Ransomed

I have been enjoying reading through a chronological Bible reading plan and have really enjoyed re-reading through the Old Testament. I am not as familiar with the Old Testament as with the New Testament. God has been showing me more of his Son throughout all Scripture and his grace toward his covenant people.

Scripture is multifaceted like a diamond. The verses are beautiful the first time we read them with eyes that see by God’s grace. As we re-read, time and time again we see things hadn’t seen before as God shows us a deeper understanding of his Word. We see more and more of God through his Word and more of our sinfulness as the light of God’s countenance shines upon us. One of the passages that stood out to me recently was Exodus 30: 11-16.

The Lord said to Moses, “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord's offering. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord's offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

These verses seemed a bit unusual at first, as in many other passages, God tells his people to give according to their means. Later, after prayer, I realized these verses pointed to the one ransom for sinful human souls paid for by the blood of Christ.  Matthew Henry’s commentary is helpful:

30:11-16 The tribute was half a shekel, about fifteen pence of our money. The rich were not to give more, nor the poor less; the souls of the rich and poor are alike precious, and God is no respecter of persons, Ac 10:34; Job 34:19. In other offerings men were to give according to their wordly ability; but this, which was the ransom of the soul, must be alike for all. The souls of all are of equal value, equally in danger, and all equally need a ransom. The money raised was to be used in the service of the tabernacle. Those who have the benefit, must not grudge the necessary charges of God's public worship. Money cannot make atonement for the soul, but it may be used for the honour of Him who has made the atonement, and for the maintenance of the gospel by which the atonement is applied.

Throughout Scripture we see that all mankind is sinful and in need of a Savior. We see God’s unspeakable love toward his people in sending his own Son, a ransom for many, to die in our place on the cross and rise again victorious over the grave. Christ washed away the plague of our sin on the cross. In him we live. I have quoted Ephesians 2:1-5 below. This passage, like Exodus 30:11-16, summarizes our need for a Savior and God’s grace toward us through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

I would like to share a poem that I began writing several months ago. I wrote the poem as I felt burdened about my own sin and burdened for those dead in sin and trespasses. I am comforted by the Lord’s grace toward me, and that his “hand is not shortened, that it cannot save” (Isaiah 59:1.) Though my failures are many, he never fails, and is ever working to complete the good work he began in me (Philippians 1:6.) And he is working to advance his kingdom, bringing his lost sons and daughters to saving faith in Christ. Praise God those whom God has called will live.

May the LORD’s church proclaim his name. As it says in 1 Peter 2:9, may we in our word and deed “proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” God’s grace is poured out upon his church, a people that are a new creation. God’s kingdom will come and he will add to his church and sanctify his church until the end of the age. All that come to him by the gift of faith are his new creations. Bestowed with grace upon grace, we grow from infancy to maturity in Christ, ever the more conformed to his image, kept by the power of his name. The beauty of the Lord rests upon his church (Psalm 90:17, Colossians 3:18.) God is glorified as the church uses her gifts and graces to serve him through the power of the Holy Spirit. God's light shines through her before men (Matthew 5:14.) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Darkness surrounds me

Within and without

I pedal a bike underwater

My head bobbing at the surface

Frantically gasping for air
My strength feigns me

As I push against torrents

But the waters do not sink me

I’m filled with the water of life

Blackness within my heart ensnares me

I’m frail- just a creature of dust

O’ Father cast my sins away

Cast them as far

As the east’s from the west

Though dark is my heart

There’s a Light within me
A Light that casts darkness out

Though I fall, my soul is restored

Satan tries to quench eternal life

The old man tries in vain to drown me

I’m free. I live in Christ.

Grace sustains me

My strength is in Christ

From the dead, God raised me

Creating in me a heart of flesh

What once was stone

Is beating with new life

Death’s darkness engulfs me
Corpses sing anthems of self-adoration

As they dance toward a fiery abyss

I want to run like Jonah

Rather than submitting to your will
My unbelief near kills me

Your loving hand corrects me

Praise God! My pride will starve
I drink of the fount of grace

Lord have mercy

May I show grace
As I’ve been shown
Lord have mercy
May dead men come to life

The harvest is ripe

Your remnant labors

Lord, I’m your child

Your beauty shines upon me

My poem is scripturally based. Some of the verses closely referenced are Psalm 103:12-13, Ezekiel 36:26, and Luke 10:2.

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Romans 8:34

In closing, I would like to share a stanza from “I Was a Wandering Sheep” by Horatius Bonar.

The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child;
They followed me o'er vale and hill,
O'er deserts waste and wild;
They found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wand'ring one.