Bible Reading:
Exodus Chapter 21 Verses 28 - 30.

A Ransom for a Life.

The word ransom today tends to be associated with kidnapping. I looked it up in the dictionary. When we talk of ransoms these days we tend to think of people being kidnapped and held to ransom. Great sums of money are demanded for the release of the kidnapped person. It must be awful to have someone taken away under such circumstances. Their whereabouts is not known. There is the concern at what might be happening to them, or even that their life might have been taken already. The situation of those held by terrorists after being stolen away in Iraq, is an awful situation, both for those in captivity and for families and friends at home.

A ransom has not always involved kidnap. The Bible speaks about ransoms in different circumstances. Ransoms in the Bible are similar to modern day thinking in a way but are not connected to kidnapping.

A ransom in the Bible is simply the price for a life.

In the Old Testament Law the people of Israel had to give a ransom for their life. It was a token amount paid to God. Exodus 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. The sum of a half of a Shekel was to be paid for the upkeep of the Tabernacle where God was to be worshipped. It is not known how much half a Shekel is but 50 cents has been mentioned. Everyone who had to pay the ransom paid the same amount. This taught that souls are all worth the same and need the same price to ransom them. The payment of the ransom was a symbol of obedience to God and a desire to contribute to the worship of God and to escape the plague that would follow non-payment and disobedience. The Half Shekel was not really what saved the person who paid. A soul is worth far more.

Another Old Testament mention of payment of a ransom was for careless farmers in Exodus 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. If a farmer owned a violent ox or any other animal that attacked people and he was told about it but didn't keep the animal under control and it killed someone the farmer was liable for the death penalty. It was open to the Judge; with the agreement of the family of the person the animal had killed, to change the sentence of death to one of payment of a ransom. This payment to be made was a ransom for the farmers' life. If he paid what was asked he could go free.

There are those in the world for whom no amount of ransom will be enough to spare a persons' life. The example is given of a man whose wife has been taken by another man. He will not allow the adulterous rival to go free for any price. Proverbs 6: 34-35 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

These references to a ransom are simply a payment to be made to save a life.

The Bible talks about a ransom for all. 1 Tim 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. This ransom is The Lord Jesus. He is the ransom for all kinds of people from every nation tribe and tongue (or language).

Why would all these people need a ransom to be paid for them? Jeremiah 31:11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. It is because people are held in the power of someone more powerful than they are. This is why a ransom is needed.

The Bible tells us that we are all sinful, controlled by sinful ways and we cannot escape. Our sinful ways mean that we have lost our spiritual life. We're all physically alive but not spiritually alive. Our bodies and minds live but our souls are facing spiritual death, lost in hell and away from God forever. It is because we are facing this terrible future that we need to be ransomed and for the price of our spiritual life, our eternal life, to be paid.

We read in Psalm 49: 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: this means we cannot help each other. There is nothing we can pay to God for a ransom for anyone else because we are all in the same situation. We all need a ransom to be paid for us that we might have spiritual life.

If we all fell overboard from a boat in the middle of the ocean it would be no good for me to say, "It's OK - I'll save you all." If I was drowning too there's nothing I could do to help anyone else. We are all sinners and facing eternal loss unless a ransom is paid. Problem is we have nothing acceptable with which we can pay our own or anyone else's ransom.

If God comes in judgement upon a sinful person there is nothing in all the earth that is enough to deliver that person. When God comes in judgement it is too late to escape. Job 36:18 Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. A person might own everything in the whole earth. Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? If that person were facing a lost eternity what profit have they in all they have?

But we read in Hosea 13: 14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes. Who says this? Who says they will ransom people from the power of the grave, from hell and a lost eternity? God says this. We read in Job 33: 24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. God has found a ransom for all His people. The Lord Jesus came into the world and He is God and He paid the ransom for all His people. What The Lord Jesus suffered is the price of a life. Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Because of this they will all be in heaven one day. Isaiah 35: 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.