106. Redeem and Deliver
Isaiah 50:2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water and dieth for thirst.
God’s promise to redeem and deliver is replete in the Scriptures. Here the rhetorical question the Lord asks is: “Am I able to redeem? Do I have the power to deliver?” The obvious answer is “Yes, of course.” The only other question, not asked in this verse, is “Do I want to redeem and deliver? Do I love you?” This answer is also obvious in other parts of Scripture. God can and he will redeem and deliver.
God’s proof is the Exodus crossing of the Red Sea. The Red Sea miracle and crossing is all the proof that is needed to answer the question. God says, “You saw it with your own eyes. You saw it through the retelling again and again, and through the celebration of the story every year at Passover. You were there. You were there by faith in the telling of this Gospel story.” The sea dried up and the fish died. Furthermore, the sea closed back up and Pharaoh’s warriors died.
This Exodus is a direct foreshadowing of the “Exodus” story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is told and retold again and again. When it is told and you hear it, you believe it; you believe and believing is seeing. You were there, at the cross and the tomb.
So, you know: “I am able. And I did redeem and deliver.” The Lord redeemed us from kidnapping and slavery to Sin, Death and Satan. We are bought back and brought back to where we belong. The Lord delivered us from the authority of Sin, Death and Satan; the Enemies had a legal claim to our lives, until the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But now they no longer have a claim; we belong to the Lord. Only God, the Lord Jesus Christ, has the right to rule and the personal responsibility to our lives and our eternity. If you doubt it, go back to the Gospel story, listen and believe.