God's Gift

“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;” (Ephesians 1:7)

Paul is writing about Jesus and His work of redemption which is salvation from sin and evil. The definition for redemption is the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, clearing a debt or the action of buying one's freedom. This is what Jesus did on the cross.

To understand redemption, one has to have an understanding of what happened in the garden of Eden. When man disobeyed God, man came under the dominion of the devil. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16) They received the nature of the devil and went into the kingdom of sin and death which is the devil’s dominion. And not only mankind, but the whole earth. The whole earth is under condemnation. Everything dies. The world system is under the dominion of sin and death. This is why we are not to love the world. It is the direct opposite of what comes from God. And the whole world is condemned and on it’s way to destruction. Jesus said “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) But Peter gave us a complete description of how the world will perish. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2Peter 3:10)

In redemption, Jesus made the payment due for sin, all sin, past, present and future of the whole world. Jesus paid the debt for sin. In doing so, He bought back mankind. (more of this later) He took our death for us so that we could live eternally. We have eternal life in Jesus when we believe on Him, believe Who He said He was and is, believe on the work of redemption and surrender to Him as Lord. Then we can be in that position that Adam and Eve were in before they disobeyed, in fellowship and communion with God, God the Father, God the Son, Jesus and God the Holy Spirit Who comes to indwell in us the moment we become the Lord’s. The Holy Spirit seals us or brands us so that the whole spiritual realm can see that we belong to the Lord. I think of it like when we purchase something, and the store slaps a big SOLD label on the item. Our label is the Holy Spirit. It is a light in us that is evident even in this natural world. The world doesn’t know what it is, but notices there is something different about us.

Earlier I stated that He bought back mankind. Yes! He paid for all sin. He took death for everyone. But it’s not automatic. He gave us this magnanimous gift of forgiveness, to take freely because of His love and mercy. But we must accept that gift and receive it. I’ll give you an example: If the city government has offered to pay all your mortgage, regardless of how much you owe or how long you’ve had the debt, out of a its big heart and all you have to do is apply for it, wouldn’t you apply? That’s the only requirement. You believe what the city government said and do what is required. And you never ever have to go back to paying the mortgage again.  God has offered us this bountiful gift. The requirement is that you believe in it and receive it, regardless of how bad your sin is or how long you’ve been sinning. You will never have to return to that sin again. You leave it as you would leave the mortgage payment if the government paid it.

Now the way the world sees it, it’s like giving up something, something that’s fun and pleasurable. But it really isn’t. Be truthful. It was pleasurable for a moment. Then darkness envelopes us in our spirit, soul (mind, will, emotions) and body. Sin affects our body and causes illnesses. It’s misery. There is nothing pleasurable about the effects of drunkenness on our bodies, mind, will and emotions, on our families and on our finances. There is nothing pleasurable about broken vows, broken families and disease in adultery. There is nothing pleasurable in fear of being caught, imprisonment, broken families, embarrassed families, fines and surveillance by authorities in being a thief. And the list goes on. There is in reality no pleasure in the long haul for sin. And in the end, it is death in this world and the next.  “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

There is not a word in this world to describe the magnitude of God’s gift. Nothing is required of us but except to believe, receive and leave our sin forever, for life, for peace, for joy and for eternity. What great mercy and love God has shown us! How can we not be grateful. In the United States we are celebrating Thanksgiving Day today. We are thankful for God’s great love for us. We cannot express our gratitude with mere words, but with our love and worship, our devotion and obedience, and our communion with Him.