Only Christ Redeems

The world cannot provide the redemptive forgiveness and grace found only in God.  There is no hope in mankind for salvation or comfort.  Heap up money and riches, distract yourself with activity, and pursue everything your heart desires and your conclusion will be the same as King Solomon:  "All is vanity and grasping for the wind."  Successful building projects, laughter, abundance of wealth, wine, women, or song did nothing to satisfy the needs of his soul.

In the mornings this week I have been reading through the book of Ruth and continue to marvel over this beautiful story of redemption.  Ruth, a foreign widow, "happened" to glean in the field of Boaz.  He was a near kinsman, a man who was called to redeem her to raise up seed on behalf of Ruth's late husband so he would have an heir.  This he delighted to do, and took his case before the men at the gate.  There was a man who was a closer relative than Boaz, but when redeeming the land meant he must also marry Ruth he refused to do so.  He claimed it would mar his own inheritance.  Boaz rejoiced to make a covenant before those at the gate, and redeemed Ruth as his wife.

It is a wonderful picture of the redemptive work Christ has done for us.  We are aliens and foreigners of the commonwealth of heaven, separated from God because of our sin.  But He has been gracious to us and sealed a covenant with His own blood, claiming all who will repent and trust in Him as His own.  What grace, mercy, and love He has demonstrated!  How thankful I am that my life has been redeemed from sin, Hell, and death.  Christ has paid my ransom and delivered me from everlasting destruction, providing through His sacrifice eternal life as it is written in Ephesians 1:5-8:  "...having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. ⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence..."

There are things in this world which have redemptive value:  scrap metals, plastics, even paper goods can be redeemed for the purpose of profitable use.  I am a wretched sinner without any eternal value, yet God has seen fit to redeem my life to accomplish His divine purposes through me.  This is a wondrous thing:  God does not redeem me only because He wants to use me, but because He loves me as I am.  He has made a distinction between me and my sin.  He has forgiven me and chosen to remember my sin no more, and now uses me and all others adopted into His family through the Gospel by His grace.  This is the example I am to follow, giving more grace, that His redemptive power will be at work in and through my life.

I was previously without hope or comfort, but God has done the impossible through the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.  God is worthy of all praise and thanksgiving for all He has done, and I am eternally grateful!