Hi how are you? I am well and have had a good week. It was cold and really windy in my town today. How was your week?
This week I want to blog on my redeemer and discover what it really means. We sing “my redeemer lives” but do we know the full extent of what Jesus redeemed us from.
First let’s look at the dictionary definition of redeemer. Redeemer in the Merriam-Webster dictionary means a person who redeems. Redeems in the same dictionary means to get or win back, to free from what distresses or harms, to change for the better, to repair and restore and to atone for. That is a big meaning.
Often when we think of Jesus as our redeemer we think it means He has saved us from sin and yes that is part of it. But as we can see from the definition, there is so much more.
Isaiah 53 is the passage that really details all that Jesus did for us on the cross to redeem us.
I want you to read the chapter yourself and meditate on it but these are some of the things Jesus redeemed us from in that passage:
- He carried our pains so we wouldn’t have to
- He carried our disfigurements- all that was wrong with us mentally and spiritually and physically
- Our sins ripped and tore and crushed Him so we could be forgiven
- He took our punishment so we wouldn’t have to
- His bruises were for our total healing
Verse 10 really tells us why and it states:
10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.
Jesus redeemed us from everything wrong so we could be made in right standing with Him and be reconciled to our Father. But all this is worth nothing if we don’t receive what He did.
Jesus became our redeemer but we must accept it to receive it.
The first mention of the word “redeem” in the Bible is found in Exodus 6:6 to 8 and in the Message Bible it states:
6-8 “I am God. I will bring you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I will rescue you from slavery. I will redeem you, intervening with great acts of judgment. I’ll take you as my own people and I’ll be God to you. You’ll know that I am God, your God who brings you out from under the cruel hard labor of Egypt. I’ll bring you into the land that I promised to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and give it to you as your own country. I AM God.”
This is God talking to Moses when He was revealing His plans to set His people free from Egypt.
God was redeeming His people from the land of Egypt and removing them from a land of cruelty to a land of promise.
This is what Jesus did for us on the cross. He removed sin from us and transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. From a kingdom of everything bad to a kingdom of everything right and good.
Another example of a redeemer in the Bible is Boaz. In the book of Ruth, he redeemed a Moabite woman, a foreign woman. The most amazing part of this story is that Boaz not only redeemed Ruth but restored her mother in law Naomi and everything she had lost.
This story reveals that it is not only Gods people Jesus came to redeem but everyone who believes on Him and what He did.
So we can start to see from the above passages that Jesus redeeming us means more than removing our sins. It is giving us a life and life more abundantly where we can experience love and all the fruits of the Spirit, healing of mind and body, generosity in every area and a purpose for our lives that will fulfill us. This seems like a great place to live and is.
If you haven’t allowed Jesus to redeem you; then now is the time to do it. Pray to God and tell Him you accept what Jesus did, forgive me of my sins and tell Him you want to be His child. Your life will never be the same and that’s a good thing. Welcome to the family!
For the rest of us, ponder this week over all the things Jesus actually did for you and thank Him. He is worthy of all our praise.
Bless you and keep living the life God intended.
Karen
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