Thoughts on Forgiveness and Redemption
By Dr. Michael Wodlinger, Quebec Representative, Chosen People Ministries (Canada)
By Dr. Michael Wodlinger, Quebec Representative, Chosen People Ministries (Canada)
If I asked you to select one word to describe yourself, you might argue that just one word would not be adequate to cover all aspects of your personality. And I would definitely agree.
But have you noticed that few things are described by just one word? Yeshua is the Word, but He is also called the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Adonai and many other descriptive names. Believers are disciples, children, messengers, citizens, slaves and others. Each word describes an aspect of a person or concept. Some might overlap, but no one word covers the subject in its entirety.
Forgiveness expresses the idea that there is a debt owed and that we are being released from that debt. For example, if you loaned someone a hundred dollars but decided that you didn’t want it paid back, then that debt has been forgiven in whole or in part. As we find in Romans 6:23, once a debt is forgiven it cannot be collected later.
When we find ourselves in difficult situations, most of us turn to our families and friends for help in extracting us from our tight spot. Such aid between family members is expected by God, as Paul tells Timothy in I Timothy 5:8. In the times of the Prophets, it was common for an extremely poor man to sell off the family land to meet his debts. When this happened, one of his relatives was expected to buy the land back so that it would remain in the family (Leviticus 25:23-25). If a man became so poor he only had himself to sell, his relatives were expected to buy him back from his owner (Leviticus 25:47-49).
The whole concept of redemption is beautifully illustrated in the book of Ruth, especially in the fourth chapter when Boaz offers to purchase the family land owned by Naomi and marry Ruth to redeem the family.
Our lives have been sold into bondage by sin. Who then can cover our debt? How can we extract ourselves from the bondage into which we have sold our souls (Romans 6:16, 19-21)?
We know the redemption of a man’s soul is costly (Psalm 49:7-9). Think about it. We have all sold our souls to the adversary and do not have the means to buy them back. What else do we possess that we could possibly offer in exchange for our souls? Money and worldly possessions cannot follow us to Sh’ol (Psalm 49:16-17). Besides, all that is in the world already belongs to the Almighty Creator. Do you see the mess humans get themselves into when they are seduced by the enemy into sin?
But where we are powerless, God is able to redeem (Psalm 49:15). Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to redeem us from slavery (Galatians 4:3-5). Adonai Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, was the only one able to redeem mankind and He provided the only appropriate method – the giving of His own life (Hebrews 2:9-11).
You see, we sold ourselves into miserable slavery and our own Brother bought us back from our enslaving master. What wondrous love is this that was shown to such wretched creatures!
As awesome as this redemption is, we must not neglect to recognize that Adonai Yeshua is also our avenger. Since the penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23), the one who leads men into sin is a murderer (John 8:44). Adonai Yeshua’s death gave Him the opportunity to destroy the destroyer (Hebrews 2:14-15).
Let all give thanks to God for our Redeemer and for our redemption! Let us praise our blessed Redeemer, our Messiah, for providing us with the Way, the Truth and the Life, and bringing with Him forgiveness and redemption.