REDEEMER (NATIONAL)

Chapter 57 closes with a clear affirmation that ‘there is no peace ...to the wicked’. The final section of Isaiah’s prophecy then follows, in which he develops God’s purpose and plan for the nation, to bring them ultimately to the point where He ‘will extend peace to her like a river’, Isa. 66.12.

Throughout chapters 58 and 59 the prophet emphasises the need for moral and spiritual revival. Our minds are cast forward to the end times when to the nation in great distress, with ‘no man’ and ‘no intercessor’, the Lord Himself will bring salvation, ‘and the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob’, Isa. 59. 20. Paul takes up the same truth in Romans, as he comes to the climax of his great discourse on God’s dealings with Israel, ‘There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob’, Rom. 11. 26.

For one to be a redeemer in Israel, there were certain qualifications required. Firstly, he must be a near kinsman. Then he must have the ability, the necessary means to meet the redemption price. Finally, he must be willing to carry out the act of redemption. All this is beautifully illustrated in the book of Ruth. In chapter 4, the scene is set for the transaction to redeem the inheritance of Elimelech and his family. Boaz undertakes the responsibility, but there is a nearer kinsman who has prior claim. However, when Boaz makes it clear that Ruth must be included in the contract, the kinsman, who no doubt could have met the cost, is unwilling ‘lest I mar mine own inheritance’, Ruth 4. 6.

The heavenly Boaz became a partaker ‘of flesh and blood’, of ‘the seed of Abraham’, a near kinsman. He came with all the authority and resources of heaven at His disposal. Above all, He willingly undertook the great work of redemption. He paid the full price, His own precious blood, in order to purchase ‘out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation’, Rev. 5. 9, a vast multitude to share in His glory for all eternity.

To the nation comes the assurance of redemption; ‘I have chosen thee ... I will uphold thee ... I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel’, Isa. 41. 8-14.