I Know That My Redeemer Lives!
Psalm 111:9 – He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever; holy and awesome is his name.[1]
Long before Frequent Flyer Miles or “Earn cash back on every purchase” or Box Tops for Education there was the Betty Crocker coupon. I remember as a child growing up, carefully trimming these “tickets” off each and every box and then carefully filing them (by point value) in my mother’s repurposed recipe box. Once she had collected enough points, she would send them in to redeem some useful kitchenware item from the catalog.
Suddenly, this innocuous act of “redemption” or “reward” was challenged by the text in this week’s Psalm. My study bible defined redemption as “the recovery of something or someone upon payment of a ransom.” My mind raced past images in the news this week of the ISIS-held Japanese hostages, and demands for a ransom to obtain their safe release.
I do not wish to debate the contentious issue of negotiating with terrorists because I feel it is really a no-win situation, at the human-to-human level, and it will only detract from my core observation. For years I have been struggling with the terms redemption, justification, and atonement as they relate to Jesus’ death on a cross. How could a gracious and loving God demand a sacrifice such as that? How could such a wrong make us all right?
Perhaps, since “we are held in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves”, our captor is sin itself, gripping our lives with fear and terror, leading us towards a finite death. But then Jesus, God as Christ, steps forward as the ransom to redeem us. We are freed, and our sins claim his earthly life.
Yet this was not the end. Jesus did something no mortal could; he returned to us. Sin and death and greed found themselves holding a bag of golden coins that no longer held any value.
He lives to silence all my fears; he lives to wipe away my tears;
he lives to calm my troubled heart; he lives all blessings to impart.
He lives and grants me daily breath; he lives, and I shall conquer death;
he lives my mansion to prepare; he lives to bring me safely there.[2]
Yes, I truly know that my redeemer lives! Thanks be to God!
David Krueger