“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

© Brian Labosier  July 15, 2022

We have seen that because God is our Creator, we are not only accountable to Him as our Ruler and King, but He is also our rightful Judge.  We are guilty before a holy and perfect God, and consequently under His judgment.  The remedy for our sin is beyond us.  We need God’s rescue.  Thankfully, God is a gracious God who has Himself taken the initiative to provide a way for redeeming us from our broken relationship with Him caused by our own sin and rebellion. 

Knowing God as Redeemer is the theme found most often throughout Scripture.  It is a truth we could never have anticipated, and this is undoubtedly the reason why God repeats it so often and shows it in so many different ways.  Throughout the Bible, we see God gradually unfolding His work of redemption.  He begins with a time of Preparation in the Old Testament, followed by a time of historical Fulfillment in Jesus’ life, as this is recorded for us in the Four Gospels, and finally a period of Application in the rest of the New Testament. 

(1) Preparation.  Much of the Old Testament is basically a time of preparation or anticipation for the Redeemer’s coming.  Here God was laying the groundwork and preparing the way through prophecies and foreshadowings.  God was patiently preparing the way for sending His only Son for thousands of years, really ever since eternity past, and certainly since the beginning of recorded history.  We catch the first clear glimpse of God’s promise to redeem us in the protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15. Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan’s temptation to disobey God and to align themselves with Satan and the forces of evil, but God promises them that He will have the last word.  God graciously says He will “put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman [representing humanity], and between your [Satan’s] offspring [the forces of evil] and her [the woman’s] offspring [humanity]; he [Christ] shall bruise your head, and you [Satan] shall bruise his heel.”  Then, throughout the remainder of the Old Testament, God lays the foundation for Christ’s coming into the world as our Lord and Savior.

(2) Fulfillment.  God’s work of redemption comes into clearest focus in the New Testament Gospels in the Person of Jesus Christ.  God the Son took on human flesh and came to live in our world as the Word Incarnate.  Paul tells us God’s timing for sending His Son was perfect, “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).  The Gospels go on to describe Jesus’ sinless life, His sacrificial death on our behalf, and finally His glorious resurrection from the dead.  This time of Fulfillment can in turn be subdivided into a number of key periods in Jesus’ life:

(a) Jesus Christ took on human flesh.  The miracle of Christmas is Christ’s incarnation or taking on human nature.  Jesus Christ was fully divine and equal in essence with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.  Yet as John tells us in John 1:14, Jesus Christ “became flesh and dwelt [literally ‘tabernacled’] among us.”  Why did He do this?  One reason was so that we might be able to see and experience God in a fresh way.  John continues in John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he [Christ] has made him known.”  Jesus came to reveal God the Father to us.  Jesus is the supreme revelation of who God is and what He is like.  Paul describes how the gospel of God’s grace is particularly related to “the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:10).  Something so amazing took place that first Christmas that “a multitude of the heavenly host [appeared] praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13-14).

 (b) Jesus lived a perfect life.  The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  Jesus came as a human being to identify Himself with humanity.  He then lived a perfect life in order that He might be that “lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:19) and pay the penalty for our sin and guilt as a perfect sacrifice in our place.  As believers we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness (see Philippians 3:9).   He secured this gift of righteousness through living a perfect sinless life.

(c) Jesus died a sacrificial death in our place.  Jesus took our place and died a horrendous death on the cross of Calvary.  There He suffered God’s full and unmitigated wrath.  Thus, for all who are united with Christ through faith, the debt of our sin before God has now been paid in full.  The blessings that are ours through Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death are sometimes described as double imputation.  Our sins were imputed to Christ in the sense that He personally bore their punishment in His own body on the cross.  At the same time, the blessings of Jesus’ obedient and perfect life are imputed to us—or credited to our account.  In a sense it is like marriage, where one partner normally shares in both the blessings and resources of the other as well as their debts and liabilities.  In the case of our union with Christ through faith, the debt of our sins is placed on Him and all His blessings of perfect obedience become ours.  This is what Martin Luther described as the “joyful exchange.”  It is Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death that make all this possible.  Both Jesus’ perfect obedient life and His sacrificial death on our behalf are necessary for our salvation.

(d) Jesus rose victorious from the grave.  Jesus’ resurrection demonstrates both God the Father’s seal of approval on accepting Jesus’ death on our behalf and illustrates the kind of resurrection we too will experience one day.  The unworking of the curse in Genesis 3 began with Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and ultimately, all of creation will someday be restored in a new heaven and a new earth.  But the beginning of this restorative process began with Christ’s resurrection.  This is where the tide changed and the effects of the curse in Genesis 3 began to be undone.  Every blessing we can experience today can be traced back to Jesus’ resurrection.

(e) Jesus continues to intercede on our behalf now that He has ascended and is at home in glory.  His gracious ministry to us isn’t over.  The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 7:25, how Christ “is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”  What truth could be better than knowing that even now Jesus is praying specifically and personally for believers.

This Fulfillment phase of God’s redemptive work took place primarily during Jesus’ life here on earth and thus is described for us in the Four Gospels.  Jesus’ life and death represent the highwater mark of God’s plan of redemption.  But still there is more to come.

(3) Application of God’s plan of redemption.  The rest of the New Testament (Acts, the Epistles, and much of the Book of Revelation) describes the implications, outworkings, and applications of the gospel message both to a complete transformation of individual believers as well as extending outward to all the nations of the world.  Truths that were introduced and hinted at earlier in Scripture now become clearer.  What began as a Jewish movement is now transformed into the present church age, characterized by a gospel message of good news for all peoples.  Unlike the earlier period of Preparation, where God focused on working primarily through a single people group, the people of Israel, God is now at work all around the world, drawing people to Himself from “every nation and tribe and language and people” (Revelation 14:6).  Reaching the entire world was God’s plan all along, but we see it come into focus only as the final portions of Scripture unfolds.

Many other implications of Christ’s work of redemption also become more apparent for all to see, including how God has graciously provided the perfect means by which He can be both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).  Jesus’ death and resurrection provide a way that God can be both righteous and deal with sin as sin, and yet also provide a way to show mercy to sinful, fallen human beings and give us new life.  Even now Christ is at work perfecting His bride and preparing a global people for His glory.  God’s plan for the creation of the New Testament church came into full reality on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and continues to be God’s operating plan in this present day even as we await the final restoration of all things.

Pause and Reflect

(1) Mark 1:15 is a good summary of both Mark’s Gospel and Jesus’ ministry when He says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”  Thus, knowing God as Redeemer involves responding to Christ in repentance, faith, and ongoing obedience. 

(2) Paul tells us in Acts 4:12, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name [than that of Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  Why is the Bible so emphatic that there is no other way to experience God’s gift of salvation?

(3) Even now, God is calling men and women to come to Him and recognize His Son, Jesus Christ, as the One who has made possible our redemption.  Have you come to Christ in repentance and faith?  How has this new life changed the way you live your daily life?