Don't you wish you could be
free from sin and its consequences once and for all?
Well, according to Galatians 3:13, you already are!
You just haven't comprehended it yet!
Let me give you an illustration of this before we dive
into Galatians 3:13. A friend of mine had a goat that
he dearly loved. Very late one night, he received a
telephone call from the local police, who informed him
that his goat had wandered away from home, had been
hit by a car, and now lay dead in a ditch by the side
of the road.
My friend was grieved and broken-hearted, but he knew
he needed to retrieve the dead goat. When he
approached the ditch where the goat lay, he saw that
the goat was very much alive! Its legs were bound with
rope, which let my friend know that someone had
kidnapped the goat and then dumped it in the ditch on
the side of the road.
Jubilantly, he leaped into the bottom of the ditch,
pulled out his pocketknife, cut the ropes, slapped the
goat on its backside, and said, "Get up!" But the goat
just lay there with its legs still clinging to each
other as if they were still bound with rope. He hit
her a second time, then a third time. Then he yelled
at her one last time, "Get up!"
My friend mused to himself, Bless this dumb ol'
goat! It's free and doesn't even know it! He
reached down and pulled apart the goat's legs; then he
lifted it and set it on its feet. Only then did the
goat realize it wasn't bound anymore.
When I heard this story, it made me think about us as
believers. We don't need to get free - we are free!
Jesus' work on the Cross totally purchased our
redemption and freedom.
Although Jesus broke the bonds of slavery and the
devil has no legal hold on believers anymore, most
believers still lay on their sides in the bottom of
the ditch, wishing they could get free. The chains
that hold them are an illusion, because Jesus already
paid the price for their release!
Galatians 3:13 gives us a glorious picture of the
redemption Jesus Christ purchased for us. The word
"redeem" that Paul used in this verse is derived from
the Greek word exagoridzo. It is a compound of
the words ex and agoridzo. The word ex
is a preposition that means out. The word
agoridzo was the Greek word most notably used
to describe the slave market - a disgusting
place where human beings were bought, sold, and traded
like animals.
But when the words ex and agoridzo are
compounded together, it pictures a buyer or redeemer
who has gone to the slave market to purchase a slave
for the solitary purpose of bringing him out of that
place of slavery so he can be set free. Therefore,
this particular word for "redeem" conveys the thought
of permanent removal from captivity.
Exagoridzo is the very word Paul used in
Galatians 3:13, where he says, "Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law." Because this word is
used in connection with Jesus redeeming us from the
curse of the law, Paul is telling us plainly that
Jesus' sacrificial death didn't only pay the
penalty for our sin; His death removed us
from living under the curse henceforth!
Paul continues to tell us that Jesus' work of
redemption was the reason He came into the world: "But
when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:4,5).
As you get started on your day, take time to rejoice
that God's purpose in sending Jesus was not only to
inspect your condition of slavery and locate you in
your depravity - His ultimate plan was to buy you out
of that miserable condition and then to place you in
His family as His own child. You are forever removed
from the curse of sin and the law. God accomplished
that plan through Jesus Christ's death and
resurrection. It's a done deal!
You're a purchased possession, bought out of bondage
by the Son of God, never to be a slave to sin again.
So make a quality decision to walk in the reality of
that marvelous fact! |