Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:13-14

Christ is our Redeemer, for He purchased us through the price of His shed blood. This is the message of the gospel written by Paul and other New Testament authors. However, that message was not first given after Christ’s work was completed; rather, God’s redemptive plan is recorded in the oldest book of the Bible, Job.

Many years before God inspired Moses to write the Torah, the first five books of the Bible describing creation and the history of mankind, God spoke to Job. Our Redeemer is first mentioned in Job 19:25, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, he will stand upon the earth.” The Hebrew root word for Redeemer is ‘gaal.’ Moses and the prophets also use that same word.

Through the Levitical law, God established the work of a kinsman redeemer. When a woman was left a widow without children, a relative could purchase her property by marrying her, providing for her needs, and giving her children. That man was called the ‘gaal.’ Scripture gives us examples of this type of redemption that begins with Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob.

Judah and the widow Tamar began the lineage through which the promised Redeemer would come. God gave glimpses of His plan in that birthline with Boaz who became the ‘gaal’ to a Gentile widow named Ruth in a small town called Bethlehem. Their son Obed was the father to Jesse, who was the father to King David.

Scripture traces the line of the miraculous virgin birth of a boy in Bethlehem back to David, who wrote a Psalm praising God, “my rock and my ‘gaal.’” It is Jesus that Job wrote about. It is Jesus that is prophesied through Moses, David, and the prophets. Isaiah tells us about our Redeemer in 54:5, “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your ‘gaal’, the God of the whole earth he is called.”

The world is like that barren widow in that we are unable to bear the fruit of righteousness. We are separated from God because of sin and without hope. But God has chosen to be our ‘gaal’ and has redeemed us through the work of His Son Jesus. It is by faith in Jesus that we are given God’s righteousness. As declared in Isaiah, God becomes our husband who fills a life of emptiness with His holiness.

This week, let the glorious message of God’s work of love, compassion, and forgiveness cause us to yield our lives to Him. By acceptance in Jesus as Lord and Savior, God will be our ‘gaal,’ our Redeemer.