Redemption — to “buy back” or recover something that was lost.
Have you ever been in debt? I mean really, really deep debt? While I’ve never personally had massive college loans or overwhelming credit card debt, my husband and I once found ourselves in a situation where our bank account was frozen. Let me explain.
We live overseas, and living in a foreign culture also means navigating foreign languages and unfamiliar systems. There was a toll road near our home. After some time, they decided to automate payments through a cellphone app. The problem was that the app hardly worked. In fact, it worked so poorly that eventually they shut down the toll road altogether — no payment required anymore.
It was only after the road had been closed that we received a notice in the mail about our “indebtedness.” Apparently, one day when I drove just one exit to go to Ikea, the app failed to open, leaving an unpaid toll of about $0.29. Since we were in North America on home assignment at the time, we never received the original notice. What we didn’t know was that in this country, if a notification is sent twice and not picked up, it is legally considered received. So instead of simply paying a small fine, we were charged additional penalties for nonpayment and informed that our bank account had been frozen until the debt was settled.
So when I read that Christ “canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,” I immediately think about what it would feel like to have an impossible debt completely wiped away. And that is exactly what Jesus did for us!
Jesus Destroys Our Debt
He didn’t simply reduce our debt — He destroyed it. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Romans 6:23 tells us that “the payoff of sin is death,” yet Jesus redeemed us from a debt we could never repay.
1 Peter 1:18–19 says that “from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed” by the precious blood of Christ. His sacrifice on the cross paid for everything. It was not only our personal sin, but even the patterns of religiosity or godlessness that may have been passed down through generations.
Jesus Brings Us Into the Kingdom of Light
I also love the truth that “He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13).
My kids love playing Super Mario games. I especially think of Super Mario Galaxy, where you enter one door and are suddenly transported into another world entirely. That’s the picture I see when I read these verses. Jesus rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
In the kingdom of light, we are free from sin because we have been fully redeemed by what Christ accomplished on the cross.
Jesus Gives Us a New Inheritance
On top of all this, verse 12 says that the Father has “qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.” I am deeply aware that none of this is deserved or earned. Because of what Christ has done, our “indebtedness” has been canceled. We have been transferred into the kingdom of light, and we have been made worthy to share in the inheritance of the saints.
When hard times come — and they surely will — may God remind us of these precious truths and promises that are ours for all eternity.
