The Baby in the Manger #9: Redeemer

Redeemer (heb: gā'al, pāḏâ (to redeem), grk: apolytrōsis (redemption))

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. (1 Corinthians 6:10)

How much are you worth?

Most of the earliest (chronologically) appearances of the Hebrew word gā'al (to redeem) appear in the Old Testament when dealing with various instructions in the law given through Moses.  There are three main uses: the first is in Leviticus 25, when dealing with the 'year of Jubilee', when property is returned or redeemed to original owners.  Instructions are also given here that if someone has to sell property due to poverty, their nearest relative is to come and 'redeem' (buy back) what they have sold.   Leviticus 27 contains the next set of references, where a price is put on items that are dedicated to the LORD, so that these items can be 'redeemed' and monetary offering given instead.  Finally, Numbers 35 discussing the 'avenging' of blood following murder.   We see fourth instance with another law being put into action through the story of Ruth.  Ruth is a widow and Boaz, a relative of her late husband, acts as her 'kinsman-redeemer', by marrying and providing for her and purchasing her husband's estate, according to Old Testament law.   Use of the word pāḏâ is similar and occurs in many of the same passages or when dealing with similar laws.  Throughout all of these, there is price to be paid and reckoning to be done.  This is always more than a rescue - it's a transaction.

And yet, in the Old Testament, God is also described as redeeming his people.  Both Hebrew words first come to the fore in the story of Exodus, when God delivers his people out of Egypt.  When the LORD delivered his people, there was a price to be paid, and that price was the Passover Lamb.  Amidst the plague on the firstborns - the final and most devastating of the ten plagues on Egypt - the blood of the lamb was the price paid to 'redeem' the lives of the firstborns of the Israelites (see Exodus 13:14-15).  As well as a price being paid, there is a transfer of ownership and a returning of the people to their 'original owner'.  As the people reach the other side of the Red Sea, safe from the pursuing Egyptians - their former owners and oppressors, Moses and the Israelites sing:

In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
(Exodus 15:13).

As we move into the later Psalms and the writing of the Prophets during Israel's time in exile (most notably Isaiah), the naming of God as 'Redeemer' comes more to the fore.  God's people are once more captives, but, drawing on the faith they have in the God would redeemed their ancestors out of Egypt, they look forward to a time when God will redeem them again.  For example:

But now, this is what the Lord says –
   he who created you, Jacob,
   he who formed you, Israel:
‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
(Isaiah 43:1).

It is against this backdrop of the mighty acts of God accompanied by symbolic ritual given to the people by that same God, along with the prophetic hope of redemption, that John the Baptist cried out when Jesus appeared:

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29)

Because John knew that we are all under the captivity of sin, and the wages of sin are death.  And yet Jesus would come to pay the price of that burden that lies on us - and set us free from our captivity.   And that he would pay that price with his very blood.  For:

...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23-25)

and...

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

When Jesus hung on that cross, God the trinity was ripped apart by death and paid the price for our delivery and redemption. Why? Because we are his - his joy and prized possession - and there is nothing he will not do to get us back.  The legal and financial language of redemption is nothing dry: it oozes with the very blood of Christ's passion and love for us. This is how much you are worth to God - the death of his son - our redeemer.

And so, lift your head, because you are worth the shed blood of the creator of the universe to Him who loves you: not because of anything you have done, but because it was his joy to save you and redeem you, to make you part of his family, to bring you a new dignity, belonging and purpose, and the sure hope of a future resurrection.  You are his.