289. Ransom
1 Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Jesus gave himself up to be a ransom for us. God promises that the ransom has been paid. The price is paid. Freedom is secured. A ransom is the cost paid to free a person who has been kidnapped or enslaved. Kidnapping and enslavement may be the most heinous of crimes ever committed against a human being. Abducting and forcibly enslaving a person against his will is abhorrent. But spiritually that is exactly what happened to each of us born of a woman. Theoretically and ideally each human was born free and owned by God the Creator. But immediately as soon as we all were conceived we lost that freedom and we renounced God’s ownership. Satan kidnapped us, took over the control of our lives, and forced us into slavery.
The analogy to kidnapping and slavery breaks down a little because we were not forced; it was a willing and legal exchange. Because we willingly surrendered the control of our lives over to Satan through sin he has the legal right to our lives. It may not seem that we willingly surrendered, but we are born in Adam, and in Adam we disobeyed and rebelled. We might respond, “But if I were Adam I wouldn’t have done that,” but in Adam we did, and we wanted to. Sin gives Satan a legal right.
Christ is the ransom. He died for our sin and thereby took it away from us. Now, without sin, Satan has no right to rule our life, Sin is not a slave master, and Death has no claim upon us. The ransom has been paid and we are free. We are reclaimed by God the Father, and we are free from Sin. Faith makes it personally true in my life.
Who is the ransom paid to? To God and to the devil: the ransom is paid to God and the devil at the same time in that both have to now legally and justly agree that Sin, Death and Satan have no more legal right to an innocent person. God says to Satan, “You have no right to an innocent man; you must let him go.” Satan responds, “Yes, I know I must let him go, but not if I can get him to give up his faith in Christ. If he doesn’t believe the ransom has been paid I still have him.”
I say, “Jesus gave himself a ransom for me. I happily belong to God. He bought me and made me his own. Satan, get behind me. I believe The Truth, not your lies.”