Redemption At Hand-4 Series

REDEMPTION At HAND-IV—Luke 1:67-80

TOUCHING REDEMPTION

Attention:

God wants the “site” & permission to build!

Self-help is as useless as making repairs to a dilapidated building slated for demolition.

REDEEM—To purchase or exchange in order to make something/someone what it should be...with continuously lasting results from a point in time forward.

God initiated the redemption of His people thru John’s birth.

Redemption is touched/at hand thru God’s visitation.

When is/was God’s redemption realized?

Signs that God’s redemption is at hand.

Previously we had found that Redemption is at hand when God initiates/gives...

1. INSIGHT(:67)

2. BLESSING(:68a)

3. PRESENCE(:68b)

4. STRENGTH(:69)

5. WATCHMEN(:70)

6. FULFILLMENT(:71-74a-b)

7—Redemption is at hand when God initiates/gives...

SERVICE(:74c-75)

Explanation:(:74c-75)

:74—“To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,”

The purpose of Israel’s deliverance is that she would “serve” God.

Israel’s service is to be done without fear.

‘Service’ is a consequence of deliverance or fulfillment.

“Serve”—latreuw—Present Active Infinitive—1) To serve for hire; 2) To serve, minister to, either to the gods or men & used alike of slaves & freemen. Strong—from latriv(a hired menial); To minister(to God), i.e. Render, religious homage.

“Without Fear”—afobwv—Adverb—1) Without fear, boldly. Strong—adverb from a compound of A(as a negative particle) & fobov[alarm or fright]; Fearlessly. Strong—To minister(to God), i.e. Render, religious homage. Used 4X.

:75—“In holiness & righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”

Israel’s service is to be done “in holiness & righteousness” The word translated “holiness”(osiothv) is only used twice in the NT. It carries more the idea of devotion & piety in action rather than the more common separation from sin.

1)The service of God’s people can only rightly be done within the confines of God’s Holiness. Recognizing & accepting God’s standard in Pious living.

2)The service of God’s people can only rightly be done within the confines of God’s Righteousness. Righteous living. Right living. Doing that which is right...’the right thing’, acceptable, honoring to the One who originated the rightness.

So “holiness” chiefly involves a state/condition of the heart, while “righteousness” is the outlet of that “holiness.” “Righteousness” shows us that “holiness” must be put into action, shared, or lived out, engaging one’s actions by the heart.

This Pious & “Righteous” service is never to be temporary or momentary. It may seem momentary to the eye thru obvious events/actions, but it is lived out convincingly only thru a permanent change of state which lasts till our last breath is drawn. “Holiness”—osiothv—Noun Fem.—1) Piety[devotion] towards God, fidelity in observing the obligations of piety, holiness. Strong—Piety. Used 2X. Here & Eph. 4:24.

From—osiov—Right, or hallowed.

“Righteousness”—dikaiosunh—Noun Fem.—1) in a broad sense:--State of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God—1a) The doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God, 1b) Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, & acting; 2) in a narrower sense--Justice or the virtue which gives each his due. Strong—Equity(of character or act); specially(Christian)--Justification.

From—dikaiov—Equitable(in character or act); by implication--Innocent, holy(absolutely or relatively).

“Before”—enwpion—Preposition—1) In the presence of, before‚—1a) Of occupied place: in that place which is before, or over against, opposite, any one & towards which another turns his eyes. Strong—neuter of a compound of en & a derivative of optanomai; In the face of(literally or figuratively).

“All”—pav—

“Days”—hmera—

“Life”—zwh—1) Life—1a) The state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate, 1b) Every living soul; 2) Life—2a) Of the absolute fulness of life, both essential & ethical, which belongs to God, & through him both to the hypostatic "logos" & to Christ in whom the "logos" put on human nature, 2b) Life real & genuine, a life active & vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions(among them a more perfect body), & to last for ever. Zwh denotes the period, means, manner, of existence. Hence the former is more naturally used of animal, the later of men; zoology, biography. NT usage exalts zwh & tends to debase biov. Strong—Life(literally or figuratively).

Argumentation:

“In Holiness”:—Being pious, & hallowing God.

Eph. 4:17-24—“This I say, therefore, & testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him & have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, & be renewed in the spirit of your mind, & that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness & holiness[osiothv].”