The Meaning Of Redemption

He that despised Moses' law died

without mercy under two or three

witnesses: of how much worse

punishment, suppose ye, shall

he be thought worthy, who hath

trodden under foot the Son of God, 

and hath counted the blood of the

covenant, werewith he was sanctified,

an unholy thing, and hath done despite

unto the Spirit of Grace? For we knew Him 

that hath said, Vengeance belongeth

unto Me, I will recompense, saith 

the Lord. And again, The Lord shall 

judge His people. It is a fearful

thing to fall into the hands of the

living God.

Hebrews 10:28-31

     Authentic Christians are the city on the hill and on that hill shines the light of the Gospel for everyone to see. You are not only the city on the hill, you are the temple of the Living God. Jesus Christ is the High Priest, therefore there must be other priest under His reign as High Priest: you are that priest and as a priest of God you have the responsibility to obey the commands of God. You did nothing to be selected to be a priest of God, God selected you so you must have a worth that God sees in you so that He called you and by His calling you believed: "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw Him" (John 6:44). This baby boy, born in a manger, grew to be a man, so while we celebrate His coming we never forget that Jesus did not stay as a baby, He grew to be a man. We are not to stay as babes but to grow into maturity. 

     Christians talk alot about redemption and there are many different ideas about redemption so let us look at redemption for that is one aspect of the coming of Jesus for all of those called by God, for those who have put their belief in Him. Redemption could not come be a baby, but it did come and in the order of a mature man who lived, laughed, ate, drank, smiled, all that is of man, and then died sinless on the cross. See the Baby? See Him no more just as a baby, see Him as what He is, God in the flesh who redeems. 

     Your redemption is not your experience of Redemption? Why? because redemption has no meaning for you unless it speaks to in the language of your life for Redemption is reality. Redemption must speak into your conscious life. Christians speak of "being born again," and it is true Authentic Christians are "born again." It is not true if the Holy Spirit does not take you out of yourself and your experiences, any experiences that are not identified with Jesus Christ. If a person relies on his/her experiences, as some Churches teach and their congregants practice, then your experiences have not been born by Redemption. The proof of your Redemption is that they are produced by leading you out of yourself all the time. If you deny yourself and convert to Jesus Christ your ground for your reality is that you no longer pay any attention to your experiences, but only to those experiences produced by the Holy Spirit. Some will say that they are experiencing the Holy Spirit and that their experiences are from Him and they may feel this way but Scripture defines what are the experiences of the Holy Spirit are and more often than not those experiences are feeding the flesh and those experiences are not worth anything unless they keep you at the sources which is Jesus Christ. 

     If a person tries to cause the Holy Spirit to produce subjective experiences it will be found that they have taken you back to the historic Jesus Christ. This is why it is so important that at Christmas time, with spouse, children, family, friends, others, to speak about the reason Jesus Christ was born and what He has done to pay this sin debt we all owe. It is not our experience that counts for something, never nourish an experience only those experiences that lead you to God as its source and your faith in God as a result. If you do anything else then your experience is an attempt to lord of God. Question: Is our experience more important to you than your relationship to Jesus Christ? You must come to the place where you do not care about your experiences, only that you are absolutely sure of God. Be ruthless to yourself, quit talking about your experiences. Faith, not just a faith that is in some way not sure of itself, rather that your faith is sure of God and this is the only faith there is. 

     Faith is not some intellectual thing, faith is in the unknown, even though we know much about God for He has revealed to us Himself. Our faith must reach beyond the intellectual and with all effort dissociate ourselves from our selves, your old way at looking at things, and then putting yourself over onto Him. Your introduction as an Authentic Christian is that by God's miracle He called you, redeemed you and then by your will to believe you begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of this transaction, this Baby boy born in a manger, Who lived as a young man, grew to be a man, suffered as all men do, and then as one who is sinless died for you. This is what Christmas is all about. Enjoy the celebration, enjoy the gifts, enjoy the time, but never forget the "Reason for the Season." 

And it shall come to pass

    in that day, that his burden

shall be taken away from off

    thy shoulders and his yoke

from off thy neck, and the yoke

    shall be destroyed because

of the annointing.

                   Isaiah 10:27

You are a miracle of God: He called you

Richard L. Crumb