On the island of Patmos, John, one of Jesus' twelve disciples, records a vision given him by God.  In this excerpt, the angels are worshipping Christ for condescending to be our ransom:

 "And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.'"

 

(Revelation 5:8-10, ESV)

Now here's the really interesting part about the word "ransomed" in this passage of Scripture. In Greek, the word that's used is agorazo, which means "to be in the market place... to do business there, buy or sell."

Jesus, in other words, is described as "doing the business" of buying us back!

It's an amazing thing for angels to sing about, don't you think? It shows just how earthy this business of redemption is. He doesn't just redeem us spiritually. He spills his very physical blood in order to redeem our spirits, souls, and bodies.

He became the ransom for us. 

He put the right value on the right things, and whatever it took to save a life - which, it turns out, was giving his own life - he did. 

That's what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:17-19. Here, Peter talks about exile.  That's where we are now: in exile. Struggling through a world caked everywhere with the mud of sin. God cast our ancestors out of the Garden of Eden and consigned us to exile as the necessary consequence of our sins. But as Peter reminds us, God did this for our own good. We're learning to be like him:

"...conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that...you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

(1 Peter 1:17b-19, ESV)

If we're learning to be like him, and he was a ransom, then how do you think he wants us to mirror that to the world? Or, to ask it a little differently:

Did he become a ransom so that we don't have to?

Answer: No. He became our ransom so that we would voluntarily choose to use our whole lives to ransom others also.

What would it look like for you to do that?  Who can you ransom out of captivity this way?

This article originally appeared in Seoul USA's Bi-Weekly Prayer Partner Update e-Newsletter.  To sign up to receive future emails, click here.