You are the Redeemed

In 30 some odd minutes it will be resurrection Sunday where I am sitting at this computer hammering at it’s keys with excitement. After that day 2,000 years ago every day is an exciting day but of the 365 of them, we have chosen this day as the memorial day when Jesus was resurrected from the dead.

We celebrate his victory over death, hell, and the grave. And with out a doubt we celebrate our redemption which He bought for with His blood.
So what is redemption exactly? It sounds like a religious word but we still use it today in our everyday English. Have you ever pawned something? If you ever do, the clerk gives you a slip of paper that you can use to redeem the item you just pawned. It means to pay an amount to get something of value back. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law. (Galatians 3:13)

He saw value in us and paid the price so that you and I could be brought back to right-standing with God. (Colossians 1:20) With what Jesus did those 2,000 years ago you and I have been given the right to stand boldly in the throne room of God (Hebrews 4:16) We have been given the right to ask of Him ANYTHING (John 14:13 and 14 and John 15:7) We have been set free from the works of the enemy (1 John 3:8)

Jesus summed it in two places. The first was when He declared that He was to preach the Acceptable Year of the Lord. That year is call the year of Jubilee. I'ld rather not get into all the specifics but in that year all debts were canceled and slaves were set free. Everything returned to it’s original state. (For us, it means the original state when God made Man.)

The second was when He prayed, what we now call, the “Our Father”. The second verse of the prayer is “Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” That has to be the most powerful prayer ever. Tell me. What is God’s will in heaven? Is it death, sickness, disease, lack or death? No! On the contrary His will is Life, Abundance, and Health. In fact it may even be opulence. He does have streets made of gold. Can you imagine if God’s will were done here on earth as it is in Heaven?

We have been redeemed so that we can enjoy the life He has always wanted to give us. It is the enemy that pulls up the past and reminds us of what we did or haven’t done. But when he does just remind him of...

Colossians 2:13-14 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

What all that means is that Jesus not only paid for your sins and errors and screw ups, and rebellion and all the other stuff, but He has “blotted out” the handwriting of those acts. In other words you can’t find anywhere any document of your mistakes, sins etc. No one can find them.

So turn to that liar, the devil, and point out the fact that you don’t have anything to be ashamed of. You are a redeemed child of God, enjoying full birthright privileges, and there is nothing he can do or dig up that can change that.

Praise the Lord we are Redeemed!

The Redemption Plan

It all started many years before the cross. It was before the wise men and the shepards on the hill. It was before Babel and several centuries before the flood. To really know when it all started you have to go to beginning. . . Genesis

God is Love

In His love He created all but in particular He created Man. It was no ordinary creation but the greatest creation, since He create it in His image. He created Man a speaking Spirit. That doesn’t refer to Man’s ability to make noise or communicate with each other or with Him since all creatures communicate in one way or another. Man was created unique in that God created Him to be able to speak as God speaks. God created a creature that could create with it’s words.

He had created an entire universe for Man but especially the planet that He placed Man on was given over to Man to have dominion and prosper. God had given Man authority over the animals in the sea, those who flew and those who walked the earth. God held His first lesson in teaching Man how to use His words by telling him to name the animals. Man didn’t name the creatures with Cow, Horse, Elephant, Robin, Trout. His names gave the animal purpose and a reason for being just like God had done when He created Man. Under God’s supervision Man was the overlord of earth. That was the Beginning.

God called the beginning “Good”, which means complete, whole , not missing or lacking anything. And it was.

After the beginning an undesirable creature made its’ presence known and challenged God’s Word. The creature injected doubt that the Word of God wasn’t ultimate and final, and that there was something more. It asked Man to chose its’ word over God’s.

Man chose to take the word of the creature over that of God’s, and by doing so Man unwittingly gave his authority of the planet, the creatures, even his own life over to the creature. A new overlord of Earth was promoted and the Fall of Man happened in that instant.

There was no turning back. man was cursed by his own action. The payment for the curse is Death. But since there was no other man to pay for the curse and the curse lies in the blood then the rest of mankind was cursed forever.

The Plan

God’s mercy endures forever. His love knows no failure. So a plan was born to redeem mankind, a plan that would not fail. The plan was simple enough, as the best plans are. But God needed man for the plan to work.

In the beginning God had given all authority to man, who had in turn passed authority to the creature by putting faith in what it had said over God. God actions were bound to the authority He had given man. God needed man.

Throughout history God asked man to have faith in Him. For those who listened and believed He was able to work in their lives. And in their lives He was able to show man the blueprint of His plan. A perfect, Good Man had to die to pay for the curse. God spoke of the plan through prophets, kings, and even celebrations. God couldn't ask a man born of man to make this sacrifice, because every man was born already cursed and therefore not perfect. It had to be a Man created as He had created the first one...with His Word.

The creature had been warned by God that the plan would work and that man would be redeemed. And from that moment the creature sought to kill or undermine all those who showed promise of being the perfect Man, born of God.

Many years of oppression past and man was no better off. Sickness, disease, poverty, slavery and death reined on the world God had once called “Good”.

But the day arrived when a woman was asked to participate in the plan. God spoke His Word, and when she accepted His Word took form. The child was born of faith and the Word of God. (John 1:14).

From a very young age, the Word made Man, spoke of what He was ushering in. A redemption, and the kingdom of God. It wasn’t to frighten man but to prepare man to accept their redeemed birthright.

The creature took notice of the Man and did all in his power to destroy Him, but the creature was thwarted at every turn.

When the time was right the Word made Man allowed himself to be taken. The creature thought he had outwitted God and quickly took the Man to die on a cross. But when he did he unwittingly exposed himself and had to relinquish the authority he had coned Man out of in the Beginning.

You see, since all those born were born in the curse they all deserved to die, but the Man born of God’s Word was not born in the curse. He was perfect and the creature had no death-right over Him.

When the Man gave His spirit up, the price for for mankind’s redemption was paid.

The creature had to relinquish the authority back to the Man who had paid the price. And on the third day the Man was reborn with all the authority.

God’s plan succeeded and Man had the authority they once had in the beginning. The relationship between God and Man was restored. Death, sickness, poverty, and slavery were no longer linked to man, as long as they accepted the gift of redemption they were free of those tools of the enemy.