BREAD OF LIFE MINISTRIES

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Thursday, December 18, 2014

REDEMPTION

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),…” Luke 1:68-70
         Zechariah, the father of John the Baptizer, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke these prophetic words.  The words I would like to emphasize are ‘come’, ‘redeemed’, ‘raised up’ and ‘horn’. 
         Knowing full well the condition of His creation, Almighty God came to His people with the intention of buying them back.  There was a price on their heads due to their disobedience.  Every year they had to atone for their sins against the Mosaic Law through an offering.  Atonement is the act of restoring a right relationship between two parties.  The blood of a spotless sacrifice was required to cover over the sins committed.  Redemption can be defined as the payment of an obligation.  As mentioned above, sin comes with a price.  There are always consequences tied to our sin.  God sent His Son to pay the price owed.  The people of Israel could have sacrificed a million spotless sacrifices during the course of their lifetime and never completely removed the stain that their sin had caused on their soul.  The blood of Christ did that for them, yet they largely rejected Him. 
         God raised up what was needed at that time, a horn of salvation.  No one else could have brought forth such a person.  He was wholly divine, yet wholly mortal.  Jesus ate, drank, slept, laughed, wept, grew tired … he was like us, yet not like us at all.  He was all that we could be in this life. 
         A ‘horn’ is a symbol of power.  The coming Messiah of the Jews was thought to be a powerful warrior king.  Little did they realize that He would be a passive representative of God, fully able to destroy any and all opposition, yet not wishing to follow that course.   Christ came with a sole purpose, or perhaps we should say a ‘soul’ purpose.  It was not to overthrow the Roman government.  It was to pay the sin debt accumulated by mortal men.
          The Lord came to free us from the bondage of our own making.  We were all in self-made prisons, many still are.  He breaks the bonds of sin once and for all.  So many believe in anything but the saving power of God through Christ.  They see it as being ‘religious’ rather than ‘relational’.  They see it as taking all the fun out of life, when nothing could be further from the truth.  True, focal points change, but the life of a believer is far from restrictive or mundane.  Living for God is the most satisfying and rewarding thing a person can do with their life.  It’s all according to your point of view.  Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!