April 2009 - Vol. 29

Why was Christ worthy? 
Christ was worthy because of what he did, shedding his blood and paying the price of redemption. But he was also worthy because of who he was. He was not just an ordinary man. Christ was worthy because he was special.

I was once employed in a shipping room. Various attempts had been made to improve efficiency – to no avail. One day the president of the company unexpectedly appeared. From then on the shipping room was different.

Another time I was in New York City seeing a friend off on an ocean liner to Europe. My friend’s uncle had driven us. The area around the dock was crowded, with no parking spaces anywhere nearby, except within a cordoned-off area. My friend’s uncle happened to be a priest, and an Irish policeman noticed our efforts to find a place, caught sight of my friend’s uncle (and his collar), lifted the chain, and waved us to an empty space while nodding respectfully to the priest.

I recently read an article describing a well-known television talk show. The article explained how the person being interviewed was asserting the evils of abortion. Normally, no one would have been allowed onto that particular program to make such remarks. The guest on the show, however, was Mother Teresa. Her charitable work in Calcutta gave her an access and moral authority that opened up even that show to her.

“It all depends on who you are.” The saying is true in many ways, some good, some bad, but the principle involved is an important one for our redemption. Not just anyone could be the Redeemer. It would have done no good for the Jewish High Priest or the Roman Emperor to notice that the human race needed redemption and to ask for volunteers. No one else in the land of Israel or in the Roman Empire – indeed no one else in all of human history – could have done what Jesus did. Only the one who held a special position could be the Redeemer.

John’s vision in Revelation 5 shows us who the Redeemer was and had to be. He was the prophesied king, the one who was from the royal dynasty of Israel but who was to rule all the nations of the earth as their rightful Lord. He was also the priest who was himself a sacrifice, able to make the offering that could purchase human beings for God. He was human, but had divine power and omniscience and could be worshiped as the Son of God (Revelation 5:13). Only such a person could be the Redeemer.

[This article is excerpted from the book Redeemer: Understanding the Meaning of the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, copyright © 1992 by Stephen B. Clark, published by Servant Books.]