The Unsearchable Riches of Christ
by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 3 - According To The Riches Of His Grace: Redemption And Wisdom

“In Whom we have our redemption through His blood, ...according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

We are going to consider another aspect of the riches of Christ in connection with “our redemption according to the riches of His grace.” This matter of redemption is a very big one, and it could take many hours of consideration, because like election, it is a matter which has been misunderstood and in some ways it has been distorted. There has been a good deal of confusion over the matter of this priceless wonder of our redemption, and the meaning of that word. The confusion arises when redemption is pictured as a matter of taking a slave out of bondage by paying the redemption money. Well, I say, there may be an element of truth in that idea of interpretation, but the difficulty and the confusion arises when you ask the question: ‘To whom is the money paid? Has God got to pay the devil something to get back that which he has taken? Is God a debtor to Satan? Has God got to go into Satan’s slave market and put up a price to redeem that which Satan has captured?’ You see, it is an untenable idea, an unthinkable thing to ever contemplate that God is at the mercy of Satan, that Satan is in the position of saying, ‘If You would like to pay me an adequate price, I will let you have what is in my possession.’ We will never recognize that. So we have got to revise our idea of this matter of redemption. I say there may be an element of truth in it. It may go just so far, as we shall probably see, but that is really not the whole truth, and if we are not clear about this matter of redemption, we shall be in some confusion.

So, I want to try and make this thing clear, for it is important that we have a right understanding of things. We rejoice in redemption and we sing about redemption and we can never make too much of redemption, but there is some real value in understanding what we are talking about by having a right apprehension of the words and the terms that we use so commonly. So, I just trust that what I say about this may not make it seem to be a complicated thing, but rather to help us to appreciate the real meaning of redemption.

“Hath Redeemed Us Unto God”

Now let us begin where it does begin. Redemption begins with being “unto God.” It is redemption “unto God.” No, the great word at the beginning of the Book of the Revelation says: “hath redeemed us unto God, unto God.” That means that something has been taken from God which is God’s right. And, as a result, if something has been taken from God, then the balance of things has been upset. Therefore, things are not equal, and things are not complete, because there is something lacking which belongs to God. And that being the case, then of course, things are unequal and things are unbalanced. If there is a family, and in that family there are two sons belonging to the one father, and one son is removed then the balance of the family is upset. It is lopsided, you see. It is one-sided, and the father’s possession is divided and incomplete, and an unequal position obtains. If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and that is his complete lot, that is everything he owns—his fulness—and one of those sheep is lost, the balance is upset and the thing is not complete, and his possession is interfered with and disturbed. Then, consequently, things are out of proportion. If a woman has a necklace with ten pieces of silver hanging from it, and one of those pieces of silver is lost, then the balance is upset and she has not got all that belongs to her. So, then, things are unequal, and the balance is disturbed.

However, the bringing back of those lost things, whether it is a son or a sheep or a piece of silver restores the balance to the owner, and that is redemption unto God. God has all that belongs to Him, all that is His right, and there is completeness restored—“Redemption unto God.” But what is it really that has been lost? Of course we have the parables and the illustration in the Scripture, it is like an illustration of a son, a sheep, a piece of silver. Many other things are employed to illustrate the truth, but they are only illustrations. What is it really that has been lost and that has, by being lost, upset the balance? It is life. It is life. Now here is the deep mystery of redemption.

This is what we are met with in the Bible throughout, and, of course, I cannot trace this thing in half an hour, but what we are met with in the Bible throughout is the very matter of the disturbance of the balance of life. And God’s demand is that that balance shall be restored. He is the Author, the Fountain, the Origin of the Whole Sum of Life. Life is God. He alone is the rightful Lord of Life. Life is God’s, and so, it belongs to God. It is as though, if I may put it this way, God has so much Life, so much Life—which is a complete measure of Life, a fulness of Life, an ultimate of Life—Life is just so much in God and with God, it is not less, not more, but just so much in God that if something of That Life is taken away, you upset the balance of life. The whole thing is out of proportion. And redemption means restoring that balance, by restoring the fulness. Well, then, there you have your Bible.

We are in these days very much occupied, or shall I say the government is, or perhaps the country is occupied with this matter of capital punishment. A life has been taken, therefore, another life must equalize the situation and put it straight, put it right, the balance of life must be restored. That is the heart of capital punishment as in the Law of Moses—or before the Law of Moses—in the law of the first covenant, “Whosoever taketh man’s life, his life shall be taken.” The law of capital punishment. Oh why, just for revenge? Just for judgment only? Just for malice? You do that to me, I will do that to you? Is it just that? No, there is a deep principle illustrated here. So much life has been taken by the slaying of that man. That God says, ‘That has got to be put straight, that has got to be equalized, the balance has got to be restored.’ That is the law of capital punishment. And then there is the law of the cities of refuge for the manslayer. A very interesting matter is that of the manslayer, and the cities of refuge provided. Because the manslayer has taken life, and the avenger of blood is on his track to equalize this by taking his life. It is done in order to put it straight, to put it even, to measure everything up again. Of course, that is negative, so far as the Old Testament is concerned. But we have not finished yet. I think that you can see the principle is quite clear. It is just a matter of restoring the balance of things.

Now it is like that through the Old Testament, and it is all a wonderful illustration of great Divine truth. The point is, life has been taken which belongs to God, because He is the Author of Life, it has been taken, and God demands that it be restored, because He is an equal God.

Equality or equity or righteousness, which is a perfect balance of things, belongs to God. And things must be even in God’s universe. Things must not be out of order, not out of proportion nor out of measure, but just perfectly even. When we come to the end of redemption, everything will be even because everything will be straightened out. There will be nothing out of balance or out of proportion, but all will be right, and righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And no one will have any ground for a quarrel with God. It is just right.

Now that is the point, you see, over this matter of redemption. It is a question of life. There is, in God’s order, in God’s universe, in God’s system of things, a great equalizing principle. You can never be in fellowship with God and be unrighteous in a detail. Your fellowship with God, your oneness with God, is upset, is unbalanced. It is like a dislocation of a limb in the body if there is a point of unrighteousness in life, in business transactions, or in relationships. Well, that is unrighteous. All right, the balance is upset, and God is going to demand that that be straightened out, evened out. Righteousness is a tremendous thing with God, because it just means that God has things balanced, perfectly balanced. Now the focal point then of this, as we have said, is life. Now the Old Testament tells us that the blood is the life. You and I can never, never straighten this matter out. Man can never put this thing right with God. Man can never give back to God that which has been taken from Him. Therefore, His Own Son took on flesh and blood and Christ’s Infinite Blood has atoned for it. You and I have never yet fathomed the depth of the wonder of the Blood of Jesus Christ, it is a term for His Life. His Infinite Blood is given to God to restore the balance, to make up for what has been lost, and what has been taken from God by ruthless hands, by the murderer himself who has come in. He restores all things to God by His Own designated Infinite Blood, because it has got to be sufficient to meet the demands of an Infinite God on the one side, and of all men on the other side. Yes, it is sufficient, Life has been poured out by Jesus Christ, for God’s satisfaction, in order that God shall have all that He has a right to. God’s Son has poured out His Life to meet that demand of God in all men from Whom This Life has been taken. The payment is not to Satan, but it is to God. It is redemption by His Blood unto God.

There follows this: that man is in bondage by this terrible thing that has happened. He is in a position of weakness, of defectiveness, of helplessness, and because of this he is helplessly in bondage.

Now you, of course, can take your illustration from the Old Testament, Israel in Egypt is always referred to as the land of bondage. They were in bondage, that is the word which governs their position there. Now how were they delivered from that bondage? Oh, we say it is by the blood of the lamb. That is true, but the operation was two-sided. On the one side, it depended entirely upon the attitude of the heart, the attitude of faith. And on the other side, if unbelief and rebellion of heart persisted, as in Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the blood testified against them; it was their undoing. But Israel was just as much in bondage to sin and to the world as Egypt was. Just as much, there is no difference. But the difference which did come about was by their attitude toward the blood. If any Israelite had refused by unbelief or rebellion of heart to take that shed blood and sprinkle it upon the doorposts, the lintel, making a circle of blood, they would have gone the same way as the Egyptians. They would have remained in bondage and death and under judgment. But we need to recognize that they did not understand, they did not know what we are talking about. However they had the simple prescription, the simple command, that they should take that blood of the lamb without spot, without blemish, and sprinkle it upon the doorposts. Therefore, with that simple command, there arose the demand for the obedience of faith, and thereby that blood answered for them God’s requirements.

God knew the secret, the mystery of that blood. God Who is the Timeless, the Eternal God was not moving, so many hundreds or thousands of years before, on the ground of that symbolic lamb. No, He was moving then and there on the ground of His Own Son at Calvary, the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7b); and He knew the meaning of it, while Israel did not have the understanding. But God knew, and He just made His simple requirement, but bound up with this deep, this fathomless mystery of life, God has a right to life. God must have that which is His Own Life, and so the lamb with its shed blood symbolically answers to God’s demand and in that life’s blood poured out, it is unto God. You remember, that through all the Old Testament ritual in Israel, the blood belongs to God; it is sacred unto God. It is God’s, it represents the life which belongs to God, and in the giving of that, God has His right, His portion, what belongs to Him.

So, when we come to this word in Ephesians 1, and at verse 7, it says: “We have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” “And hath,” says John, “redeemed us unto God by His Blood” (Rev. 5:9). If you would like to change the word you can, “We have redemption through His poured-out Life, redeemed unto God through His poured-out Life,” that is the meaning of it. The Lord Jesus, because of the infinite value of His Blood, the infinite measure of that which He gave in His Cross unto God, has satisfied God perfectly in this matter of His requirement, His demand. And, although the explanation may sound a little complicated and difficult— well, of course, it is—it is the unsearchable riches, oh the depth of the riches is beyond us, but after all in experience it is very simple.

You know, dear friends, when you and I at the beginning of our Christian life take by faith the virtue of the Blood of Jesus Christ, we do not understand that, we do not comprehend its meaning, but in simple faith we see that it is by way of the Blood of Jesus Christ that we are saved, and in that simple but genuine heart-faith in the efficacy and virtue of the Blood of Jesus Christ, we take it and give ourselves to God on the ground of it. What is our first consciousness? Everything is all right, the dislocation has been adjusted, the unbalanced state of things has been put straight, we call it peace with God. This is only another way of saying the same thing, God has what He requires for His satisfaction, and if God is satisfied, you and I will be well satisfied. If there is that in us which satisfies Him, the Spirit will bear witness.

And, although I say again, we do not understand, we are in the depths, the mighty depths, a depth which it will take eternity to comprehend, there is a simple beginning with this fact, everything was distorted, deranged, unbalanced, there was something lacking that was essential, that was vital to our peace, all that sort of thing, and now we have peace with God, the balance is restored, God is satisfied, in our hearts we feel, although we cannot explain it, we feel, well somehow or other a great adjustment has taken place. Things are equal now, things are straight now. Put it as you will, but it is a consciousness, is it not?

And what is true in that sense of the initial aspect of our salvation will be an abiding law throughout our Christian life. If on any matter whatsoever, God’s rights are being withheld, if He is not getting that which is His due, in that measure we shall lack the fulness of His rest and His peace. Now there is sort of an unbalanced state of things, there is an oscillation in the balance. Do you know something about that oscillation in the balances of your heart? Is there something just not steady in your heart? Something here that is uncertain, that is wavering, that is not sure about this yet? But immediately, when you and I get that thing cleared up with God, it may be only one thing, but get that straightened out and God gets what He is requiring, peace is restored. It is a wonderful truth in the Christian life, is it not? It is simple in that way, but that is the explanation. Oh, why have I been holding out so long. Why did I not get that thing cleared up before now? I have been spoiling everything for myself, because the Lord has not had what He had a right to.

Now redemption is initial, redemption is progressive, and redemption is final. There are the three tenses. You can change the word from redemption to salvation if you like, it is the same thing. We were saved, we are being saved, and we shall be saved; those are the three tenses of salvation. Well, the first is what He has done for us perfectly and completely and which we have accepted. The second of the process of redemption or salvation is that God is getting more and more of that requirement of His in our lives, and as He does, we are knowing more and more the balanced, the steady life of rest and confidence. But thank God, for as we go on to the end of our days—salvation will continue right to the last breath— there is that ultimate, that perfect salvation when with that throng around the Lamb on the Throne, we shall sing, “And hath redeemed us unto God by His Blood.” That is the final aspect and phase of redemption. It is all in the Infinite value of the Blood of Jesus. See how great this is?! Well might the apostle here include this in the riches of His grace, the unsearchable riches of His grace, “the depth of the riches of His Grace,” providing God with that which we could never give Him, answering to God for His righteous demands which we could never do. All these words are bound up together. “Who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Righteousness: the Righteousness which is of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, God has provided it all in His Son.

The Heart Of Wisdom And Election

Now, I will add just a word here as to the next thing in this group, this fivefold group of the riches of His grace,— Election, Adoption, Redemption, Wisdom and Consummation —it will not take me more than a few minutes to do this, because it is so closely linked in with what we have been saying. Election, adoption, and redemption. The word that I want to add is found in Ephesians 1, at verse 8, “Which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” Oh, dear ones, one of the riches of His grace here is this “wisdom” which He has made to abound unto us. Of this so many-sided and full matter of wisdom, which He made to abound unto us, Christ is made unto us from God “wisdom.” I am only going to say one thing in this context with what we have said, and what the rest of this chapter contains. What is wisdom in its meaning here? Well, we will put it this way, when the apostle had tabulated these five profound things, these five unexplorable things, he goes down on his knees. Now that was something extraordinary, for a Jew very rarely knelt down to pray, he always stood up to pray, if it was in the synagogue he stood up to pray. The Bible refers to this in Mark 11:25, “When you stand praying.” The common attitude and posture of prayer for the Jew were standing and lifting up holy hands. It is only occasionally that you find such an one on his knees. You will find Daniel on his knees (Dan. 10:9). And now here in Ephesians 3:14 Paul says, “I bow my knees unto the Father.” “Bow.” What is this? Why this unusual attitude of position? Something unusual is at stake or is involved. It is an occasion for something extraordinary. You will agree that that was so with Daniel, you remember when he prayed there was something tremendous involved.

Now the apostle says, “I bow my knees,” there is something here that is a tremendous matter. And what does he ask, what does he pray for? He has said all these things about the riches of His Grace, he knows how incomprehensible they are: “I bow my knees unto the Father that He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened, that you may know.” Now you have gotten the heart of wisdom. What is the heart of wisdom? It is the gift and ability of seeing right into the heart of things, the ability given to see into the heart of things. That is the spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Now Paul is writing in this letter of Ephesians about the mystery hidden from ages and generations, hidden from before times eternal in Christ, but now brought out from the hidden place and committed and conveyed. Paul is trying to explain this, to speak about this mystery. And these things are in the mystery: “predestination, foreordination, redemption....” Anybody here doubt that they are mysteries? And men have been putting themselves into natural distortions through hundreds of years to explain just these words, “predestination, foreordination,” and they are still going on with it. Paul knows how deep are these riches of His grace, what a tremendous thing is brought to us in Christ, and before it all he falls down on his knees and says, “I bow my knees unto the Father, that He would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”(Eph. 3:14, 1:17). Wisdom and revelation, that is, the ability to see into the heart of things, and all I can add to that is that the Holy Spirit has come and is with us in order to disclose to us the heart of these things.

Perhaps the greatest need of Christians today is to see the meaning of the things that they believe, to see the meaning of what true Christianity is, to see the meaning of all these things that make up our Christian faith. They are depths beyond all reaching, they are immeasurably great things. These things are unfathomable, and we need an ability, a God-given ability to be able to see into the heart of this. But thank God that is possible. Thank God the Holy Spirit is given for that very purpose. And what I am saying to you, dear friends, is just this: “That you and I may have this same Spirit and this work of the Spirit to open our hearts, the eyes of our heart to give us this wisdom to see into the heart of the things of Christ.” And what a wonderful thing it is, just to see in a little way. To be able to say, “My, I never saw that before, that is light, that is indeed illumination, that is revelation, that is the truth, it has an effect, it is not just the mental pleasure, fascination, it does something in us, it puts us into a position where we cannot throw that away easily, it has become a part of us, we will never say we can do without that.”

We will never say: “Well that is all very wonderful, that is all very nice, but let us come back to the simplicities, to the things easily understood.” You cannot do that once you have seen into the heart of things, you cannot throw it away, you cannot part with it easily, to do so would be to do irreparable damage to our own spiritual life. “I and this truth, this light are one, it is not some thing that I have got, it is myself, my very self, my very life, I have seen it, because God has made it known to me. No use trying to explain it all, I just cannot do it, but there it is, it is myself. He has made it a part of myself.” And that is wisdom, seeing right into the heart by the opened eye, knowing in an inward way, an interior way, the meaning of the things that we have heard and read and, perhaps, believed.

But dear friends, as I think you will see from what I have said this afternoon, there is a depth, a fulness in such a word as redemption. A word which we have only just touched the fringe of. And everything else in our salvation is in the same category, it is of the dimensions of God Himself. And it is going to take eternity for us to comprehend it. But it is given to us here to know, and to know more and still more of the depth of the wisdom of His grace!


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