Ruth 4:14-15. Kinsman Redeemer, part 21.

Tuesday August 7, 2018

 

Title: Ruth 4:14-15. Kinsman Redeemer, part 21.

 

The redemption of Israel from Egypt was wrought by God, through a person (Moses), by blood (doorposts; EXO 12:13), and through supernatural power.

 

God used the ten plagues as His power.

 

In the NT redemption is wrought by God, through the person of Christ, by means of His blood, and the power is God the Holy Spirit revealing the gospel to the world and baptising all who believe.

 

Just as Pharaoh had no power over the plagues, though he tried to duplicate them with his magicians, so the world’s attack on the gospel, and all the false gospels, will never be able to stop the gospel of Jesus Christ from being heard in this world. And when a person believes the gospel, nothing can stop his regeneration into a new creature in Christ, redeemed and set free.

 

The final plague, the death of the first-born son, would usher in the Passover celebration.

 

EXO 12:12 'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments —  I am the Lord.

 

EXO 12:13 'And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

 

EXO 12:14 'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.

 

There is much here to study, but we will stay our course of redemption. The central part of the Passover is the blood of the lamb, and this was to become the blood of Christ, the one sacrifice for all. His blood was the price of redemption.

 

The price: the blood of Christ.

 

There is no other redemption outside of Christ’s blood.

 

ACT 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”

 

God’s blood, the blood of Christ, would refer to the entire act of salvation.

 

Too much has been made of the argument over the meaning of the literal blood from the body of Jesus. In the OT much was made of the literal blood of the animal sacrifice and so naturally we wonder about the literal blood of Jesus, especially when the Bible uses the phrase “blood of Christ” as the payment for sin.

 

Much needs to be made of the study of the blood of Christ, but the arguments over the implications of His literal blood have, so far as I can see, been fruitless.

 

Does redemption have to do with His literal blood being spilled or is His blood only symbolic? The Bible says nothing at all that would settle that argument clearly on one camp and not the other, and so, it shouldn’t be argued at all.

 

There seem to be few books written on the subject. That’s actually good since it forces us not to discuss who said what about it, but only what the scripture says about it.

 

You have believed in Christ as your Savior and not His blood.

 

It becomes clear that the blood of Christ, blood of Jesus, blood of the covenant, blood of the lamb, blood of God, blood of the Lord, blood of His cross (all of which are used in the NT) refers to His saving work as a whole.

 

It is obvious that He couldn’t just cut Himself and offer the blood to the Father as a sacrifice for all mankind. He had to be forsaken, judged, and die physically. This included suffering, which included a good amount of bleeding through Roman scourging and having nails driven through His hands and feet. Therefore, we don’t discount the literal blood as meaningless or useless. We count all of what He did as precious and necessary.

 

Usage in 1Jo.

 

John wrote the letter of 1 John to repair the damage that a group of false teachers had done to John’s congregation of believers.

 

John is doing two things in this letter.

 

1. He is exposing the opponents as false apostles and antichrists.

 

1JO 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

 

2. And he is reassuring the believers in his congregations that they indeed have eternal life (are saved).

 

1JO 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

 

The opponents denied Jesus Christ: who He is, and what He has done.

 

They also claimed to be something they were not. Their actions completely contradicted their claims.

 

These false claims revealed them to be liars, deceivers, and antichrists.

 

The opponents appeared to have a lot to say about God and how close they were to Him and how they had the real life from God.

 

They claimed to have seen God, to know God, to have fellowship with God, and to abide in God. They also claimed to be in the Light. They said that they had no sin, and that they had not sinned.

 

John unmistakably pointed out that they were none of these things, but rather, they practiced sin, hated the believers, rejected Christ, both His humanity and deity, and the gospel. They were not in the light, but walked in darkness.

 

We are far removed from their experience. They are closing out the first generation of the church. It is only about 50-60 years old. People who were respected among them have gone out from them and attempted to recruit them to their Gnostic theology. This was all new to them and it left them confused and fearful. We come to this letter somewhat cold, but with study and a little imagination to put yourself in the right historical context, you can warm up to this letter greatly.  

 

1JO 1:5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

 

1JO 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 

Would John walk in darkness while claiming fellowship with Christ? Would any who were fellow co-workers with John? He is speaking of a walk, of a life, and not the momentary sin that he and every believer experience. John is pointing out how his readers can identify the false teachers among them (the “you” in vs. 5).  

 

The wolves had been among the sheep. If you read the entire letter you see that. John is identifying the wolves to the sheep because John is their shepherd.

 

ACT 20:28-30

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

 

MAT 7:15-16

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.”

 

1JO 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 

1JO 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

1JO 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 

1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to [hina: with the result that] forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

1JO 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

 

The descriptions in vv. 6, 8, 10 all match descriptions of the false teachers in the rest of the letter: Liars, walk in darkness, deceiving, and making God a liar.

 

The descriptions in vv. 7 and 9 describe John and his co-workers: walk in the light, fellowship with one another, cleansed, and confessors. They do not hide the fact that they are sinners.

 

Jesus told us that He made us light (MAT 5:14). He did this with His blood (redemption, reconciliation, propitiation).

 

We are clean because of the blood of Christ. The fact that we are forgiven of all sin is mentioned over forty times in the NT.

 

The NT says that through the blood of Christ we are forgiven, justified, and cleansed.

 

The false teachers who were having a corrosive effect on the churches were always “saying” something incorrect. “If we say” is the false teachers, but the apostle and believers are “doing,” “If we walk,” “If we confess,” meaning walking in the light, confessing sins.

 

A fraud always contradicts what he says. They say one thing and do another.

 

Do we ever hear or read about a counterfeit Judaism before the first Advent of Christ? Certainly, the Pharisees and Sadducees distorted it, but there was nothing like the lies that would come upon the world in the age of the truth, lies about Christ, about the Bible, about God, and about Christianity.

 

The freer God has made His people, the more opposition and attacks have come upon them. Satan brings more power against the more power God gives. It is a fact then the freer you walk in your heart the more people are going to rise up and try to enslave you.