HOW MUCH REDEMPTION INCLUDES.
By G. B. Thompson
THERE is much more included in the redemption brought to man through Jesus Christ than is generally supposed. The argument is sometimes adduced by the advocates of Sunday sacredness that the first day of the week is observed to commemorate the finished work of redemption. Before accepting as correct an assertion thus designed to set aside one of the precepts of Jehovah, spoken with His own voice, and written in stone with His own finger, it might be well to ascertain if redemption has been fully completed; for it would be out of place to observe a memorial in honor of an event not yet fully consummated. Redemption means a redeeming, purchasing, or bringing back of something which was lost. In the plan of salvation it includes the restoration of all that was lost through the transgression of Adam. In Luke 19: 10 we read, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” When man sinned, he lost not only his innocence—the moral image of God—and his life, but his beautiful home as well. The Scriptures speak of the “times of restitution of all things.” Acts 3: 21. When this time comes, as it surely will, we shall see the original plan of the Creator carried out,—man clothed with eternal life and purity, and restored to his Eden home. Not until this is accomplished can redemption be said to be complete. Mighty events in this tremendous drama are yet to be enacted. Said the Saviour, after giving the signs which were to appear as immediate precursors of His second coming, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke 21: 28. Tho drawing “nigh,” it was still future. Again, in Rom. 8: 23, we read, “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Thus we see that redemption includes transformation of the body. Now we can sing, “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it,” and4can rejoice in redemption from forgiven sins through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1: 7); but at the resurrection another step in the stupendous and mysterious problem will be taken, in the redemption from the power of death of this “vile body,” and it will be “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3: 21). The Lord says, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.” Hosea 13: 14. Not until the last sinner to be saved has been redeemed from the power of his sins, and the voice of the Archangel has penetrated the long galleries of hades, can we speak of redemption being finished. But this step in the “mystery of godliness” draws on apace. He will soon announce the mystery “finished,” and come to gather His elect. Then, as before noted, man will be placed in his Eden home, and the purpose of God in forming the earth will be carried out. When man was created, he was placed in a home adorned with everything pleasant to the sight. When he sinned, he was driven out, lost his home, and ever since has been an exile. On every hand can be seen the marks of the curse. The Lord purposed that man should inhabit the earth forever; “for thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited.” Isa. 45: 18. Man stood at the head of all created things,—the king of the earth. But when he sinned, the dominion given him by his Creator passed into the hands of the devil, who, by usurpation, became “the prince of this world.” John 14: 30. But this inheritance and dominion, wrested from man by fraud, have been purchased back. “In whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest [pledge] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” Eph. 1: 13, 14. “And Thou, O Tower of the flock [Christ], the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4: 8. The “first dominion” is that given by the Creator to Adam. He lost it; but Jesus, through His death, has purchased it back, and through Him it will be restored to His elect. At a tremendous cost the Son of God has purchased back for man all that he lost by the fall; and He offers it to him without money and without price. The time will come when there will be “no more curse,” and the restoration of all things will have been accomplished. The blot of sin will have been wiped out, the universe cleansed, and man, redeemed from death, will be made immortal, and be placed in his Eden home. This is a regeneration, a re-creation. It will take the same power to effect this that it required to make the earth and all that is therein in the beginning. It will be a new heaven and a new earth. It will be the work of that same creative power through Jesus Christ that was exercised in the formation of the earth. And as we behold the eternal beauties of the new creation, we shall be reminded of the power of our Redeemer. The memorial of creative power—the Sabbath—will remain, and it will be observed to all eternity. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66: 22, 23. Reader, is redeeming power working in your heart? Are you looking with joy to the time of the fulness of redemption, and the fruition of the Christian’s hope?