Courtney Gilmore Gift cards have become popular in recent years. I was at the store the other day and passed by an entire wall of them. There were cards to restaurants, fast food places, clothing stores, hardware stores, even movie theaters, all in one place. These are such fun gifts to receive! But if we don’t ever buy anything with them, they’re just a useless piece of plastic, aren’t they?
We all know how gift cards work, but for the purpose of this analogy it’s helpful to explain. First, someone pays the price for the gift certificate. Then, they give it to us, and we accept it. But, for it to be of any benefit, we must exchange it for something we want. So, we go to the store and pick out an item. Then, instead of giving the cashier money for it, we give them the gift card. When the transaction is complete, the cashier hands us a receipt as proof that the item has been paid for.
This is how our souls are redeemed, too. Jesus paid the price for our sin. That’s His gift to us. But we must accept it, if we want it to be applied to us.
We must acknowledge that we’ve sinned and that there’s a price that needs to be paid to wipe it away. Then, we must go to the Father, confess our sins, and profess that Jesus paid the price on our behalf. It’s as if we handed God a gift card signed by His Son saying, “I paid the price for this person’s sin.” Then, as proof of His purchase, the Holy Spirit places His seal on us. This is like a stamp that says, “Redeemed,” or “Paid For.” Lastly, our merchandise is a deed to an eternal inheritance in heaven.
The Price for Our Sin
Sin is an archery term that means missing the mark. God gave us the marks that He wanted us to meet through His laws. Just as we would never be able to hit the bullseye multiple times a day for the rest of our lives, we will not be able to hit God’s perfect mark every time. His standards are too high. We still practice every day and make that our aim, but we will inevitably miss the mark often.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
Just as with any law, there is a penalty for breaking God’s law. In the present, that penalty could be a number of things depending on what the sin is. But the ultimate penalty for breaking God’s law is death.
The wages of sin is death.
Romans 6:23
In our justice system, if we break the law, we go before the court and plead our case. If we’re found guilty, then the judge pronounces our sentence, and we must serve it. But with God as our Judge, we are all found guilty and sentenced to death.
All who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is written that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” The law is not of faith, rather, “The one who does them shall live by them.”
Galatians 3:10-12
Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice
But there’s a provisions clause that allows us not to serve our own sentence. In the beginning, an unblemished animal could die in the people’s place. These animals looked perfect, but they were not. Without a conscious, they are not our equals. Only a perfect human being could be an adequate, permanent sacrifice.
He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Therefore, He is the Mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:12-15
When the angel told Mary she would soon be pregnant with the Promised Messiah, she asked how that was possible since she and Joseph weren’t married yet and she was a virgin. The angel replied that the Child within her was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus was of both God and Man, He alone could pay the high price for our sin. As a Man, He lived a life just like us, but as God, He hit the mark every time.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus, Paid the Price
You, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13-14
All the laws that we broke, all the charges that were filed against us, fell on Jesus instead. We were sentenced to death for our sins, but He served the sentence in our place, as if He was the one who broke the law.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Galatians 3:13
Jesus bought us back from the sin that we sold ourselves to.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Romans 7:14
All we have left to do is accept the sacrifice on our behalf.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16-18
If we do not accept Jesus as the Savior of our sins, then we stand condemned and must serve our own sentence.
Adopted & Sealed for Eternity
But if we go to the Father, acknowledging that we are a sinner who has accepted Jesus’s gift to us, then we are justified.
We are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.
Romans 3:24-25
Because we were bought by the Son, for the Father, we are adopted as His children.
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out “Abba, Father!”
Galatians 4:4-6
Once redeemed, we receive the Holy Spirit as our receipt, the proof of Jesus’s purchase.
In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14
Then, as His children, we receive a family inheritance, a place to dwell for eternity with our Father and Brother.
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Romans 8:16-17
So, accept and redeem the gift that Jesus bought for you today. Don’t let His death be in vain regarding you. What a shame to purchase something so precious and everlasting for someone who never redeems it!
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This post was inspired by the lesson “Adoption and Redemption: Land and Legacy” as taught on YouTube, Podcast, and written on Substack. Read the beginning of the lesson for free. Or read it in its entirety, along with previous lessons over the Ten Commandments, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges, for $6/month or $60/year. Once subscribed, you’ll receive one lesson each week by email after that and access to all previous lessons. Print all the material you need with one subscription. Cancel anytime.
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