“knowing that you were not {ransomed,} redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.“- {v 18-19}
The word “redeemed” means to pay a price in order to have someone set FREE from under the control of another or from prison. In times of war during those times, a conquering army would capture other soldiers and hold them captive. The other army under certain conditions could buy back the prisoners. Also in these times slavery was at such high numbers and how the labor force would be known and it was possible for someone to pay the price to free one of these slaves from their bondage and set them free. A ransom, a price was agreed and exchanged. to transfer them from slavery to liberty, freedom! God has every right to condemn us to Hell because of our spiritual crimes of sin against Him, and we are slaves of unrighteousness. We are spiritual prisoners and under the righteous judgment of God, “the soul that sins shall die… the wages of sin is death!”
To be slaves to sin is to be under the judgment of God! We are prisoners that will not escape His Justice! To die in your sin is the worst of all deaths as it is the entrance to eternal consequences of eternal punishment, eternal judgement by God, in a devil’s Hell.
“BUT GOD…” sent Jesus to pay the price, the ransom, to deliver us from spiritual slavery and agree the cost, the terms of freedom for the transfer to take place that liberty may be our new environment and standing before God.-{Read Romans 5:1-2}
To “REDEEM,” is to pay a price that you have no means to pay yourself, in order to release yourself from under the wrath of God and power and guilt of sin and dominion of satan.- {Read 2 Tim 2:25-26; Eph 3:1-2}. We are spiritually bankrupt, no means within us to free ourselves. Looking to someone outside of you to redeem pay the ransom. In the spiritual realm, there is no human who can satisfy the perfection of God’s righteous standard that needs to be met. For we all fall short due to our sin. We can not bargain, buy it, manipulate, or merit it. We are hopelessly, helplessly, totally incapable of doing so. We cannot combine all our resources to somehow appeal to God or overthrow Him or rewrite the requirements, though we often try, one way is to appeal to our “good” works in comparison to others. But we all fail.
It is like two people standing at the Grand Canyon and trying to jump it.
It is said to be “…18 miles {averages 10 miles} in width and at it’s deepest is one mile plus.”
One may run and jump six feet in the air, but that is insufficient and way short, they will fall to their doom. The other may be able to jump further distance, that of an Olympic gold medalist in the long jump, longer than the first person and can compare them-self and boast over how much better they are than the previous person’s attempt, but they too will fall from the air deep down into the Canyon as they too are also unable to humanly bridge the gap and they too will fall down into the depths of the Canyon. Insufficient ability to get to the other side by jumping. Futile and such is our comparing ourselves to one another. For we are not the standard, God is and His standard is perfection! Perfect Holyness, perfect Righteousness. We are imperfect, controlled and dominated by sin, incapable of delivering ourselves from the chains of sin, the power of satan and the justice of God!
We need help from God and this HE HAS PROVIDED THROUGH HIS SON, THE LORD JESUS! He lived a sinless, perfect life and on the Cross bore the wrath of God against our sin and through the Cross of Christ our sins have been obliterated, erased, cancelled for all eternity, never to be held against us because they were held once and for all against the LORD Jesus. What love, what devotion what commitment that he should die for His … enemies… to rescue, redeem them by paying the ransom, the price so that we would be free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin and the captivity of satan, and the wrath of GOD!
JESUS DID THIS! {Read Col 1:12-14}
How did He do this? By His precious blood. The Motivation for living such a life of Hope {v 13}… Holyness {v 14}… Honoring Him {v 15}…is the ransom paid by Jesus Christ for your Spiritual Freedom!
He ransomed you from the slave market of sin and from a “futile,” valueless, useless life that has no spiritual benefit or rewards for you or anyone around you, which has been passed on by past generations, this “futile” way of living with all it’s values, opinions, pursuits passed down to you, are of no spiritual benefit. Paul wrote “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.“-{Eph 4;17-19}.
Outside of Jesus Christ every life from an eternal spiritual perspective is an evil lust driven, ignorant, valueless, useless existence, because the life is not functioning as it should-to Glorify God. It does not have any eternal use or benefit to the person or society or God’s Honor according to God’s Word. When a life is not right with God, that life will not and cannot point other live to God.- {1 Peter 1;14,17-18}. Solemn!
You have been redeemed from being dominated by the evil cravings of “lusts” and “ignorance” concerning God, HIS Word, will, His ways, His power for you.- {Read 1 Peter 1:14}. You are free from the control of evil “lusts, ignorance, futile” which characterized every person who has not been redeemed and reconciled with God through the exclusive work of the LORD Jesus. Redeemed to live free in Christ to know Him and live for Him and so your life has meaning, eternal meaning not just for you but for those around you. Your life counts, and can count continually for eternity!
His Blood shed and paid so you could be FREE and JESUS CHRIST paid the FULL Ransom! You can live this life of hope, holyness, honoring Him and owe it to Him to live a certain way, think a new Spirit empowered, Scriptural guided way and choose choices consistent with His desire, design for you! Why live Hopeful, Holy, Honoring to Him? Because of the Cost, The Ransom paid by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is your Motivation, His ransom the manifestation of His love for you is your daily motivation to continually live Fully Hopeful in the grace that is to come… be Holy… by not living as you used to but living the way He wants and Be Honoring Him because He is worthy! His cross screams the love of God to you, the high valuation He has placed on you and it should produce humility at what it took to free you from your sin, such was its hold and hostility against God it took the Blood of Jesus Christ to satisfy the Justice of God. let hi or her boast in Him, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”-{Gal 6:13}. Choices are to be made based on FACTS… Truth! Based on the ACTION of the LORD JESUS!
If you find yourself struggling at times, despair seeking to wrestle you down, or temptation seeking to entice you to sin, then consider Jesus Christ and the price He paid to redeem you and set you FREE spiritually for all eternity! Consider Jesus and His Cross, his Work on your behalf to satisfy the Father. Consider Jesus!