“In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
— Ephesians 1:7
Our redemption, according to the riches of His grace.
This matter of redemption is a very big one, and it could take many hours of consideration. Like election, it is a matter which has been misunderstood, and in some ways distorted.
There has been a good deal of confusion over this priceless wonder—our redemption—and the meaning of that work. There may be an element of truth in some of the ideas that are held, but it is just there that confusion arises.
Redemption is often pictured as a matter of taking a slave out of bondage by paying redemption money. Well, I say there may be an element in that idea or interpretation. But the difficulty and confusion arise when you ask the question: to whom is the money paid?
Has God got to pay the devil something to get back that which he has taken? Is God a debtor to Satan? Has God got to go into Satan’s slave market and put out a price to redeem that which Satan has captured?
You see, it is an untenable idea—an unthinkable thing. God is at the mercy of Satan; Satan is in the position of saying, “If You like to pay me an adequate price, I will let You have what is in my possession.” We will never recognize that.
So we have got to revise our idea of this matter of redemption. I say there may be an element of truth in it; it may go just so far as we shall probably see. But that is really not the whole truth, and if we are not clear, we shall be in some confusion.
It is important that we have a right understanding of things. We rejoice in redemption; we sing about redemption. We can never make too much of redemption. But there is real value in understanding what we are talking about and having a right apprehension of the words and terms that we use so commonly.
Now let us begin where it does begin. Redemption begins with being unto God. It is redemption unto God.
The great word at the beginning of the Book of Revelation is, “Unto God.” Unto God. That means that something has been taken from God which is God’s right.
If something has been taken from God, the balance of things has been upset. Things are not equal. Things are not complete. There is something lacking which belongs to God.
If there is a family, and in that family there are two sons, and one son is removed, the balance of the family is upset. It is one-sided. The father’s position is divided, incomplete, and unequal.
If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, that is his complete lot—his fullness. If one of those sheep is lost, the balance is upset. The thing is not complete. His possession is interfered with, disturbed, and things are out of proportion.
If a woman has a necklace with ten pieces of silver hanging from it, and one piece of silver is lost, then the balance is upset. She has not got all that belongs to her. Things are unequal; the balance is disturbed.
The bringing back of those lost things—whether it be a son, a sheep, or a piece of silver—restores the balance to the owner. That is redemption unto God.
God has all that belongs to Him, that which is His right, and there is completeness restored. Redemption unto God.
But what is it really that has been lost? Of course, we have the parables and illustrations in Scripture: a son, a sheep, a piece of silver, and many other things employed to illustrate the truth. But they are only illustrations.
What is it really that has been lost, that has upset the balance? It is life. It is life.
Now, here is the mystery of redemption. What we are met with in the Bible throughout is this very matter of the disturbance of the balance of life, and God’s demand that that balance shall be restored.
He is the Author, the Fountain, the Origin, and the whole sum of life. Life is God’s. He alone is the rightful Lord of life. Life belongs to God.
If I may put it this way, God has so much life—just so much life—which is a complete measure of life, a fullness of life, an ultimate life. Life is just so much in God, with God: not less, not more, just so much.
Take something of that life away, and you upset the balance of life. The whole thing is out of proportion. Redemption means restoring that balance by restoring the fullness.
Now then, here you have your basis. We are in these days very much occupied—or the government is, and perhaps the country is—with this matter of capital punishment.
A life has been taken; therefore another life must equalize the situation. The balance of life must be restored. That is at the heart of capital punishment, as in the law of God:
“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”
— Genesis 9:6
Why? Just revenge? Just judgment only? “You do that to me; I do that to you”? Is it just that? No, there is a deep principle here.
So much life has been taken by the slaying of that man. God says that has got to be put straight; that has got to be equalized. The balance has got to be restored.
Or take the law of the cities of refuge for the manslayer. A very interesting matter is that of the manslayer and the cities of refuge provided, because he has taken life and the avenger of blood is on his track to equalize this—to take his life, put it straight, and make the thing up again.
That is negative, so far as the Old Testament is concerned, but we have not finished yet. You can see that the principle is quite clear. It is just a matter of restoring the balance of life.
Through the Old Testament it is like that. It is all a wonderful illustration of a great divine truth. The point is: life has been taken which belongs to God. It belongs to God because He is the Author of life.
God is an equal God. Equality, or equity, or righteousness—which is a perfect balance of things—belongs to God. Things must be even in God’s universe: not out of proportion, not out of order, not out of measure, but perfectly even.
When we come to the end of redemption, everything will be even. Everything will be straightened up. There will be nothing out of balance or out of proportion, but all will be just right.
“And righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.”
No longer will there be any ground for a quarrel with God. It is just right. That is the point over this matter of redemption: it is a question of righteousness.
There is, in God’s order, God’s universe, and God’s system of things, a great equalizing principle.
You can never be in fellowship with God and be unrighteous in a detail. Your fellowship with God, your oneness with God, is upset; it is unbalanced. It is like a dislocation, a limb in the body, if there is a point of unrighteousness.
In life, in business transactions, or in relationships, if there is something unrighteous, the balance is upset. God is going to demand that that is straightened out, even that.
Righteousness is a tremendous thing with God because it means that God has things balanced—perfectly balanced.
Now, the perfect type is life. The Old Testament tells us that the blood is the life. The blood is the life.
You and I can never, never put this matter right with God. Man can never give God that which has been taken from Him.
Therefore, His own Son took flesh and blood. Christ’s infinite life—His infinite blood—was given.
You never yet fathomed the wonder of the blood of Jesus Christ. It stands for His life. His infinite life is given to God to restore the balance, to make up what has been lost and what has been taken from God by the murderous hand that has come in.
He gives to God, by His own blood, that infinite life because it has got to be sufficient to meet the demands of an infinite God on the one side, and of all men on the other side.
Yes, sufficient life poured out by Jesus Christ, God’s Son, for God’s satisfaction. God shall have all that is His right.
It is poured out to meet that demand of God in all men from whom this life has been taken. The payment is not to Satan; it is to God. It is redemption by His blood unto God.
There follows this: because man is, by this terrible thing that has happened, in a position of helplessness, he is in bondage. He is helplessly in bondage.
You can take your illustrations from the Old Testament. Israel in Egypt is always referred to as being in the land of bondage. They were in bondage. That is the word which governs their position there.
How were they delivered from that bondage? Well, we say, by the blood of the lamb. By the blood of the lamb.
The operation was two-sided. It depended entirely upon the attitude of the heart—the attitude of faith.
In unbelief and rebellion of heart, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians persisted, the blood testified against them, against their undoing.
But Israel was just as much in bondage to sin, to the world, as Egypt was. Just as much. Look at them. The difference which did come about was by their attitude toward the blood.
If the Israelites had, in hardness of heart, refused to take that blood and sprinkle it upon the doorposts and the lintel, making that circle of blood, they would have gone the same way as the Egyptians—remaining in bondage and death under judgment.
But they recognized that, though of course they did not understand and did not know what we are talking about, they had the simple prescription and command that they should take that blood of the lamb without spot and without blemish, and sprinkle it.
With that simple command arose the demand for the obedience of faith. Thereby, that blood answered for them to God’s requirements.
God knew the secret, the mystery, of that blood. God, who is the timeless, eternal God, was not moving merely many hundreds or thousands of years before; He was moving then and there on the ground of His own Son at Calvary, the Passover Lamb.
He knew the meaning of it, but Israel did not have the understanding. God knew, and He made His simple requirement. But bound up with it was this deep, measureless mystery of life.
God had a right to life. God must have that which is His own—life. So the slain lamb, with its shed blood, symbolically answered to God’s demand.
In that life-blood poured out, it is unto God. Remember, through all the Old Testament ritual in Israel, the blood belongs to God. The blood belongs to God. It is sacred unto God.
Do not drink the blood. Do not appropriate the blood. That is poured out unto God. That is God’s right. It represents the life which belongs to God.
In the giving, then, God has His rights, His portion, what belongs to Him.
So when we come to this word in Ephesians 1, “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,” we have redemption through His blood.
And John says that He “redeemed us unto God by His blood.” You could change the words if you like: we have redemption through His poured-out life; redeemed unto God through His poured-out life. That is the meaning of it.
The Lord Jesus, because of the infinite value and the infinite nature of that which He gave in His cross unto God, satisfies God perfectly in this matter of His requirements and demands.
The explanation may sound a little complicated, and of course it is. It is the unsearchable riches, the depths of the riches beyond us. But after all, in experience, it is very simple.
Dear friends, when you and I, at the beginning of our Christian life, take by faith the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, we do not understand it. We do not comprehend its meaning.
But in simple faith, we see that it is by way of the blood of Jesus Christ that we are saved. In that simple, genuine heart faith in the efficacy and virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, we take it and give ourselves to God on the ground of it.
What is our first consciousness? Everything is all right. Everything is all right.
The dislocation, the unbalanced state of things, has been put straight. We call it peace with God. Peace with God is only another way of saying the same thing: God has what He requires for His satisfaction.
If God is satisfied, you will be well satisfied. If there is that in us which satisfies Him, the Spirit will bear witness.
Although, again, we do not understand—we are in depths which will take eternity to comprehend—there is the simple beginning of this effect. Everything was distorted; there was an unbalanced state; something was lacking that was essential to our peace.
But now we have peace with God. The balance is restored. God is satisfied. In our heart we feel, although we cannot explain it, that somehow or another a great adjustment has taken place. Things are equal now. Things are straight now. Put it as you will, it is a consciousness, is it not?
What is true in that sense, in the initial aspect of our salvation, will be an abiding law throughout our Christian life: if, in any matter whatsoever, God’s rights are being withheld—if He is not getting that which is His due—in that measure we shall lack the goodness of His rest and His peace.
There is an unbalanced state of things; there is an oscillation in the balance. Do you know something about that oscillation in the balances of your heart? It is not steady, just not steady. Something is uncertain, wavering. You are not sure about this.
But immediately you and I get that thing cleared up with God—it may be only one thing—get that straightened out, and God gets what is His, peace is restored.
It is a wonderful truth in the Christian life, is it not? It is simple in that way. But then comes the question: why have I been holding out so long? Why did I not get that thing cleared up before now?
I have been spoiling everything for myself because the Lord has not had what He had a right to.
Now, redemption is initial, redemption is progressive, and redemption is final. There are the three tenses.
You can change the word redemption to salvation, if you like; it is the same thing. We were saved, we are being saved, and we shall be saved. Those are the three tenses of salvation.
The first is what He has done for us perfectly and completely, which we have accepted. The second is the process of redemption or salvation: God is getting more and more of that requirement of His in our life.
As He does, we are knowing more and more the balanced life, the steady life of rest and confidence. But, thank God, that will go on to the end of our days. Salvation will continue right to the last breath.
There is that ultimate, perfect salvation when, with that throng around the Lamb on the throne, we shall sing, “Thou hast redeemed us unto God.” That is the final, last phase of redemption.
It is all in the infinite value of the blood of Jesus.
See how great this is? Well might the apostle include this in the riches of His grace, the unsearchable riches of His grace, the depth of the riches of His grace.
God has provided that which we could never give Him, answering to God for His righteous demands which we could never meet.
All these words are bound up together. He is made unto us from God wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The righteousness which is of God through faith in Jesus Christ—God has provided it all in His Son.
Now I will say a word as to the next thing in this wonderful group of the riches of His grace. It is closely linked with what we have: election, adoption, redemption, and that which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
He made to abound unto us in all wisdom. One of the riches of His grace is this wisdom which He has made to abound toward us.
It is such a many-sided and full matter—wisdom made to abound unto us. Christ is made unto us from God wisdom. I am only going to say one thing in this context, in the light of what we have said and what the rest of this chapter contains.
What is wisdom in its meaning here?
When the apostle has set forth these profound and unexplorable things, he goes on his knees.
That was something extraordinary for a Jew. Very rarely did a Jew kneel down to pray. He always stood up to pray. If it was in the synagogue, he stood up.
The common attitude in prayer for the Jew was standing and lifting up the hands. It is only occasionally that you find such a one on his knees. You find Daniel on his knees.
Now Paul says, “I bow my knees unto the Father.” What is this? Why this unusual attitude and position? Something unusual is at stake, or it is on occasion for something extraordinary.
You will agree that it was so with Daniel. Remember, when he prayed, there was something tremendous involved. Now the apostle says, “I bow my knees” for something here that is a tremendous matter.
What does he ask? What does he pray for? He has said all these things. He knows how incomprehensible they are.
“That He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know.”
— Ephesians 1:17–18
Now you have got the heart of wisdom. What is the heart of wisdom? It is the gift and ability of seeing right into the heart of things.
The ability given to see into the heart of things: the spirit of wisdom.
Paul is writing in this letter about the mystery hidden from ages and generations, from before times eternal, hidden in Christ, now brought out from the hidden place and committed to him.
Paul is trying to explain and speak about this mystery. These great things are in the mystery: predestination, election, redemption.
There have been men putting themselves into intellectual distortions through hundreds of years to explain just these words—predestination and foreordination—and they are still going on with it.
Paul knows how deep are these riches of grace, what a tremendous thing is brought to us in Christ. Before it all, he falls down on his knees: “I bow my knees unto the Father, that He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation.”
Wisdom and revelation mean the ability to see into the heart of it.
All I can add to that is that the Holy Spirit has come and is with us in order to disclose to us the heart of these things.
Perhaps the greatest need of Christians today is to see the meaning of the things that they believe—to see the meaning of what true Christianity is, the meaning of all these things that make up our Christian faith.
They are depths beyond our reaching. They are abysmal things, these things. We need an ability, God-given, to be able to see into the heart of them.
But thank God that is possible. Thank God, the Holy Spirit is given for that very purpose.
What I am saying to you, dear friends, is just this: that you and I may have this same Spirit and this work of the Spirit to open our hearts—the eyes of our hearts—and give us this wisdom to see into the heart of the things of Christ.
What a wonderful thing it is just to see a little way in. “Oh, I see. I never saw that before.”
That is light. That is indeed illumination. That is revelation. That is the truth. It has an effect.
It is not just mental pleasure or fascination. It does something in us. It puts us into a position where we cannot throw that away easily. It has become a part of us.
We will never say, “We can do without that. Well, that is all very wonderful, that is all very nice,” and so on. “Let us come back to the simple things, easily understood.” We cannot do that once we have seen into the heart of things.
We cannot throw it away or part with it easily. To do so would be to do irreparable damage to our own spiritual life.
This truth, this mighty one, is not something that I have got. It is myself—my very self, my very life. I have seen. God has made it known to me.
Yes, I cannot explain it all, but there it is. It is myself. He has made it a part of myself. That is wisdom. That is wisdom.
It is seeing right into the heart, knowing in an inward and interior way the meaning of the things we have heard and perhaps believed.
Dear friends, I think you receive from what I have said this afternoon that there is a grip, a fullness, in such a word as redemption, of which we have only touched the fringe.
Everything else in our salvation is in the same category. It has the dimensions of God Himself, and it is going to take eternity for us to comprehend.
But it is given to us here to know, and to know more and still more, of the depth of the wisdom of His grace.