Pastor Jim Jackson, 10/30/22
God Of The New—pt. 8, God Gives A New Future
Ephesians 1:3-14

Believers have a new REDEMPTION
In the Old Testament, if an Israelite was forced to sell his possessions or himself into slavery to stay alive or pay a debt, a family relative/kinsman redeemer (Heb. Go’el) could incur the debt to buy back his relative’s life or property (Lev. 25:25, 26, 47-49; Ruth 3:9). In bringing Israel out of Egypt as slaves, God was seen as their Go’el, able to redeem people from death and sin (Ex. 6.6; Job 19:25-27; Ps. 130:8). God loves to redeem, recycle, and reuse what others have rejected! In Israel, all firstborn sons and male animals belonged to God from whom they had to be redeemed, even Jesus (Num. 18:15; Luke 2:22-24). In the NT, people are redeemed (Gr. lutron, a marketplace term meaning ‘a price paid for a slave’) from their slavery to sin and wrath from God by the ransom paid by Jesus on the cross (Matt. 20:28; Rom. 5:9; 1 Tim. 2:6). The value of something is dictated by what someone is willing to pay for it, and that God gave Jesus shows that humans are of infinite value to Him (John 3:16). In eternity, people from all colors, cultures, and creeds will thank Jesus for purchasing them from death unto life (Rev. 5:9).

Believers have a new RESURRECTION
Though God did not design death as part of His original creation, the death of all living things came as a curse on sin (Gen. 2:17; 3:19). Despite the deterioration, decay, and death in the universe, God will bring reconciliation, redemption, and resurrection to His first design. After sin is removed and death is destroyed, the universe will be resurrected with undecaying physical properties and humans will be given indestructible bodies that will never die (Rom. 8:11, 18-25; 2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-5). Believers have hope in the resurrection of their bodies, as this life is the seed that, once dead, will bring fruit for eternal life (John 5:24-29). Baptism pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as a witness to others about a new and changed life (Rom. 6:3-5). Baptism demonstrates that just as Jesus died and was resurrected, so believers have died with Christ and are raised to walk in a new life as a picture of their future resurrected selves (Col. 2:12). After rising from the dead, Jesus’ resurrected body is a prototype of the one believers will receive (1 Cor. 15:42-54)! The future hope of the resurrection guarantees God will finish what He started!