The Exodus is an incredible piece of history. Pharaoh, commanding the greatest power in the Ancient Near East, faces off with God himself. Plagues ensue—boils and locusts and rivers of blood. The story culminates in the Angel of Death killing the firstborn of every family in Egypt, save for those who have painted their doorposts with the blood of a perfect lamb. In the wake of this devastation, Pharaoh at last relents and releases the Israelites from their captivity. An enslaved people walks free.
The story of the Exodus has been used throughout history to rally God-fearing people in times of immense hardship. Just as God saved the Israelites from bondage, so he is powerful to save us from our enemies. And yet, the significance of the Exodus is much greater than an example meant to cheer us in dark times. No, the Exodus is a type of a much greater salvation—a salvation that is our only hope in life and in death.
The picture of the Israelites in bondage in Egypt is not meant to point to our own personal circumstances—no matter how devastating or tragic they may be—but to our bondage to sin. It is from this that we are redeemed. Christ’s work on the cross sets us free from the power of sin, guilt, and the consequences of transgressing the law of God.
This is the first important aspect of redemption to affix in its proper place. We are set free from the power of sin under the law, not from the power of Satan or life’s circumstances over us. For example, it’s not uncommon to hear the language of ransom used when talking about Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, and this would not be wholly out of place, as Scripture itself uses the term when referring to Christ’s redemptive work (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:6). But the picture often conjured is of sinners being released from the clutches of Satan, as though he has some claim on us. In his book, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis leans on this idea of ransom when Aslan frees Edmund from the White Witch by offering himself in Edmund’s place. But this is not quite how our ransom works. How could it? Satan never had any legal right to human beings—indeed, in the narrative of Job, he needs to ask God’s permission even to meddle in their lives (Job 1:7). Rather, as God is the offended party, the ransom payment would need to be made to God—and God is no way the villain of the story of redemption.
Peter, writing to the saints, says: “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18–19). First, note that this ransom is purchased with Christ’s very death, his blood made worthy of the payment because of his perfect obedience. Your God paid this price for your freedom through the humiliation of taking on human form and then spilling his own blood. What a cost.
But notice also from what we have been ransomed! Our jailer is not the Devil, jangling the keys to our cell; rather, it is from “the futile ways inherited from your fathers.” Perhaps it’s strange to hear Peter, a Jew himself, refer to the laws that had governed God’s people for centuries as “futile” but the author of Hebrews explains why: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Heb. 10:11). These sacrifices weren’t able to secure salvation. Nor, in fact, can keeping any part of the law! As Paul explains: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:20). Paul reminds us that the law so carefully followed by the Jewish devout does not have the power to save us—it can only condemn (Rom. 7:7–25). A person will either strive to live up to the perfection of God’s righteous law and fail, or they will darken their hearts against God and “perish without the law” (Rom. 1:18–21, 2:12–16).
So, if God’s law—as the standard of what is holy, perfect, lovely, and good—condemns us as those who fall short of what God requires in the covenant of life, how are we to be saved? Here is Paul’s answer:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 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.
– Rom. 3:21–25, emphasis added.
Because Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf, the righteousness of God is “for all who believe,” and we receive it—not by our own law-keeping—by faith in Jesus Christ. This is how we are redeemed from the power of sin under the law.
But we aren’t only saved from something, we are saved for something. For what? Paul writes in a letter to the church in Galatia: “Christ redeemed us … so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Gal. 3:13–14). This promise of the Holy Spirit is mission-critical to the life of a Christian. In Romans 8, Paul outlines three things the Spirit makes possible. First—the Holy Spirit works in us our sanctification and gives us the ability to live a life that is pleasing to God (Rom. 8:1–11). Second—it is the Holy Spirit that testifies to our redemption and its legal ramifications, namely: adoption by God! “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:16–17). This adoption comes with both the promise of an inheritance and also the reality of earthly suffering because of Christ. And third—the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, interceding for us himself in our prayers to God (Rom. 8:26–27).
Through the work of Christ and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have been redeemed unto a life of obedience to God, an inheritance as his children, and a renewed relationship with him through prayer. If the fall stripped from mankind our ability to please God, to walk with him like Adam once did in the peace of the garden, and to one day join him in glory, the redemption returns it.
The chains of sin that have shackled mankind have been broken. God has heard the misery of his people in captivity, and he has sent his own son to set them free.
This is an excerpt from Sola Media’s booklet, Saved From What? You can get your copy here.
