Part IV – The Daughter’s Redemption
There is a glorious thing about becoming the King’s Daughter: His claims on His children go far beyond a Certificate of Birth. Yes, we are His by birth. It is the way of Salvation. John 3:3 “…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Those who have received Him have been given the power to become the sons of God, not by human birth, but by that birth which is of God, “But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12,13). It is not a birth that will pass away. Every man that is born, must die. But the rebirth that is in Christ is not of that sort. It is birth unto eternal life. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
We are also His by adoption. This is seen so clearly in the life of this child, left in the field to die in her own filth and blood, then chosen and cleansed by the King. Romans 8:15 says, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” Tears come to my eyes as I think of that child alone, afraid, perhaps even crying out in terror and then of the King stooping down and in a gentle, fatherly voice calming her as He cleans her up and wraps her in something warm and takes her home to be His. No longer will she cry out in fear, but she will call out for her Abba, her daddy.
It is amazing to me that of the four passages in which the Bible refers to adoption, three are directly linked to redemption. (See Romans 8:15,23; Galatians 4:5-7; Ephesians 1:5-7) This was the child’s greatest need. As I was originally preparing this lesson, I looked up several different sources for a definition of “redemption”. They, of course, were all similar, however it seemed that each one brought to light a different dimension than the one before it. So, in the end, I tried to pull them all together:
“Redemption is the repurchasing of something that has been lost or stolen or, in the case of the sinner, that has thrown itself into the bondage of another. Redemption involves the payment of a price equivalent to the worth of that which is being redeemed or its associated debt.” Two phrases in particular caught my attention: “payment of a price equivalent” and “its associated debt”.
Just like that child in the field was deemed worthless by those who passed by, we are of no worth in our sins. Had the redemption price of our souls been based on our worth, it might have been considerably less. The psalmist understood this when he wrote, “I am a worm and no man.” But our redemption price was based on our associated debt. We owed a price we could never pay, for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). No one can question the fact that all have sinned. From the beginning, God has not, cannot, does not and will not tolerate evil. By one man (Adam) sin came into the world and death by sin, and so all must die. Each man bears his own sin. Ezekiel 18:20 makes this very clear, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” With the very first sin that we commit, we sell ourselves into bondage to sin and our redemption price is death (Romans 6:16). But it cannot be any death, our own will not suffice. Just as our own, tainted blood will never pay the price, once again it must be the death of one that is spotless, sinless.
We know from the second half of Romans 6:23 that the result of our redemption is God’s gift of eternal life. This gift, like all gifts, is free to us, but it was made at tremendous sacrifice to God. In order for us to be delivered from the bondage of sin and death, and to be made the servants of righteousness unto eternal life, we first had to be redeemed – repurchased. And our redemption price was very great. Interestingly, we find the words of the Psalmist who said “I am a worm and no man” in a Messianic psalm. Not only did Christ lay down His life, but in the process He took on that same vile, repulsive state as that child abandoned in the field. II Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What a Savior! What a Redeemer! What a King!
To some, who have heard the gospel over and over again, there maybe a tendency to yawn as you read this. I hope not. I hope that you do not find yourself tired with what may seem to be yet another version of the Romans Road. This old story should never grow old. But if it has, let me challenge you with a thought that came to mind as I was sitting down to begin this section of the lesson this afternoon.
We see that the child can now claim the King as hers. She is His child even as we, when we have believed and called upon Him for salvation are His. But I was reminded of the bride in the Song of Solomon. There is a familiar phrase from the book, which appears frequently and alters only slightly from beginning to end. It is an important phrase, and its alterations make it all the more important. We find it first in Song of Solomon 2:16, “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” Secure. Happy in her possession of her beloved. And perhaps a bit on the selfish side. The next time it appears the order has changed, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.” (6:3) This time there is greater emphasis on the fact that she belongs to Him. Finally, in 7:10 she says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” No longer is her heart fixed on her possession of Him, but rather on His possession of her. She is pleased that His desire is towards her. Why is his desire toward her? Because she has surrendered to go with Him: “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.” (7:11) She is His by birth, by adoption, by redemption and now to the fullest by submission. This submission is not part of her salvation, it is part of her relationship. By the redemption of Christ we have been made the daughters of the King – He is ours! But as we grow in our relationship with Him, are we fully His?
“Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; SO SHALL THE KING GREATLY DESIRE THY BEAUTY: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.” – Psalm 45:10,11
Next Up: Part V – The Daughter’s Beauty
(Wondering how many parts there are? Me too! Don’t worry, this series does come to an end – a very good one!)
