40 Names of Jesus in 40 days of Lent — Day 27

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

Job 19:45

Job is a book about suffering. Job, the title character had lost everything, his family home and money, yet through it, all clung on to belief in God. When he said that his redeemer was alive he was talking of the redemption of his stuff as a person who was short on money and has pawned their stuff and looks forward to redeeming it when they can afford to.

When we talk about redemption and God the meaning of redemption is the same but the scale is larger. The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, said the Psalmist, but creation has fallen and groans for when it is once again ruled fully by God and his love and mercy. The message of redemption is this: This is God’s world. and he wants it back.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

We have been bought by Jesus death back from slavery, we are redeemed. The warning of Paul to the Galatians was not to act if religious rites could free them, they can’t. Christ frees us, religion doesn’t. I go to church not because church services free me from my past self, but to celebrate my freedom.

Buying your stuff back from the pawnshop will cost you more than you got for it. To buy our freedom cost Jesus everything, his life. Let us praise him for his love, grace, mercy and goodness. if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36). Now let us do our part to complete God’s redemption, to bring creation back under God’s rule. Adam was given a duty of care for creation which is now ours, let us return it to God, its rightful owner.