Recently, I have been meditating on the word “redeemed.” To me, this word has a more powerful connotation than words like “forgiven” or “saved.”
In Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary, the first definition of redeem is: a: to buy back : REPURCHASE b: to get or win back.
Words like “forgive” or “save” carry with them the sense of a new start or beginning. Although they address what has happened in the past, they do not, by definition, directly affect it. If I am forgiven, my past sins are no longer held against me. If I am saved, my future standing is not determined by my past.
But when I say I am redeemed, I am saying I am restored to a place that was mine by right, but that was relinquished by sin. I am saying that my Redeemer, the God of Jacob, the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the slain and risen spotless Lamb of God restores me to my original created purpose of sweet fellowship and communion and relationship and community with Him. He redeems or wins back my past.
Often, when the gospel message is shared, it begins with sin, with the fall. In all actuality, the gospel narrative begins in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve walked and communed with their God, with their Creator. And that is what we are being restored to. That is what Jesus the Christ is redeeming us back to.
I am redeemed, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth is my Redeemer.
And He has called me to join with Him in the redemption of others.
