Only one hope

We face countless choices every day.  Choice is good.  But it also complicates our lives.  Things are so much simpler if there is only one choice. The next question in the catechism has that feeling of simplicity.   God has provided a Redeemer.  And there is only one Redeemer.  Simples!

Q20.  Who is the Redeemer?

The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself.

Some things to note:

• It really is God himself who provides our hope

Things looked so bleak, but then the light shone.  We have hope, because God himself will provide a Redeemer. The startling thing we learn here is that God doesn't simply

provide

a Redeemer, he himself

is

our Redeemer. God doesn't delegate this task.  He doesn't ask someone else to do it.  He doesn't work out a process.  He himself, comes down into the world he created, to sort out the mess our sin has made and got us into. We have learnt that God is 3 persons (Q3).  It is in the person of his eternal Son, that God himself became man.  God in flesh.  The wonder of incarnation.  Our redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

• The only reason, God became man, was to be our Redeemer

There is no other reason.  He didn't come to experience our life.  He didn't come to be our friend, teacher, advisor or life coach.  He didn't come to show us what is possible.  He didn't come as an example of all that is good and pure. He came as our Redeemer.  He came to save us. That was his mission.  That was the reason he came. That meant he needed to bear the penalty of sin.  The penalty for our sin. He did so willingly.  He did so completely. He is our only hope.

• We do face a choice

We began by saying that choices make our life complicated.  There is a wonderful simplicity in saying there is only one Saviour.  We don't have to weigh up options, consider pros and cons with the competition. There is only one Saviour. That truth leaves us with one choice.  Do we accept him, or do we reject him?