Ransom Israel

Posted on by korgrocker

“O God, ransom Israel from all its troubles.”
Psalm 25:22 NLT
“Deliver Israel, O God, from all their troubles!”
Psalm 25:22 NIVUK
“O God, redeem Israel, Out of all his troubles.”
Psalm 25:22 AMP

‭‭‭‭”Ransom”, “Deliver”, or “Redeem”. Three different words yet they mean the same thing for a nation in bother. David prayed for his nation, that it would be saved from destruction. Ever since their fathers founded the Jewish nation, they have experienced troubles, usually, though, of their own making. The Jews taken into captivity and living in foreign lands were nearly destroyed by the ploys of Haman – the full account is recorded in the Book of Esther. As we read through the Book of Judges, we see the oppression experienced by Israel from the nations that surrounded them. In more recent years the Jews have experienced antisemitic pogroms in Russian and ethnic cleansing by Hitler as he tried to eliminate the Jewish race entirely. Even today, there are so called historians who deny the holocaust even happened, another antisemitic attitude. Antisemitism is rife in today’s world, probably bolstered by Israel’s attempts to eliminate Palestinian and other terrorists. But such antagonism against God’s chosen people has always been there ever since their origins. We pilgrims know why, of course, because the enemy of all the children of God wants to eliminate them and destroy them. However, once a believer in God is in His Kingdom, the devil can never get at their souls. He may destroy and harass their physical bodies but their souls are off limits for him. And the Jewish nation will prevail over all the devil’s ploys. 

So David’s prayer was partly prophetic in that he saw coming more “troubles” for his nation. The prophet Zechariah had much to write about concerning Israel, and we pick up his prophecies in Zechariah 13:1, “On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity“. A day is coming, he said, when Israel will be redeemed. We pilgrims know when that was, with Jesus coming to redeem mankind from their sins. But there was more to his prophecy if we read on and in verse 8 we find, “Two-thirds of the people in the land will be cut off and die,” says the Lord. “But one-third will be left in the land“. That didn’t happen when Jesus came so we must assume that Zechariah was referring to a time far into the future, a time we read about in John’s Revelation. Verse 9 then tells us what will happen to the third spared from being “cut-off”, “I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God’”. Regardless of all their troubles, and after many years, there will come a time when the Jewish people will rise up victorious over all their enemies, and, more, will be restored to the relationship with God that they should have had all along. 

We pilgrims, as far as I know, are not of Jewish origin, but we are so blessed to be included in God’s plan anyway. Jesus said, “I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16). We look back to that Cross on Calvary’s hill and kneel before the crucified Lord in deep gratitude for His redemption. We have embraced His offer of salvation for all eternity and respond in love and thanks for His grace and mercy. 

Today, if the word “ransom” comes up, it is usually with extremely negative connotations, connected to “ransomware” or some other form of extortion, providing yet another example of how the devil has twisted and manipulated our lives for his own anti-God purposes. Paul wrote to Timothy and included these words, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Human beings were, and still are, in captivity to the forces of darkness but Jesus paid the price to ransom them from the devil’s clutches, should they choose to follow, and believe in, Jesus.. 

There is an old hymn I still love to sing, and first verse goes, 
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
To his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises sing.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King!

“Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven”, four words that describe our redemption through Jesus. We indeed do praise the “king of Heaven”, the “everlasting King”. And will do forever.

Dear God. We praise You today, our wonderful Creator Father. We have been restored to how You intended us to be through Your Son Jesus and we are eternally grateful. Amen.

Obedient Faith

Posted on by korgrocker

“And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For You were slaughtered, and Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And You have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.””
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭5:9-10‬ ‭NLT

We continue to spend another day looking at this wonderful new song. The lyrics, directed at Jesus, who was standing in the middle of the twenty four elders and four living beings, before the throne of God, included the line, “Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation”. A few thoughts about this new song. 

Firstly, do these words indicate that Jesus died for everyone, implying that there will be no exclusions and everyone will get to Heaven? Of course not, but many would like to think so. Jesus paid the ultimate penalty when He died that day at Calvary, spilling His blood so that His sacrifice would redeem everyone who believes in Him from the consequences of their sins. By doing so He paid the ransom for our sin. But to be a “ransomed people“, we have to respond personally, accepting that His sacrifice was for each one of us individually. Universalism, a belief that everyone will be saved and end up in Heaven regardless, cannot be found in the Bible. We have to make a choice – we can either choose to accept God’s saving grace through His Son, Jesus, and in the process assure our future with God in Heaven, or we can choose to reject Him and instead be assured of a life in Hell. Jesus said in John 14:6, ” … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. There is no other way.

Secondly, all human beings, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sex, hair colour and everything else, is eligible to be ransomed by Jesus’ sacrifice. If they want to be. The only exclusions are for people who make the wrong choice, or don’t make a choice at all.

Thirdly, once we have accepted in obedient faith, that Jesus died in exchange for our sins, we adopt a new role. We become fully paid up members of God’s Kingdom of priests. We read in 1 Peter 2:9, “… you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” When we adopt our new priestly roles, we can show others the way to become priests too. Being a priest conjures up images of old men dressed in a funny gown, perhaps wearing an odd-looking hat, officiating at church services. But to us pilgrim priests, our priestly duties are to show others the way to God, by sharing the Gospel with them. By being “salt and light” in our families and communities.

The verse today ends with the line, “And they will reign on the earth“. According to John’s vision recorded in the Book of Revelation, there will come a time when the Kingdom priests will reign on earth. Of course, this isn’t happening in 21st Century society. Western or otherwise. And as fas as I am aware, it hasn’t happened in history either. So there must be coming a time when we pilgrim priests will reign on earth. I’m sure we will find out more as we dig deeper into this fascinating and amazing Book.

Dear Father God. Once again we thank You for the nuggets of revelation contained in these Scriptures. Please help us to understand what You want to reveal to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.