LESSON NINE
CHRIST’S REDEMPTION

Heb. 9:12 And not through the blood of goats and calves but through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, obtaining an eternal redemption.

Eph. 1:7 In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace.

GOD’S WAY OF REDEMPTION BEING THROUGH DEATH

According to the Bible, God’s righteousness requires that all sins be judged. The only way that sin can be judged righteously is by the way of death. Hebrews 9:22 says that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” In order for God to judge and then to forgive our sins, there must be the shedding of blood; that is, there is the need of death. Any way of redemption that does not involve death cannot meet the righteous requirement of God, but comes short of God’s standard.

CHRIST AS THE PASSOVER LAMB

The best picture of this work of redemption is seen in Christ’s becoming the Passover Lamb of God. In the Old Testament the children of Israel were in Egypt, a land of bondage and slavery (Exo. 1:8-14). In order to force the king of Egypt to release His people Israel, God intended to pass through the land and destroy the firstborn of every household.

He ordered the children of Israel to kill a lamb and put the blood on the doorposts of their houses. In the night the messenger of God passed through the land and executed judgment on the land. In all the houses that did not have the blood on their doorposts, the firstborn was killed; but those who hid under the covering of the blood were saved and delivered. The Bible says that He is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

DYING ON THE CROSS TO BEAR GOD’S JUDGMENT ON SIN

When He was crucified on the cross, He was rejected by God. Because of this He cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). He was the sinless Son of God, yet He was forsaken by God. He was judged by God not for His own sins but for the sins of all mankind (1 John 2:2).

CHRIST’S BLOOD SPEAKING FOR MAN AND GIVING MAN PEACE

The Bible says that the blood of Christ speaks for us (Heb. 12:24) like an attorney in a law court speaking for the defendant. Through this blood God is at peace (Rom. 5:9) because His righteous requirement is satisfied. When God is at peace, our conscience also is at peace.

If you see how the redemption of Christ has fully satisfied God, you will be at peace with God. By the redemption of Christ, God has forgiven man’s sins (Eph. 1:7). When God forgives man’s sins, He forgets man’s sins (Heb. 8:12). His forgiving is His forgetting. God can do everything, but He cannot remember the sins of those who have believed in the redemption of Christ. Those who believe in Christ’s redemption are cleansed, justified, purified, absolved, unspotted, and untainted before God. (Christ’s Redemption and Salvation, pp. 5-11)

References: Christ’s Redemption and Salvation; CWWN, Vol. 27, The Normal Christian Faith, ch. 10; Five Great Mysteries in the Bible, chs. 2-3.