Articles
Jesus, Our Ransom
Anyone who has owned a television set and has watched it will know what a ransom is. We’ve all seen episodes of Law and Order or some other popular show that has documented the purpose of a ransom. A ransom is a payment required to free someone held in captivity.
As people who have defiled and tarnished the image of God by engaging in acts contrary to His will, we are all held in bondage by sin. Our taskmaster is unpleasant and cruel, but completely justified in accusing us of defilement. You see, Satan does not need to lie to convict us; our actions convict us. Can Satan lie? Yes. Does he need to convict us? No. We are in bondage because we chose to sin. We appointed him our taskmaster when we engaged in illicit activities, when we defrauded our neighbor, when we transgressed the purpose of our Creator.
But there is hope. For all those willing to use the eyes of faith to see the bondage of sin, Christ offers deliverance. But sin requires death. Christ paid that debt and set Satan’s hostages free. Because of Christ’s atoning ransom, Satan can no longer hold our sins against us. Christ paid the ransom because no one else could. Behold the words of the psalmist: “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit” (Ps. 49:7-9).
We owed an unpardonable debt and were captive to death, but God at the fullness of times prepared a sacrificial ransom on our behalf. After thousands of years of preparing the nation of Israel, His son was born of a virgin under the most humble of circumstances. He came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). After learning, laughing, and loving, He met the cruelness of our debt while being nailed on the cross. In this the prophecies were fulfilled and the men of old saw themselves ransomed from the pit (cf. Ps. 49:15).
As the anger of God raged while His Son was rejected, Christ made the ultimate ransom on our behalf. While He could have poured out His rage and fury upon mankind leaving us to our own self-imposed captor, He chose not to (compare Hosea 13:14 with 1Cor. 15). He chose to ransom us from Satan, from ourselves. He paid our debt. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1Tim. 2:5f).
