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REDEEMED Henry D. Houghton WHAT A GLORIOUS word! Who can measure it? How deep, how high, how long, how broad? It speaks of a love that would not let us go; that works, that plans, that toils, that suffers and best of all, triumphs! It suggest bands of steel binding the Redeemed in an unbreakable bond to The Redeemer. It does not depend on worthiness or merit. It works and wins in spite of great unworthiness and demerit, and is everlasting in its operation and its effects. WHO ARE THE REDEEMED But who are the Redeemed? The Evangelical Churches would say at once, "All those who believe in Christ." Is this so? Have we not gone astray with our definitions? Any man can purchase or buy, if the owner is agreeable to sell; but only the original owner of a thing can redeem it. And he can redeem whether the present temporary owner is willing or not! It is his inalienable right which no one can deprive him of. And nothing but his own can be "redeemed." St. Paul clearly distinguishes between "Redeemed" and "Purchased" in Acts 20: 25: "Feed the Church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood." Take any great city-- London, for instance-- there are millions of things in that city I can buy if I have money enough, but there is not one thing in that I can redeem, because I have nothing belonging to me there. Take another city, where I might have some small article-- say a watch-- in pawn; although there maybe half a million people in that city, not one of them can redeem my watch, because it is not theirs to redeem! Nor can they buy it till I, the owner, by lapse of time, show I surrender my right to redeem. It is mine, though temporarily in the possession of another. Now, then, apply all this to the case of the Church and its explanation of the word "Redeemed." Did the Church belong to God before? And somehow did He lose it to another? That is obviously wrong. God may, indeed does, offer Salvation to all men, but only His ancient people can be "redeemed." THE REDEEMED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT What does the Book say about the captive daughter of Zion? "Thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." (Isaiah 52: 3.) And again, "O Israel, Tear not: for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." (Isaiah 43:1.) Here is the declaration of the Divine right of Redemption. No other has any claim. And He says as a result of that Redeeming: "Thou art mine!" And no one has a right to dispute it. Again, in Isaiah 63: 4, it is recorded that God says: "For the day of vengeance is in Mine heart." What does that mean? The punishment and destruction of the wicked nations. Then it goes on to say, "And the year of My redeemed is come." What is that? It is the great year of God's open acknowledgment of Israel as His people. In Zechariah 10: 8, God says to Ephraim: "I will hiss for them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased." THE REDEEMED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT But does the New Testament bear out this interpretation and application of the word "Redeem?” Yes, most definitely! We read: "Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed his people." (Luke 1:67.) Then again, Anna the prophetess: "Gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" (margin "Israel"). Those two disciples as they walked to Emmaus actually said to the Redeemer Himself: "We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel." (Luke 24: 21.) St. Paul in Galatians 3: 13, exclaims: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law." Exactly! That was when they were held in bondage. They had broken the Law, and so had got into bondage; but there had come to them through Jesus Christ the Great Redemption which St. Paul proclaimed. And the fact of their being under that Law showed very plainly that they were Hebrews to which St. Paul appealed, for the Gentiles never had been under the Law. See Romans 2: 14: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law"-- thus showing plainly that the commands of the Law never came to the heathen or pure Gentile. St. Paul is speaking to them that are under the law and showing them that redemption can never come that way; and so he says to them: "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped" (Romans 3: 19), even those who looked for redemption by the law. And Hebrews 9: 12, shows how the "Redemption" is an everlasting work. "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal Redemption for us." And remember this Epistle is written to the Hebrews, and to them it says, "Having obtained (past tense) eternal Redemption for us." There is a great text in Isaiah 28: 18: "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand." How wonderful, how forceful, how compelling! And none may deny His claim, for God is here exercising His undoubted Right of Redemption. Israel, unlike the inanimate watch, could and did go away from her rightful Owner, repudiating both Him and His commands; but He has something to say; and He says it very forcibly indeed; declaring unmistakably that the wicked, dishonorable, illegal agreement with Hell shall not stand. This is the Great Redeemer exercising His right of Redemption. I once heard a minister say, very unwisely, referring to something our Lord said: "I wish our Lord had not said that." It came to me as a great shock to think that a minister should so far forget himself as to think he knew better than Christ. Many people, however, would like to blot out something our Lord has said-- something that does not fit their theology, their theories, or perhaps their practice. One of the singular and distinguishing things that our Lord said, which is utterly ignored by the Church today, and which cuts right across many theories is this: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel." And Weymouth's translation is even more forcible: "I have no commission except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." Or as F. Fenton reads: "I than the lost sheep was not sent to other of Israel's house." Now, no matter how distasteful that thought may be to a some, it is better to leave it alone, for it must be faced. It cannot be explained away. Indeed, it is in exact fulfillment of Isaiah 53: 5 - 8: "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed… For the transgressions of My people was He stricken," Christ Himself went even e further, and commanded the disciples to do the same as He, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." (Matthew 10: 5). So then, first was His work! Israel, however, had hers; but she must hear the Gospel first. And hence, just as He was leaving them, having laid down His life, having wrought out the Great Redemption for Israel, He commands them to go and take His truth, His message, His gospel, to every creature. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15.) He, having accomplished His work, bids Israel to take up hers. His work was to make Israel in truth the Kingdom of Priests, the Holy People, and show Israel to whom this Kingdom of Priests was to minister, even the whole world. So Israel is redeemed that she may be that Kingdom of Priests, carrying the news of Christ's salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth, and she is either now doing it or God's Word has failed. Who can measure the full depth of meaning there is in this wonderful word, "Redeemed"? How intense, how uplifting, how renewing! "Redeemed," "Ransomed.'' These words speak of an unexpected forcible exercise of long-forgotten rights and claims-- a putting forward of titles to property that none may dispute. A disannulling of Israel's covenant with death, and a canceling of her agreement with Hell. "Sold yourselves?" Alas, alas, how true! But nevertheless, the Owner has His rights; and He declares they shall be exercised. "Ye shall be redeemed without money." And so she was when the new Covenant of Jeremiah 31: 33, 34, which Christ our Lord accomplished, was brought in. "This cup is the New Covenant ratified by My blood which is poured out on your behalf." (Luke 20:20, Weymouth.) But has God really any rights in Israel? Undoubtedly, for He has declared it a hundred times. And more, He has declared most positively they shall never be surrendered. "I have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine." (Leviticus 20:26) "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." (Deuteronomy 7: 6,) And seven hundred years afterwards He confirms it all by saying: "This people have I formed for Myself." And David says: "Thou halt confirmed to Thyself Thy people Israel to be a people unto Thee for ever." (2 Samuel 7:24). While salvation is individual, Redemption is national. "O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me; for I have Redeemed thee." (Isaiah 44: 21, 22). "Declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end o f the earth, say ye, the Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob." (Isaiah 48: 20). No failure can be possible, for the Redeemer has come. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thine help. I will be thy King." NEW SERMON #10814, REDEEMED _____ New Christian Crusade Church |
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New Christian Crusade Church You may call us Monday, Wednesday or Friday at 601-749-8565 Last modified: Wednesday, 17 October 2007 |
