God:
Who is God?
God the Redeemer:
We started the class with a discussion about items we have previously covered; the order of God, the order God had for man and the origin of the sin of Adam. In the sin of Adam, we discussed that it was Adam and not the woman who sinned first. Although the woman (her name was not Eve yet) did give in to Satan’s temptation and ate from the tree first (which was a violation of God’s command to them), Adam who allowed her to eat without stopping her was the cause of the fall. In Genesis 3:5, we read, “She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Adam was there the whole time and did not stop her from violating the command. God had given Adam the authority over the woman and it was his responsibility to take care of her. Take notice in verse 6 that when she eats of the fruit nothing happens. But after Adam eats, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened.” This order is important because God has not changed it; we as the leaders of our house, family, and marriage are still responsible.
We also discussed the origin of all world religions, the way of God and the way of Cain. God has His order that He taught Adam for sacrifice. Adam taught his children and they were expected to perform this sacrifice according to God’s method. Abel did follow the order. Cain chose to produce his own work; the work of his hands, which was not correct, and God did not accept it. Thus, the origin of all religion; God’s way which is to seek His will and do it in His order, or the way of Cain which is to believe that your works will be sufficient and that God’s order does not matter. It is a matter of selfishness. All of this points to the fact that God had a method and a plan even after Adam sinned. When God promised a plan for redemption in chapter 3, He made His intention clear to us and to Satan that He will prevail.
Redemption:
God is our Redeemer through His Son Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? The word redeem has many quantitative meanings. When the English word redeem is looked up in Strong’s concordance, we find that it is Strong’s Hebrew word number H1350 “ga’al.” It means:
a) (Qal)
1. To act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin, act as kinsman-redeemer
· a) By marrying brother's widow to beget a child for him, to redeem from slavery, to redeem land, to exact vengeance
2. To redeem (by payment)
3. To redeem (with God as subject)
a) Individuals from death
b) Israel from Egyptian bondage
c) Israel from exile
b) (Niphal)
1) To redeem oneself
2) To be redeemed
The law of the kinsman redeemer is found in Leviticus 25:25-34. In the book of Ruth, we see Boaz enacting this law and putting it into practice to redeem the land for Ruth through Naomi her mother-in-law who is a close relative to Boaz through marriage. This earth in it’s entirety is condemned the same as we are and groans for the day of redemption. God tells us in Leviticus 25:23 that the “land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine.” This earth will be redeemed
The second order of redemption we understand as “redemption by payment.” We redeem everything (pay for) with cash or charge. In the order that God has established sin is payable by death. The only way to not pay for our sin is to be redeemed by someone else. This is the whole idea of substitutional sacrifice. God made it clear to Adam that a blood sacrifice is the only way to obtain forgiveness of sin by the innocent shedding of blood paying his debt. I believe that God did this when He made the tunics for Adam and Eve. I believe that He was here on earth as Jesus, slit the throat of the animal and shed its blood and showed Adam how to offer a proper sacrifice. This is the reason I believe that Abel new what an acceptable sacrifice was. I’m sure that as Adam watched he was horrified. Jesus wants us to know how painful sin is. Read in Exodus the story of the Passover and the Passover lamb and you will understand. God Himself can only redeem Adam’s sin that separated us from God. That is why Jesus came to earth in a human form. He redeemed us by paying the price for us on the cross. This also is how he redeems us from death into life eternal.
We also see that the word redeem means to redeem Israel from Egyptian bondage and from exile. This order is very important. You know that the Israelis were redeemed from bondage. They saw miracle after miracle performed through this redemption process. They were given explicit instructions on how to live their lives according to God’s order (much like Adam) and they chose to do otherwise. To get His point across, God told them that if they did not obey Him and do His commands, He would exile them and put them under the control of others, which He did. He redeemed them from exile several times including the most recent redemption by putting them back in the land of Israel in 1948. It is amazing if you talk to the people of Israel today. Only 1/10th of the population considers themselves religious or Orthodox. The balance are agnostics and do not believe in God or acknowledge that God put them back into the land.
In the second meaning of redemption, we see that it means to “redeem oneself” and to “be redeemed.” We cannot redeem ourselves. If we could, we would not need God or Jesus for anything, which would make us a god unto ourselves. Only God can redeem us of our sin. We first ask forgiveness, and then we take action, which is repentance or the turning away from our sin, to go in another direction. When we ask for forgiveness of our sins and acknowledge that He is the only one who can forgive us, we receive His salvation, that is, He delivers us from our sins. But the penalty (wage) for that sin still has to be paid or God is a liar. When God told Adam “in that day you take of it, you shall surely die.” Adam ate so he must surely die. This death that God is talking about is eternal separation from Him. We were created to be with Him eternally. Adam’s sin caused his children (that’s us) to be eternally separated from God. Since God is absolute, His commands are absolute. As a result, Adam’s sin absolutely separated him (and us) from God. Since only God can correct this, He chose to do just that. He came to earth in human form to pay for this sin and remove it (redeem it) for us. The only things we have to do is believe that this is true, confess this with our mouths and believe it in our hearts which will cause you to repent and you will be redeemed (saved).