Christ, Our Redemption 2

In our previous blog, we talked about Christ’s work of redemption. Christ alone is the Redeemer of His people, and His very life was the ransom that He paid. It is one of the results of Christ’s sacrificial work.

Let us now see another aspect of Christ’s redeeming work, which is to free men from the bondage of sin and Satan. Fallen men are not free, they are under the rule of Satan. The people of God are redeemed from this awful reality by His death and disarming Satan of his power.

Though the people of God were redeemed from Satan’s rule, the ransom was not paid to the enemy of our souls but to God. No negotiation was made with Satan. Christ has authority over them. To say that the ransom was paid to the devil is to devalue the worth of Christ’s sacrifice.

Nevertheless, there is a real sense that men in the state of sin are slaves of the enemy. They are under his rule and power.

The Enemy’s Dominion

Its reality: Luke 4:5-6 – Satan makes a declaration about himself and his relationship to this fallen world. He has dominion over the world as it was …handed over to him.

Its Scope: I John 5:19 – Mankind in general is not fighting to break free from Satan’s rule, but he lives instead in conformity to it. Mankind is under the power of the evil One. This verse says, “the whole world”. Meaning, there’s none of the people of this world against Christ that are not under the grip of Satan.

We can see this with much clarity when we consider the titles given to him.

The Enemy’s Titles

“ruler”: John 12:31; 14:30 – Satan is the ruler of the great mass of humanity that lives in alienation from God and in rebellion against His will. Men are deluded to believe that they are free apart from Christ.

“god”: II Corinthians 4:4 – There is only one true God (I Corinthians 8:4-6), yet this fallen world follows Satan as though he were its god. They obey his command. They do his will. They are living to fulfill his demands. All their lives they bow down and worship the “god” of this world as oppose to the True God revealed in the Scripture.

“prince”: Ephesians 2:2 – Satan is a spirit and is unhindered by the material restraints of man. His power and authority go far beyond any “earthbound” prince.

If you are not worshipping God, you are worshipping Satan. If you are not living under God’s rule, you are under Satan’s rule. If you do not have the Prince of peace, you have the prince of confusion.

The Enemy’s Subjects

Fallen men are Satan’s subjects. They are his children: John 8:44; his slaves: Acts 26:18, & his followers: Ephesians 2:2. They are blinded: II Corinthians 4:4 & they are deceived: II Timothy 2:26.

Satan offers fallen man freedom from God’s moral law, but this “freedom” always leads to the bondage of sin. Satan is a complex deceiver. We read it when Peter tried to stop Jesus Christ in accomplishing His work on the cross. Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” and when He entered into Judas to betray Christ. He is the father of lies.

The Redeemer’s Triumph

In all these, the believers are freed in Christ. Christ triumphed over Satan through His life, death, and resurrection. By dying in the place of His people, He paid their debt and stripped Satan of his power.

Christ destroyed the shackles of Satan’s bondage. He removed the grip of the enemy’s power over the redeemed. He cure the blinding effects of the devil’s deception. These things only happened to those who are united to Christ. They are no longer under the world’s God-defying ruler.

Its announcement: Genesis 3:15 – We know this verse as the Protoevangelium. It is the first announcement of the gospel after the fall. The Messiah would bruise Satan on the head—He would inflict him with a mortal wound. Satan would bruise the Messiah on the heel—Christ would suffer in His battle with the serpent (Isa 53:4-5). Yet, the Messiah will rise triumphant over the defeated serpent.

Its fulfillment: I John 3:8 – Christ’s coming is the fulfillment of the destruction of the works of the devil, especially with regard to the bondage of His people. Christ’s work is devil-destroying and slave-freeing. Ireneus writes, “With his own blood the Lord redeemed us, who gave his own soul for our soul and his own flesh for our flesh.”

Its totality: Colossians 2:15 – Christ was publicly displayed as our propitiation (Romans 3:25), and His death on Calvary brought about Satan’s public defeat. “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31).

Its certainty: Hebrews 2:14-15 – The devil had power over death in that he could rightly accuse mankind of sin and demand the just penalty of death. Christ paid that penalty and silenced all accusations.

True believers are freed from Satan’s bondage. According to John Murray, Redemption from the power of sin may be called the triumph all aspect of redemption. In his finished work Christ did something once for all respecting the power of sin and it is in virtue of this victory which He secured that the power of sin is broken in all those who are united to him.

We are no longer slaves of sin. We are to regard, consider or count ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. This is the very first command in the book of Romans (Romans 6:11, Gal 5:1). This should also be the first thing in our minds whenever we are tempted to sin from within and without. We are no longer slaves of Satan and sin. We are devoted to and slaves of Christ and righteousness. This is the true freedom of the redeemed servants of the LORD!

There is no true freedom outside of Christ. His gospel frees and redeems. Come Him and you will be free indeed (John 8:36).

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

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Note: This lesson is from our weekly Youth Bible Study Based on Paul Washer’s Discovering the Glorious Gospel.

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay.

• “To Whom Did Jesus Pay Our Ransom?” Desiring God, 29 Nov. 2017, http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/to-whom-did-jesus-pay-our-ransom. Accessed 3 Aug. 2021.
• Washer, Paul. Discovering the Glorious Gospel. New Albany, Mississippi, Media Gratiae, 2016.
• Murray, John. Redemption Accomplished and Applied. Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015.
• “Did Satan Want Jesus Crucified or Not? Matthew 16:21-23 vs Luke 22:3-6.” Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange, hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/59643/did-satan-want-jesus-crucified-or-not-matthew-1621-23-vs-luke-223-6. Accessed 3 Aug. 2021.
• “Irenaeus: Against Heresies – Book 5.” Www.gnosis.org, http://www.gnosis.org/library/advh5.htm. Accessed 24 Aug. 2021.

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