WHAT IS GOD LIKE?
#5 REDEEMER
We like to think that we are free, that nothing holds us bound, or enslaved or captive.
Yet when we are honest we find many expressions of bondage - the traumas of the past; guilt and self-condemnation that hold us fast in a constant inability to be 'good enough'; sin that traps us in its coils; or maybe this whole world scene is so despairing that we are lost in its dark hopelessness and meaninglessness from which there is no way out and into which no light can shine.
The Bible teaches that God is the One who sets people free. The word it uses is 'Redeemer'; the liberating action is 'redemption'.
God is our 'Redeemer', that is, he sets us free from
- the guilt and condemnation of our sins (Psalm 130:7-8; Titus 2:14);
- the separation from God caused by sin (Isaiah 59:2; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21);
- the death penalty imposed on sin (Hosea 13:14; Romans 3:23); and
- the ultimate enemy (Jeremiah 15:21; Colossians 1:13; 2:15).
How has God achieved this great spiritual liberation? Jesus Christ said 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' (John 8:32).
But, we might ask, what it truth? Jesus Christ said 'I am the way, the truth and the life' and 'I am the light of the world' (John 14:6; 8:12).
To know Jesus Christ is to know absolute truth. In addition, to know him is to know liberation from guilt and the fear of judgement (Galatians 3:10-13; 5:1; Romans 8:1; John 8:36).
How can this be? Through his sin-bearing death, in which the price/penalty of sin is paid (1 Peter 1:18-21; Galatians 3:10-13; Revelation 5:6-9).
It is God's desire that everyone should experience this freedom from guilt and punishment that he has provided (John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9).
Reach out. Trust him. Choose freedom.
[Further Bible texts: Job 19:25; Isaiah 41:14; 43:14; 44:6,24; 47:4; 49:26; 63:16; Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12.]