At this point the big snake started to cry– loudly! It was then that the children heard the crying snake and went to see what was making the snake cry.

Seeing what the problem was they had gone to find Doctor-father.

When father saw the problem the big snake was in he decided that they must help the snake, so they picked up the big snake and took it with them back to the hospital where they all sat down on the front porch of the hospital and stretched the snake out across their laps so they could wipe it down with kerosene, thereby removing all the leaves, grass, and tar that were stuck to it.

After putting talcum powder on the snake they turned it loose to continue its journey to wherever big snakes go on hot days.

The big snake crawled a distance away, and then turned and looked back as if to say, “thank you.”

Of course it seems obvious that that is the end of the story, but in fact the big snake did not leave, rather it stayed around the hospital and ate the rats which were a problem for the hospital. It also became a friend to the children.

When the snake had eaten all the rats around the hospital the doctor’s daughter would put it across her shoulders, holding its head with one hand, while its tail drug on the ground, and carry it down to their house where it would stay and eat all the rats around their house. Then she would carry it back to the hospital where the cycle would start all over again.

And that is how a big snake came to be known as Tar-baby in Thailand.

Of course there would not be this snake story if the snake had not done that which got it into trouble, and if some one had not seen its problem and cared enough to help!

As such this story becomes a portrait of redemption.

From daily life we already know that redemption is the replacing of a loss with a solution which causes the original condition to again be available; or, the replacing of a loss with a replacement which is greater than the original condition, or which has more potential than the original condition! To convert some thing damaged into something of value can be an act of redemption.

Redemption- the exchange of something for something else of equal or greater value.

The cost of the act of redemption is of course determined by the problem the needing-to-be-redeemed is in, unless the act of redeeming has more than one dimension to it.

If the redemptive act is also to serve as a statement about the one doing the redeeming, rather than just the trouble the needing-to-be-redeemed is in, then the indebtedness plus the cost of the self-revelation determines the cost of the redemptive exchange; the self-revelation to be given by the redemptive act then complicates the otherwise simple exchange of a payment to cover a debt.

If the redemptive act is to be a self-revelation in addition to an act of trouble solution, then the redemptive price is determined at least in part by the one doing the redeeming rather than being determined solely by the one whom the payment is to satisfy.

If the debt is philosophical in nature, a conflict about values, then the payment may in fact be made by the redeemer to another than the one causing the appearance of a debt to have been incurred.

Therefore the price of any act of redemption is set by the issue to be resolved and by the judge or judges who are to arbitrate the exchange, and the one or ones who are to decide when the indebtedness has been reduced to non-existence.

Redemption- the exchange of something which one has, for that which one never had, or which one had, but which has been lost; something which has value to the one offering the redemption price.

Webster says of redemption that it is

To get or to win back; to free from distress or harm; to free from captivity; to extricate from, or help to overcome, something detrimental; to release from blame or debt; to free from the consequences; to change for the better, to restore; to remove an obligation by payment; to convert into something of value; to offset the bad effect of; or to make worthwhile.

In our study redemption is probably going to carry all these meanings, plus the dimension of self-revelation by the redeemer, for the problem seems to start with a mis-representation. But I am getting ahead!

Portraits of Redemption

The Story – from the start.

Once upon a time, the way all good stories start, or,

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth- and the Angels.

One of the angels God created was described thus-

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God; and every precious stone was your covering: the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God;

You were perfect in your ways (God had made him as much like Himself as He could?) from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground.

You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities.

(See Ezekiel 28: 12-18.)

How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground.

(See Isaiah 14: 12.)

And the earth was without form and void, and God said, Let there be light, and fish, and birds, flowers and people!

And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man, male and female, whom He had formed, to tend the garden and to keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Now the serpent- the great angel who had corrupted his way because of his beauty- was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said to the woman,

“Has God indeed said, ‘you shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent,

“We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Then the Serpent said to the woman, “you will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So the woman took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden, lest he (Adam and Eve) put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. And He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

So the Lord God said to the serpent,

“because you have done this, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.” (See Genesis, chapters 1-3.)

Portraits in Redemption, picture #1.

The Serpent’s victims would not be left his helpless captives (see Genesis 3:15), shut out from their garden home with its tree of eternal life.

What exactly would God do? The picture at this point is not very clear. But this is the start of God’s activities on behalf of His children who have pawned themselves! Why did they not die on this day when they had disobeyed the command of their Creator? Because as soon as there was trouble there was a Redeemer.

God could have given them up to their captor; He had lost only that which He had given to Adam. Or He could take it all back by force; or, He could decide to buy back the indebtedness and try again to win the hearts of these children of His; or He could have just started over again.

Indirectly, all His children were involved- those who did not rebel when Lucifer did, and these two, and any children they might have- He had told them to multiply.

I heard you! You asked, why did God not prevent the problem before it got started, if He really knows all, and has all power? Because He wanted to have more children; children who loved Him. Love can not be commanded; only by love can love be awakened.

So God instituted a plan He had had from the foundation of the world, and began a self-revelation that would reveal who loved Adam and Eve in such a way as to give them the life experience which, when they looked back over it, would make them happy; an experience which, when they could see the end from the beginning and the part they played in God’s purposes, would be such that they would not want to change anything.

But they already had a life experience!

Results were to be compared; Lucifer had given them access to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which access God had denied them. God sent them out from the Garden; Who really loved them and wanted for them to be happy in their lives?

By the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which God had withheld from them they had gained knowledge- the knowledge of evil. But was this knowledge a blessing? Had they gained anything more than a knowledge of pain and suffering? Had God in fact been being good to them when He withheld from them this knowledge?

Lucifer and Adam and Eve could only rebel against their maker because their Maker loved them. The response of love can only be given freely; love from another must be won. Therefore God made His creatures with the potential for growth and the ability to disagree.

God the Creator knew the risk He was taking, and He designed the plan for redeeming from the beginning (see 1Peter 1: 19-20), but creating His creatures with free will was the only path to the loving intelligent relationship that He desired to have with them. To Him, love from His children was worth dying for. It also was the path to an eternal future of family togetherness.

Without His love being returned, He did not have a stable eternity of happiness to offer. For a government based on love to function, love must not only be given, it must be returned.

This Self-portrait

is of the Pattern Maker

But I am getting ahead, again!

Portraits in Redemption, picture #2.

What was God offering? Words and acts.

In outline form God’s offer might be summarized this way-

Promises- about Him and us

Representations- of Himself and His kingdom, in our lives

A personal encounter- He came

More promises- about Him and us

Personal acts-for His children

He will die to pay redemption’s price

The acts of God toward His in-trouble children have unfolded since the Garden of Eden in connection with daily events occurring in their lives.

The promises being made by God to His children also came to His children in a context of the daily progression of the argument as to who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. Was Lucifer the benefactor of the children of God, as he claimed to be, or was God, the One restricting the activities of His children, the one who loved them?

The answer could only become inarguably clear when the results of participating in the variety of offered programs was seen.

To be acceptable to God the decision made by His children had to be based in freewill- the exercise of the freewill He had given to His children, when that freewill was exercised in harmony with sufficient evidence for them to make an intelligent decision; a decision based in the exercises of the mind God has given to each of His children.

From the first it seems that Lucifer felt that he could not win if these principles were followed.

Instead of presenting himself and his program to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as a great alternative to God’s program, he disguised himself and used mis-representation.

What he won, he won through mis-information.

Even though God had been following the same rules from the time He made His children and their garden, and even though He had lost the first round to Lucifer, the solidity of results based on these principles was so sure God made no change in His way of operating.

He did however change the way that He interacted with His children. (The reason for this change, I think, becomes clearer to students of the controversy as the contest progresses, and the events become a story.)

This Self-portrait

is of the Sample-

a picture doing what it portrays; the One who is the way, leading the way.

Promises- about Him and us.

(The following materials are not listed in chronological order, nor is there any intent to list more than will give a sketch of the activities being reviewed. The whole Bible story amplifies the portraits being sketched here. You must read them all!)

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Psalm 33: 18, 19; Isaiah 57: 15.

Is this not that fast that I have chosen: to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;

When you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you;

The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, here I am.

Isaiah 58:6-9.

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,

From doing your pleasure on My holy day,

And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,

And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,

Nor finding your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words,

Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord;

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 58:13, 14.

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;

And the former shall not be remembered or come onto mind.

Isaiah 65:17.

This Self-portrait

is of the first cause; the Word which forms the result.

Representations- of Himself and His kingdom, in our lives.

The most unexpected development to be used as a means of communication between the Lord and His children, in my opinion, was two stones worn on the clothing of the High priest. These two stones were used by the Lord as a channel of communicating yes and no answers to questions asked of the Lord by the people. When I first learned of this channel for communicating, I thought how great it would be if we had such a system to use now!

Then I began to realize that the system which I thought would be the answer to my questions for the Lord, would in fact not work; the Lord might be ready to communicate to me what He wanted me to know, but His opportunity to communicate would have to wait until I figured out the right question to ask Him.

He might want me to go to the next city and help a sick person there, when I am busy growing crops and not thinking about spending hours asking random questions just to discover if He had a message for me. The first question today would be, “Do I have Mail?”

If I did ask the Lord if He had a message for me, and the answer was yes, then the guessing would begin. If the message was about something I knew nothing about, I would never ask the right question to learn the message God had for me. I am glad we do not use that system today.

(For references to this system of communicating, see texts like Exodus 28:30; and 1Samuel 28:6.)

Notice what God said, which indicates the difficulty of this seemingly great system for communicating:

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8, 9.

This Self-portrait

is of the unimaginable.

The most common method God has used to make His messages known to people and to nations, was for Him to speak through people known as prophets, or spokesmen.

Some of the prophets were very interesting people. Isaiah was still a lad when God called him to be a prophet.

Some of the people God called to be prophets were women.

Micah worked with sycamore fruit.

Some times when God found the people were resistant to the messages He was gently trying to communicate to them, He had the prophets do unusual things!

Hosea was first told what nationality of girl to marry, and later he was told to go down to the market place and buy a prostitute- He did it! He went out and bought a prostitute! Even she was shocked!

Ezekiel was told by God to buy some new clothing and take it out and bury it in the mud by the river bank for about a year, and then go and dig it up to see what had happened! Then he was told to preach about the event!

Isaiah was told to have children and give them certain names which revealed the future.

Elisha was told by the Lord that a very sick non-Jewish general was coming to see him about being healed, because a young girl his army had stolen away from Israel had told his wife, her master, that the prophet in Israel knew the God of Israel, and that if the Prophet asked the God of Israel, the God of Israel would make the sick general well.

The Lord added in His message to Elisha that Elisha was not to go out to see the general; he, Elisha, was only to send a message to the general telling him that he was to go and dip in the river Jordan seven times. The General got mad! But he did it and was healed.

God’s general method of communicating His messages to His prophets was by dreams and by visions- something probably similar to a moving picture, I think. However there were exceptions; He talked to Moses, as a man talks to a friend.

Occasionally He employed symbols to add a message which was additional to the main message. When God commissioned Moses to be His spokesman to Pharaoh of Egypt regarding His plans for Israel to leave Egypt, He appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush which burned and was not consumed.

This approach not only served to get Moses attention, and to reveal the presence of God to the shepherd, but it carried a message which was additional to the primary message about God’s plans for Israel. The use of the bush pre-revealed the incarnation; the fact that the Mighty God would take the form of a person so He could live among His children, as one of their neighbors.

All God’s acts since the Garden have not only benefited His children, but have themselves revealed future acts portraying what God was offering.

This Self-portrait

is of the Unanticipated.

Some times some of the people from among the people God had been influencing with His messages were so anxious to have their neighbors do what they wanted them to do, and to do it their way, that they would hire people to pretend to be prophets, and say what they, the employers, wanted the people to believe!

So God did the expected-

A personal encounter- He came.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Galatians 4:4.

“Now in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David. The Virgin’s name was Mary.

And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was

Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

And He will reign over the House of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I do not know a man?

And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:26-35)

Born in a manger; grew up in Egypt and Nazareth. Preached and healed all over the Middle East, but His majority activity was healing and comforting the people who had been hurt the worst by Lucifer, the great Angel who merited a personal description in Scripture he was so outstanding- but he was still a created being, something he seemed at times to forget.

In addition to the very great and active daily life Jesus lived doing good deeds (see the lesson on the historical Jesus), and the many stories He told (see the lesson on the parables), and the supernatural acts He performed (see the lesson on the miracles and their categories and significances), in addition to these things, He died for us.

But before He could die He had had to become a person, this member of the Godhead, with the help of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

…a body you have prepared for Me.” (Hebrews 10:5.)

More promises- about Him and us.

[Jesus began His ministry at about thirty years of age (see Luke 3:23.) Up to this time He lived with His mother and Joseph and was subject to them (see Luke 2:21-51)].

 To Nicodemus He promised that people could be born again; they could have a new life principle implanted, they could live free from the old over-mastering passions. They could be involved in the Kingdom He was making.

To the paralytic and to Mary He gave assurance of the forgiveness of their sins. To those whose lives had been filled with the pursuit of daily existence He gave assurance that they could be workers in His kingdom.

To those who took time to learn of the lessons that He was teaching and the eternal life He was offering, He said that in His father’s house there were many mansions, and that when He went back to the Father He would prepare a place for them- and not only would He prepare a place for them, but that He would come back and get them, to take them to be with Him wherever He was, and that they would be always where He was.

Jesus also said that those who choose to be a part of His work and kingdom would have persecutions in this world, and that if they left all for Him, in this life they would receive one hundred fold.

Personal Acts- for His children.

And as we have seen before, He illustrated all of these teachings by the acts that He did- both for the good people and for those who chose not to live a part in His kingdom.

At Capernaum we saw that He healed all the people, not just those who had faith in God.

In the miracle of the loaves and fishes He provided food for thousands of people, for all those who stayed to listen to Him and to be healed, until it was late in the day, including those who only followed Him so they could complain- on two different occasions.

When some of His followers were unable to understand some of the events of His life, and were very troubled, He appeared to them as a stranger so He could discuss with them those principles which would give them understanding and peace in their lives.

There is probably nothing that we can think of that we might want Him to do for us that He did not do for those who chose to be a part of His work and kingdom- except take them out of the world when He left it; neither did He take away their conflicts, because without these they would not be able to express faith and have the lost image of God restored, by God’s grace.

This Self-portrait

is of loving ability expressed.

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water.

For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then, who ever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he already had been in that condition a longtime, he said to him,

Do you want to be made well?

The sick man answered him,

Sir, I have no man to take me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.

Jesus said to him,

Arise, take up your bed and walk.

And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

The Jews therefore said to him who was cured,

It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.

He answered them,

He who made me well said to me, take up your bed and walk. And they asked him,

Who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk?

But the one who was healed, did not know who it was for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him,

See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

Then the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus, who had made him well.

For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them,

My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.

Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

John 5:1-18.

In this lesson we have been looking at portraits of redemption drawn for us by the words and works of Jesus. It is an interesting activity to look at these pictures. They are like looking at an old photo album- there is a picture of Great grandfather, and there is a picture of auntie when she was 6 months old; each picture carries some thing special. But in the story we have just reviewed there are so many objects for us to pay attention to that this one picture is almost a complete picture album!

There is of course the portrait of a sick man; and there are pictures of the healed man, strong and carrying his bed through the village square; there are pictures of the men who are angry that he has gotten well enough to carry his bed, on the Sabbath day; there is a snapshot of Jesus returning to talk to the man who has just been scolded; there is a picture of the healed man talking to the angry men; and there is a picture of Jesus and the angry men talking; there is a picture of Jesus and the angry men each going a different direction; and there is a portrait of the angry men in a large group meeting.

The exciting thing about all of these pictures is that none of them is what the act done by Jesus for the forever-sick man appears to be about.

This picture we can not paste under either of our captions- ‘Jesus teaching’, or, ‘Jesus doing!’

All these portraits fade to become a single abstract painting- a village scene coalescing into a living color self-portrait in which salvation is framing the Sabbath.

This Self-portrait

is of rest; the Sabbath commandment coalescing into the salvation of the soul.

(For a great Biblical presentation of this concept of the Sabbath as a portrayer of the work God wants to do for the soul, see Hebrews 3:7- 4:11.)

His every word, teaching and act was a line in the portrait of redemption He was tracing- following the pattern designed in Heaven before the foundations of the earth were laid.

And, having done all these things for us,

He will die to pay redemption’s price.

Adam and Eve ate from the tree with the death penalty attached to its fruit- the gift of God is eternal life, but the wages of sin is death. Some one must die for God to offer forgiveness, and at the same time not give up the rule of the world. The law of God is a transcript of His character; therefore it is unchangeable as long as He does not change His character. Because God is Holy the law of God is holy.

Redemption, that which is being portrayed in the pictures we are looking at, means that God decided not to let anyone die- He would provide Himself the ransom.

He would take the penalty of death on Himself. Himself the victim of the penalty- Himself the offerer of the ransom. Himself the evidence of the love which withheld the knowledge of evil.

The wages of sin, evil, is death; He would take the death and give life.

But the cost would be very high for the ransom price must be paid for each of the descendants of Adam- He would taste death for every person, knowing that not all would want to become His children. But He would not have it said that He could have done more when the death penalty was imposed on all who chose to not be part of His world where there would be only living for others.

In the remade world there would be no sickness, suffering or death. They would not hurt or destroy in all the ages to come.

But first-

His life begins to end when He corrects Judas to save Mary from those who could not, would not, comprehend her wealth of pure devotion toward Jesus for what He had done for her life. Her gift was for sins forgiven.

Judas’s response to Mary’s gratitude was to want to steal her gift. Being unable to enrich himself with what was hers, he went out from the banquet for Jesus and sold Jesus to His enemies, knowing that they were looking for help to have Him dead.

Jesus’ life begins to end when He corrects the revelation of God being given in the temple worship- the making of money He exchanged for the healing of the sufferers seeking God’s presence.

Jesus’ life begins to end when He heals the withered hand of a worshipper on the Sabbath in church to show correct Sabbath significance.

Jesus’ life begins to end when in the beginning the plan of redemption was formed- He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth,

when the Godhead in council agreed on the roles to be fulfilled by each of them.

(For this concept see 1Peter 1:18-21.)

God the Father agrees to exchange the children’s indebtedness for their Creator-father’s activities on their behalf.

When Jesus, One equal with God the Father, not only lives a life which reveals the Father’s character but dies a death of suffering for every child of Adam and Eve the self-revealing-payment of redemption is finished. The good-guy is known. It is the Godhead who come to the rescue of the dying; not Lucifer, the beautiful Son of the Morning.

But while the redemption-payment is finished, the redemption portrait is not assembled until the suffering-dying ransom-Price comes forth from the grave at the call of His associates.

He had power to lay down His life, and He had power to take it up again, but He waited in the grave after dying on the cross and being buried until He was called to come out because He was there as a prisoner of divine justice.

(For the story of the ending of Jesus’ life see, for example, Matthew 26:1- 28:20; Mark 14:8- 16:20; Luke 22:1- 24:53; or, John 17:20- 21:25.)

When the price was paid and He had rested through the Sabbath, the symbol of redemption realized, He was called by the Father and left the grave.

He could do all this because in Him was life original, unborrowed, underived.

(For this concept see, for example, John 10:14-18; Micah 5:2; or John 1:1-3.)

The Self-portrait

is of redemption’s price- the life of the Lifegiver.

Portraits of Redemption as mirrors

In the mirrors which are the photos of Redemption we see reflected the value of a soul created in the image of God, even after it has been ruined by an enemy.

Redemption- the Self-portrait of God.

 Self Portrait of God | Chapters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7