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I know my redeemer lives – Part 1

By Israel Kristilere
19 April 2020   |   2:06 am
Just last Sunday, we celebrated Easter in an unusual way. We celebrated not in Church auditorium but online, because of the current challenges our world is facing. The story of Easter is the story of a living Redeemer.

Introduction
Just last Sunday, we celebrated Easter in an unusual way. We celebrated not in Church auditorium but online, because of the current challenges our world is facing. The story of Easter is the story of a living Redeemer. Today’s topic is a declaration of faith and a comfort to us all, “I KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVES.” I may not know what you have lost physically or spiritually during this pandemic, but I know one thing, Our Redeemer Lives. I may not know what bondage or burden you are made to bear, but I have come to declare, you have a Redeemer and He lives. Maybe you are in a state of hopelessness like the one pictured in the story of Job, the resurrection of Jesus the Christ offers us divine hope because we know that our Redeemer lives. The resurrection of Jesus from the grave proved beyond doubt for you and I that “Our Redeemer Lives.”

(A) Job: A Prophet With A Pandemic. Job was a man who experienced a personal pandemic in the Bible. Or how will you describe the experience of a man who was said to be the wealthiest man in his time with 7 sons, 3 daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and a very large household? (Job. 1:2-3) This same man on a single day, at a fast speed lost all his properties and also his 10 children. Job, while going through this harrowing experience, made a powerful declaration, which is actually prophetic: “I Know My Redeemer Lives.” (Job. 19:25) This text undoubtedly is a prediction of our Christ’s glorious resurrection.

This is a sacred truth, which requires not only the mind’s assent, but the devotion and adoration of our faith. Here, Job foresees and foretells the resurrection of Christ. He tells us that Christ, Who by His death redeemed him, hath again obtained an endless life. In the midst of all He went through, one thing He knew, He had a Redeemer and that He lives.
(B) The Redeemer: Who Is He? (Isa. 59:20)

The English word redeemer according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary is “a person who brings goodness, honour, etc., to something again: a person who redeems something.” In the Bible, the word speaks of “one charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his wrongs.” This title is peculiarly applied to Christ, Who redeems us from all evil by the payment of a ransom. The Hebrew word “gaal” speaks of three things:

• To Purchase Back the forfeited inheritance for a person, who, through poverty, had sold his land or to hold land in possession for an impoverished kinsman, until the year of Jubilee, when it should revert to the original owner. (Lev 25: 10)

• To Ransom a Kinsman from bondage to the foreigner. (Lev 25: 47-49). Just as man sold himself to Satan’s bondage, Jesus paid the price through His precious blood to ransom the lawful captive. (1Pe 1: 18-19,Isa 49: 24).

• To Avenge the Death of a slain kinsman as a point of honour. So, our Redeemer “through death has destroyed Satan. (Heb 2: 14-15)

All these three and many more Jesus has done for us all. By the time Job was making his declaration, the Redeemer was still on His way. But for us, the Redeemer is here and He is alive. By His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary and essentially His resurrection from the tomb, we can sing always in all situations, in all circumstances and at all times, “I know my redeemer lives.”
Rev. Dr. Israel Kristilere, Shepherdhill Baptist Church, (Sanctuary of Grace & Glory)
Baptist Academy Compound, Obanikoro, Lagos.
WhatsApp: 2348033052590.
Email:revkristilere@yahoo.com

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