"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." Ephesians 1:7
Redemption. What a word! The Lord has redeemed us and granted us salvation. Redemption involves the payment of a ransom to reclaim something that had been taken away or held captive. To redeem something or someone was to buy it back through a costly effort.
The price of our redemption -- "through His blood"
• Hebrews 9:11-12 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption
• 1 Corinthians 6:20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Our sin is not merely forgotten; it is atoned through the blood of Jesus. Occasionally my wife and I will be at a restaurant and at the end of the meal the waiter will inform us the tab has been covered by someone. A church member we did not see in the restaurant had showed us love and kindness by paying our check. I assure you the restaurant did not simply “forget” the money we owed them. No. We are able to leave “for free” because someone else paid what we owed. So it is with the Lord. He paid our debt. We are redeemed through the precious blood of Jesus.
The result of our redemption -- "the forgiveness of our trespasses"
This phrase teaches us that we have the remission of our sins. We are forgiven. We were enemies of God and deserving of wrath and judgment. In grace, God has given us what we did not deserve (grace) and withheld from us the judgment we did deserve (this is mercy). The redemption we have received results in our sins being carried away. Psalm 103:12 so beautifully describes our sins being removed from us as far as the east is from the west.
The source of our redemption -- "according to the riches of His grace"
The Lord has given us redemption and forgiveness according to His riches of grace. Scripture reminds us repeatedly of the magnificence of God's grace. God gives us grace in proportion to the grace He possesses. He gives "according to" the riches of His grace, not simply "out of" the riches of His grace. The grace of God should lead us to worship, adore, and glorify His name. We must never see grace as an excuse to sin. Romans 6:1-2 cautions, "...Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!" We were bought with a price, and the result is that we have been redeemed and forgiven. Amazing!
May we live today as followers of Christ who trust in His finished work on the cross and rest in the reality that we have been set free from our sin and have received grace upon grace.
May our song forever be of the marvelous grace of our loving Lord.
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on Calvary's mount out-poured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.
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