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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to
observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19,20).
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June 6, 2010
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Contents:
1) The Nature of God -- His Work (Steven J. Wallace)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
The Nature of God -- His Work
by Steven J. Wallace
"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of
hosts: 'I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God'"
(Isa. 44:6, all verses are from the NKJV unless noted).
In the last article, we looked at the position of our God, that of
King. We also noted in passing some of the parallels that exist between
Isaiah 44:6-8 and Revelation 1:5-8 which is clearly speaking of Jesus
Christ, the second person in the Godhead. Both passages speak of the
subject matter in this article, that of being redeemer. Again, we
emphasize that Jehovah has personally invested Himself with man.
Redemption is what required the sending forth of God the Son, to die as
a suitable payment for sin; yet, this was known to Him before the
creation of man (Rev. 13:8; 2 Tim. 1:9). It amazes me that, knowing
this cost was involved, He still created man! What love Jehovah has
shown for us, His creation! But first let us explore Jehovah as
Redeemer in the Old Testament.
And His Redeemer
The fact that Jehovah refers to Himself as Israel's redeemer shows that
Israel was in need of being redeemed. It also implicates that Israel
was unable to redeem themselves. What does "redeemed" mean? As it was
understood by the Hebrews it carried with it the idea of "payment." If
an Israelite became too poor to own his land and sold it to another,
his brother could redeem it by paying for the years from the sale until
the Jubilee so that it could quickly go back to the family's estate
(Lev. 25:23-28). If it could not be redeemed, then it would be restored
back to the original inheritor's estate in the Year of Jubilee which
came every fifty years. Redemption of the land was tied to a ransom and
the year of Jubilee which was the year of liberty; thus, to redeem is
to pay for freedom (Ezek. 46:17; Lev. 25:8-10).
Redemption is perhaps defined even clearer in Exodus 6:5-7. Take note
of it carefully:
"And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the
Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore
say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out
from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their
bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great
judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then
you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians'" (emp. added, sjw).
This above passage produces a template of what it means to be redeemed
by God and will serve as the basis of our study. When God redeems, He
brings us out from under something, He rescues us from something, He
pays something. In the last point we may add, that He may pay
retribution to those who are sinning and at the same time make a
payment of grace for those who will obey.
Redemption: Its Cost
Redemption is a beautiful concept, but that doesn't mean that it is not
without a cost. Something has been paid to rescue and bring one
out. Perhaps the idea is better seen in verse seven in Young's
Literal Translation where God says, "and have taken you to Me for a
people, and I have been to you for God...." It is in taking them that
He is giving Himself to them. Redemption has as the heart of it "the
taking," a "giving" of something. This is perhaps a foreshadowing of
the gift given in Christ to redeem us to God, "who gave Himself for us,
that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself
His own special people, zealous for good works" (Tit. 2:14). Jesus
"gave" to "take" for Himself. Even the love that we have for Him is
based on His love that He first gave (1 John 4:19).
But the Lord told old Israel that He would redeem them with an
outstretched arm and with great judgments. Both components are employed
in their deliverance. He used severe judgments upon Egyptian gods to
bring about Israel's deliverance (cf. Ex. 12:12). He also used an
"outstretched arm." The Bible is a book of pictures, and it conveys the
picture here of an arm extended out. Perhaps this is a picture of
fierce strength, but also perhaps of protection and defense for His
people. "The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the
everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and
will say, 'Destroy!'" (Deut. 33:27). It reminds me of the lamenting
scene of Jesus in the New Testament, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often
I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Matt. 23:37).
Redemption: Its Motivation
The motivation to redeem, is not merely just to save. Salvation and
deliverance are certainly composed in the purpose, but redemption is
motivated by affection. God genuinely cares for us (1 Pet. 5:7). "I
will take you as My people..." (Exod. 6:7) pictures God's desire for
the company of man. Nothing has changed in the New Testament
either as far as this is concerned:
"...Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has
prepared a city for them" (Heb. 11:16).
"He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and
he shall be My son" (Rev. 21:7).
There is something in man that God wants and takes pleasure in. What is
it that God desires from a man? The fatherly words of Solomon seem very
fitting, "My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my
ways" (Prov. 23:26). Again, Moses stated, "You shall love the
LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your strength" (Deut. 6:5; cf. Jer. 17:7; 29:13; Joel 2:12; Luke
10:27). What love we can show, though it pales in comparison to His and
though it wars against self-absorption and short-sightedness, is
something God yearns for. He takes pleasure in our heart when our
thoughts run to Him and take refuge and interest in His will. In
His compassion, He is concerned with what we are going through. "I have
also heard the groaning of the children of Israel..." (Exod.
6:5). He is moved by our circumstances with sympathy. "How can I
give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make
you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within
Me; My sympathy is stirred" (Hos. 11:8). Let no one question the
motivation for redemption: God loves and paid the price so that
we may love Him in return. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1
John 4:19).
Redemption: Its Covenant
Redemption from God is not without a covenant but by a covenant. "He
has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant
forever: Holy and awesome is His name" (Ps. 111:9). Again, "...I
have remembered My covenant" (Exod. 6:5). God reveals His will in His
covenant, and it is by our acceptance and obedience of that covenant
that brings a perfected love from God. "But whoever keeps His
word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that
we are in Him" (1 John 2:5). As long as the Israelites were faithful to
the word, God took pleasure in them. The problem came when men and
women began to cast off the will of God. Because our God is the "I AM,"
He will keep His covenant in things that pertain to blessing and
retribution. When His people break it and persist in falsehoods, He is
left no recourse but to deny, discipline and finally destroy them if
there is no repentance. His nature is opposed to evil, and while He
does not take any delight in the death of the wicked, He will bring
about their destruction, if not in this life, for certain in the next.
Idolatry is hideous to the Lord because only hearts that are divided or
unfaithful commit such an act against God. No idol loved and sacrificed
to redeem a man. It is insulting, to say the least. Let us not be
deceived, when we replace God as the object of our greatest affection,
we become idolatrous. As such we can only expect doom from the Lord as
those men and women of Judah who persisted in offering up worship to
the so-called "queen of heaven" (Jer. 44:19). Jeremiah 44:22-26 reads,
"So the LORD could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your
doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore
your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an
inhabitant, as it is this day. Because you have burned incense and
because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice
of the LORD or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His
testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this
day. Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women,
'Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: "You and your
wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands,
saying, 'We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn
incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.'
You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!" Therefore hear
the word of the LORD, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt:
"Behold, I have sworn by My great name," says the LORD, "that My name
shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land
of Egypt, saying, 'The Lord GOD lives.'"'"
The idea is that you are going to get what you desire and deserve.
Since they wanted to worship a false name and a false god, then the
Lord would take His great name out of their mouth. Let your mouth be
consistent with your actions! The Lord cannot be faithful and at the
same time receive faithless men, "If we endure, we shall also reign
with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He
remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2:12,13). Hence the
example of the Israelites who violated the covenant of Jehovah is
eloquently stated by the Holy Spirit:
"For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: 'Today, if you will
hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.' For
who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of
Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not
with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to
whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who
did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of
unbelief" (Heb. 3:14-19).
Redemption: Its Effect
Finally, consider what Moses recorded in our Exodus 6 text, "Then you
shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out..." (6:7,
emp. added). The effect that redemption should have on us is knowing
the Lord. Faith should produce an intimate knowledge of the
Redeemer. "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge" (2 Pet. 1:5). The work that God
did for Israel while they were in Egypt should have been something that
spurred on a desire to know Him. Likewise, "knowing that you were not
redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your
aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot" should have the same effect of knowing Christ and building faith
in God (1 Pet. 1:18,19). One reason Jesus came to earth is so that we
can know the Father (John 14:6-9). The redeemed apostle Paul counted
all the learning and worldly advancement that he attained as rubbish in
comparison to learning Christ (Phil. 3:4-14). What an attitude for all
the redeemed to have, "that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to
His death" (Phil. 3:10). What effect does the work of Christ have on
you?
-- Via Truth Magazine, April 3, 2010
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News & Notes
Recently, I was thinking of Bobbie
Beasley ("Miss B.") who was just a few months younger than my
mother; and in doing a Google search, I was taken to Bobbie's
obituary. It showed that she had passed away May 12 of this
year. From 1985 to 1994, she had been a member of the Tri-state
church of Christ in Ashland, Kentucky, where I was then preaching and
first met her. She was a friendly and outgoing person who
often had many of us from church in her home or elsewhere for various
kinds of get-togethers, which was good for all of us. We were
glad to have had her with us, and we can be thankful that she was a
Christian who loved the Lord. Let those of us who are God's
children be praying for all of her family and friends.
Let us also continue to remember Agnes
Shuff in our prayers, who has been having trouble with her heart
and arteries; and Eloise Craver
who has discomfort from a continual pain, due to hip surgery last
November.
We also want to continue praying for Joe
McGregor who recently had a mild heart attack, and Joe's brother
David who underwent quadruple
by-pass surgery May 28.
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel,
for that is how faith comes (Rom. 10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the
deity of Christ (John 8:24; John 3:18).
3) Repent of sins
(Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ
(Rom. 10:9,10; Acts 8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water
for the remission of sins (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4;
Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21).
6) Continue in the faith;
for,
if
not,
salvation
can
be
lost
(Heb.
10:36-39;
Rev.
2:10;
2
Pet.
2:20-22).
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CHURCH OF CHRIST
201 Rushing Road (at the Hampton Inn), Denham Springs, Louisiana
70726
Sunday services: 9:15 AM (Bible class); 10 AM & 4 PM (worship)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
tedwards@onemain.com
tedwards1109@gmail.com
http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go (Gospel Observer website)
http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/audioser.html (audio sermons)
Directions:
Take the Denham Springs exit (exit 10) off of I-12. At the end of
the exit ramp, turn north. Go about a stone's throw to Rushing
Road. (You'll see a Starbucks, Circle K, and two other gas
stations; with each on each corner.) Turn left on Rushing Road,
and go less then 0.3 of a mile. Hampton Inn will be on the
right. We assemble in its meeting room, which is very close to
the reception counter.
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