We are continuing our travels through the first two chapters of Ephesians and discovering all the benefits that are ours because of our salvation. This brings us to one of the most significant facts about our faith journey. We are redeemed.
To understand what this means, I would like you to use your imagination with me. I know this is a stretch but try to get this picture in your mind. You have been justly convicted of a heinous crime. You have received the death sentence and the day of your execution has arrived. The attendants have strapped you to a table and inserted the IV line that will deliver the deadly drug into your blood stream. All that is left to do is for plunger to be squeezed.
As the order is about to be given, a guard rushes into the room to stop your execution. Not only have you avoided death, but you are being set free to leave prison. To your astonishment, you later learn that someone paid millions of dollars in fines to gain you freedom. You are even more shocked when you discover that this person was the son of the man you had brutally murdered. This just provides a tiny glimpse of what it means to receive redemption from God.
Colossians 1:21 says, Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. This relationship which has been destroyed by sin has dire consequences. Romans 5:12 outlines the worst of these penalties. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. This is not simply physical death, but more tragically, we were destined for eternal death. This is the horror of being separated from God for all eternity. Before we received salvation, the needle was in, and the death sentence was ready administered.
When we receive the gift of God’s redemption through our confession of sin and faith in Jesus, the eternal death penalty is cancelled, and we are set free from the bondage of sin. Romans 6:17-18, But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
In an act of overwhelming love and grace, Jesus, the Son of our enemy, paid the price for our freedom. This was not writing a check for a large amount of money, he paid with his life. This payment forced him to take on himself the guilt and shame that we should have had to pay for ourselves.
This is the picture of redemption. We are bought with a price that we could never have paid. We are redeemed. Give praise to our Lord!