Picture this... a ship, called the Estonia Emperor, with Captain Charlie Spade at the helm -- 950 feet long — a cargo container ship, cruising in the dark of night off the coast of Somalia, Africa. Things were going fine until they made a foolish mistake in judgment. The captain tried to make better time by taking a shorter route that brought them dangerously close to the shoreline, a practice that the shipping company didn’t condone. Nonetheless, Captain Charlie Spade and his crew took their chances, thought they could get away with it, and gambled that in the dark of night, while at full speed, they could avoid any possible pirate attack.
Sure enough, the worst case scenario unfolded. A small blip showed up on the radar, closing in fast. Armed pirates were chasing them down with the intent to board the ship, take the crew as hostages, and hold the ship until a large ransom was paid by the shipping company. Captain Spade tried to outrun them, but the huge vessel could only max out at about 28 knots. That's about 32 mph, no match for the pirate’s speed boat.
The pirates reached the ship in no time. The crew had been alerted and was ready to try some evasive tactics such as turning on high power water canons which blasted water from the top of the ship toward the surface of the sea. However, the pirates were able to maneuver around that, and successfully throw hook and ladders to the side deck. Unlike the crew of the Estonia Emperor, who had no weapons on board, the pirates were heavily armed with machine guns, grenade launchers, and rifles. The crew had no recourse but surrender with their hands up as soon as the pirates came on board and spotted them.
The pirates ordered Charlie to slowly bring the ship in close to the shore, anchor it, and wait for a ransom to be paid for the release of the ship as well as the crew. They were in trouble, not only because they were being held hostage, but also because they disobeyed company policy. The shipping company ended up paying a very large ransom...7 million dollars. After receiving the payment, the pirates released the ship and its crew, and they were set free. And even after discovering his illegal route, the shipping company reconciled their relationship with Captain Charlie Spade, and he continued to serve as a captain, and was determined to never disregard any shipping company policy ever again.
The story of Charlie Spade is an illustration of Biblical redemption. What is redemption? It’s the transfer of ownership — gaining possession of something in exchange for payment. If you’ve ever redeemed a coupon in a store for something you know what I mean. Say you receive a coupon in the mail for a free bottle of hand lotion. When you bring that coupon in the store, you trade it in for the lotion as payment. In other words, you redeem to the coupon — you gain ownership of the lotion, and the store releases ownership of the lotion.
The idea of a redeemer goes way back into the Old Testament. In the nation of Israel, if someone was forced to sell their land because of poverty and lose ownership of it, a relative could redeem that property or buy it back for the relative. In such a case, the one who pays the price is called the redeemer. There are a lot of other cases in the Old Testament of redemption as well, for example, the redeeming of houses or animals. You can see how God was laying the foundation of the concept of redemption early on, which would be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus becoming our redeemer.
Let’s look at the story of Charlie Spade and see how it’s a picture of redemption. To begin with, Charlie's disobedience got him in trouble, similar to how our sinful nature, early on in our lives, gets us in trouble. Charlie was held hostage. Similarly, we are held hostage by sin which can entangle us, shackle us, take us captive, and separate us from God.
There's no way Charlie was going to be released by the pirates unless a ransom was paid. The definition of a ransom is this....."money that is paid in order to free someone who has been captured or kidnapped". In a sense, we are captured or kidnapped by sin, become separated from God, and there's no way to be released from sin except by God's own doing. We can’t do it on our own.
The shipping company paid the high ransom price which freed Charlie Spade. Likewise, God paid our ransom price - the price to free us from the bondage of sin. It cost God a lot. The payment that freed Charlie Spade redeemed him. To redeem is essentially to 'buy back' or better yet, to 'trade for payment', like redeeming a coupon at a department store. The one who pays the ransom price is the redeemer. Yes, the one who pays the ransom price is the called the redeemer.
Regarding the ship, the captain, and the crew -- the shipping company said to the pirates, "They are mine!" And the company was willing to pay the price. Regarding us, as sinners, God says, "You are mine!" And He is willing to pay the price.
God must see every person as extremely valuable, even when it may seem that we are undeserving, unworthy, and sinful. That's proven by the astronomical price that He is willing to pay. The price to purchase our freedom, the cost that God is willing to pay, is the life of His one and only Son.
He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. (Ephesians 1:7 NLT)
Jesus paid the ransom price and is our Redeemer. But we must accept God's offer of the ‘payment' for our sins. That's done through faith and obedience in Christ, committing our life to Him as our Redeemer, Savior, and Lord. If we accept the offer, Jesus trades His life for ours!
Jesus pays the penalty for our sins — the ultimate sacrificial Lamb of God. His death, His blood shed on the cross is the price to free us from sin. The sacrifice of Jesus redeems us, frees us, forgives us, and reconciles us with God. His death is substitutionary — He takes on our punishment for sin instead of us paying the eternal penalty.
Listen, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. It's true of every human. Still, because of His love and His grace, God's payment of the ransom, through Jesus, is available to anyone. And just as Charlie Spade needed to be rescued, and just as his relationship with the shipping company needed to be reconciled, we can be rescued, and our relationship with God can be reconciled. Have you accepted God's offer to be redeemed, to be bought back? It doesn't cost you anything, but it costs God everything. If so, walk faithfully. If you haven't yet, will you accept His offer: the gift to pay your ransom?
One more thing — Jesus is our Redeemer, paying the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross. However, there’s more to the story. Jesus not only died on the cross, but He rose from the dead! And because he resurrected from the dead, there’s more to the story for us who are believers. You see Christianity is all about new life — resurrected life — in this life as we become Christ followers, and after we die, resurrected to live forever in paradise with the Lord — eternal life. What a gift!
"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake. Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory. You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart. For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God." (1 Peter 1:18-23)
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