THE KINSMEN OF CHRIST
“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Galatians 4: 1-5
Christ in the New Testament is presented as many things. To Him are ascribed as many as two hundred and seventy clear and distinct names or titles. His ‘names’ generally describe His character or nature, whilst His titles generally describe Him in His roles or His actions within those roles.
It is not uncommon for Christians to add to this impressive list with their own slant as to how we see our Lord. There is surely nothing too wrong in this. Charles Wesley for example saw Christ as the “Lover of his soul” and penned that most beautiful Hymn which is still sung in a few congregations, even today.
Another name which is ascribed to Christ is one which whilst missing from the New Testament, still sits well with writer, is the nomenclature “Kinsman Redeemer”.
The noun “Kinsman” certainly appears in the Old Testament and “Redeemer” appears no less than eighteen times. However, the combination of the two nouns is completely absent.
To begin: The Hebrew word for “Redeemer” (Goal) is exactly the same word used for “Kinsman”. Thus, in the Hebrew, there is no need to repeat the word.
The Apostle Paul referred to the Old Testament, and the Law, as “our schoolmaster”, our teacher, given of God in order to “bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith”. (Gal. 3:24-25) Like as unto children, first the Jews and secondly the Gentiles, we all were under the authority of the schoolmaster, in bondage to, and condemned by, the Law of Sin and Death. (Rom. 7:5-11), but praise be to God that He lovingly intervened and provided the means of our redemption through the shed blood of His Only Begotten Son - Jesus Christ, our Lord!
God, firstly in Lev. 25:25 and then again in practical terms, in the Book of Ruth, had laid out the foundations of the concept of the “Kinsman Redeemer”. The Jewess (Naomi) and the Gentile (Ruth) both found redemption through the work of their kinsman Boaz. This Old Testament “shadow” was fulfilled in of the redeeming work of Jesus Christ at His first advent! Like rebellious children, Israel had refused to heed the ‘schoolmaster’ and thereby missed the opportunity to receive the promises of God, as given to Abraham. See Gal. 3:14
Boaz stands as a “Type, or Figure”, of Christ in the Old Testament (there are numerous such ‘Figures’) in that he, Boaz, undertook to redeem the land which belonged to Ruth’s father in law, Elimelech. To be able to redeem this land and thereby, his family, Boaz had to meet the strict demands of the Law before he could secure their freedom.
He had to be related to Ruth - he had to be of her family and he must be prepared to pay the price of redemption! To redeem the land was to also redeem Ruth and Naomi and her kin from their bondage.
Interestingly, Boaz was not the logical redeemer of that land; his opportunity came only after those who had the first right, declined or waved, their obligations, giving Boaz the chance to respond. All of his relatives before him declined to redeem the land because the commitment to Naomi and Ruth was too high a price to pay!
So it was with our human family! The Bible makes it abundantly clear that “...All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:23) and no man or woman, not Moses, not David, not Mary, not Peter, nor Paul, was able to pay the price for our redemption! God, now faced with the problem of finding a human person to stand in the gap for fallen man, could turn only to the sinless Son of Man (see Heb 2:11)). From Adam on, no man was able to meet the demands of the Law, only the Last Adam would suffice! One might ask, ‘But if God is God, why couldn’t He just snap his fingers and call an end to our separation from Himself?” Certainly, God could have done just that! Save for one thing. He would have been guilty of breaking His own Law which holds...“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission (forgiveness.)” Hebrews 9:22, In order to remit our sin, the Holy God of Eternity would himself have to shed His own blood!
This of course was an impossibility, for flesh and blood are not to be found in Heaven! No, redemption had to come by one of our own kind!
The plan of redemption, known before even God’s first stroke of creation, was now to unfold in a tiny manger in an obscure province of an unimportant country called Israel, almost two thousand years ago.
Jesus, the babe in the manger of Nazareth, the carpenter from Galilee, now strode upon the stage of human history in order to win back for God the lost treasure of His creation.
Did He fulfil the demands of the Law? Was Jesus a blood relative of the human race? Yes! Most certainly, yes! Comprehensively, God had covered every point! Here was Perfect God and Perfect man - Jesus, the Christ of God come to lay down His perfect life for His beloved Creation. Perfect blood could now pay the price of our redemption.
The beautiful account of Naomi and Ruth’s redemption also reveals a truth that many of us as Christians miss. Boaz, to fulfil the Law, had to redeem the land before he could save his kin, and once redeemed, it fell to him to marry Ruth. As Boaz married his redeemed, so Christ marries His redeemed, His Bride!
Our own rescue, or Salvation, is in fact a two-fold operation. It rests upon Jesus, to redeem our lost fellowship with our Heavenly Father, and to redeem our lost land. Before He can physically restore His lost kin to the land of our inheritance, (“...the meek shall inherit the Earth...” Matt.5:5) He must come again and retake all Creation physically.
Jesus, before his inexorable walk to the Cross of Calvary, made this statement: “Hereafter, I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me.” John 14: 30
Paul, Christ’s great Apostle, after Christ’s resurrection, still spoke of the devil as “the god of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4:4 did he not?
Again, in Rom 8: 22 Paul states that this “...whole creation (still) groaneth and trevaileth in pain together until now...” Indeed our planet still awaits redemption! Beloved, do not think for one minute that when Jesus said with His last breath “..it is finished,” that He left anything unfinished.
Was not the redemption of creation included in His dying statement? Yes it was, but I like to think of that final redemption of Creation as being something akin to our “settlement day arrangements” when buying real estate.
My purchase, fully paid for, in law, belongs to me, but I must wait until the keys are placed into my hands before I can physically take possession of my purchase.
Christ’s settlement day with Satan is scheduled for the day of Armageddon, is it not? On that day when The Son of God, takes again the freehold of Creation, including this precious Earth, we who have sojourned in Heaven with our Lord and our Heavenly Father since the Cross of Christ, will once more enjoy the physical fruits of that which was lost in the first Adam’s sin!
Exciting as that thought is, how much more exciting is it to understand that not only are we to be returned to this beautiful planet, one restored to its original state of perfection, but to share it with Heaven! Does it not stir your blessed soul to know that our loving God and Father is to make His Home amongst us, here on Earth! Revelation 21:1-27
How wonderful! Here we have The One, who at once is both God and Man, still counting Himself to be one of us! Should we not then know Jesus as our “Kinsman Redeemer”? Yes...Most assuredly! Rod Rowland
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