Redemption...

Everyone is in need of redemption. Our natural condition was characterized by guilt: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Christ’s redemption has freed us from guilt, being “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).


The benefits of redemption include eternal life (Revelation 5:9-10), forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), righteousness (Romans 5:17), freedom from the law’s curse (Galatians 3:13), adoption into God’s family (Galatians 4:5), deliverance from sin’s bondage (Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:14-18), peace with God (Colossians 1:18-20), and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). To be redeemed, then, is to be forgiven, holy, justified, free, adopted, and reconciled. See also Psalm 130:7-8; Luke 2:38; and Acts 20:28.

The word redeem means “to buy out.” The term was used specifically in reference to the purchase of a slave’s freedom. The application of this term to Christ’s death on the cross is quite telling. If we are “redeemed,” then our prior condition was one of slavery. God has purchased our freedom, and we are no longer in bondage to sin or to the Old Testament law. This metaphorical use of “redemption” is the teaching of Galatians 3:13 and 4:5.

Related to the Christian concept of redemption is the word ransom. Jesus paid the price for our release from sin and its punishment (Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:6). His death was in exchange for our life. In fact, Scripture is quite clear that redemption is only possible “through His blood,” that is, by His death (Colossians 1:14).

The streets of heaven will be filled with former captives who, through no merit of their own, find themselves redeemed, forgiven, and free. Slaves to sin have become saints. No wonder we will sing a new song—a song of praise to the Redeemer who was slain (Revelation 5:9). We were slaves to sin, condemned to eternal separation from God. Jesus paid the price to redeem us, resulting in our freedom from slavery to sin and our rescue from the eternal consequences of that sin.

Numbers 32:23 says, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (KJV). This is a curious-sounding caution, especially if read in isolation. So we’ll review its context, especially the entire chapter of Numbers 32, then see what else the Bible has to say on the topic of our sin being “found out.”

The statement “be sure your sin will find you out” is set in the completion of the exodus of Israel from Egypt. After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, the tribes of Israel were finally preparing to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Military-aged men from all twelve tribes were required to help each tribe conquer its assigned territory, a task that would involve much time and hardship.

Before the Israelites crossed over the Jordan, the tribes of Gad and Reuben let it be known that they liked it right where they were, east of the Jordan. The land there was ideal for raising cattle (Numbers 32:1), and the leaders of those tribes approached Moses for permission to settle on the east side, rather than in Canaan. Moses at first said “no”: “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?” (verse 6). He then accused them of failing to desire to enter the Promised Land, as the previous generation had done: “This is what your fathers did” (verse 8). And he reminded them that it was this very sin that caused the Lord’s anger to burn against them for 40 years, and he warned them that they risked bringing destruction on the whole nation all over again (verses 13–15).

But Gad and Reuben had a different intention, as they explained. They asked Moses if they could leave their flocks and families behind in settlements while the men armed themselves and went to war in Canaan. After their assurances that they were not abandoning their fellow Israelites, Moses agreed to their request. He told them they must fight until the land was subdued, and only then could they return to their property east of the Jordan. Moses then added the warning: “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

When Moses said, “Be sure your sin will find you out,” he did not mean, “Everyone will find out about your sin.” If the trans-Jordan tribes failed to keep their promise, it would be a sin against the Lord and the whole nation, and their sin would be obvious to all. Rather, Moses’ warning that they could be sure their sin will find them out hints at the strange-but-true nature of sin.

In several places in the Bible, sin is described in terms that make it seem as if it were a living being with a mind and will of its own. God poetically warns Cain that “sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). James explains how, figuratively speaking, people “are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14–15). Paul, in Romans 7:14–25, describes sin as though it were a being living within him, enslaving him against his will and making him do what he himself hates and condemns: “It is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (verse 20).

In the statement “be sure your sin will find you out” is revealed the mystery of sin. The nature of sin is such that, whether or not others discover your sin, your sin will “discover you.” You cannot run from the consequences. Sin carries within itself the power to pay the sinner back, and sin’s payback is hell. Don’t even think about toying with sin. It cannot be tamed, outrun, or shaken off. No matter how safe you think you are, if you are a sinner, your sin will find you out.

Moses’ warning to the tribes of Israel, “be sure your sin will find you out,” is echoed by Paul: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7–8). The only way to escape sin’s consequences is to be forgiven of your sin by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ (Romans 10:9; 1 John 2:2; Revelation 1:5).



Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Colossians 1:14
In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Titus 2:14
Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Colossians 1:20-22
And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Psalm 111:9
He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name!

1 Peter 1:18-19
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.

Psalm 130:7
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.

1 Corinthians 6:20
For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 1:30
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Romans 3:24-26
And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

1 John 3:16
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Hebrews 9:12
He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Psalm 107:2
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 10:10
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”--

Galatians 4:5
To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Hebrews 9:15
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.