The last few weeks at church, we have been singing the new song “Jesus Messiah” by Chris Tomlin, and today as I sang the lyrics, one word really stuck in my mind: Ransom.
This word has been running through my head all day, and the implications of the word in its contextual meaning have become very profound to me.
When you think of a “ransom,” what thoughts or ideas does it bring to your mind? I think of paying an extreme price in order to set someone very dear to you free from a captivity they did not willingly enter into, such as ransoming a child from kidnappers, etc. It generally comes at great cost to the person paying the ransom, but in return, they get something so infinitely important to them, that they are willing to sacrifice the price they had to pay for its freedom.
Meriam Webster’s dictionary defines ransom as “(n.) a consideration paid or demanded for the release of someone or something from captivity.” Very interestingly, the etymological root of the word ‘ransom’ is the latin word redemption, or redemptio, where we also get our english word ‘redemption’ obviously.
Our redemption from the captivity of sin is paid by the ransom given for us in Jesus’ death on the cross.
We are so important to God, that He was willing to give up His Son in order to set us free. We have been in captivity by the ruler of this world, our enemy the devil, held against our will in bondage to slavery in sin. But Jesus willingly offered Himself as our Ransom, the payment for our sins, setting us free from that captivity.
Just as there is nothing a kidnappee does to secure their release, other than accept it when the time comes that the price demanded is paid, so also we just have to accept Christ’s gift of Freedom through His Death and Resurrection in order to be freed from our captivity in sin.
As John says in chapter 3 verse 16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” And as Jesus said in chapter 8 verse 36 of John, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has paid our ransom, our freedom and release from sin, by His death on the Cross. He has secured our eternal life by His Resurrection.
He has set us free.
And we are free indeed!
As Chris Tomlin said in his song, “Love so amazing!”