Have you ever played the board game Monopoly? Growing up in a competitive family means that I have a love-hate (mainly hate-filled) relationship with the game, which saw excessive amounts of vindictiveness and thuggish landlord behaviour arise while playing with my siblings. You always knew you were in dire straits financially when you began to mortgage off your properties in order to pay off the exorbitant rent that your sister was charging because she had managed to build an early house on Mayfair. While your property was mortgaged you couldn’t collect rent from people landing on that tile. In order to have access to the tile, you had to pay off the mortgage. To enjoy the property, you had to pay off the debt, you had to redeem the debt.
The term redemption is still used in financial circles when a borrower pays off their debt. It’s a term used in the Bible in a similar way but in our spiritual lives. In the Christian faith, all humans are born with debt. Paul, writing to the Roman church says, “The wages of sin is death.” Sin creates a debt that can only be paid for with death. Death was brought into the world through the original sin of Adam and as each of us are born in Adam we inherit that debt. But it is worse than that, not only is our original slate not clean but with each day we make it worse with the awful things we say, do, and don’t do (when we should). Each day our debt is accruing interest and there’s no chance we’ll ever be able to pay it off.
Our redemption then, is the payment of our debt by Christ. Through His perfect life and innocent death on the cross, Jesus redeems us from the debt of sin. The wages that we had earned through sin are paid by Christ on the cross. The debt that was marked against our account was paid by Christ on the cross. Every brow-piercing thorn, every pained breath, and every drop of blood was the payment for our debt of sin.
It’s why Paul says in Ephesians 1:7-10:
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
According to the riches of God’s grace, the free gift of salvation and divine favour that God has given to us, we have had our debt paid. Paul spells it out simply: in Christ we have the forgiveness of our trespasses, of our sin. All of our debt is paid by Him. Therefore, if you are in Christ, celebrate! Your debt is paid. The sin you have struggled with and continue to struggle with, Christ has paid the debt of it! There’s no longer that Damocles sword of sin hanging over your head. Feel safe in Christ! Through a constant work of confession, we can be reminded that our sins are not only known by God but that they are forgiven by Him too. We can and should marvel at this. The freedom we feel in Christ is won for us by Him paying our debt. The joy we feel is in the unfettered happiness of a debtor set free. The gratitude we feel is the deep thankfulness of one whose freedom was won by sacrifice. While we do not stop at redemption, we recognise its pre-eminent importance in the life of those in Christ.
All things in the Christian life flow from the redemption earned by Christ on the cross. The famous pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London said this:
Redemption is the fulness of all the blessings of God; they are like Gideon’s fleece, and redemption bedews them. It is the key of heaven, the channel of grace, the door of hope. It constitutes our song in the house of our pilgrimage, and will be the theme of our eternal music above.
Charles Spurgeon
Grace has been lavished on us in Christ. The fountainhead of all grace is the redemption found only in the atoning work of Christ. Every blessing we experience flows out of the blood spilling from Christ’s spear-pierced side. The bloody, salty sweat of Christ makes us the salt of the earth. We are justified because we are redeemed. We are being sanctified because we are redeemed. We will be glorified because we are redeemed.
And, friends, Christ’s blood is richer than the purest gold and more priceless than the finest diamonds. Before the blood of Christ there is no debt of sin that remains unpaid. This is such comfort for us! We are redeemed. We are set free. The darkest sins we have are easily blotted out by Christ’s work on the cross.
If you are in Christ, take a moment of joy in that freedom. The debt that you once had has been paid, there is no debt too great that can’t be paid and now we look forward with joy, as we see how God made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. No longer cowering under the weight of the debt of our sin, we can stand in freedom and joy. When you sin this week, look to Christ and look to His cross. Confess to Him and know that on the cross it has been dealt with. Hallelujah!
Heavenly Father,
Through the work of Christ on the cross, you have paid our debt of sin and redeemed us. We give thanks to you for the freedom found in redemption. Help us to live in the freedom and joy found in being debtors set free through our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen