The Bible is filled with words of great theological significance, practical importance, and memorable prose. If one were to undertake the task of choosing the single word that defines the entire Bible, most would aptly select the word (name): Jesus. Could there be a weightier word than Jesus? Allow me humbly to suggest that there might be one: redemption. Such a majestic and overwhelming word. In its most basic definition, it means “to buy back.” After the fall of mankind in Genesis chapter three, it was God the Father who enacted a plan of redemption, deciding to use His Son’s sacrifice to “buy back” mankind. When Jesus begins His ministry in the New Testament, He states multiple times that He is following the Father’s redemptive plan (the Gospel of John notes this more than any other Gospel). Jesus serves the interests of the Father, and the Father’s primary interest is to ensure that redemption is offered to all mankind. In other words, redemption is so important to God the Father that He planned to sacrifice His perfect Son to ensure its fulfillment. God’s plan to “buy back” mankind is indeed the main point of the Bible, but it is more than that; it is the Bible’s central plotline. Redemption is more than just a term on a page; it is a narrative that develops over time and space. When a person decides to read selected portions of the Bible or even read the entire Bible canonically (cover to cover), a strong redemptive tone might not be readily conveyed. On the other hand, reading the Bible chronologically can unfurl God’s redemptive plan in the most coherent way imaginable. Allow me a few (or ten) paragraphs to connect the dots of God’s redemptive plan as it unfolds in history.
The Redeemer is Promised
The single most important part of all of God’s creation is mankind. The vastness, beauty, and design of our intricate universe were spoken into existence by God, but when it was time to create mankind, God formed him with His own hands – it was personal. Mankind was placed in the Garden of Eden, given a stewarding role over creation, and had unhindered access to God. At this juncture, redemption does not exist as a word or concept; there is no need to “buy back” anything because nothing has been taken yet. When Adam and Eve decide to disobey God by taking the forbidden fruit (probably a fig), the soon-to-be and perpetual nemesis of mankind, simply called “sin,” reciprocates by taking more from them than they can fathom. Sin fundamentally severed them (and all humanity after them) from direct access to God, and they immediately find themselves under His wrath. But it’s in this destitute time and place, after committing the biggest mistake of all time, that God immediately shows up with a plan to “buy back” what sin has taken from mankind. Specifically, Genesis 3:15 marks the beginning of the narrative of redemption in our time and space (theologians refer to this verse as the protoevangelium, which means “first occurrence of the Gospel”). God promises that from the seed of the woman, there would come a Redeemer (Jesus) who would “buy back” mankind by offering His own body as a ransom payment for sin, thereby restoring to mankind all that was taken. However, instantaneously, God’s promise of sending a Redeemer is thrown into jeopardy as Cain kills Abel (Genesis 4). The first premeditated murder occurs one generation after Adam and Eve, as their sin powerfully asserts its reign over humanity. Adam and Eve have another son named Seth (Genesis 4:25), and it’s from his bloodline that the Redeemer would come. The war of preventing the Redeemer from arriving is far from over; it is just beginning, as is the enemy’s strategy of extinguishing the bloodline of the Redeemer.
Sin, the Nemesis of Redemption
Roughly 1,600 years later, sin has unleashed an infectious cancer that threatens to thwart God’s promise of redemption. One man in particular, Noah, who is of the Redeemer’s bloodline (Gen. 5; this is why the genealogies are significant), and his family, are chosen to restart humanity after a global flood detailed in Genesis 7-8. God keeps His promise of a future Redeemer by preserving Noah’s bloodline. After the Tower of Babel incident (Gen.11:1-9), the people of the earth scattered in all directions as they repopulated the earth. Among those people groups, one man in particular, Abraham, of Noah’s bloodline, is chosen to continue God’s plan of redemption. Up to this point in the narrative, God has not necessarily been quiet about His redemptive plan, as evidenced by the enemy’s attacks; however, with Abraham, God decides to be more vocal and transparent about His intentions. Genesis 12:1-3 states God’s intention to make an unconditional covenant with Abraham, decreeing that He would call out a special people for Himself and, through them (Israel), He would bless the whole world.
Doubt Has No Place in God’s Redemption Plan
Abraham believes God’s intent to carry out this unconditional covenant, but he and his wife, Sarah, have their doubts because she cannot have children. In fact, they actually act on this doubt. Before this conversation with God (Gen. 17), Abraham, at Sarah’s behest, fathered a child through Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar. It seems that the couple was content to allow the terms of the covenant to be passed down through Ishmael. Despite their lack of faith, God would indeed bless Ishmael, but he would not carry the bloodline of the Redeemer. When God tells Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son, both of them, at different times (Gen. 17:17 & 18:13), laugh at the notion because of their age. Ironically, when they have a son the following year, God tells them that he is to be named Isaac, which means “laughter.” The bloodline of the Redeemer continues through Isaac, as God said it would (Genesis 17:21). Fast forward to the end of the Book of Genesis. Through God’s sovereign hand in Joseph’s life, Jacob’s family is preserved from being extinguished by a famine in the land as they move to Egypt. The bloodline of the Redeemer has passed from Isaac to Jacob to Judah.
Redemption Foreshadowed
The 275 years between the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus allowed Jacob’s family to grow exponentially into a vast people whom the Egyptians enslaved. God hears the cries of Israel’s enslavement and sends Moses to bring the people out of Egypt, but Pharaoh would not let the people go without a fight. Through Moses, God brings plagues on the nation of Egypt because Pharaoh would not release Israel from enslavement. Pharaoh holds his ground for nine plagues, but the tenth one, which is called the death of the firstborn, breaks him. All households wishing to protect their firstborn son from being killed that night were to kill a lamb and smear its blood over their lintel (left, right, and top of the door). When the death angel saw the blood on the family’s lintel, the angel passed over the house, hence the word and later feast of Passover. Every year in the Promised Land, Israel was to celebrate the Passover. This means that every year, every Israelite would observe a feast designed to anticipate a perfect sacrificial Lamb who would save them from death. For a brief moment, fast forward to the moment when John the Baptist saw Jesus and uttered the words, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” John understood the connection to the Passover feast, but how could so many of his day miss the Redeemer?
Moses leads the people out of Egypt, across the parted Red Sea, and to the foot of Mt. Sinai. At Sinai, the nation of Israel received its law, including instructions for its sacrificial system, as detailed in Leviticus. Until Jesus’ future redemptive sacrifice, Himself, could be offered on the cross, a present solution was needed whereby an unholy person could come into the presence of the Most Holy God. The sacrificial system, temporary (and partial) in nature, was designed to meet this need. It was also a vivid reminder that atonement for sin requires a blood sacrifice (“…it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life,” Lev. 17:11), foreshadowing Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice by His own blood (Heb. 9:11-18). God’s people were to offer all sacrifices at the Tabernacle, which was always positioned in the middle of the Israelite camp, demonstrating God’s desire to be at the very center of His people’s lives.
Redemption and His Royal Bloodline
A new era in Israel’s history commences as the nation enters the Promised Land under Joshua. This land is the physical land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants; it is the land in which God’s redemptive plan will culminate with the sin sacrifice of Jesus on a cross outside Jerusalem’s gates (Heb. 13:12-14). From Joshua, through the dark and distressing days of the Judges, to the days of the monarchies of Saul, David, and Solomon, the bloodline of the Redeemer remains intact. It is through David’s bloodline that God adds a special clause to His redemptive plan, commonly known as the Davidic Covenant. The covenant with David builds upon God’s earlier covenant with Abraham, by specifying the royal bloodline through which God’s plan of redemption will be realized. It ensures the perpetuity of David’s dynasty and highlights the coming of the King whose reign would be eternal. This covenant with David begins to expand the description of the coming Redeemer first spoken of in Genesis 3:15, now described as royal and eternal.
Redemption Perseveres Despite All Odds
As the next king in David’s dynasty arose, the people asked themselves, “Is this the one?” Is this the coming Redeemer, the eternal King, who restores all that mankind had lost? Each time the people wonder, and each time disappointment sets in. Disappointment becomes a reality when Israel reaches a point where there is no king on the throne. The last king of Judah was taken into exile as Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon burned the city of Jerusalem and the Temple to the ground. Even though all hope seems lost, God’s plan of redemption continues to march forward. Seventy years later, under the Persian ruler Cyrus, the people are permitted to return to the Promised Land. Among the men who helped lead the people back to the land was Zerubbabel, who is of the Redeemer’s bloodline (Hag. 2:23; Matt. 1:12).
As Israel slowly rebuilds the Temple (Ezra) and the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah), the threats to her existence are far from over. The Book of Esther chronicles Haman’s plot to exterminate all Jewish people on one appointed day, although Esther’s courageous actions foiled the plot. During the Intertestamental Period, the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV attempted to get rid of the Jewish people and their Temple, but it was the daring actions of the Maccabe family that turned the tide. More than 160 years later, Jesus (both Mary and Jospeh were in the bloodline of David) was born into this world as a human baby boy. This is commonly termed the Incarnation. However, even when Jesus, the Redeemer Himself, was born into the world to continue the redemption narrative of the Father, the enemy does not give up; in fact, the enemy doubles down. Shortly after His first birthday, a visit from the Magi of the East inadvertently places His life as a baby in jeopardy as King Herod ordered all baby boys under the age of 2, in and around the town of Bethlehem, to be killed (Matt.2:16). When Jesus begins His ministry in His early 30s, the attacks of the enemies of redemption increased to the next level. Satan tried to tempt Jesus to sin, but he was unsuccessful; the people of Israel plotted to rid themselves of a King who didn’t meet their tradition-laden criteria through death by crucifixion, but death could not hold the Redeemer!
The REDEEMER
Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary was the pinnacle moment of God’s redemption narrative. It was the moment in time, as promised back in Genesis 3:15, wherein humanity would be “bought back” through Christ’s ransom payment of humanity’s sin debt. When a person accepts the gift of redemption, purchased by the blood of Christ, they are instantaneously reconciled back to the Father. Paul declares Jesus’ work best in Colossians 2:13-14, “…having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” The penalty for our sins was nailed to the cross: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Remember back in Genesis 12:1-3, it was God’s redemptive intent to bless all nations through Abraham (and Israel). Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross was not for the Jewish people only; it was also offered to the rest of the world (John 3:16; Heb.2:9; 1 Jn.2:2). Of course, just because it was provided to all of humanity, each person needs to make his or her own personal decision whether to accept or reject Christ’s gift of redemption. Sin, the perpetual enemy of redemption, is extremely powerful and should never be underestimated, ever. The infinitely sad reality is that some people have refused to accept Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, and instead of being reconciled back to the Father, they are doomed to be eternally separated from Him. Let’s be extremely clear here at this point: God does not want any person, ever, to be separated from Him for all of eternity. If this were the case, then He would have never commenced a plan of redemption in the first place. He has lovingly provided a redemption plan for all of humanity that cost Him more than we will ever know.
Anticipating Redemption’s Future
The narrative of redemption is not yet complete. While Christ has indeed purchased our redemption, there is still coming a glorious day when Christ will return, physically, in the same manner in which He left (Acts 1:9), and inaugurate His eternal kingdom on earth. Israel will dwell in her land, and Christ will sit on a physical throne in Jerusalem, ruling as King of Kings for one thousand uninterrupted years (also known as the Millennial Kingdom). As magnificent as this Millennial Kingdom will be, with Satan bound up for its duration (Rev.20:1-3), the perpetual enemy of redemption, sin, will continue to assert its power. After the final judgment of mankind (Rev.20:11-15), a new heaven and a new earth are created. Decisively, God speaks these final, redemption-finishing words, “...Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man [again]. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev.21:3). This verse transports us back to before the fall of mankind into sin, all has been returned to the way in which God designed it to be from the very beginning – unhindered fellowship between us and the Creator. God keeps His redemption promise!
The Redeemer is Promised
The single most important part of all of God’s creation is mankind. The vastness, beauty, and design of our intricate universe were spoken into existence by God, but when it was time to create mankind, God formed him with His own hands – it was personal. Mankind was placed in the Garden of Eden, given a stewarding role over creation, and had unhindered access to God. At this juncture, redemption does not exist as a word or concept; there is no need to “buy back” anything because nothing has been taken yet. When Adam and Eve decide to disobey God by taking the forbidden fruit (probably a fig), the soon-to-be and perpetual nemesis of mankind, simply called “sin,” reciprocates by taking more from them than they can fathom. Sin fundamentally severed them (and all humanity after them) from direct access to God, and they immediately find themselves under His wrath. But it’s in this destitute time and place, after committing the biggest mistake of all time, that God immediately shows up with a plan to “buy back” what sin has taken from mankind. Specifically, Genesis 3:15 marks the beginning of the narrative of redemption in our time and space (theologians refer to this verse as the protoevangelium, which means “first occurrence of the Gospel”). God promises that from the seed of the woman, there would come a Redeemer (Jesus) who would “buy back” mankind by offering His own body as a ransom payment for sin, thereby restoring to mankind all that was taken. However, instantaneously, God’s promise of sending a Redeemer is thrown into jeopardy as Cain kills Abel (Genesis 4). The first premeditated murder occurs one generation after Adam and Eve, as their sin powerfully asserts its reign over humanity. Adam and Eve have another son named Seth (Genesis 4:25), and it’s from his bloodline that the Redeemer would come. The war of preventing the Redeemer from arriving is far from over; it is just beginning, as is the enemy’s strategy of extinguishing the bloodline of the Redeemer.
Sin, the Nemesis of Redemption
Roughly 1,600 years later, sin has unleashed an infectious cancer that threatens to thwart God’s promise of redemption. One man in particular, Noah, who is of the Redeemer’s bloodline (Gen. 5; this is why the genealogies are significant), and his family, are chosen to restart humanity after a global flood detailed in Genesis 7-8. God keeps His promise of a future Redeemer by preserving Noah’s bloodline. After the Tower of Babel incident (Gen.11:1-9), the people of the earth scattered in all directions as they repopulated the earth. Among those people groups, one man in particular, Abraham, of Noah’s bloodline, is chosen to continue God’s plan of redemption. Up to this point in the narrative, God has not necessarily been quiet about His redemptive plan, as evidenced by the enemy’s attacks; however, with Abraham, God decides to be more vocal and transparent about His intentions. Genesis 12:1-3 states God’s intention to make an unconditional covenant with Abraham, decreeing that He would call out a special people for Himself and, through them (Israel), He would bless the whole world.
Doubt Has No Place in God’s Redemption Plan
Abraham believes God’s intent to carry out this unconditional covenant, but he and his wife, Sarah, have their doubts because she cannot have children. In fact, they actually act on this doubt. Before this conversation with God (Gen. 17), Abraham, at Sarah’s behest, fathered a child through Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar. It seems that the couple was content to allow the terms of the covenant to be passed down through Ishmael. Despite their lack of faith, God would indeed bless Ishmael, but he would not carry the bloodline of the Redeemer. When God tells Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son, both of them, at different times (Gen. 17:17 & 18:13), laugh at the notion because of their age. Ironically, when they have a son the following year, God tells them that he is to be named Isaac, which means “laughter.” The bloodline of the Redeemer continues through Isaac, as God said it would (Genesis 17:21). Fast forward to the end of the Book of Genesis. Through God’s sovereign hand in Joseph’s life, Jacob’s family is preserved from being extinguished by a famine in the land as they move to Egypt. The bloodline of the Redeemer has passed from Isaac to Jacob to Judah.
Redemption Foreshadowed
The 275 years between the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus allowed Jacob’s family to grow exponentially into a vast people whom the Egyptians enslaved. God hears the cries of Israel’s enslavement and sends Moses to bring the people out of Egypt, but Pharaoh would not let the people go without a fight. Through Moses, God brings plagues on the nation of Egypt because Pharaoh would not release Israel from enslavement. Pharaoh holds his ground for nine plagues, but the tenth one, which is called the death of the firstborn, breaks him. All households wishing to protect their firstborn son from being killed that night were to kill a lamb and smear its blood over their lintel (left, right, and top of the door). When the death angel saw the blood on the family’s lintel, the angel passed over the house, hence the word and later feast of Passover. Every year in the Promised Land, Israel was to celebrate the Passover. This means that every year, every Israelite would observe a feast designed to anticipate a perfect sacrificial Lamb who would save them from death. For a brief moment, fast forward to the moment when John the Baptist saw Jesus and uttered the words, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” John understood the connection to the Passover feast, but how could so many of his day miss the Redeemer?
Moses leads the people out of Egypt, across the parted Red Sea, and to the foot of Mt. Sinai. At Sinai, the nation of Israel received its law, including instructions for its sacrificial system, as detailed in Leviticus. Until Jesus’ future redemptive sacrifice, Himself, could be offered on the cross, a present solution was needed whereby an unholy person could come into the presence of the Most Holy God. The sacrificial system, temporary (and partial) in nature, was designed to meet this need. It was also a vivid reminder that atonement for sin requires a blood sacrifice (“…it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life,” Lev. 17:11), foreshadowing Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice by His own blood (Heb. 9:11-18). God’s people were to offer all sacrifices at the Tabernacle, which was always positioned in the middle of the Israelite camp, demonstrating God’s desire to be at the very center of His people’s lives.
Redemption and His Royal Bloodline
A new era in Israel’s history commences as the nation enters the Promised Land under Joshua. This land is the physical land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants; it is the land in which God’s redemptive plan will culminate with the sin sacrifice of Jesus on a cross outside Jerusalem’s gates (Heb. 13:12-14). From Joshua, through the dark and distressing days of the Judges, to the days of the monarchies of Saul, David, and Solomon, the bloodline of the Redeemer remains intact. It is through David’s bloodline that God adds a special clause to His redemptive plan, commonly known as the Davidic Covenant. The covenant with David builds upon God’s earlier covenant with Abraham, by specifying the royal bloodline through which God’s plan of redemption will be realized. It ensures the perpetuity of David’s dynasty and highlights the coming of the King whose reign would be eternal. This covenant with David begins to expand the description of the coming Redeemer first spoken of in Genesis 3:15, now described as royal and eternal.
Redemption Perseveres Despite All Odds
As the next king in David’s dynasty arose, the people asked themselves, “Is this the one?” Is this the coming Redeemer, the eternal King, who restores all that mankind had lost? Each time the people wonder, and each time disappointment sets in. Disappointment becomes a reality when Israel reaches a point where there is no king on the throne. The last king of Judah was taken into exile as Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon burned the city of Jerusalem and the Temple to the ground. Even though all hope seems lost, God’s plan of redemption continues to march forward. Seventy years later, under the Persian ruler Cyrus, the people are permitted to return to the Promised Land. Among the men who helped lead the people back to the land was Zerubbabel, who is of the Redeemer’s bloodline (Hag. 2:23; Matt. 1:12).
As Israel slowly rebuilds the Temple (Ezra) and the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah), the threats to her existence are far from over. The Book of Esther chronicles Haman’s plot to exterminate all Jewish people on one appointed day, although Esther’s courageous actions foiled the plot. During the Intertestamental Period, the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV attempted to get rid of the Jewish people and their Temple, but it was the daring actions of the Maccabe family that turned the tide. More than 160 years later, Jesus (both Mary and Jospeh were in the bloodline of David) was born into this world as a human baby boy. This is commonly termed the Incarnation. However, even when Jesus, the Redeemer Himself, was born into the world to continue the redemption narrative of the Father, the enemy does not give up; in fact, the enemy doubles down. Shortly after His first birthday, a visit from the Magi of the East inadvertently places His life as a baby in jeopardy as King Herod ordered all baby boys under the age of 2, in and around the town of Bethlehem, to be killed (Matt.2:16). When Jesus begins His ministry in His early 30s, the attacks of the enemies of redemption increased to the next level. Satan tried to tempt Jesus to sin, but he was unsuccessful; the people of Israel plotted to rid themselves of a King who didn’t meet their tradition-laden criteria through death by crucifixion, but death could not hold the Redeemer!
The REDEEMER
Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary was the pinnacle moment of God’s redemption narrative. It was the moment in time, as promised back in Genesis 3:15, wherein humanity would be “bought back” through Christ’s ransom payment of humanity’s sin debt. When a person accepts the gift of redemption, purchased by the blood of Christ, they are instantaneously reconciled back to the Father. Paul declares Jesus’ work best in Colossians 2:13-14, “…having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” The penalty for our sins was nailed to the cross: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Remember back in Genesis 12:1-3, it was God’s redemptive intent to bless all nations through Abraham (and Israel). Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross was not for the Jewish people only; it was also offered to the rest of the world (John 3:16; Heb.2:9; 1 Jn.2:2). Of course, just because it was provided to all of humanity, each person needs to make his or her own personal decision whether to accept or reject Christ’s gift of redemption. Sin, the perpetual enemy of redemption, is extremely powerful and should never be underestimated, ever. The infinitely sad reality is that some people have refused to accept Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, and instead of being reconciled back to the Father, they are doomed to be eternally separated from Him. Let’s be extremely clear here at this point: God does not want any person, ever, to be separated from Him for all of eternity. If this were the case, then He would have never commenced a plan of redemption in the first place. He has lovingly provided a redemption plan for all of humanity that cost Him more than we will ever know.
Anticipating Redemption’s Future
The narrative of redemption is not yet complete. While Christ has indeed purchased our redemption, there is still coming a glorious day when Christ will return, physically, in the same manner in which He left (Acts 1:9), and inaugurate His eternal kingdom on earth. Israel will dwell in her land, and Christ will sit on a physical throne in Jerusalem, ruling as King of Kings for one thousand uninterrupted years (also known as the Millennial Kingdom). As magnificent as this Millennial Kingdom will be, with Satan bound up for its duration (Rev.20:1-3), the perpetual enemy of redemption, sin, will continue to assert its power. After the final judgment of mankind (Rev.20:11-15), a new heaven and a new earth are created. Decisively, God speaks these final, redemption-finishing words, “...Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man [again]. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev.21:3). This verse transports us back to before the fall of mankind into sin, all has been returned to the way in which God designed it to be from the very beginning – unhindered fellowship between us and the Creator. God keeps His redemption promise!
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