I have redeemed thee

'I have redeemed thee'

— Isaiah 43: 1

Here are four words which set forth and help to define that blessed work of the Lord Jesus Christ by which our souls were redeemed and our eternal glory secured.

Sovereignty. Our Lord’s act of redemption was an act of divine sovereignty. ‘He laid down his life for us.’ There was nothing in us which compelled him, or moved him, to redeem us. He voluntarily laid down his life for us because it was the free and sovereign pleasure of his love to do so. Christ, the sovereign God, determined that he would die, how he would die, where he would die, when he would die, who his murderers would be, for whom he would die and what the results of his death would be.

Success. Because our Redeemer is the eternal, sovereign Son of God, we are assured that his death and his redemptive work for the atonement of sin are a success and not a failure. The prophecy has been fulfilled: ‘He shall not fail.’ In stating that the Lord Jesus Christ is a successful Savior, I am simply proclaiming that which must be a self-evident truth: whatever the Lord Jesus Christ intended to accomplish at Calvary has been done. He is God! His purpose and will in redemption must, of a certainty, be fulfilled (Isa. 46:9-10).

Substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ died as a Substitute for a particular people. And those people for whom Christ stood as a Substitute at Calvary, bearing their sins and enduring the wrath of God in their place, will never perish. They are redeemed! (2 Cor. 5:21.)

Satisfaction. Our blessed Savior’s one, substitutionary sacrifice for our sins has completely and perfectly satisfied the wrath and justice of God against us. His sacrifice was infinitely meritorious, so that every sinner who believes on Christ is freely justified and fully pardoned. Through the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by which the law and justice of God are satisfied, God is both just and the justifier of all who believe (Rom. 3:24-26). ‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus!’