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redeemed is come" (Isa. 62: 4) shews the intimate association of the two thoughts.
Christ as the Kinsman-Redeemer came to destroy and to deliver. This is not only set
forth in Heb. 2:, but in I John 3: 5-8:--
"And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no
sin . . . . . For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the
works of the devil."
The Lord Jesus Christ bears the title "Firstborn of every creature" (Col. 1: 15). This
tells us that He stands intimately related to the whole creation, and renders the
deliverance of the groaning a possibility, for the right of redemption is His. The same
Lord is also "The Seed of the Woman", "The Last Adam", "The Second Man" and "The
Son of Man". This renders possible the wondrous redemptive words of I Cor. 15: 22:--
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
Christ moreover is the Seed of Abraham, and this brings the blessings of Abraham to
both Jew and Gentile (Gal. 3:). He is moreover the Son of David, and can alone redeem
the forfeited Kingdom. Possibly the reader will by this time perceive the fallacy which
lies in the argument of those who speak of Christ as either Redeemer or King. Matt. 1:
brings into close association "Son of David", "Son of Abraham", "Jesus, Who saves His
people from their sins" and "Immanuel, God with us".
We feel that the place of redemption in the purpose of the ages has been very much
misunderstood, but its consideration we must leave until other phases of the subject have
been seen. Sufficient for our purpose has been brought together. Christ is the true
Kinsman-Redeemer, and the birth of Christ at Bethlehem was absolutely essential to His
rendering work.
#3.
The Nearest of Kin who failed.
pp. 129, 130
When studying the book of Ruth we are at first somewhat disappointed to find that
Boaz, the mighty and merciful deliverer of the afflicted, was not the nearest of kin:--
"It is true that I am thy kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I" (Ruth 3: 12).
If Boaz be typical of Christ, of whom is the nearer kinsman typical? In Psa. 49: 7, 8
we read:--
"No man can by any means redeem (Heb. padah) his brother, nor give to God a
ransom for him (for the redemption of their soul is so costly that it ceaseth for ever)."
The word "ceaseth" is sometimes translated "forbear", "leave off", the idea being that
the redemption of man is so infinitely beyond his own powers that it must be left alone; if
no redeemer is to be found except man himself, redemption is impossible.