A KINSMEN REDEEMER

COLOSSIANS 1:12-14

          Over the last couple of weeks we have spent a considerable amount of time on just these 3 verses in Colossians.  We have discussed the inheritance that God has already preordained for us.  We understand that God had to make us fit to receive the inheritance. We have seen that in making us fit one of the things that had to be accomplished was our deliverance from the power of darkness.  We saw last week that not only did God deliver us but he also moved us into his kingdom.  One important point that we tried to relay last week was that God did not bring us into the kingdom as children with no rights and privileges, but rather he brought us in as sons and daughters, having full rights and privileges to all the resources of our Heavenly Father.  Now lest you run off and start naming and claiming things, we also made the point that the family resources were not to be splurged on our own selfish desires, but rather they were to be used in running the family business, delivering the news of reconciliation between God and man and thus destroying the works of Satan.

          Today we want to look at the last verse in that group which says, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” and we want to use as a title of today’s message “A Kinsman Redeemer.”

EPHESIANS 1:7

            The word "redemption" (apolutrōsin) is one of the great words of the Bible. It conveys the idea of deliverance or setting a man free by paying a ransom. For example, a prisoner of war or a kidnapped person is ransomed or redeemed; or a convicted criminal is freed from the penalty of death. In every case the one who is ransomed is powerless to free himself. He cannot pay the penalty demanded to liberate himself from his situation or bondage and needs another to step in and pay the ransom thus redeeming him.

      The Bible teaches us that mankind has been captivated or kidnapped by several forces, one being the forces of sin. Romans 3:23 tells us “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and Paul in Romans 7:14 says that we are “sold under sin”.  Mankind is being held captive by the forces of death and corruption.  Everything wastes away; it deteriorates, decays, ages, and eventually dies. Corruption and death have captivated man.  Romans 8:19-23 explains that all of creation, being held in the bondage of corruption and death is groaning and awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God because at that time all will be restored to God’s intended purpose. And yes all unbelievers are being held captive under the power and influence of Satan. Ephesians 2:2 says that Satan “the prince of the power of the air now works in the children of disobedience,” and 2 Cor. 4:4 says that his work is to blind their minds to the gospel. 

          There are three key ideas included in the concept of redemption.  First mans needs to be liberated, delivered, and set free.  Second, man is unable to liberate himself.  Romans 5:6 says, “When we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.”  Man had no energy, no power, and no ability to free himself.  We needed to be liberated but had no means to affect liberation for ourselves.  Which brings us to three, if man is to be redeemed then it must be carried out by one with more power than man. 

          The idea and practice of redemption did not surface in the New Testament.  God laid the foundation for it back in the Old Testament Law.

LEVITICUS 25:25, 47-49

          The Hebrew word for redeemer is goel.  The goel or redeemer among the Hebrews was the nearest male blood relative alive.  This man had the responsibility of redeeming the property of any poor relatives if possible and also of redeeming any relative who became poor and sold himself into slavery.  (We would not be able to rely on this today because most of us are unable to redeem our own selves from the slavery of credit card debt.)  But in that day God made provision for redemption of property as well as people.  When Adam and Eve sinned they gave away the Earth and all therein as well as sold themselves into slavery.  Both people, who are the love of God’s heart, and the property of God were in desperate need of a redeemer.  Note that in this passage the redeemer had to be a near kinsman.  Not just anyone could come up and buy you or your possessions out of slavery.  The new owner was under not obligation to redeem property or persons to a mere stranger.  If one had no near kinsmen or had kinsmen that could not come up with the redemption cost, then all remained with the seller until the year of jubilee.

RUTH 4:1-10

            As widows, Ruth and Naomi could only look forward to difficult times. But when Naomi heard the news about Boaz, she encouraged Ruth to see if Boaz would take the responsibility of being a "kinsman-redeemer" to her.  A kinsman-redeemer was a relative who volunteered to take responsibility for the extended family. When a woman's husband died, Deuteronomy 25:5-10 provided that she could marry a brother of her dead husband. But Naomi had no more sons. In such a case, the nearest relative to the deceased husband could become a kinsman-redeemer and marry the widow. The nearest relative did not have to marry the widow. If he chose not to, the next nearest relative could take his place. If no one chose to help the widow, she would probably live in poverty the rest of her life because in Israelite culture the inheritance was passed on to the son or nearest male relative, not to the wife.

         Note that in verse 5 the nearest of kin was ready and willing to redeem the property.  However, he was not ready and willing to take on the responsibility of caring for two widows.  But Jesus, on the other hand as our redeemer did not come back just to get God’s Earth but rather he came also to get and care for God’s people.
           Two things were required in order to act as a redeemer in Israel.  First you had to be a near kinsman and second you had to pay the cost of redemption.  By dieing for the sins of mankind, Jesus paid the debt that we owed.  He gave to God the purchase price for the souls of all mankind.  This satisfied the judgment of death required by God for all mankind.  But that still left mankind sold into slavery under the authority of Satan.

           When we accept Jesus as our savior, we are born again in the spirit and become part of the family of God.  This makes Jesus our near kinsman and affords him the right to redeem us.  Like the elder sitting in the gate, God at that point declares that the right of kinsmen redemption has occurred and demands that Satan free us.  Jesus redeems us from sin and hopelessness and thereby purchased us to be his own possession.

I CORINTHIANS 6:20

       Because we have been bought by Jesus to be the possession of God, we are no longer our own.  I Peter 1:18-19 reminds us that “we were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our worthless lifestyles, but rather with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”.  When we call on Jesus to save us God buys us right out of the marketplace of this corruptible life and redeems us to himself.

EXODUS 6:6

      In delivering the Children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt God said he would do it with stretched out arms and with judgment.  He stretched out his arms against Pharaoh and judgment fell on the land of Egypt bringing about a great deliverance of the people as God physically redeemed them from Egypt.  Jesus stretched out his arms on Calvary’s cross.  He took the judgment that was due us upon himself and thus redeemed us spiritually unto himself.  Moses and the Israelites only had to shed the blood of a lamb to be delivered from Egypt. But Jesus had to shed His own blood to deliver us from sin.

COLOSSIANS 1:14

      Redemption and forgiveness go together. The word translated forgiveness means "to send away" or "to cancel a debt." Christ has not only set us free and transferred us to a new kingdom, but He has canceled every debt so that we no longer have to be enslaved to sin, death, corruption or the devil. Any persons who really believes that Jesus Christ died for him and surrenders his life over to Jesus, is forgiven his sins. God takes his faith and counts it as the death of Jesus Christ. God sees the man as being in Jesus Christ, as being in the death of Jesus Christ. God counts the death of Jesus Christ for the death of the man. Therefore, the guilt and penalty for breaking God's laws are completely removed. The man's sins and guilt are sent away or washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Satan seeks to accuse us of being guilty of sin, but when he looks through the case files he cannot find anything in the files that will indict us.  He goes to God with our crimes against God.  He holds up the actions of our past life as evidence against us and from afar God see’s only the blood of Jesus and declares debt paid. 

      In recent years, the church has rediscovered and come to a better understanding of the freedom of forgiveness.  We know that God's forgiveness of sinners is an act of His grace. We did not deserve to be forgiven, nor can we earn forgiveness.  We understand that having forgiveness makes it possible for us to fellowship with God, enjoy His grace, and seek to do His will.  However, with this greater understanding some frustrate the grace of God by choosing to sin while relying on the forgiveness and grace of God.  Forgiveness is not an excuse for sin; rather, it should be an encouragement for obedience.

HEBREWS 5:9

          Because he was the perfect sacrifice, Jesus is the savior of the world forever.  There will never be a need for another savior.  The shed blood of Jesus is all that God requires of all of mankind throughout the rest of eternity.  Thus those who put their trust in him and commit to obeying will have eternal salvation.  For he has already purchased this salvation for all who will obey him.  He bought for us what we could not earn or buy for ourselves.

Jesus Christ is the focal point in salvation. No other person could redeem us, forgive us, transfer us out of darkness and from under the authority of Satan into God's kingdom, and do it all by grace. Our kinsman, Jesus redeemed us, and then forgave us for getting our selves in the mess in the first place.  And one day, in God’s on time our kinsmen redeemer will come back and fully restore the Earth to its rightful owners, to those who love God.  For he redeems both the people of God and the property of God.