Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
We return to our study of Isaiah 59 today. Once we come to the middle of verse 16, the bad news of man’s sin turns to the good news of the Messiah’s salvation. Through faith in this Messiah, Jesus Christ, we, “dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5), are made alive, for Jesus loves life and gives life – new life. How does He achieve this miracle? Part of the answer is found in the word “Redeemer” in verse 20. The Hebrew word is a very specific one; literally, it is “Kinsman-Redeemer.” We find a fine illustration of the meaning of this word in the account of Ruth and Boaz. In order for families to maintain property rights (crucial in an agrarian society) and for widows to be legally protected and cared for well, it was the custom for an unmarried kinsman to marry the widow. Of course, the man had to be willing to take on this serious obligation; a closer relative than Boaz rejected the opportunity to marry Ruth. Boaz accepted his duty, married Ruth, loved her, and was blessed with a son named Obed, who became the grandfather of David and thus part of the line of Jesus. Here in Isaiah 59:20, this concept is applied to the Messiah, Who became our Kinsman by becoming fully human. Of course, He retained His full divinity, for He cannot change (Hebrews 13:8). Because we could not go to Him (verse 2), he came to us, to this planet of death, to a particular place of death, the Cross. There He died to redeem us, to pay the full price for our sins. Only as our Kinsman could He substitute Himself for us and become our Redeemer. This prophetic designation was written down over 700 years before the death of Jesus, assuring us that the detailed plan of God can be trusted. Likewise, He can be trusted with the details of our lives.