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this passage in line with that redemption of Israel out of Egypt when they too were made
a peculiar people (Exod. 19:). Heb. 9: 15 and Rom. 3: 24 have one thing in common,
namely, "the sins of the past". Eph. 1: 7 associates redemption and forgiveness, but other
scriptures reveal that forgiveness arose out of atonement made for a redeemed people.
The bondage, the enemy, the evil, the curse, from which Israel were redeemed, are all so
many scriptural titles of death.
Redemption and death.
Where the O.T. departs from mundane things like bondage, or enemies, it translates
these not into terms of sin, but of death:--
"I will ransom them from the power of the GRAVE; I will redeem them from
DEATH" (Hosea 13: 14).
"None can by any means redeem his brother . . . . . that he should . . . . . not see
corruption . . . . . Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them . . . . . but
God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave" (Psa. 49: 7-15).
"Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom" (Job xxxiii.24).
"I know that my redeemer liveth . . . . . and though worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God" (Job 19: 25, 26).
Redemption goes back beyond our own personal sins to the one sin of Adam that
involved us all in death. "By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin"
(Rom. 5: 12). Redemption is found in Gen. 3:--"The seed of the woman". Atonement
is found in Gen. 4:--"The offering of Abel". Gen. 3: speaks of the curse, of an
enemy, of death. Gen. 4: speaks of sin, of acceptance. In Gen. 3: it is the Lord Who
slays the animal and provides the protection, symbolizing the promise already given of
the Seed who, while bruising the serpent's head, should be bruised in the heel. That is
redemption, and the issue is "the way of the tree of life'. In Gen. 4: it is man that
brings the offering to God, and it is accepted or rejected according as it set forth the
atonement of Christ or not. The issue here is acceptance.
Throughout Scripture redemption and atonement are kept distinct. While we have
seen that the Passover lamb sets forth the work of Christ as redeemer, we still have to
look for some scriptural expression that shall visualize for us just what part of the exodus
reveals the inner meaning of redemption. The moment we describe in one word the
passage of Israel out of Egypt, we use the scriptural word we are in search of.
(To be continued).