The Price of Redemption

The price of redemption was very high, not for us, but for God... probably beyond our comprehension. God, of course, is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent. Nothing is impossible to Him, Luke 1:37; Jer. 32:27; Gen. 18:14; Matt. 19:26. This is not a statement of faith... it is fact.

To consider the price, we must understand what happened at the “fall” of both Adam and lucifer. satan,as he is now called, was the author and possessor of sin and death. Before Gen. 1:1 is a HUGE study. 
For us, it began in the Garden with the sacrifice of that innocent animal to clothe Adam and Eve back into a state of fellowship with God. We should note that it was God’s own sacrifice of, I believe, sheep. God Himself had to “submit” that innocent animal to death in order to take its hide. I wonder if we can understand the profound significance of what God did.

One cost of redemption was the death of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, man and beast.
Ex. 12:12, For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
Except, of course, the Hebrews. They had the Passover blood on their doorposts and lintel. And of course, when you do that, you make the sign of the  ┼

Heb. 5:8-9,  Although He is The Son, He learned obedience by the fear and the suffering which He endured. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
One of the ordeals Jesus had to endure was the scourging... the trauma perhaps, we don’t fully understand. The flagellum, used for scourging consisted of rope or leather strips with metal balls, bones, and metal spikes intending to rip pieces of flesh and muscle sometimes down to the bone. Scourging was almost always done before crucifixion intending to enhance the suffering on the cross... suffering beyond pain. 

We don’t often think of it, but Jesus suffered apprehension in the extreme, perhaps constantly because He knew everything that was going to happen. If I had to experience the awareness for three years, of His sufferings and death, I would doubtless die of a heart attack.
But for the joy set before Him...Heb. 12:2

The Son of Man came… to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
The ”price” of redemption was the suffering and sacrificial death of the Son. Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 is one passage to meditate on to share in the knowledge of what Jesus experienced.

Phil. 2:5-8, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

An important thing to remember is that Jesus of Nazareth, in His earthly ministry, was a man... totally and thoroughly, a man... but without sin. Then, let us wrap our heads around the fact that He was also God the Son incarnate, Who was Himself Sovereign of all creation, and yet would not do anything to ease the sufferings. Jesus suffered as you and I would suffer IF we could withstand the pain.

1 Cor. 15:21, Since by man (Adam) came death, by Man (Jesus) also came the resurrection of the dead. 

The price of redemption is the blood of the Redeemer Who died in our place. 

Rom. 8:20-21, For creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and decay into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Decay and corruption is something “so-called” science (as the Apostle Paul called it) tries to explain in the laws of thermo-dynamics. Most of it is foolishness to me, but two things are right-on although there is error in their phraseology, in my opinion. What they say, without giving God the credit, is “nothing new is being created” and “everything that is, is in a state of decay.” That’s my take-away.

In Mark 15:33, we read... And when the sixth hour (noon) had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (3:00 pm)
The sun stopped shining for three hours in the middle of the day.  Darkness like this in scripture means divine judgement... and that judgement was laid on Jesus, at which time He cried with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” Matt. 27:46; Psalm 22:1.

"God" there refers to Jehovah, which the Jews write as YHWH which is Jehovah without vowels, but they are compelled to pronounce it as Adonai, according to the Interlinear and Strong’s Concordance. Now I don’t know if we are able to fully understand the mystery of what this means, but we know Jesus is forsaken by God in the body.  He is abandoned... deserted. He hangs there as a man. Did Jesus know that was coming??? As awful as the physical torment was the spiritual agony must have been worse. 

But for the joy set before Him, He endured.

I believe it is important for us to understand the “flesh and blood reality” of what Jesus went through. It will increase your sorrow for Him, but also your adoration, worship, and thankfulness.
Our reverence should be of the utmost.

Think of the “price” of redemption as YOUR  young, innocent son sentenced to death, who does not deserve to suffer torture and death on a cross, for the sins of  the most vile person you can think of.

Let us never be blasé or complacent in our reading, or singing, or worship. The Words we read are as food for our souls. We must masticate and savor and then swallow the nourishment which matures us to full grown sons and daughters of God.

He is Risen!

1 Cor. 6: 14 By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also.

Our Father in Heaven, Our Redeemer. Today we Praise You for the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. And while the world has designated one day a year as a “holy” day, we worship every day the Holy One, seated at Your right hand. He is Who we look for to return for the saints, that where You are, we may be also. Come Lord Jesus, in Your exalted name I pray, Amen.