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symbol of himself. The idea of new life as a result of redemption is suggested in the
prayer of Psa. 119: 154:--
"Plead my cause, and deliver me (as a kinsman-redeemer), quicken me according to
Thy word."
Psa. 69:, so full of Messianic prophecy, suggests a similar thought:--
"Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it" (verse 18).
Heb. 5: tells us that Christ prayed unto Him that was able to save Him out of death
and that He was heard. This could not possibly mean that the Saviour sought to escape
death, but it means, as Psa. 16: so fully declares, that His soul was not left in Sheol, in
other words, redemption here indicates new life in resurrection. Psa. 103: 4 includes
among the "benefits" meet for thanksgiving, "Who redeemeth thy life from destruction".
Hosea however most powerfully sets forth this glorious goal of redemption:--
"I will ransom them from the power of the grace, I will redeem them from death"
(Hosea 13: 14).
We had occasion to quote Psa. 49: when explaining the nearer kinsman than Boaz.
This Psalm also strongly emphasizes that resurrection is the one grand effect of the
Hebrew conception of redemption:--
"None of them can by any means redeem his brother . . . . . that he should still live for
ever and not see corruption" (Psa. 49: 7-9).
The testimony of Job 19: 25-27 is to the same effect:--
"I know that my Redeemer (ever) lives,
And at the latter day on earth shall stand;
And after (worms) this body have consumed,
Yet in my flesh I shall Eloah see:
Whom I, e'en I, shall see upon my side
Mine eyes shall see Him--stranger now no more:
(For this) my inmost soul with longing waits."
(New Metrical Version.--See Companion Bible.)
Redemption enables us to look death in the face and call it by its ugly name. It
enables us to speak of corruption and the grave, and to recognize that death is an
"enemy". Philosophy and Religion glory over death. They speak of death as a bright
angel, as the great adventure, a transition, as the gate to life--anything but its true
character. The believer who realizes redemption is delivered from the bondage of the
fear of death. We quote the passage from Heb. 2: again:--
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself
likewise took part of the same: that through death He might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil: and deliver them who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2: 14, 15).
The great goal of redemption as applied to the wide circle of creation is expressed in
terms that run parallel with the hope of Job:--