Hello Beloved,
As we continue our study of the names and titles of Jesus, we were previously in the Old Testament. Last month, we considered the title of Jesus as “The Banner.” This month we will consider the salvation names of Jesus. We will be following closely with Elmer Towns categories of names, beginning with “Redeemer.” The title of Redeemer is never used of Jesus in the New Testament, though His work of redemption is spoken of often. The term “redemption” basically means “to buy back.” When it is associated with our salvation, it means the price that was paid to purchase our salvation and forgiveness of sins, which was Christ’s blood.
We can follow Towns’ description of Jesus as “Redeemer” by focusing on three different aspects of this concept. First, we will consider that Christ purchased us in the “marketplace.” The term agorazo means “to go to the marketplace (agora) and pay the price for a slave.” Think of the song that was sung in heaven and led by the Four Living Creatures in Revelation 5: “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” Revelation 5:9 (ESV). Second, redemption (exagorazo) also means “to buy out from the marketplace.” In Galatians, the Apostle Paul emphasizes Christ’s redemption by removing us from the curse of the law. He writes, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— Galatians 3:13 (ESV). In the place of this curse, God has made us adopted sons and daughters; “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” Galatians 4:4-5 (ESV). Third and finally, let us search out Christ’s redemption as lutrao, which means “to pay the price for the slave and then release him.” This aspect of redemption emphasizes the freedom for those redeemed in Christ through the shedding of His blood. The author of Hebrews writes, “he (Christ) entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” Hebrews 9:12 (ESV). As Towns concludes, the redemption of Christ “includes the price of redemption (agorazo), removal from the marketplace of sin (ekagorazo), and the provision of liberty to the redeemed (latrao).”
In the super-miracle of the Incarnation, our very Creator, Preserver, Judge, becomes our Kinsman, Sinbearer, Redeemer! Of all miracles and mysteries this is the most staggering. (J. Sidlow Baxter)
Until next time, this is Pastor Daniel writing, “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
*Today’s notes came from Elmer Towns’ “The Names of Jesus.”