"If you were the only person on earth, God would have sent His Son to die for you." You’ve probably heard this said before by someone wanting to emphasize how much God loves you. I don’t believe there’s actually any valid biblical support for this warm-fuzzy statement and perhaps we’re really missing something significant in that statement anyway. I once heard Joni Eareckson Tada point out another perspective on this. She said this statement points out how great one person’s sin is that it would take the infinite worth of the Son of God to pay for that one person’s sin.
This statement is born out of a very common mind-set Christians have when contemplating redemption. When we think about redemption, we tend to think about forgiveness and eternal life. We focus on the benefits we receive. We make redemption man-centered. And it is to an extent. But, redemption is not the end. It is a means to an end. That end is the worship and exaltation of the glory of God. Redemption is ultimately God-centered, not man-centered.
Redemption provides the means by which man can enter into a love relationship with God. In God's working out His purpose in creation, He paid the price necessary to satisfy the penalty due for man’s sin committed against Him so that man might come to know him personally and intimately as the one true, unique God.
It is in Paul's ministry and writings that we can most clearly distinguish God's purpose as it relates to redemption. Ephesians two makes it very clear that the "praise of God's glory" is the great purpose of redemption.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight 9He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him 11also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:1-12)
What a beautiful and astounding description of all we have in Christ. It is essential that we know these truths and take them to heart. But notice the ultimate purpose all these benefits are designed to lead to. We were predestined to adoption as sons, "to the praise of the glory of His grace." That’s a purpose statement. It tells us why we received our status as children of God. It tells us that God’s ultimate purpose in redemption is the praise of the glory of His grace. The ultimate purpose of God in redemption is not man-centered, it is God-centered.
And just in case we missed the point in verse six, it is repeated again in verse twelve. Here, Paul tells us that we were predestined by God, "according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory." Our salvation is "to the end that" or for the purpose that we would exist to the praise of God’s glory. Redemption is ultimately about showcasing the glory of God. God redeemed us to demonstrate His glory and purchase a people for His own possession who would demonstrate and declare His glory.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 )
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake. (1 John 2:12)
If you have thought that redemption is all about man, how much God values man and man’s salvation from sin, you need to expand your thinking. Redemption is about how much God values having a redeemed people who will worship and exalt Him and His glory. Redemption is a means to the end of God being glorified. Redemption is ultimately God-centered, not man-centered.
Redemption is another act in God’s great script in His-story of His glory.
Soli Deo Gloria
Next: The Glory of the Gospel
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