"I Will Redeem Them"

Hosea 13:14

The cause of redemption is the sovereign, eternal will, choice, and decree of God. All theories and doctrines which in any manner teach, or imply, that there was any obligation upon God to redeem fallen, rebellious transgressors of his law are unscriptural, unreasonable and blasphemous. Any doctrine of redemption which in anyway casts the slightest question upon God's sovereignty cannot be tolerated for a moment. God's sovereignty is clearly revealed in his determination to redeem fallen sinners and in determining who must be redeemed. Let there be no mistake about it, redemption is the most glorious display of God's sovereignty in all the universe. In our redemption by Christ we see the infinite sovereignty of God's wisdom, love, grace and mercy. We stand in utter amazement before our gloriously sovereign God, who so loved us that he gave his own dear Son to redeem us!

However, this must be understood: This sovereign redemption, once determined, was and must be wrought out and accomplished in exact accordance with God's holy law. "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," because there was no other way whereby redemption could be accomplished without compromising the justice of God and violating the law of God. God's determination to redeem us was altogether an act of sovereign grace. But his accomplishment of redemption by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ was altogether an act of strict justice. God honored his law by sending his Son as a "servant" made "under the law". Having freely submitted himself to the law as our Surety, all that Christ did as a man he did in obedience to and for the honor of the law. The grace of God must never be seen as a suspension of God's law, but altogether consistent with the law. God in great, sovereign grace fully satisfied his own justice for his elect by the sacrifice of his dear Son in our place. He is both "a just God and a Savior."

Don Fortner