“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12).

To purchase a slave on sale in the market place (I Corinthians 6:19,20), in order to take him or her forever out of that market place (Galatians 4:4,5), one must have the proper purchase price. In our case, the market place is the slave market of sin; and the purchase price, as we see in our text, was our Redeemer’s own precious blood. The word for “redemption” is the Greeklutrosis. It and similar words mean “liberated through ransom.”

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18,19).

This ransom, of infinite value, is incorruptible, and designed to work its redeeming work for all eternity. The followers of Jesus used the word in the sense of setting Israel free (Luke 24:21), and that sort of deliverance is the proper sense. Christ removed us from bondage to sin and has now set us free—free from the penalty of sin, the guilt of sin, and the power of sin. Ultimately, we will be free from even the presence of sin. “Our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13,14).

Once liberated from our bondage, we can fulfill the purpose for which we were created—that of glorifying God in all we do (I Corinthians 6:19,20). The most reasonable response to our newly purchased freedom is to turn to God, and, out of genuine, heartfelt gratitude and love, offer ourselves to Him as bondslaves forever. JDM