Fri 6 Mar, 2009
“When Jesus says that he came “to give his life as a ransom,” the focus is not on who gets the payment. The focus is on his own life as the payment, and on his freedom in serving rather than being served, and on the “many” who will benefit from the payment he makes. If we ask who received the ransom, the biblical answer would surely be God. The Bible says that Christ “gave himself up for us, [an] . . . offering . . . to God” (Ephesians 5:2). Christ “offered himself without blemish to God” (Hebrews 9:14). How many did Christ effectively ransom from sin? He said that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many.” Yet not everyone will be ransomed from the wrath of God. But the offer is for everyone. “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). No one is excluded from this salvation who embraces the treasure of the ransoming Christ.”
Reflecting on this, I am struck by the fact the God is the one to whom the ransom is paid. R C Sproul, in his book “Saved from What?” explains of how we are saved by God, from God; a “grand paradox” as he calls it. Christians common use the phrase “I’m saved”. I am not sure how most would articulate that meaning but in my case when I used it it meant being save from “hell”. And this is right, to an extent. Yes, a true Christian is saved from hell but how many would go on to see their salvation in Christ as an act of rescue from God himself. I never considered that until I read RC’s book years ago. Again, when I view God as a God of purpose, not as a God of possibility, I can understand the extent of Jesus death satisfying the demands of God, in the form of a ransom for many, rather than just “hush money” paid on my behalf to keep his hands off me, if I pass some test. Jesus death was effectual not potential.
Questions. Did you ever consider that in Jesus death, a ransom was paid to God? Did you ever consider how much God required in payment for the salvation of sinners? Did you ever think about the fact that whether Jesus died for millions upon millions or just one sinner, the ransom to be paid would have been the same?
Quote from “The 50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die”.
Picture – The cross at Mount Erebus, Antarctica, commemorating the 1979 Air New Zealand Crash near Mount Erebus.
