Sunday, January
20, 2019 – Luke 1:58
Zachariah’s
Great Praise, Pt. 2 - Redemption
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
The
Gospel of Luke
II. The Identification of the Son of Man
with Men, Luke 1:5-4:13.
C. The Advent of John the Baptist, vs. 57-80.
1. The Birth of John and rejoicing, vs. 57-58.
2. The Circumcision and Naming of John, vs. 59-66.
3. Zachariah’s Proclamation and Prophecy, vs. 67-80.
3. Zachariah’s Proclamation and
Prophecy, vs. 67-80.
Zachariah
praised God from a past tense view point. He knew and proclaimed God’s great
plan of salvation through redemption from the view point of God’s perspective;
omniscience.
Heb 4:3, “For we who have believed
enter that rest, just as He has said, ‘As I swore in My wrath, they shall not
enter My rest,’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the
world.”
Eph 1:4, “Just as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before
Him, in love.”
“Redemption,” is the Noun LUTROSIS that
means, “release, deliverance, or redemption.” It comes from LUTROO, which means, “to release by paying a
ransom or to redeem.” LUTROO is from the root LUO, a primary verb meaning, “to
loose, to release, or to dissolve.” So, LUTROSIS comes to mean, “a ransoming, a
redemption.” It is only
used here and Luke 2:38; Heb 9:12.
Heb 9:12, “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.”
In the NT,
“redemption” is typically the Greek Noun APOLUTROSIS that means the same as
LUTROSIS, with the emphasis of a ransom paid. It means to release on payment of ransom, so, APOLUTROSIS comes to mean a
release affected by payment of ransom. The prefix APO means, “off or away.” It
usually denotes separation, departure, cessation, completion, reversal, etc., Luke 21:28; Rom 3:24; 8:23;
1 Cor 1:30; Eph 1:7, 14; 4:30; Col 1:14; Heb 9:15.
We also have the word
“ransom,” which is the Greek noun LUTRON, from LUO, “to loosen with,” that is,
a redemption price that figuratively means atonement. So, LUTRON comes to mean,
“ransom.” Used in Mat 20:28; Mark 10:45.
The Verbs
AGORAZO, “to buy or to purchase in the market,” (AGORA = slave marketplace),
and EXAGORAZO, “to purchase from the slave market or to completely and totally
liberate a slave from the slave market.”
AGORAZO,
ἀγοράζω is
used thirty-one times, meaning to be in the AGORA or place of assembly and
market, hence to buy for one’s self by a price freely paid, cf. 1
Cor 6:20; 7:23; Rev 5:9.
1 Cor 6:20, “For you have been
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
1 Cor 7:23, “You were bought with a
price; do not become slaves of men.”
Rev 5:9, “And they sang a new song,
saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were
slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue
and people and nation’.”
EXAGORAZO,
ἐξαγοράζω used four times meaning, “to purchase out of the market not to return,” cf. Gal 3:13; 4:5; Eph 5:16; Col 4:4,
Gal 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from
the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed
is everyone who hangs on a tree’.”
Gal 4:5, “So that He might redeem
those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Therefore, in
the use of LUTROSIS, it is linked to God’s mercy and grace, and the resulting
redemption. Thus, it can overlap with SOTERIA, “salvation” or “deliverance.” It
is speaking of the payment of our sins.
APOLUTROSIS
is also used that way, but can also emphasize the eschatological redemption,
which is not the forgiveness of your sins, Eph
1:7; Col 1:14, but the final future salvation from the present evil world, Gal 1:4. But, to get to the
eschatological redemption, God through Jesus Christ had to first redeem our
sins, which is Zachariah’s emphasis.
Redemption
In the
Doctrine of Salvation, there are three key concepts: redemption,
reconciliation, and propitiation. The phrase “The blood of Christ,” applies to
all three doctrines.
1. Redemption is toward sin. There are
three theological words that actually describe this concept: redemption,
expiation, (to make amends, show remorse, or suffer punishment for wrongdoing),
and unlimited atonement, (the making of reparation for a sin). These always deal
with sin as a problem in our relationship with God.
2. Reconciliation is always directed
toward mankind. Man is reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
3. Propitiation is directed toward God,
meaning that the justice of God the Father is satisfied with the work of Christ
on the cross.
Redemption
emphasizes the fact that we are sinners, not only by choice or volition, but
long before that we were sinners at the point of birth because of our Old Sin
Nature and the imputation of Adam’s original sin. We had to be condemned before
we could be saved.
Redemption is
viewed from the standpoint of a ransom paid on the Cross for our salvation.
Redemption views mankind as born into the slave market of sin through the
imputation of Adam’s original sin at birth, and redemption is the saving work
of Christ on the Cross by which He purchases our freedom or salvation. The
currency used for this ransom purchase is called the “blood of Christ,” Eph 1:7; 2:13; Col 1:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19;
Heb 9:12-15; Rev 1:5; 5:9.
Eph 1:7, “In Him we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
Col 1:14, “In whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins.”
1 Peter 1:18-19, “Knowing that you were not redeemed
with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life
inherited from your forefathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and
spotless, the blood of Christ.”
Rev 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,
the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who
loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood.”
The blood of
Christ depicts, by analogy, the saving work of Christ on the Cross, 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24. It also
depicts unlimited atonement, propitiation, and reconciliation.
2 Cor 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on
our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
1 Peter 2:24, “And He Himself bore our sins in His body
on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His
wounds you were healed.”
In order to
become our Redeemer, Christ had to become a member of the human race. He could
not save us as God, because whoever is the redeemer must be judged for the sins
of the world and God cannot be judged for sin. Therefore, through the virgin
birth, by becoming a man without sin of His own, and remaining impeccable, 2 Cor 5:21, Jesus Christ was qualified
to be our Redeemer.
In Zachariah’s psalm of
praise, he was proclaiming the Doctrine of Redemption as taught in the OT by
means of the animal blood sacrifices, Heb
9:22.
Heb 9:22, “And according to the standard of the law,
nearly all things are cleansed with animal blood, and without the pouring out
of blood there is no forgiveness.”
OT believers
like Job, applied the Doctrines of Redemption and Resurrection to their
circumstances, Job 19:25.
Job 19:25, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that He
shall stand in the latter day upon the earth.”
In recalling
redemption, he was looking at the spiritual death of Christ on the Cross; in
recalling resurrection, he was looking at the somatic or physical death of
Christ on the Cross, which anticipated His resurrection.
David said in Psa 34:22, “The Lord redeems the soul of
His servants.” It is the soul of the believer that is redeemed at
salvation, not the body; otherwise we would never die physically. There is no
human spirit until after salvation.
As such,
redemption removes the condemnation of the Mosaic Law, Gal 3:10-13; Gal 4:5-6; cf.
Deut 21:23.
Gal 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the
Law, having become a curse for us. For it stands written, (Deut 21:23), ‘cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’.”
In Gal 4:5‑6, redemption from the
condemnation of the Law results in the Biblical Doctrine of Adoption into the
eternal family of God, cf. Rom 8:23.
Gal 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of the time came, God
sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5so that He might redeem
those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
The Results
of Redemption:
1. Redemption
propitiates God the Father, Rom 3:25.
2. We are
delivered from the curse of the Law, Gal
3:13; 4:4-7.
3. We have the
forgiveness of all sin, Isa 44:22; Eph
1:7; Col 1:14; Heb 9:15.
4. Redemption
is the basis for our Justification, Rom
3:24; 5:9.
5. Redemption
is the basis for our Sanctification, Eph
5:25-27.
6. Redemption
is the basis for Eternal Inheritance of believers, Heb 9:15.
7. Redemption
is the basis for the strategic victory of Jesus Christ in the Angelic Conflict, Col 2:14-15; Heb 2:14-15, (the passage
for rendering Satan and his legions powerless).
8. Redemption
is the basis for the mediatorship of Jesus Christ, 1Tim 2:5-6, Heb 9:14-15.
9. Redemption
of the soul in salvation results in redemption of the body in resurrection, Rom 8:23; Eph 1:14; 4:30.
Redemption
views salvation from the standpoint of the complete payment of our sins, giving
man the option to believe in Christ for eternal life. This is what Zachariah
knew. This is what he was proclaiming!
Isa 44:22, “I have wiped out your transgressions like a
thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed
you.”
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