"When the fullness of 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." (Gal. 4:4-5.)

      We need to examine the wonder of this marvelous work of grace. Jesus, having been the surety for his brethren since  eternity (before the foundation of the world) and having stood as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world (see Rev. 13:8), was sent by the Father when the fullness of time was come.  He laid aside his coat (Song of Solomon 5:3); then prayed for the Father to put it on Him again when he had finished the work. (John 17:5.) When he appeared to Saul of Tarsus, He was in his glory and the eyes of Paul could not look upon such majesty.  Here is infallible proof that He had pleased the Father and finished the work.  What did He do? His body became the repository for the sins of all of his beloved, all for whom he had become the surety.  Every member of his mystical body had been written in the book of life. (See Psalm 139:16 and Rev. 13:8.) He was legally responsible for every transgression because he had assumed the obligation; also because he was the betrothed husband of the bride and legally responsible for every debt that she would incur.  None of his beloved had the price required to deliver them from going down into the pit.   Sacrifice and offerings had entered under the law of Moses, but it only caused sin to abound. (See Rom. 5:20.) This should have taught man that nothing that he could do would deliver him from his depraved condition, but still a vast number of mankind believe that if they keep the law of God in a perfunctory manner that they will go to glory on that merit.  Jesus knew that all the righteousness that man could muster would be as filthy rags in the eyes of a Holy God and came prepared to pay the terrible price required for the redemption of His beloved.

     God had prepared Jesus a body, through the work of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. (See Heb. 10:5; Matt. 1:18-25.) Here was a body that was completely without sin--it did not have an earthly Father and was called the seed of the woman.  Sin being only transmitted or inherited from the earthly father was not present in the body of Jesus. (Women, even though they are sinners, do not pass on the tendency to sin to their offspring; it comes from the father.) Jesus, being the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish, the firstling of the flock, was a perfect antitype to the atonement lamb under the Levitical priesthood.  He was eminently qualified to become a sin offering to an offended God, and God laid on him the iniquity of us all.  All in this case meant all the elect, all the beloved. (Isa. 53:6.) Due to the fact that He was the surety, the sin debt was due and the offender not having the price, the offended had every right to require payment by the surety.  But wait, the surety had to be kin to the offender before he could legally redeem him.  Ah, precious, incomparable God! He had made, all to be redeemed, legal brethren by adopting them into the family, as stated in a previous chapter.

     All the requirements of the redeemer being met, every qualification being verified, the work of redemption was ready to begin.  Jesus could have redeemed without ever preaching a discourse or ever walking the shores of Galilee; without ever turning water into wine, healing a withered body or raising the dead.  He could have never called a disciple or touched a life, and it would not have affected his redeeming power or altered the population of heaven one iota.  His primary mission was to save his people from their sins. (Matt. 1:21.) His preaching, his miracles, in fact, all of his public relations were for the benefit of His people here on earth.  Only the cup that he prayed the Father to let pass from him had any effect on the eternal well-being of His beloved.  What did he do? When he prayed, "Not my will but thine be done" (Matt. 26:39, etc.), his human body, reeling under the load of sin--the actual guilt of his beloved, was sorrowful unto death.  When he went before Pilate and Herod, every accusation which they brought against him was true--not because He had committed the sin--but because your sins, my sins, and the sins of all of his kindred had been laid on Him.  When they led Him to Calvary and He stumbled in the way, it was as much the load of sin as it was the weight of the cross.  Every bleeding gash in his royal back, made by the bits of bone and metal with sharp edges, tied in each thong of the scourging whip, was condemning our sins and transgressions.  Yet, Isaiah says that with his stripes we are healed.  If all of his people could know the agony of those hours from the time He surrendered to the authorities, as He came out of Gethsemane, until he bowed his kingly head and gave up the ghost, we would all hang our heads in deepest shame.

     Then as they reached the crest of Golgotha, I can imagine a burly Roman soldier with a rusty spike in one hand and a maul in the other, waiting by the cross as another uncouth ruffian places a knee on his arm and spreads Jesus' palm out to receive the rusty nail; the same scenario taking place on his other hand and both his feet, then the cross being roughly erected and the base let fall into the hole with a resounding jolt that must have caused waves of excruciating pain to roll over ever muscle and nerve in his princely body.  What a sorry spectacle. The very King of heaven dying the death of the worst of criminals.  And to think that it was because of our sins.  Then, He refused the bitter mixture that was supposed to ease pain, choosing to suffer the full agony of the most painful death that men could devise.  No wonder that the earth shook from pole to pole, the sun hid its face, and all the creation bowed in shame.  When Isaac Watts wrote of the agony, realizing that it was for crimes that we had done, he well said:    

                    Well might the sun in darkness hide

                    And shut his glories in,

                    When Christ the mighty maker died

                    For man the creature's sin.

      That day was truly a day that shall live in infamy; but much more, it was a day of triumph.  A day when the forces of good and evil met in mortal combat as it was portrayed in so many pagan religions, although they thought that the conflict was perpetual; a day when no doubt the forces of Satan shouted for joy and danced with glee because it appeared that the enmity held by the Satanic host toward the Son of Righteousness had finally realized its fulfillment in triumph over all of His power.  If Satan had only known the final outcome--that by means of death, Christ would destroy him, that his power from that day forward would be curtained and finally that he would be destroyed. (See Heb. 2:14.) What did this death accomplish?

       We must remember that Jesus had no sin in himself; yet he died.  Where there is no sin, there is no death.  Then it had to be imputed sin that caused his death.  It was the sins of God's beloved that were laid upon his body, ". . . the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6.) Jesus told us, "I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:15.) We must also remember that God is a God of strict justice.  He will by no means clear the guilty; yet he will not require payment of the same debt twice.  If Jesus died for the sins of any person, that person will escape the eternal penalty for that sin.  IF JESUS DIED FOR YOU, YOU WILL LIVE WITH HIM IN GLORY. He set free forever every adopted son because God raised him from the dead.  If He had remained in the tomb, we would have no hope at all; but He came forth and was later glorified in body, by this we know that every one that He represented in his death will be saved by his life.

     Jesus knew that He would not fail because He promised the malefactor a home in before He expired.  When He died, He commended his Spirit into the hands of the Father and it was in this Spirit that He was with the thief who had asked to be remembered.  His body was taken down and prepared by Nicodemus and Joseph for burial after the manner of the Jews. (John 19:40.) (This completely refutes the idea of the Shroud of Turin being the burial garment of Jesus.  That shroud was a Roman burial garment.) His body stayed in the graves for three days, then came forth--the same body with the same scars; yet it was able to transcend time, pass through unopened doors, come out of a Jewish burial "cocoon" and leave it intact, ascend all the way to heaven in an instant; yet it was not glorified as it was when He was seen "last of all" of Paul.  This much is certain: He came forth from the grave in body and was seen of about five hundred (500) at one time who attested to his resurrection.  He walked on the earth and was seen at various times by his disciples for forty (40) days, and then they witnessed his rapture as He was received up into a cloud.  He has promised to come again, but we only "see through a glass darkly" what will transpire at that coming.  However, we can all say with an unknown poet of years past that all of His beloved: Shall see Him wear that very flesh on which my guilt was lain, His love intense, His merit fresh, as though but newly slain. He truly became "the first-fruits of them that slept."

     It is feared that many do not comprehend the vastness, the far reaching effects of this redemption.  Many try to limit redemption to the relatively few who have heard the gospel.  This would in no wise satisfy the statement in Rev. 5:9: "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." (A literal translation says: "because thou wast slain, and did'st purchase us to God by thy blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.") The gospel in every form has only reached about thirty percent (30%) of the people in the world.  By any form, we mean anything preached in the name of Jesus Christ; Catholic, Baptist or Protestant.  There have been many nations which have never heard the gospel of Christ, yet this did not limit the redemptive power of Jesus or prevent the effects of his purchase that He made by his death.  Redemption in its entirety depended upon the work of the God-head, and in no way is dependent upon the efforts of God's creatures.

     If my sins or your sins went before us on Him into judgment, then there is no reason for us or anyone for whom He died to fear the great white throne judgment. (See 1 Tim. 5:14.) God would be extremely unjust to make anyone pay for his sins if Jesus had already paid for them.  God is not that kind of God.  Every transgression receives a just recompense of reward, but not a double recompense.  It is true that we are told that Jesus has caused us to receive double for all of our sins, but this was not punishment but mercy and grace. (See Isa. 40:2.) When anyone can understand the scope of redemption as it was made by Jesus, it can go a long way in alleviating his fears of the day of the Lord.    

     Jesus beholding a multitude had compassion on them and said they were as sheep having no shepherd.  I fear that many of God's redeemed are in the same condition today.  They have been delivered from bondage in sin but are still wandering in the wilderness of sin.  They need to know about it. (More about this later.)