"I Have Redeemed Thee"
Isaiah 44:22
In the Word of God redemption is set forth
as a work of grace that encompasses all works of grace. It includes all the
purpose of God in predestination, all the works of God in providence and grace,
and all the blessings of God upon his people in the eternal bliss and glory of
heaven. Redemption is a big word! It is the complete deliverance of God's elect
from sin. The Scriptures teach us that our redemption is a
fourfold redemption.
REDEMPTION BY PURPOSE - We were redeemed
in the purpose of God from eternity, and our redemption was accomplished by
Christ according to the purpose of God in time. Christ, the Lamb of God, was
slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). At that time in eternity past,
if I may use such language, when God the Father looked on his Son as one slain
for us, he looked on us as being redeemed by him. Then, in the fulness of time,
when Christ died, all the affairs of his crucifixion were brought to pass
according to the purpose of God (Acts
REDEMPTION BY PRICE - "Ye are not
your own, for ye are bought with a price!" The price of our ransom from
the curse of the law, the price demanded for our sins by the justice of God was
the life's blood of his darling Son (Gal.
REDEMPTION BY POWER - We have been
delivered from the bondage of sin, the tyranny of satan and spiritual death by
the sovereign, irresistible power of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration (Eph.
1:18; Psa. 65:4).
REDEMPTION IN PERFECTION - When the Lord
Jesus Christ comes again he will redeem our very bodies from corruption in the
resurrection (Eph.
Don Fortner