'Redeemed,' 'ransomed of the Lord.' Israel had in its past history one
great act, under the imagery of which all future deliverances were
prophesied. The events of the Exodus were the great storehouse from
which prophets drew the clothing of their brightest hopes; and that is
a lesson for us of how to use the history of God's past deliverances.
They believed that each transitory act was a revelation of an
unchanging purpose and an unexhausted power, and that it would be
repeated over and over again. Experience supplied the material out of
which Hope wove its fairest webs, but Faith drove the shuttle. Here the
names which describe the pilgrims come from the old story. They are
slaves, purchased or otherwise set free from captivity by a divine act.
The epithets are transferred to the New Testament, and become the
standing designation for those who have been delivered by Christ.
That designation, 'ransomed of the Lord,' opens out into the great
evangelical thoughts which are the very life-blood of vital
Christianity.
Emancipation from bondage is the first thing that we all need. 'He that
committeth sin is the slave of sin.' An iron yoke presses on every neck.
The needed emancipation can only be obtained by a ransom price. The
question of to whom the ransom is paid is not in the horizon of prophet
or apostle or of Jesus Himself, in using this metaphor. What is
strongly in their minds is that a great surrender must be greatly made
by the Emancipator.