Purpose, Vanity, Ransom
Introduction: God designed purpose for His creation and established statutes for man, but Adam sinned, bringing vanity (or loss of purpose) into man’s realm. God’s program for the ransom of all people was channeled through His nation Israel, but Israel had become so vain by following the nations around them that God had to remove Israel from the promised land for the sake of his righteousness. God is keeping his plan on course and on schedule, despite the continued demonstration of man’s vanity, and he has provided an eternal ransom, once for all, in our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. The selected verses contain at least one of the three key words — purpose, vanity, and ransom — and a progression of thought can be followed through these verses without any rearrangement of their order in Scripture.
NOTE: Bible text is from the KJV.
A — Purpose in God’s Established Statutes and Covenants
2 Kings 17 “15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.”
Comments: Israel rejected God’s purpose for them by rejecting the statutes and covenant he had established for them, and became empty of purpose through worthless pursuits.
B — God Finds the Ransom Himself
Job 33 “24 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.”
Job 36 “18 Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.”
Psalm 49 “7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.”
Comments: God’s grace spares us from the pit of death, because he finds the ransom himself to redeem us from our own vanity. But if we reject his ransom and die in our sin, we will be forever lost without hope, because his holy wrath is unchangeable. Not one of us has the power to redeem our brother or pay the ransom for any other.
C — We Choose Vanity
Isaiah 1 “11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.”
Jeremiah 2 “5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?”
Comments: We cannot restore purpose with our sacrifices. God asks: Why do we reject the one in whom no one can find sin, especially when our rejection results in emptiness?
D — God’s Great Love Ransoms Us
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.”
Matthew 20 “28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Comments: God’s great love ransoms us from the power of the grave. Jesus, the Son of Man, came specifically to minister and to give his life as that ransom for many. Those who follow vain idols need a shepherd, and Christ came to be that shepherd.
E — Vanity Replaced with Hope
Romans 8 “20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Comments: We were made subject to vanity in our flesh because of sin, yet we have the hope in Christ of deliverance with redemption of our body for eternity as children of God. God’s purpose for the converted Paul was for him to be a minister and a witness — and is this not the restored purpose for each of us who has been saved by the ransom of Christ? It is the counsel of God’s own will, not ours, which has predestinated our inheritance according to his purpose.
F — Saints Saved, the Devil Destroyed
2 Timothy 1 “9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
1 John 3 “8 For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
Comments: According to his own purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began, and not because of our works, God saved and called us with a holy calling. The Son of God was manifested specifically to destroy the works of the devil. This is an incredible thought — that he has destroyed a created being much more powerful than we are, and elevated us to reign with the Son of God.
Reflections in Prayer
Lord, I have rejected your statutes and covenants, and I have chosen many times to join the unbelievers around me in their empty practices contrary to your word. But you were gracious to me, and you found the ransom which would save me from going down to the pit of death. I praise you Lord, because I now understand the great value of the ransom you paid for my soul. Not one of us has the power to redeem our brother, or pay the ransom for any other. Any good that we think we have within ourselves or in our deeds, and all religious practice without saving faith, has no purpose before you. But then Lord Jesus, you came to serve, and to give your life as a ransom for many, and to call us to be servants of others. O Lord, strengthen me to live out your purpose each day of my redeemed life, for this is truly good news which I need to share more freely with others. Amen.
Published 29 May 2004; first issued 15 November 1999