The Greatness of the Ransom
But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you. Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing, and let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
Job 36:17–18
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The Greatness of the Ransom
Elihu continues to warn Job against his anger towards God. He fears it could get in the way of forgiveness and reconciliation. He says, “let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.” What he means here is to not let his anger dictate his turning towards God. So often we succumb to this way of thinking. We believe that our suffering is so great and our hardship and loss so severe that in order for us to offer forgiveness then we must be compensated even more. Or the other person should suffer even greater than we have. We love the idea of “an eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24) when we have been wronged. Even when we feel God is to blame, we want reparations for our suffering. But when we step back for just a moment to survey the cross, we see that if an “eye for an eye” was how God’s justice was enacted we would have been on that cross. We deserved the humiliation, pain, and suffering Christ endured. We deserved death because of our sins. When we look to the cross, we see the greatness of the ransom, that is the ransom for our souls. The cost was God’s Son, dead. The cost was the Innocent for the guilty. The greatness of this act is unsurpassable by any deed we might think of doing. And because of the greatness of this ransom, we were bought back at a very high price, bought back from sin, death, and the devil, so that we might have an eternity with our Father in heaven. And there is nothing greater than that.
Job 36:17–18
+
The Greatness of the Ransom
Elihu continues to warn Job against his anger towards God. He fears it could get in the way of forgiveness and reconciliation. He says, “let not the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.” What he means here is to not let his anger dictate his turning towards God. So often we succumb to this way of thinking. We believe that our suffering is so great and our hardship and loss so severe that in order for us to offer forgiveness then we must be compensated even more. Or the other person should suffer even greater than we have. We love the idea of “an eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24) when we have been wronged. Even when we feel God is to blame, we want reparations for our suffering. But when we step back for just a moment to survey the cross, we see that if an “eye for an eye” was how God’s justice was enacted we would have been on that cross. We deserved the humiliation, pain, and suffering Christ endured. We deserved death because of our sins. When we look to the cross, we see the greatness of the ransom, that is the ransom for our souls. The cost was God’s Son, dead. The cost was the Innocent for the guilty. The greatness of this act is unsurpassable by any deed we might think of doing. And because of the greatness of this ransom, we were bought back at a very high price, bought back from sin, death, and the devil, so that we might have an eternity with our Father in heaven. And there is nothing greater than that.
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