2024-06-12 “thy congregation … which thou hast redeemed”

Psalm 74:1  “O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?  2  Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

Literally, to “redeem” is to purchase back; in application it is to restore to a previous state.  It is true that the Lord “redeemed” His people from Egyptian bondage and restored them to an even better state than what they had before.  Previously they were sojourners in the Land of Canaan, but after being delivered from Egypt, the Lord led them to possess the Land of Canaan for their very own.  But ultimately, Old Testament Israel is a prophetic type of the New Testament Church and the whole family of God.  “Christ hath redeemed us [the whole family of God] from the curse of the law” (Galatians 3:13); that is, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).  That is, “death” is the consequence of “sin” and “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (I John 1:8).  When our Beloved Lord Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself on the Cross, He fulfilled the “will” of the Heavenly Father (John 6:38) and paid the penal price, in full, to “redeem” every one of His people from their corrupted state in “sin”; thus, by His Sacrifice, He saved every one of “his people” (Matthew 1:21) from their sin to a glorious state in Heaven.  Thus, it is certain that on some future date, known only to God, He will raise every one of His people to life again and those who are still alive, He will instantaneously change (I Corinthains 15:51-52), and we “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:17); and, He will take us “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (I Peter 1:4)!