You Have Been Redeemed and Forgiven
It was truly dangerous. The whitewater rafting trip should have been cancelled. Today, it would have been. But back in the 80’s, when I was 17 years old, our youth group hit the water. I remember the guides talking about normal water flow being 700 gallons per second through the measuring station. But due to spring rains, the river was running at 2,400 gallons per second that day. It was intense whitewater rafting.
There was only one thing to do. Raft on!
Within 30 seconds of hitting the river, Deb got tossed over the side. Thankfully, our youth leader acted quickly. He reached across the boat and grabbed her by the ankle. It was very funny seeing someone soaking wet only from the waist up!
At a rest spot downriver, they stopped the whole group and told us to stay away from a dangerous rock. Despite the warnings, two rafts got swept up in the current and dashed upon the rock, one on top of the other. We could see people from the first raft scattering as the second raft was being tossed on top of the first. Our guide yelled at us to meet her downriver as she dived into the rushing torrent to go rescue people and recover a raft.
As we passed the rock, we heard a woman yelling for help. The remaining five of us in the raft fought our way over and got her safely into the boat. No one died that day. But honestly, looking back on it, I’m a little surprised it all ended well.
This is a picture of what God has done for us in Christ.
We were being swept downriver in the torrent of sin. We were not only slaves to sin, but because of our sinful nature we were objects of God’s wrath as we lived under the leadership of the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2b, ESV). We were literally citizens of the kingdom of darkness.
But “He (God the Father) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14, NIV & ESV)
What a glorious picture!
God dove in and rescued us from the rushing torrent of sin.
How did he perform that rescue? By paying the ransom.
Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45, ESV)
Peter makes it clear that the redemption price was the blood (the life) of Jesus Himself. He wrote that “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19a, ESV).
This is the good news of the gospel! Christ did for us what we could never do for ourselves or for another human being. The psalmist makes this clear in Psalm 49:7-8: “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.” (ESV)
But Jesus, being God in the flesh and without sin, was sufficient to pay the ransom price.
We were so swept away by sin that we belonged to the kingdom of darkness. But because of God’s great love for us, He dove in and rescued us! When we first trusted in the sufficiency of His sacrificial death and payment on our behalf, we were transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son he loves! Jesus paid the ransom price and forgave us the debt we owed.
Dear Saints, live in the peaceful and joyful security that your acceptance was accomplished by Christ alone. There is nothing left for us to pay. This very second, no matter what you just did or how you feel, the payment has already been submitted and the transfer is complete!
We’ve been rescued, transferred, redeemed and forgiven!
What a rescue! And what a Rescuer!
