"And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob."– Isaiah 49:26 and 60:16
In these two texts of Scripture, the Lord our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, declares himself to be our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer. He also declares that it is his intention and purpose to make himself known to his chosen, redeemed people as their God, Savior, and Redeemer, and to ultimately cause all the world to behold him as our God, our Savior, and our Redeemer.
In the course of these studies, we have seen from the Old Testament Scriptures pictures of our redemption by Christ, the efficacy of his atonement, the freeness and voluntariness of his obedience unto death as our Redeemer, and the causes of our redemption by the Son of God. In these two passages, the great and glorious God, who created, rules, and disposes of all things exactly as he pleases, according to the good pleasure of his will, declares himself to be "Thy Savior and thy Redeemer."
What could be more delightful and comforting? If he who is our Redeemer is indeed the Lord God Omnipotent, then it must be concluded that he will also be our Savior. The blessed comfort and consolation of the gospel is that he who shed his blood at Calvary as our Redeemer will also be the Savior of all the redeemed. Redemption would mean nothing if it did not carry with it the assurance of everlasting salvation. However, since redemption, in its very essence, carries the assurance of deliverance and salvation, when the Lord God would send a word of hope, comfort, and good cheer in the gospel, he declares himself to be our Redeemer (Isa. 41:14; 44:24; 48:17; 54:8).
We have already seen the answer to this question in some measure. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was appointed to the work of redemption by his Father, and he assented to it as our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began. It was prophesied in the Old Testament that he would come to redeem his people from their sins; and numerous pictures and types of our redemption by him were given in the Old Testament Scriptures. In the fulness of time he was made of a woman, made under the law, and sent to redeem them that were under the law. He did, by his own blood, enter in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. In Christ, all who believe have complete, eternal redemption through his blood. And he is made of God unto us Redemption. So, when it is asked how Christ came to be our Redeemer, we must, according to the Scriptures, trace it to God himself.
We trace our redemption by Christ to the everlasting love of God for his elect. The love, grace, and mercy of God the Father moved him to resolve upon redemption, appoint his Son to be our Redeemer, and call him to this work (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10).
It was this same love, grace, and mercy toward us in the heart of the Son of God which moved him to accept the call and engage in the work. The love of Christ for his elect was in his heart from everlasting. It was a love of complacency and delight for his people. Such was his love for us that he declares from eternity that his delights were with us (Pro. 8:31). This love of Christ for his people showed itself in many acts of grace, and is most wondrously seen in our Savior giving himself for his people to redeem us. Because he loved us, the Lord of glory gave himself an offering and a sacrifice for our sins. Because he loved us, he laid down his life for us (Tit. 2:14; Eph. 5:2,25; 1 John. 3:16).
The love of Christ for us is a free, unmerited, undeserved, sovereign love. We did not even want his love, much less deserve it. He loved us freely and said, "I will redeem them" (Isa. 63:9; Hosea 13:14; 14:4).
Because of his great love for us, the Son of God voluntarily put himself into bondage as our Surety to redeem and save us. He is the Surety of that better covenant, established upon better promises, made on our behalf before the world began (Heb. 7:22). Having entered into covenant engagements with the Father from everlasting, our Savior considered himself to be and became Jehovah's bond slave (Isa. 50:5-7). He considered himself under obligation to his Father to accomplish the great work of redemption. Therefore, he often spoke of it as something he must do (Matt. 16:21; 26:53-54; Mark 8:31; 9:12; Luke 22:37; John 3:14; 10:16-18; 12:34; 20:9). And that which he must do, because of his being bound by own honor and his own word, the Son of God will do (Pro. 6:1-2).
IS THE LORD JESUS CHRISTOf course, to a believer, this question is redundant. Yet, it will do our hearts good to meditate upon our Savior's glorious fitness to be our Redeemer. What a fit Redeemer he is! There are none fit to redeem our souls but him. No animal sacrifices could redeem us. No mere man could redeem us. No angel could redeem us. Not even God, in his strict character as God could redeem us. Therefore, Christ came to redeem us (Heb. 10:1-14).
Christ's fitness for the work of redemption lies in the fact that he is both God and man in one glorious person. It was the Son of God that was sent to redeem us. He is of the same nature, and possesses the same perfections and attributes as his Father. He is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. This man was and is in the form of God. Therefore, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second Person of the holy Trinity. He is the true God, the great God. Therefore, he is fit to be the Redeemer and Saviour of men. What a mighty redeemer he must be! He is Jehovah, the Lord of hosts. That means that he is equal to such a great work as this (Gal. 4:4; 1 John 5:20; Tit. 2:13; Jer 50:34).
Our great Savior and Redeemer is both God and man (Isa. 9:6). He is the child born, as man, and the Son given, as a divine person. He is Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh. As such, as the God-man, the man who is God, our Lord Jesus Christ is fit to be the Mediator between God and man, the Umpire, the Daysman who can lay hands on both God and man. He is fit to do the work required of a Redeemer of men, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people, and to take care of all things pertaining to the glory of God, his justice, and holiness.
As man he could be made, as he was made, under the law, and so made capable of yielding obedience to it and bearing the penalty of it. It was necessary that he do so if he would be the Surety and Redeemer of God's elect. As man, he had blood to shed. It was with this most precious blood he redeemed us unto God. As a man, he had a life to lay down, a sufficient ransom price for his people. As a man, the Son of God was capable of suffering all the wrath of God and dying in our room and stead, thereby making full satisfaction for us!
As God, he was zealously concerned for the glory of God in all the perfections of his nature. He secured the honour of all the divine attributes in the redemption which he wrought out and accomplished as our Substitute. As God, he put an infinite virtue into his blood. Divinity united to humanity in one glorious person made his sacrifice of himself a full and adequate ransom price for the purchase of his church and the redemption of our souls.
Our great Savior's divinity gave support to his human nature under the load of sin as he suffered the wrath of God for us. His divinity was able to carry his humanity through the work, enabling him to endure the horrendous ordeal. Otherwise he could never have endured the cup of God's wrath and stood before his indignation until his indignation and wrath were satisfied.
As both God and man he had a right to redeem. As Lord of all, he had a right as well as power to redeem them that were his. As a man, our near kinsman, the right of redemption belonged to him. Therefore, he wears the name Goel, which signifies a redeemer and a near kinsman (Lev. 25:47-49). No one could be so fit a Redeemer of the church as Christ, our near Kinsman, who is our head and our husband. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, is our Boaz.
BY WHAT MEANS DID THE SON OFOur redemption was accomplished, wrought out, and obtained by the precious blood of Christ by the sacrifice of his life, which was represented and present in that blood he shed so freely for the remission of our sins and the ransom of our souls. Let us ever thank God for the blood, the precious blood of Christ (Ex. 12:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-20; Rev. 5:9).
It was deliberately shed blood. Had it been possible for his blood to have been spilt involuntarily, by accident, or by some outside force against his will, it would not have been a proper redemption price. It could not have answered for us as a payment to the justice of God. But it was purposefully and voluntarily shed, with our Master's full consent. Christ had the full control and disposal of his own life. He freely gave his life a ransom price for many; "I lay down my life for the sheep", he said, as a ransom price for them; "I lay it down of myself" (Mt. 20:28; John 10:15,18).
It was human blood, the blood of a man. That blood which was so freely shed for us was the same as the blood which flows in our veins. This, too, was necessary. We could not be redeemed with the blood of bulls and goats, which could never be an adequate price of redemption. Human blood must be shed for the atonement of men. Christ partook of the same flesh and blood with the children for whom he died. The only difference was this: – his blood was not tainted with sin as ours is.
This was another requirement for our redemption. The ransom price had to be the blood of an innocent, perfectly righteous man. Much notice is given in Scripture to the innocence, holiness, and righteousness of the Redeemer. He was holy in his nature and blameless in life. He knew no sin. He never committed any evil. He is the just and Holy One. He suffered and died the Just for the unjust. Great emphasis is laid upon this fact. The price with which men are redeemed is "the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. 1:18,19). If he had had any sin in him, he could not have been a redeemer from sin. His blood could not be the price of redemption. Yet there is more…
It was divine blood, the blood of a man who is God. It was necessary, if atonement was to be made and redemption accomplished for God's elect, that the blood shed also be the blood of One who is himself God as well as man. None but Christ ever made such a claim; and none but Christ meet this requirement. Therefore, we are told that God, who is Christ, "purchased the church with his own blood" (Acts 20:28). It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
TO WHOM WAS THE RANSOMThe ransom price was paid into the hands of God, whose justice was offended, whose law we broke, to God who is the lawgiver, to him who is able to save and to destroy, against whom all sin is committed, and who will by no means clear the guilty unless his justice is satisfied. He is the judge of all the earth, who must and will do right. Therefore, Christ is said "to redeem" men "unto God by his blood" (Rev. 5:9). The price of redemption, which is the blood of Christ, was paid unto God, whereby redemption from vindictive justice was obtained.
It was not paid into the hands of Satan, or any other enemy that had power over us. The power of Satan was only a usurped power. He had no legal right to hold us captives. Therefore the delivery of our souls out of his hand is by power and not by price. But the justice of God had a legal right to shut us up and detain us as prisoners, until satisfaction was given. Therefore, redemption from avenging justice, which is the redemption that is by Christ, is redemption by a price paid to divine justice for the ransom of his people. The Lord Jesus Christ, himself, is made of God unto us Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30-31). He redeems and saves his elect by the ransom price of his own blood, the regeneration power of his grace, and the resurrection glory he shall accomplish for us and in us, and shall bestow upon us when he comes again.