YAHWEH, THE GOD OF ISRAEL, IS WITH US!

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins ...” ( Isaiah 58: 1 )

The Price of Salvation

Reading: Isaiah Chapter 53

1. Introduction

Everyone loves shopping, especially if one has a lot of money to spend. It's very exciting and great fun. After a shopping trip the one question that folk ask - or would like to ask - is:
“What did you pay for it?” Everything in this universe has a value. And if an owner of something wishes to transfer it to another, he may either sell, in which case a price is involved; or he may give it away, in which case there is no price involved. You've all no doubt heard it said that Salvation is a gift - it’s free! And that is perfectly true. Salvation is offered to the human race - free of charge! It is a gift from God to us. It's free! But it is a terrible mistake to think that because salvation is free to us - it cost nothing. In actual fact our salvation cost a great deal to the One who bought it for us. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 6:	20: “For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
1 Corinthians 7:	23: “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”

2. What Was That Price?

The price Yahweh paid to buy us back from Satan is called the Price of Redemption. The word ‘redemption’ means to buy back, to recover - by payment - something which was yours in the first place. What was man's redemption price? What did Yahweh give to buy us back from Satan?

John 3:

16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Ephesians 1:

7: “In whom we have redemption THROUH HIS BLOOD, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”

NOTE:
Blood represents life. Yahweh sacrificed His life blood to win life for us. The Father's part of the sacrifice (the RAM caught in the thicket by it's horns) is a mystery we shall investigate and marvel at throughout eternity. We do believe that the Father's sacrifice in the plan of salvation is infinitely higher than He is prepared to tell us. His humility forbids Him: but we are certain that it was an enormous price: possibly beyond our ability to appreciate.

In exchange for man's salvation Emmanuel The Son gave up the following:

His Reputation

Isaiah 53:

3: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

His Happiness

He became a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Isaiah 53:

4: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.”

Our sickness, weakness, pains and distress; the Saviour accepted all these.

His Innocence

Isaiah 53:

5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

NOTE:
When at Calvary the sins of mankind were laid on the Saviour, he was reckoned as guilty as the Serpent itself. The Father could no more countenance Christ's guilt (which was placed on him) than He could Satan's; and thus the full measure of divine punishment was poured out on the Son just as surely as if he had committed those sins himself. Thus he gave up his innocence and ‘became sin for us.’

His Right of Appeal

Isaiah 53:

7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

His Posterity

Isaiah 53:

8: “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.”

His Life

Isaiah 53:

8: “... for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.”

Pause and consider what an amazing price Yahweh paid for your salvation! Those are the things (and much more) that Yeshua gave up to buy life for us. Oh the wonder of it all!

3. Value For Money / Use

Everything has a value; either in monetary terms, or in an abstract equivalent (memories, love, friendship, faith and happiness). All of these have value. They are worth something. Values are perhaps best measured by the price one is prepared to pay for them. In other words, you can tell a thing's worth by its price. Judging by the price Yahweh paid for our salvation, and bear in mind that the Creator is not ignorant of an item's real worth, we can safely say that the human race is an extremely valuable purchase. Human beings are not cheap. Every person, no matter how poor or worthless he/she may appear, is of priceless worth.

Bear in mind that we were created “in the image of God!” Therefore it is an error for believers to repeatedly refer to themselves as being “useless and worthless.” It makes nonsense of the enormous price paid for our redemption. The fact is, Yahweh paid a very high price for man's salvation. We are His jewels - everyone of us - His most valuable possession. And because of this fact we are admonished as follows:

Malachi 3: 16: “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
27: And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”

4. In Your Body / Temple

The true believer is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. To appreciate what this means study the physical temple of Solomon. (1 Kings 6) It was made of the very finest materials, built by the best builders in the realm and visited and blessed by the most glorious person in the universe. But it was simply a physical symbol of Yahweh’s church. Yes, we true believers are the real Temple of Yahweh. And because of this fact we are to glorify Him just as the physical Temple of Solomon was glorified. Remember these vital points:

Acts 7:	48: “Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,”
1 Corinthians 6:	19: “ What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20: For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Dress well

This means we must wear the good, clean garments. Like every temple on the face of this earth, we must be properly turned out - else we will bring shame, not glory on the God whom we represent.

Judges 8:

18: “And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.”

Keep In Good Health

Eat the right amounts of the right food. See Leviticus chapter 11 where believers are advised as to the right and wrong meats to eat. Certain animals (pigs, dogs, cats, snakes, mice etc., are unclean and must not be eaten.) For further information see Dietary Laws In Scripture.

Be Clean

Physical cleanliness is of great importance. It comes second only to godliness. “Be ye clean.”

Follow After Godliness

Godliness is next to cleanliness. This is, doubtless, the most important aspect of a true believer's responsibilities.

5. Are You Worth It?

Have you been shopping lately? What have you bought? What did you pay? And, here comes the next - inevitable - question: Is it worth it? Let us ask you an extremely personal question. “Are you worth what Yahweh paid for you?” It's a difficult question to answer; but it's one we should be constantly asking ourselves. “Am I worth it?”

In The Son’s Name For The Father’s Glory
Elders: Max W. Mader & Chris A. Yenni