Skip to main content

Redeemed!


          From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along. “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 59:19-20)

          To redeem something, one buys it back or compensates for its bad behavior. According to today’s passage, the Lord will come as an unstoppable force to redeem those in Jacob who repent. Add that to His coming to be injured, to crush the serpent’s head, to act as an intermediary between God and man, to judge the world, to do battle, and to deliver both vengeance and retribution, and you get a general picture of the reasons Jesus came, according to the Old Testament. No doubt, there are other pieces to this puzzle in the Old Testament, but these are the passages that specify what He was/is coming to do. Whether they excite you, frighten you, or anger you depends on your perspective.
          Since today is Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to consider these things as reasons to be grateful. God will set things right. He will do battle for you and for me. He will put an end to the reign of the one who has terrorized this world for thousands of years. In fact, He has put an end to it, but in terms of what we’ve looked at so far, it was all still in the future. Now it’s only partly in the future.
          I am thankful for God’s redemption this Thanksgiving. I don’t what’s on your list of bad behavior that you can’t seem to get past. Mine is long. What redemption gives to us is hope that those things that we try to turn from cannot hold us forever. If we can focus on that, perhaps our repentance will be easier.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more