God as Redeemer

Granted, the word "redeemer" sounds old-fashioned. But it is an important Biblical word, and we can't get along without it. To "redeem," in common usage, is to buy back something we once owned. Thus we speak of redeeming a pledge (from a pawnbroker) or redeeming a promise (which we had broken but which we still want to make good).

In this sense, God seeks to "redeem" men, that is, to buy them back, or, more properly in his case, to win them back, or even to woo them back, to fellowship with him. The situation is as though men, who belong to God, had run away from him and gotten lost -- but that even though it was their fault, he had sought them out and reclaimed them for his own. The word "redemption" is thus a hopeful word. It says that God has not forsaken us, even if we have forsaken him, but that he seeks us constantly.

The clearest Biblical expression of this redemptive activity of God is the whole story of the coming of Christ into the world as God's outgoing, redemptive love made concrete and personal.

There is no need to be theoretical about this. We can look at a specific person, the prophet Hosea. Hosea knew that God was a God of justice and that he punished wrongdoing. But he also knew that that was not the end of the story. The realization of God's redemptive love came to him through a tragic personal experience. Hosea discovered that his wife Gomer was not faithful to him, but was an adulteress. The relationship between Hosea and Gomer was thus spoiled. Then Hosea realized that the same thing was true of the relationship between God and Israel. Israel too had proved faithless. She was likewise an adulteress, giving herself to other gods. Just as Gomer had broken her promise to be faithful to Hosea, so Israel had broken her promise to be faithful to God.So Hosea had to put Gomer out of his house. But he made an astonishing discovery. He discovered that even though Gomer had been unfaithful to him -- he still loved her! Although she did not "deserve" his love, that love was still there. Could he dare to believe this also of God -- that although Israel had been unfaithful to him he still loved her? Hosea dared to believe it. His restoration of Gomer to his own household dramatized what he felt certain God would do for his people. They would first be put out of "God's house" and sent into exile. But there would be a return! God's love for his people was such that he could not and would not give them up. Even when they were faithless, he would encompass them with "bands of love."

And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.

( Hos. 2: 19, 20)

A redeeming God, then is a seeking God, willing to restore fellowship because of his deep love.There are three parables of Jesus, each of which underscores a part of the italicized statement: One: In the parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15: 3-7) we are reminded that God is a seeking God. The shepherd does not wait at the sheepfold for the straggler to return. He goes out into the night to find the one sheep that has gotten lost.

Two: In the parable of the Lost Boy (Luke 15: 11-24) we are reminded that God is a forgiving God. When the boy finally comes to his senses and returns home, expecting the worst, he finds his father waiting, ready to forgive him.
Three: In the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard ( Matt. 20: 1-16) we are reminded that God's redeeming love is a gift, not something that can be earned. A number of men work from dawn to dusk for a denarius. But at various times during the day other men are employed, some at nine, some at noon, some at three, and some just before quitting time. And the master who has hired them gives each one the same wage-even those who worked only a few minutes! The parable is not a lesson in labor relations but a description of the Kingdom of God and of the fact that God's love toward each man is not expressed in terms of what each man earns, but is rather a sheer gift. God loves because it is characteristic of him to love, not because men have deserved it.