Redemption

February 1, 2024

Deliverance is a process, not an event. When God delivered his people from Egypt, it didn’t happen all at once. There was a dramatic buildup to their actually leaving the country. It took ten plagues to bring pharaoh to his knees and be willing to free Israel; each time, he made promises that he later reneged on. The fourth plague is particularly interesting. It’s found in Exodus 8.

Then the Lord told Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand in Pharaoh’s way as he goes down to the river. Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you refuse, then I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, your people, and all the houses. The Egyptian homes will be filled with flies, and the ground will be covered with them. But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the Lord and that I am present even in the heart of your land. I will make a clear distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will happen tomorrow.’”

Towards the end of this account are these words: “I will make a clear distinction between my people and your people.”

The difference between the people of God and those of the world is not the greater ability of the former, nor the greater sinfulness of the latter. The Hebrew text reads a bit differently than what we have before us. Speaking to pharaoh, It reads, “I will set redemption between my people and your people.” It isn’t our ability, nor our special holiness that sets us apart. It is the redemption of Jesus Christ. 

When I was a younger man, grocery stores used to offer S&H Green stamps. Every dollar spent earned a stamp which would be pasted into a book. When the book (or books) were filled, they could be traded (or “redeemed”) for household items at the S&H redemption center. Something that had no intrinsic value in itself could be redeemed for something of worth.

We have nothing to offer God except our sin and failure. But when in repentance we present our brokenness and failure to God, he trades it for life and hope and belonging. God set redemption between his people and pharaoh’s people, and he does the same for us. Like Israel, we were in bondage to sin, but God made a distinction; he set redemption for us, claimed us for himself, and leads us into freedom. 

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” —Ephesians 1:7 

What distinguishes us from unbelievers? Simply this: he set redemption upon us .