Redeemed! How I Love To Proclaim It!

By Joe Slater

“in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14)

    Ever since Eden, sinful humans have needed redemption. To redeem something is to buy it back; in many cases, it is the equivalent of a ransom. We enslave ourselves to sin; once we have done so, how can we ever be free again? We have nothing with which to redeem ourselves. All the good works we could pile up in a thousand lifetimes couldn’t pay the first penny of interest on our sin debt. The price is too high! “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
    Fortunately for us, our loving God doesn’t want us to suffer the penalty for our sin. While we cannot redeem ourselves, He paid the price Himself, giving His precious Son to die on our behalf and in our place. The blood Jesus shed on the cross purchased our redemption. He freed us from the slavery of sin!
    Redemption from sin includes forgiveness, also known as remission. To forgive means to “send away.” First, our sins are sent away – we no longer have to bear them. Under the Mosaic Law, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest put his hands on a goat’s head, confessed Israel’s sins, and sent the goat away. We commonly call it the “scapegoat” (one who takes the blame for another’s wrongdoing).  Jesus literally did for us what the scapegoat symbolically did for Israel.
    But second, we ourselves are “sent away,” not in the sense of being banished, but being released. God no longer holds our sins against us (see Hebrews 8:12, 10:17). We are forgiven!
    Only “in Christ” is redemption found. Are you “in Christ”? (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27)

- Joe Slater serves as minister of the Church of Christ in Justin, TX. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://justinchurchofchrist.com