Speaker: Matt Rasch
Faith for Freedom
• Freedom only comes to our lives because God is redemptive.
• Redemption is a theological term that describes the saving action of God from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation.
• Let’s define redemption a little better
Redemption & Redeemer
- Larousse:
• Action bring someone back to a well state. To buy back (Larousse)
- GoogleOxford Dictionary:
• The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.
• The action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt.2
- From the root Latin word “redimere” we understand the meaning of ‘buying back’.2
- Hebrew גָּאַל g̱â’al
• a primitive root, to redeem according to the Oriental law of kinship
- to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative's property, marry his widow, etc.):
• avenger, deliver (perform the part of near or next)
• kinsfolk(-man), purchase, ransom, redeem, rescue, or liberate.3
- A redeemer is someone who buys back or rescues.4
- Chris Wright explains that there are three main aspects of redemption in the Old Testament:
1. Avenging of shed blood
• If someone was murdered, a member of the victim’s family took responsibility for bringing the guilty one to receive justice.
2. Redeeming land or slaves
• If one had to sell one’s land to stay economically afloat, a near relative had the responsibility to buy it for it to stay in the family.
• If someone because of economic difficulty, had to sell themselves into bonded labor, it was the duty of a wealthier relative to buy the person back. (lev. 25 for the rules)
3. Providing an heir
1. If a man died without a son to inherit his name and property, a kinsman had a moral and legal duty to take the dead man’s widow and seek to raise an heir for the deceased.
2. The story of Ruth and Boaz is one of the most illustrative of this law found in Ruth 4.
Redemption in the Fall
- We are blessed as we read the Bible from the beginning because we see the theme of redemption from the beginning.
- We start with Adam and Eve giving into temptation and sinning against God.
• In their disobedience to His simple command, they end up banned from Eden, and the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from them.
• These are the consequences of their sin.
• There are always consequences for our sin; most of the time they start with shame and fear.
- We see these two in Adam and Eve’s response.
• Genesis 3:10
- “I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
- they were both afraid of God and the consequences of disobedience, but they were also ashamed of their nakedness.
- Interpretation Commentary,
• “They had wanted knowledge rather than trust. And now they have it. They now know more than they could have wanted to know. And there is no place to run.”5
- Interpretation Commentary,
• “The speech of the indicted couple is revealing, for it is all “I.” Therein lies the primal offense: “I heard . . . , I was afraid . . . , I was naked; I hid. . . . I ate. . . . I ate” (3:10–13). Their own speech indicts them. It makes clear that their preoccupation with the Gardener, with his vocation, his permission, his prohibition, has been given up. Now the preoccupation is “I.” The fear and the hiding helped no more than the eating.”5
• One would think that all this would only enrage God to kill them and start over.
- The miracle in this story is not that God punished them but that they lived!
- In this, God redeems them from certain temporal death.
- He removes them from the Garden of Eden to keep them from living forever in a state of knowledge of evil and good.
- This is the beginning of age limitations, and within which the option to serve God is the choice determining one’s eternal destiny.
- In fact, after God gave out their punishment, He steps in and graciously covers them with clothes that they couldn’t make for themselves, in the process redeeming them.
Overview of Old Testament Redemption
- Moving to a bird’s eye view of the Old Testament, we see God’s redemption in the following:
• Genesis 48:16
- Jacob, near the end of his life, says while blessing Joseph his son,
• “the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
- Chris Wright re-phrases with biblical background understanding, “the angel who stood up for me, and defended me against all my enemies and tough circumstances”6
- Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:16-17 that when no one else stood with him, “the Lord stood with him and strengthened him” for the task of preaching the gospel.
• Exodus 6:6 and Exodus 15:13 show God’s redemptive nature through delivering the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery.
- They had originally come to Egypt escaping the famine.
- What started out as generosity and kindness to the Hebrew people by the Egyptians turned into enslavement.
• “‘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.”
- And after the Exodus miracle:
• “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.”
- We see God’s love redeeming and leading towards abiding in God.
• We see this manifest again in Christ’s words found in John 15:4,
- “Abide in me, and I in you”
• God delivers the Hebrew people from Egypt when they leave, but then the Egyptians change their minds and try to chase them down in their chariots.
- God once again delivers His people through the miracle of the Red Sea parting.
- This is a metaphor for baptism in water
- We are saved when we are freed from Egypt, but Egypt always tries to come back
- Baptism in water cuts away supernaturally from the unclean past so that we may be free.
• After the people’s deliverance through the Red Sea, we see the people wandering in the desert for 40 years experiencing hardships but learning to trust God.
- During this period of time, God is sanctifying them, cleansing them from Egypt’s idolatrous ways.
- This is the restoration period where God is healing the past, restoring our souls and hearts to be whole again.
- It may take longer than 40 years, but we are called to go through this to come into the Promise Land.
• Our Promise Land is not unlike the land promised to the Israelites, but to enter it we must be living in obedience to the Lord
- Joshua 5:6
• “For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
• As a metaphor for us today living born again by Jesus, this Promised Land is not a geographical place, but a place made by Jesus in the Spirit.
- When we abide in Him, we experience the full benefits of the abundance of the Kingdom of God:
• Righteousness, Peace, & Joy in the Holy Spirit.
- No matter our career, our family, our mistakes or weaknesses, as we abide in Jesus, obeying and enjoying Him, we will experience the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7).
• The people of God experience again and again the redemption of God as they enter the Promise Land and defeat their enemies.
• The people of God get fat living off of the Promise Land and then turn back to idols.
- Deuteronomy 31:20 prophesies this
• “For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.”
• The consequence of turning to idols was to allow their enemies to capture them again, allowing the discipline of the Lord to awaken His people.
- As a result, throughout the Old Testament, we see the pattern repeated:
• Love God - experience God’s goodness and peace.
• Prosper - get lazy and start worshipping idols
• Idolatry
• Punishment - in the form of other nations defeating and ruling Israel
• Wakeup - repent, cry out for mercy and salvation
• God’s redemption - redeems them and the pattern starts again.
- This pattern repeats itself until Jesus shows up
Redemption in Jesus
- Luke 19:10
• “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
- Jesus’ ministry was that of redeeming mankind from the effects of a sinful world
• Jesus healed the sick,
• Jesus cast demons out of those oppressed and possessed,
• Jesus restored hope to the hopeless
• Jesus bound up the broken hearted
• Jesus set the captives free.
- Overall, we see the ministry of Jesus being a mere precursor to His ultimate intention - the Redemption of humanity once and for all.
• When Jesus died on the cross, He did something for all Israel and the whole world.
• Caiaphas the high priest at the time of Jesus’ ministry had a prophetic point that he made in the midst of arguing with the Pharisees and chief priests about the ministry of Jesus.
- John 11:47-52
• “So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”
• As a result of Jesus’ death on the cross, the price was paid to redeem all of Israel from the vicious pattern that sin forced them into.
- Israel had a huge debt it owed to God for its selfish and sinful ways.
- Just like the rest of the world.
- We all owe God for our sinful and selfish ways
- But God!
- Ephesians 2:4-8
• “But[a] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
• So we see that in Christ redemption has come to the world.
- And not only our salvation, but He has raised us up out of the pit and spiritually positioned us in Christ, seated with Him.
- He wants to show us immeasurable riches his grace and kindness!
- All free gift!!!
God’s redemption through His church
- God charges us all to bring the good news to the nations all around us each day in Matthew 28:19-20
- “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”
God’s redemption in Revelation
- Today we don't have enough time, but suffice it to say, in the book of Revelation we see God bringing His redemption to the earth and all that He has created.
• Revelation 21:1-5
- “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.””
Conclusion
- God is a redeemer
- He takes anything and everything bad we can throw at Him, and He turns it around for good, saving us in the process.
- He is our justice, our deliverer, and our inheritance.
- He is truly all we need to be free and stay free.
- Look to Him today
Prayer
1Larousse
2Oxford Google Dictionary
3Olive Tree Enhanced Bible Dictionary
4Dale Patrick - NIDB
5 New Interpreters Commentary
6The Mission of God, Chris Wright
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher