“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth” (Job 19:25).
“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me’ ” (Isaiah 44:6).
Covenant Prayer
Dear Father, I know and believe that You are God of the universe. I agree with Your stated Truth that Your peace is what crushes the enemy under my feet. I pray, this day, that you will impart Your peace to me in a great and mighty way. I choose to trust You in all of your ways. Your might and power is freely given to all Christians who ask for it. I ask for wisdom and strength, today, as I explore the Truth and reality of Your peace. I know there is nothing I can do in my own strength to abide in Your deliverance. I, therefore, call upon Your name to redeem Your rightful place in my heart as Father. These things I pray in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Hebrew for redeemer is: - גּאל a primitive root, to redeem (according to the Oriental law of kinship), that is, to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative’s property, marry his widow, etc.): - X in any wise, X at all, avenger, deliver, (do, perform the part of near, next) kinsfolk (-man), purchase, ransom, redeem (-er), revenger. [1]
One of the first things we need to understand is that God, the Father, needed to buy us back. Satan, the father of lies, stole us away from the Father. God, being the Redeemer that He is, bought us back. The price for a life is a life. And of course, that price ultimately would be His Son, Jesus.
One of the questions of old is, “Why would the Maker of the universe have to buy us back when all He had to do was take us back?” Well, the answer is quite simple. When we (mankind) chose to become enslaved to Satan, it placed ownership in the hands of Satan. God is a God of order and He Himself submits to the laws and dynamics of authority. If He didn’t, He would be a tyrannical leader. We became volunteer slaves when we ate from the tree of demonic slavery. God is righteous and bought us back. Since a slave cannot free himself, or buy himself back, it takes another master to do so. This is where the Father came in.
Take Action - Your View
- Read Job 19:25 and decide on the two dynamic truths in this verse.
- Matthew 20:28 reveals to us a significant truth about redemption. What is it?
- Acts 20:28 gives us the buyout cost of being placed back into the Father’s family. Review the verse and state the cost.
Read the following verses. Identify what you inherited when the Father bought you back.
- Romans 3:24
- 1 Corinthians 1:30
- Galatians 4:4-5
- 1 Timothy 1:15
- Hebrews 9:12
- Revelation 5:9
The Father’s View
Remember that the basic and primary Hebrew definition of redeemer is “next of kin”. We could not ask for better kin than God, the Father. Through the redemptive work of the Father, by offering up His Son to buy us back from the father of lies, God steps back into the role of the Father. The Father reestablishes the original design of the eternal order of the God of the universe. Now, from an earthly perspective, the roles of family can be firmly established for future generations. Satan doesn’t like this design much. It reveals the greatest blessing of mankind - being restored back to the Father of heaven. If you think that the enemy, or old man, is going to give up, you are being deceived. The enemy will attempt to destroy the earthly father. Satan knows that if the relationship between an earthly father and his child(ren) is broken or abusive, he (Satan) will have some guarantee that the next generation will have a problem connecting, or even wanting, to be close to God, the Father. He knows that children view the heavenly Father through the relationship (or lack of relationship) they have with their earthly fathers. This wormwood never gives up, does he?
The enemy certainly thought that he had the Father “over a barrel”. One must remember that the enemy is blinded to the basic Truth of the Gospel – he loses!
Satan successfully stepped into God’s plan to put him in his place. It appears he was able to embrace victory, but he was not. God created the earth; created Adam and Eve; formed the garden; placed angels at the gates of the garden; placed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (the “know-how” of God and Satan) in the center of the garden; and placed Satan in that tree. Does this sound like an accidental plan? If you believe this, you are falling into the same deception into which the enemy stepped. God planned the whole deal.
At this point, it might be helpful to do a quick and simple overview of the pathway to redemption.
- God created the heavens with His perfect will.
- God formed the FIRST FAMILY in His heaven.
- Lucifer attempted to take the role of the Father of heaven.
- Lucifer, now Satan, is removed from heaven like a flash of lightning
- God created the earth; the Garden of Eden; the Tree of Life; the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; and Adam and Eve.
- God gave Adam a mandate not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, knowing full well he would.
- Satan tempted Eve, Eve fell, Adam fell, and Satan became a temporary father – the father of lies.
- God came into the garden in the cool of the day and disciplined Satan, Eve, and finally, Adam.
- Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, just as Lucifer was cast out of heaven.
- God established His system of restoring the hearts of the children to their Father through the covenant of sacrifice.
- Adam and Eve regained God as their Father through sacrifice and obedience. Satan lost again.
- Satan appealed to the children of God, through the seed of sin within their mortal bodies, to offer sacrifices that were not acceptable to God (Genesis 4:3-6).
- God set the stage for man to realize that he has no ability to keep the Law (i.e. the established Covenants, Old Testament living).
- God prepared for sending His Son to break the curse, as well as the hold Satan had over the children of disobedience. He wrote the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all illustrations, stories, and testimonies recorded by the prophets of old.
- God put His seed into a woman who had the pure bloodline of Abraham – Mary. (Remember, sin enters into man through the seed, not the blood.) God’s seed had no sin in it; therefore, no sin entered into Jesus’ body.
- The Savior was born and trained up in the ways of His Father.
- Satan tried to steal the role of the Father in Jesus’ life (Mark 1:13).
- Jesus demonstrated perfect obedience and chose His Father. This was a bigger victory than most Christians realize. Satan once was perfect and without sin, but fell when he became filled with pride. He manipulated the fall of Adam and Eve, who started out perfect. The Son of God resisted temptation in the form of created man and chose the Father. This was a significant mark in Satan’s social history. Now it was time for Jesus to bring this same victory to man.
- Jesus gave His life for all of mankind and used the Cross to permanently put Satan in his place, by putting him under man’s feet (Romans 16:20). Bummer for him!
- Jesus went to hell to pay for all of man’s sins of disobedience to the Father (Eph. 4:9; Matt. 12:40).
- Jesus offered the resurrected life to all mankind (Luke 20:36).
- Jesus ascended and offered mankind the gift of the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).
- A new testament, a new covenant, lived out (Luke 22:20).
- Satan will be given permission by the Father to rule the earth for 7 years – the great tribulation (Mark 13:19).
- The battle of the Armageddon will occur – the war between God, the Father, and the father of lies (Rev 16:16).
- God wins the battle.
- Satan will be bound to the bottomless pit for a thousand years (Rev 20:2-3).
- The New Jerusalem will descend from heaven for the thousand years of Judgment (Rev. 3:12).
- God, the Father, will judge all of mankind – men and angels (Rev. 20:4).
- God, the Father, will open up the pit of hell and send Satan, his angels, and all the children of disobedience to this place (Ezek. 31:16). Satan will be punished for attempting to steal the role of the Father while in heaven. God has made His point!
- This present earth will be destroyed and we, the redeemed children of God, will be taken to our new home – the new earth (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 21:1).
- All the children of the Father will live for eternity in the original design of the FIRST FAMILY!
I hope you can now see the importance of why Satan works so diligently at stealing the role of the Father and attacking our earthly fathers – so that the children will be embittered to God, the Father. Satan wants as many “takers” to go with him to this place of torment as he can get, because his ultimate fear is isolation and loneliness.
Redemption means “deliverance from some evil, by payment of a price.” It is more than simply deliverance. Thus, prisoners of war might be released on payment of a price, which is called a “ransom.” The word, from the Greek, was formed specifically to convey this idea of release on payment of ransom. In this circle of ideas, Christ’s death may be regarded as “a ransom for many.”
- How do you feel spiritually about being bought back with the blood of Jesus?
[1] “Strong’s Concordance,” e-sword® version 9.8.3 .http://www.e-sword.net (accessed August 29, 2012).
Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Next time: Jesus as God
