Galatians 4:4-5 - But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
The Old Testament states that God will send His Son to be the Savior of the world, and that prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. What evidence of divine, almighty power lies in the fact that God kept His promise to Abraham, Jacob, and David, that the Messiah would be one of their descendants! It required divine protection to preserve the messianic line. Tremendously hostile powers had to be overcome if those chosen as Jesus' human ancestors were to live, and they did live! God kept His promises. He sent His Son.
Jesus came, bringing us four basic freedoms: freedom from sin and hell, freedom from despair and death. But how? By fulfilling the divine Law for us. By suffering the punishment of God's wrath-for us. By burying the whole crushing, damning, soul-destroying load of our sins—for us. He did this by taking on Himself the consequence and condemnation of all our transgressions.
As Isaiah the prophet has written, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). This is the sacred, heavenly message of the manger. This is the sobering announcement that the Babe of Bethlehem would one day become the Crucified One on Calvary—the only One who could make us stainless in the sight of a holy and just God.
Our atonement is 100-percent Christ's work, no percent ours. "For by grace you have been saved through faith," the apostle Paul wrote (Ephesians 2:8a). To know God's great salvation, you need only believe, only follow the Spirit as He urges you to approach Christ with a contrite, broken heart, to confess your iniquities, to cling to the divine, unbroken assurance of sin-conquering love and death-defeating compassion.
Because Jesus came "to redeem those who were under the Law," He also has torn you from the tyranny of your fears and worries. In the clamor and chaos of a world such as ours, you know that if God's Son so loved your soul that He came into this world of sin to save you for Himself and eternity, then He is completely concerned about your daily needs, your heart's deepest longings.
As Jesus has redeemed you from sin, He has lifted you to a new and victorious place in your life. He has not exempted us from suffering, of course, but gives us the power to genuinely rejoice, even in the face of trouble and tribulation. And all of this—because God sent His Son!
WE PRAY: Heavenly Father, in Your Son Jesus You have given us all things. Thank You! Amen.
From "God Sent His Son," a sermon excerpt from Rev. Dr. Walter A. Maier, the first Speaker of The Lutheran Hour
Reflection Questions:
1. Are there areas in your life you would like to settle down right now?
2. Why could only Jesus redeem us from the demands of God's righteous Law?
3. How does God give us true freedom in His Son?
Today's Bible Readings: Jeremiah 9-10 Colossians 1
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