TOPIC: YOU HAVE A RANSOM
Bible Reading: 2 Chronicles 34-36: John 19:1-22
“If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” – Job 33:23-24 (KJV)
Without the fall of man in the garden of Eden, there wouldn’t have been any need for a mediator. Man needed a priest (a mediator) to stand in the gap for him and be a go-between it is interesting to note that God was man’s first priest. Genesis 3:21 says, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” This is God performing priestly duties for Adam and Eve. Like the good Father that He is, He wasn’t out to expose their nakedness, rather He wanted to cover them because, “… love will COVER a MULTITUDE OF SINS” 1 Peter 4:8. All your sins, past, present and future have been paid for in the sacrifice of Jesus.
As Adam’s Priest, God made atonement for him; a perfect covering through the sacrifice of an innocent animal in the garden which is a type of Jesus – the guiltless one taking our place and paying for our wrongs.
When one reads about Job’s ordeal and the many things he suffered; one might be tempted to accept whatever the devil throws at him/her as their fate or lot from God but a careful study of the book of Job reveals that Job’s ordeal was because he didn’t have a mediator. The gap between fallen man and God is so wide that man needs a mediator and for Job, he didn’t have one who will stand in for him, plead His case and avert judgment. In Job 9:33-34 (MSG) he prayed, “How I wish we had an arbitrator to step in and let me get on with life— To break God’s death grip on me, to free me from this terror so I could breathe again.”
Your case doesn’t have to be like Job’s because you have an arbitrator or mediator in the man Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God and one MEDIATOR between God and men, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.” The work of a mediator according to our text is to show man his righteousness and Jesus is the only person that presents us qualified before the Father and truly shows us that we are righteous and upright (2 Corinthians 5:21; Colossians 1:22).
Where there’s a ransom, grace abounds. Our text says, “Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” (Job 33:24). While we find a mediator in Jesus who shows us our righteousness which He has given to us, God looks at Jesus and He sees a ransom who He offered for us. Because God has found a ransom, you are delivered from every harm and danger. Keep your eyes on your mediator and enjoy perfect wholeness and deliverance today because God has found a ransom for you.
Prayer: Thank you Jesus for being my ransom and my mediator. I keep my focus on my ransom and not on my self-efforts.
Pastor Alfred Samuel