THE STORY WE FIND OURSELVES IN
THE STORY OF THE RANSOM PRINCE
DR. JIM DIXON
2 PETER 1:18-20
OCTOBER 30, 2005
C.S. Lewis was a scholar. He was a Professor at Oxford and at Cambridge. He was a committed Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. He was an author. He wrote more than thirty books, and he was a storyteller. Of course, it was Lewis who wrote “The Chronicles of Narnia,” a 7-book story, a story comprising seven books. Of course, Hollywood is going to make these books into a series of movies, the first of which will come out this December and it is called, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
J.R.R. Tolkien was also a scholar, and he was a Professor of Medieval Languages at Oxford University. He, too, was a committed Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. He, too, was an author and a storyteller. Of course, it was Tolkien who wrote the story of “The Lord of the Rings” and of course it was a trilogy, a 3-book story, and Hollywood made it into three award-winning movies, the last of which won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. Now Tolkien and Lewis were friends. In fact, for much of their lives they were best friends. They would take walks together along Addison’s Walk, a pathway called Addison’s Walk, which ran by the river on the grounds of Magdalen College at Oxford University. As they walked together as friends, they would discuss the stories that they were writing, stories on which they were working. They both knew the power of stories. They knew that stories could be used to communicate truth and that Jesus Himself told stories called parables to communicate truth. They both understood that there is a sense in which life itself is a story and you are in the midst of your story. They also understood that the Christian life is a story. There is a sense in which it is a powerful story. It’s a story of great adventure. As Christians we all find ourselves in that story. So today we begin a 5-week series on the story that we’re in, how we’re in the midst of this story called, “The Christian Life.” Of course, our title today is “The Ransom Prince.”
In many stories, particularly in the genre of stories that Lewis and Tolkien wrote, there was often a prince. That is true in the Christian life too. There is a Prince, and He is the Ransom Prince. In the Old Testament, the word for “prince” is “sahr,” that is the Hebrew word for prince and in the Greek in the New Testament the word for “prince” is “archon” or “archegos.” All of these words in the Bible are used as titles for Christ. Jesus Christ is the Prince and He’s the Ransom Prince. The Greek word is “lutron” which means, “to buy back,” “to redeem,” “to ransom.” Jesus Christ is the Prince who has ransomed His people.
In Isaiah, chapter 9, Jesus is called “Sar Shalom,” Hebrew meaning, “The Prince of Peace.” If in your story you have found peace, it is because you have received His ransom; you have been ransomed by Christ. Of course, in the Book of Acts in the New Testament, the third chapter, Jesus is called “Archagon Tes Zoes” which in Greek means, “The Prince of Life.” If in your story you have found life, eternal life, abundant life, it is because Jesus Christ has ransomed you.
So today we look at this Ransom Prince and the way He impacts my story and yours. I have two teachings today and the first teaching is this. He has ransomed us from sin. It is a curious thing in the Bible. The Bible never tells us to whom the ransom was paid. There is not a single passage in the Bible that tells us to whom the ransom was paid. The Bible just does not go there. The Bible focuses on what we were ransomed from. The Bible is very clear that we are ransomed from sm.
Of course, in the Bible there is another prince, and the Bible calls him, “The Prince of Darkness,” and he is “the evil one.” He seeks to entice us into sin through temptation, through affliction, through deception. He would entice us to sin but even apart from the devil we often choose to sin. It is part of our story. It is part of the Christian story. Thus, we need the Ransom Prince.
Some years ago, Franklin Graham spoke here at our church. Franklin Graham is of course the son of Billy Graham. I’m sure many of you here that Sunday. We had three services that Sunday morning because we had an extra-large crowd. When Franklin spoke that Sunday, a thousand people made commitments to Christ. Some of them first-time commitments; others re-committing their lives to Christ, but a thousand people did it and perhaps some of you were amongst the thousands. That was a major day in your story and in the story of this church.
We have just come through the Forty Days of Purpose and that’s a major series of days in the life and story of our church and perhaps in your story as well. On the Sunday that Franklin Graham spoke here, he told the story of Manasseh. Manasseh is the most wicked king mentioned in the Bible. He was the King of Judah in the 7th Century before Christ. Manasseh was unbelievably wicked. He was the son of Hezekiah, a godly man, but Manasseh rejected the faith of his father and he turned away from the one true God. It was Manasseh who brought the cult of Astarte into Israel. Astarte was a Canaanite fertility goddess. The worship of Astarte was associated with sexual promiscuity, and it was Manasseh, King of Judah, who brought her cult into Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel, even building a statue of Astarte and placing it in the Temple of God on Mount Moriah. It was also Manasseh who brought Baal worship into Judah and Jerusalem, and he built the high places around Judah and even in the city of Jerusalem for the worship of Baal.
Of course, worst of all, it was Manasseh who brought the cult of Molech into Israel and Judah and to the city of Jerusalem. The worship of Molech, a pagan deity, was associated with human sacrifice and particularly child sacrifice. And so it was that in Israel and in Jerusalem itself human sacrifice began to take place. It was in the Valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem where Manasseh had children run through fire unto death.
In the time of Jesus Christ, Jesus called Gehenna or the Valley of Hinnom a hell itself. He used it as a symbol of hell, partly because of what Manasseh had once done there. Manasseh was evil. He was wicked. He was promiscuous, debauched. During his reign, incensed to Egyptian and Assyrian deities, rose from the rooftops of Jerusalem’s houses and necromancers and sorcerers were welcome guests at the royal palace of Manasseh. In the midst of all of this debauchery the people became loose, and the military became weak. As the military in Judah became weak, the Assyrians came with their vast armies and the Assyrians conquered Jerusalem by the will of God and they took King Manasseh, and they took the crown from his head. They stripped him and they flogged him and beat him, and they bound him in chains. They dragged him down to Babylon where they threw him into a dark damp dungeon. There he would remain until he died except an amazing thing happened.
In that dark damp dungeon, Manasseh remembered the faith of his father. He remembered the one true God. The Bible tells us in the Book of 2 Kings that Manasseh repented and his repentance was genuine, and God did an amazing thing. God forgave him. God forgave this most wicked king and freed him from prison, brought him back to Judah and Jerusalem and set him on the throne once again. When you read that story, do you ever wonder why? I know I have. When you come across the story of Manasseh in the Bible, you are reading 2 Kings, doesn’t it puzzle you that God could forgive this guy? How could God forgive this guy that sacrificed children? Human sacrifice? Who welcomed necromancy and sorcery? How could God forgive him? How can God be just? How can God be holy and forgive a man like that, particularly when the Bible is absolutely clear that there can be no forgiveness unless there is atonement. God Himself has said this. He cannot forgive unless there is atonement.
Manasseh repented but he did not atone. The truth is that the blood of animals, the Jewish sacrificial system, could not have atoned for the sins of Manasseh, and so how could a holy and just God forgive that man? Well, the Bible does not really answer that, but the Bible does tell us this, that the Jewish sacrificial system points to the cross. That is what the Bible tells us. The Day of Atonement itself, Yom Kippur, The Jewish Day of Atonement, foreshadows the cross so that when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies and he sprinkled the blood of animals on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant seeking to atone for the sin of the people, it simply foreshadowed the cross. When the High Priest on the Day of Atonement vested the sin of the people on the scapegoat and sent the scapegoat out into the wilderness, symbolically removing the sin of the people from them, it foreshadowed the cross. The real Day of Atonement was at Calvary. The real Day of Atonement was at Golgotha. It was at the cross. That was the Day of Atonement. That was the real Yon Kippur when Jesus became our scapegoat and Jesus became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
The Bible says an amazing thing about this Ransom Prince. The Bible tells us that in that moment He died, He expiated the sin of the world. That is what it says in I John. He is the expiation for our sins and not for our sins only but also for the sin of the whole world. Theologians debate that one. Theologians are constantly discussing the meaning of this—”He expiated the sin of the world?” Many theologians believe that in the moment Christ died, He expiated all sin for all time, that His atonement on that cross was so powerful as the Son of God that He expiated the sin of every person who has ever lived—past, present, future so that these theologians believe the cross works backwards as well as forwards so that everybody who has ever lived or ever will live had their sin expiated on the cross by the power of Christ, the Ransom Prince.
So, you see, “How could God forgive Manasseh?” Jesus was destined from before the foundation of the world, the Bible says. God foreknew atonement would be made. And so yes, God can forgive where there is repentance, and it is because of the Ransom Prince. Of course, it’s only through faith in Christ that we appropriate the full effects of the atonement. It is only when we place our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior that we appropriate all that He did on the cross and we receive salvation and eternal life as we embrace Him as Savior and Lord.
When Jesus was on the cross, He cried out, “Tetelestai.” That what Jesus cried out from the cross, “Tetelestai.” John, chapter 19. Tetelestai. That Greek word is translated, “It is finished.” This word tetelestai was stamped on certificates of debt and it meant, “Paid in Full.” When Jesus shouted that word from the cross, it was a victory shout—”Paid in Full!” What had He paid? He paid for the sin of the world. He paid for your sin. He paid for my sin. We appropriate that when we receive Him in faith, and He becomes our Ransom Prince. I hope that’s part of your story. I hope in your life journey, whatever chapter you are in, I hope you have done this. I hope you have come to the foot of the cross and you have received Him as your Prince and your ransom. Tetelestai has meaning for you. Your sin is paid in full.
The Bible says that when you put your faith in Christ, you join His Church—I mean the Universal Church, the Church of Jesus Christ. Spiritually you join His Church when you accept Christ, and the Church is called the Bride of Christ. Jesus died for Her. When we look at this story called the Christian life, the Church is a big part of that story and hopefully a big part of your story and mine.
I know that the word “wedding” or “wedded” is a word which means, “pledge.” It comes from the Old English meaning, “pledge” but when you look at it contextually in the time of Old English—when you look at it in its context—this word “wedded” or “wedding” referred to what was called the bride price. I think most of you know that long ago when you married a woman, you had to pay the bride price and you paid the price to her family. You paid the price to her mom and dad. You paid the bride price. That is still true in many parts of the world like the Middle East and Northern Africa. In the Muslim world you have to pay the bride price.
You may have read in the papers fairly recently about what is going on in Libya. A lot of the people in Libya are upset because the bride price is now so high. In certain parts of Libya, guys have to pay $30,000 dollars American, the equivalency of $30,000 American money in order to pay the bride price. That goes to her family. They also have to give a new car to her parents. A lot of guys are complaining in Libya. They do not want to pay the bride price, so they are marrying Egyptian women because in Egypt, for the most part, the bride price is only $500. Only $500 and you can get a bride. Of course, the women in Libya are saying, “Don’t you love me enough? If you really loved me, you’d pay the bride price.”
Christ really loves you. Christ really loves His Church, and He paid the price. For this He was born. For this He came into the world, that He might ransom you, that He might ransom me, that He might pay that price. How incredible that is. My whole story, my whole life is built around that and hopefully that is true of you too.
There is a second teaching this morning and it is this. Jesus Christ is the Ransom Prince because He ransomed us from death. He not only ransomed us from sin, but He ransomed us from death. The Bible says in the Book of Hebrews, the second chapter, “Since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same nature that by His death, He might destroy him who has the power of death, which is the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death are subject to lifelong bondage. The Bible says we are not only in bondage to sin, but we are in bondage to death. Sin and death are both part of our story. It is part of my story. Sin and death are part of your story. It is part of the Christian life, but we have a whole different view of it because of the Ransom Prince.
I know that many of you have probably heard of Atahualpa. Atahualpa was the last ruler of the Inca Empire. He died in the year 1533 and he was 33 years of age when he died. His story is a sad one. It is really sad because of Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro brought his conquistadors to Peru in the year 1532 when Atahualpa was 32 years old. Pizarro told Atahualpa that he had to submit, though he was the Ruler of the Inca Empire, he had to submit to the authority of King Charles I of Spain. Atahualpa said no. Then Pizarro told Atahualpa that he had to receive Christian baptism. Atahualpa said no. But understand Pizarro was not a Christian, not in the biblical sense of the word nor were the conquistadors. They lived for wealth and power. They did not really understand the person and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever Atahualpa heard from Pizarro, it was not the Gospel, and whoever he saw, whoever he rejected, it was a false caricature of Christ.
Pizarro then held Atahualpa captive and demanded ransom and the Inca people sought to ransom their King. Historians tell us they paid the largest ransom in the history of the world. They offered a whole room full of solid gold and historians know the size of the room. Two rooms full of silver. Historians believe that the value of the ransom would be worth today $2 billion. The Incas wanted their King back. $2 billion! They wanted to ransom Atahualpa. Of course, Pizarro accepted the ransom and then executed Atahualpa. Tragic story, but of course there is a sense in which all of humanity, the entire race is like Atahualpa. There’s not enough money in the world to ransom you. There’s not enough money in the world to ransom me. You do not have the money in your bank account to pay the ransom. I do not have the money in mine to pay my ransom. Dollars will not do it. You understand that. “You are ransomed,” the Bible says in our passage for today, “ransomed from the futile ways inherited by your fathers which is the ways of sin and death. You are ransomed not by perishable things such as silver and gold but by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Only He could do it.
So, when you come to Christ and you receive Him as your Savior and Lord, you not only have your sin forgiven but of course you have the promise of eternal life, the promise that when you die and when your story on this earth comes to an end, your story will continue. God changes the ending of your story. That is the power of the cross. He changes the ending to your story. When you die, your body goes to dust. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes but your soul goes straight to heaven with the promise of a new resurrected body that is indestructible and eternal. This is called the blessed hope and it’s what the Christian’s story is all about and hopefully that’s your story.
Halloween is coming up tomorrow night. Of course, Halloween used to be a pagan festival called Samhain, which was a festival of the dead. That festival reflected the fear of people towards death. Of course, the Christian Church long ago sought to Christianize this pagan festival and they turned it into All Saints Day and All Saints Eve or Hallowed Eve or Halloween. On Halloween in the Christian context, people were to remember those dead in Christ who lived godly lives. They were to remember the Saints and they were to look forward to the gift of eternal life.
I think today most people in the world still have fear of death but, you see, if you have come to the Ransom Prince you do not need to have any fear of death anymore. I do not know what chapter you are in, but I know if you have Christ, it does not matter. It does not matter whatever chapter you are in and however many chapters remain in your book, it does not matter if you have Christ because He’s forgiven your sin, ransomed it and ransomed you from death as well.
As we conclude the message, I’m mindful of a book I read a few years ago by Tad Tuleja. It was a book called, “Fabulous Fallacies.” In the book, Tad Tuleja talks about those fabulous fallacies associated with historical events. He has a section in his book on the Titanic and he discusses the fallacies surrounding the Titanic and its sinking. Of course, the Titanic went down on April 14, 1912. According to Tuleja, there were five fallacies concerning the Titanic. The first, of course, that the ship was unsinkable. Obviously, that was not true. The second fallacy concerning the Titanic was that the crew-maintained order until the very end. All eyewitness accounts tell us it was total chaos even though that fallacy was circulated for years. The third fallacy was that men gave up their positions in the lifeboats to save women and children. The truth is that some men did, and some men did not. Some men fought to get into the lifeboats. The fourth fallacy is that icebergs were rare in that portion of the North Atlantic. Not true. They were plentiful. The fifth fallacy was that the band played the great hymn, “Nearer My God To Thee” as the great ship went down. According to Tuleja, what the band actually played as their last number before the ship went down was the Episcopalian hymn, “Autumn.”
The testimonies conflicted and it does not matter. Who cares what the band played? Who cares whether they played “Nearer My God To Thee?” The real issue is are you growing nearer to God? Am I drawing nearer to God? Not simply because I am getting older, and death awaits. I mean, am I drawing nearer to God in terms of intimacy? Is he more and more my friend? Do I more and more sense His love and His presence and His joy and His purpose? Are we drawing nearer to God?
As you look at your story today, you do not know how long it is on this earth but are you drawing nearer to God? We have just finished the 40 Days of Purpose, and I think most of us have made deeper commitments. I hope you want the journey to continue so that we will continue to go deeper and deeper, drawing nearer and nearer to our Lord Jesus Christ who ransomed us.
We come to the table this morning celebrating His ransom. We come to the bread and the cup celebrating His ransom. It is possible some of you have never appropriated that ransom through faith. I want to make sure you get a chance to do that as we look to the Lord in prayer. Let us pray. “Lord Jesus, thank You so much for being the Prince, the Ruler, the Prince of Princes, King of Kings and Lord, the One who ransomed us. Thank You for coming into the world. Thank You for coming into our story. Thank You for changing the ending. Lord, if there is someone here who has never appropriated Your ransom, never responded to the cross, I pray that You’ve drawn them today and that they might say this prayer with me. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. Be my Prince. Be my King. Be my Ruler. Ransom me. Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Forgive me of my sin, Lord. Thank You for Your atonement. Wash me whiter than snow. Forgive me and Lord give me eternal life, ransom me from death. Change the ending to my story. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that when we invite You to come into our heart, You do come and Lord, You never let us go. Lord, the rest of our days, the rest of our story, You journey with us and we with You. Lord for all of us here, help us to draw nearer to You in the time that remains. Thank You for Your body broken Your blood shed. We love You and we pray this in Your great name. Amen.”