Jesus Christ Our Kinsman-Redeemer

Jesus Christ
Our Kinsman-Redeemer
By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted

If you are a follower of “Up from the Ashes” on-line sermons you know that I usually start each teaching or sermon with a Bible verse that relates to the title and topic. Not so this week because there is not verse in the Bible that uses the word kinsman-redeemer, it’s not in there. But you can rest assured in knowing that I would be able to show you the relevance of the term and tie it into the scriptures with little trouble because the concept is right there for the asking and I pray that I’m being led by the Holy Spirit.

Just in the title of this sermon we have already established who our Kinsman-Redeemer is and you may be thinking; “well that’s a good thing to know”. But then again there may be some hearing this for the first time and are asking themselves, “What is a kinsman-redeemer?” By a simple observation of the word we can get a sense of what a kinsman-redeemer is. The first part of the word should be fairly clear in its meaning, it tells us that the person is a kin, a relative, a member of the same family, clan or tribe. One who is related to us, someone who is a member of the same clan as we are. The name we use to describe our family tree will be different dependent upon the area we live in. Here in the northeastern section of America our structure and labeling of family seldom uses the terms kin or clan or tribe, we use family or relatives to describe the people in the family tree. Now in other areas of America the term kin is used quite a bit, in particular in the southern states, mostly from West Virginia down through Florida. Through these regions should you use the word “Kin” when talking to someone about your family relations they would instantly associate with what we were talking about. “We have kin-folk in the area don’t you know.” Whether it is kin, family, tribe or clan there are a few common denominators to be looked at. Most are of the same bloodline, they are blood relatives, but that doesn’t have to be so just to be a relative. There can be kin that are of the “married into” variety as well, when someone marries a blood relative of a certain clam or family they then become kin through their association with the blood relative, they are then taken into the group as a member and offered the same hospitality as everyone else. Or at least that’s the way it is supposed to go, that’s not to say that there isn’t a few in the group that won’t accept the new member as an equal. I’m sure that most of us knows how that goes don’t we? The “married into” group may be kin, but if we are going to be talking about kin in the strict definitions of the dictionary, “Kin” is a blood relative.

With the term “Kin” established and defined, we now move along to a part of the word that takes us to a higher or more specific level. “Kinsman”, although I could find no biblical reference restricting or stating that the kinsman had to be a male, or that the kinsman could not be a female, there is some indictors as to what gender is required. There are two words found in the Scriptures that denotes kinsman, “Sungenes” and “Sungenis”. Both of these words are in the Greek, “Sungenes” refers to everyone, the entire tribe or clan and “Sungenis” is the feminine gender derived from the masculine or general tense. Although Sungenis, or the word for “kin” in its feminine tense is used in Scripture such as found in Luke 1:36, where it is talking about Mary going to see her cousin Elizabeth, to inform her of the child she will be having after being impregnated by the Holy Spirit. The KJV says “And behold they cousin Elisabeth”, while the NIV says “Even Elizabeth your relative”. Thus we see the word “Sungenis” in use in the Scriptures. There is however no use of the word in its feminine tense when spoken of in regards to the kinsman-redeemer, each time kinsman is used it’s in the general or masculine tense. That of course is when it’s found in the Greek writings.

In the Hebrew writings the word used is pronounced “Ga-al”, the same word used whenever it is in reference to God and God is talked of as being the redeemer of his people, this is used in Exodus 6:6, four times in Isaiah, many times in the Psalms and the in book of Job in the 19th chapter in the 25th verse.

In today’s society we have become so paranoid about making sure that we are “politically correct” so as not to offend anyone that we have become afraid to even make mention of a male or female role of anything, I’m sure there are a few that would, and most likely have insisted that the term be changed from “kinsman” to “kinsperson” but I for one won’t be doing that and if that offends anyone you can take it up with God because he wrote his Bible the way he wanted it and he’s the one that through the inspiration of his Holy Spirit selected the wording to be used in naming this person.

So there may be male kin, female kin and kin in general, but it’s the male or masculine kin we are talking about here. Look at (Leviticus 25:47). “ If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly”. What this pericope is saying is that in the event someone sold himself or herself into slavery a kinsman could redeem them or in other words, they could pay a price to rescue them from the bonds of slavery.

Now lets look at the remainder of our word, “Redeemer”. This of course goes hand in hand with what we just saw, someone or something being redeemed, to redeem is to buy back, to exchange for a price, to recover something or someone in some type of exchange. Does anyone remember when you used to get the S&H Green Stamps when you bought something? There were various stores and even gas stations that would give you Green Stamps when you made a purchase and you’d stick them in a little book, much like the little bank book they used to issue. When you had enough books or enough stamps you would go to a redemption center and trade them in for whatever it was that you selected from their catalog of items. I think you can still do this with the Betty Crocker products, I think they still have a little numerical value thing on some of their products. I also think that is about to come to an end if it hasn’t already. By now you have a clear picture of what I’m trying to show you, the concept of redeeming one thing in exchange for another.

If we were to look in a dictionary we’d see that the word “Redeem” has more than one meaning or definition. Redeem can also mean; “A) to make amends for, to atone for something or to make right a wrong”. B) To set free by paying a ransom, to deliver from sin and its penalties as by a sacrifice made for a sinner”.

Now if we collect all these random thoughts together and get them in a nice straight line it will give us a clear picture that the biblical Kinsman-Redeemer was a male relative who was going to buy back or make atonement for a person of like clan or tribe, who is unable to obtain or redeem his or her self and gain their freedom from slavery. The kinsman-redeemer was also responsible for buying back land that was sold outside of the clan or tribe to a foreigner or foreigners, to buy back a woman that was sold into slavery in order to pay off a debt. And at times it was the kinsman-redeemer who was responsible to avenge a death or murder of a fellow tribe or clan member. They were also to provide an heir in order to keep a family name and bloodline from ending and to look after a family business. As we can see there was a lot of responsibility in being a kinsman-redeemer, God was really interested in establishing the family unit and developing strong family ties. Everyone was to be looking out for the well being of the others in the tribe, clan or family; everyone was to be looking out for the other kinfolk. Reflect now on how the family unit has been attacked by the devil in today’s society, we will be looking at this topic a little more later in this sermon, but I won’t be going into it in any amount of detail, not in this sermon, that would be another complete topic to be addressed, but not today. But just give this attack and destruction of the family unit some thought when you have a little time.
This concept of the kinsman-redeemer comes directly from God; it’s in his directions to the people of Israel. The first verse we will look at is found in the book of Leviticus, in the 25th chapter in the 25th verse. Here God is talking about the redemption of land. “If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold”. His nearest relative doesn’t mean uncle Felix who only lives three houses away, God isn’t talking about someone who lives in close proximity to someone else in the same tribe or clan, God isn’t talking about a physical distance, he’s talking about a bloodline relative. It was usually a brother, if there were no brothers, then an uncle and then a cousin, and so on moving down the bloodline. When I first started to look into this I found it strange that it didn’t start with a father or a grandfather, to me that would be the nearest relative in the family if we were looking to the men of that family. And then it dawned on me that in most cases, the person didn’t have any land until the father was dead, the dads didn’t often give away any land or possessions until they had at least one foot in the grave or were getting real close to death and then knew it.

To the Jews, having property was very important, it still is. If we were to remember the promises that God made to Abraham, the first was many descendents and the second was land. To this very day the significance of having land is of utmost importance to the Jew. Look at the never-ending battles that are going on over the little strip of land known as the “Holy Lands”. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to look over that area of land you might say “what in the world are they fighting over, it’s all rocks and sand, there isn’t any oil there or any gold or diamonds, it is all kind of like a great big rock pile where you can grow some crops but you really have to work at it”. But you see the Jew doesn’t think like that, they see the land as what God promised to them and no matter what, they are going to defend that land even if it means giving everything they have including their very life. When the Lord gave the Holy Land to his people it was divided into parcels, and these parcels were given to the various tribes. Each tribe was allotted so much property with clear divisions being made. The only ones who didn’t get a piece of the pie was the Levites, the priests, they were to be provided for from the blessing the tribes with land had, they didn’t need land to work since they got the tithe. Of course many of the priests did get land, but not through a way that was approved by God. Having property was very important and retaining that land was a must. Retaining that land was retaining the promise of God and who here wants to give away or loose what God has promised them? I know I don’t, I want to keep in my possession whatever my God has promised me. If you became poor and had to sell your property the nearest relative, not uncle Felix mind you, had the responsibility or was obligated, to buy back your land to keep it in the tribe or clan. And of course that person was your kinsman-redeemer.

There was more to this directive of God than just redeeming land; it also included people, it included the kin. We looked at this before but we need to read it again. (Leviticus 25:47)“If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him.” Remember I talked about this before, if we think about this verse for a moment, we can see how strongly God places value on the family unit. This is an object lesson we can all learn from. If at that time and that location, a family member fell upon hard times and had to sell his or herself into slavery to pay off a debt, it was the obligation of another family member to redeem them. God is saying; “At all costs, keep the family together! Hold on to dearly what I’ve given you and don’t loose it”, we are going to look at the importance of this later, that holding on to what God’s given us.

The concept of the family unit isn’t a New Testament revelation; we’ve seen that in this study so far. Its foundation can be seen laced throughout the entire Bible. Granted the present day church family can trace its roots back to the book of Acts, but this original concept goes back to the book of Genesis and is found in some form or fashion in every book between Genesis to Revelation. Think back to Genesis and Noah and his little family. The Bible tells us that Noah was a man of righteousness, that he was blameless and that he walked with God. Now Noah was righteous and blameless and walked with God, but it doesn’t say his sons were, his wife was or his daughter-in-laws either. And yet when God decided to flood the earth he maintained this family together, why? Because God loves the family unit! If family didn’t mean all that much to God he could have just as well killed off everyone and let Noah start over with a new group of people. Don’t laugh at that thought, God did just this very thing once before. Remember Job, God allowed his entire family to be killed off with the exception of his wife, and I think God let her live just because he wanted someone to use in his plans to show Satan that he, God, was in control of things because Mrs. Job sure wasn’t much of a moral support for her husband. Her words of wisdom to her husband, “Just curse God and die!” But God did give Job a whole new family when it was all said and done.

The concept of the kinsmen redeemer also applied to making sure a bloodline or a clan or tribe continued from generation to generation. If a man was wed and had produced no heirs and then that man died, it was the obligation of a kinsmen redeemer, a brother, to take the dead mans wife as his own and have children with her, the first child of that union to carry the name of the departed brother, thus continuing his line. Another obligation of the kinsmen redeemer was to be the avenger of a wrongful death. This can be found in the book of Numbers in the 35th chapter.
So now we’ve looked at what a kinsmen redeemer is, what the kinsmen redeemer was to do, what his duties were to his tribe or clan. We looked at how the kinsmen redeemer held the obligation to restore or preserve the full community rights of a disadvantaged family member, and now we’ll look at how, from this concept of the kinsmen redeemer, in regards to the family member, arises the covenant between God and Israel and subsequently how it all ties into the redemption of all humanity. How it applied to both Jew and Gentile, through Jesus Christ and his redemptive work on the cross.

I’ll start where God started, in the Old Testament. First we’ll look at God’s covenant with Israel and how it progressed to include all mankind. In the book of Exodus, chapter 6, verses 6 and 7, we see God addressing his people through his servant Moses. “Therefore say to the Israelites: “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from bring slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
I think it’s safe to say that in the world today, for many people, they are still under the yoke of slavery or bondage to a Pharaoh, to a typology or a foreshadow of another, and that can be equated to being under the yoke of Satan. Their yoke of bondage may be addiction to drugs, or alcohol. It may be addiction to cigarettes or even a food addiction. People can be addicted to sex or work, or gambling. Addictions come in many strange packages; any unbalanced desires for something may be looked at as a form of addiction if that unbalanced desire is a controlling factor in our life. Addictions even play a role in our Christian life showing up in worldly desires for a certain title or position, seeking to control or hold power over someone or something in the operation of the church. Often the people don’t even realize that they are working out of an addiction, they think they are working out of the right motives when in reality they are seeking salvation by works instead of salvation by faith and belief in Jesus Christ. But God is saying; “I will free you from bring slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God”. What God is saying is; “I will free you from this yoke, and from this bondage that has held you down and oppressed you for so long. Through my strength and through my power I will make you free”.
The metaphor of an outstretched arm is symbolic of God’s power. Picture if you will, a mighty arm with bulging muscle, flexed and lifting off the heavy weight of bondage, lifting off the heavy yoke of whatever it is that is holding us down, be it any form of addiction, any form of pride, any form of anything that causes us to be separated from our God. This is what one of the passages of scripture states “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord”(KJV). God is saying that it doesn’t matter what Pharaoh we are under at this time, He is bigger, He is stronger and He will lift the yoke of that Pharaoh off of us and set us free.

You may be thinking, “That’s fine for the masses of people back then, that’s fine for the people of Israel so long ago. And it may even be working for a certain church or a certain denomination today, but what about just little old me, right now, right here now? What about me as a person, as an individual out there on my own, can I still experience this in my life, now, today”?
Lets bring this down to our own personal level then, let’s carry this theme down to a finer degree and make it a little more personal. Isaiah 43 says; “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze”. The scriptures of yesterday still apply to us today, what promises God made before to a generation or one hundred generations ago still apply to us today. God’s word doesn’t change, it doesn’t end either, and it has no expiration date it is good forever and always redeemable when needed.

Although there are several more Scriptures that say basically the same thing but for the sake of time restraint we will stay with this one since it can’t be said in any plainer language. In this passage we can see that God is deeply concerned for us and that he is in fact our redeemer. What beautiful wording, what wonderful promises! When we have to walk through the deep waters of life, they are not going to rush over us and carry us away; the fires of life won’t consume us in their flames. We have a kinsman redeemer who is there for us to stop the destruction of life in a fallen world. But how do we come to know him, God the Son as a kinsmen redeemer and how do we place Jesus Christ in this role?

Before we can look at Christ as our kinsmen redeemer we need to look at how he came to be our “kin” at all. Jesus is God and we are human and the two just aren’t mutually acceptable to each other. First of all Christ had to come to earth as man, we all know of his birth through the woman, Mary. How he entered this world as a human child, a theophany if you will, the visual appearance of God in the form of man. This is known as the “Hypostatic Union”; Christ was fully God and fully man. This fact we cannot doubt. Another fact we cannot doubt, Jesus Christ was fully Jewish. He was as Jewish as Jewish can be. And it is only through the grace of God that we as Gentiles have redemption from sin and salvation, it is only through the grace of God that we as Gentiles have any hope at all, without God’s grace; we as Gentiles would have no hope of anything at all except the fires of hell for all eternity. Although God chose the Jewish people as his own, it was from the start in God’s plan to offer to us, the Gentiles, God’s plan of salvation. The Apostle Paul tells us of this in his letter to the Ephesians in the first chapter, verses 3 through 10. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”
God knew before he even created any of this we see around us that he would be offering redemption from sin to the Gentile as well as the Jews through his love and grace. The Jews as his chosen people and the Gentiles, you and I, as his adopted sons and daughters. In the first chapter of the Gospel of John we read; “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God __children not born of natural decent, nor of human decision or a husbands will, but born of God.”
God chose us, God has grafted us into the Jewish vine, he’s adopted us as his very own sons and daughters and by doing so he has given us the right of a natural born child. You see as an adopted child we have and can expect all of the rights and privileges of a natural born child. Romans 8:16 says “The Spirit (that’s God’s Spirit) himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children, now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (emphasis mine). Can you see the connection starting to develop here church? Once we become co-heirs with Christ through our adoption, which is approved and allowed by grace and rooted in faith by belief in the name of Jesus Christ as Lord of all, Jesus became our kin and we became his. We, at that point of adoption have and should expect all the rights and privileges of a kin, and that includes the rescue of a fellow kin or a kinsmen redeemer. And that kinsmen redeemer is the one who fulfills all of God’s requirements in his law. Once we are adopted sons and daughters of God the Father, Jesus then becomes our brother, and remember with Jesus being the Son of God we also are sons and daughters of Father God as well. As sons and daughters of God we have every right and expectation to claim the rights of Jesus as our kinsmen redeemer and we can expect him to fulfill his duties as laid out in the Father’s law. With Jesus as a brother and thus our kinsmen he then has the burden or the obligation under the Fathers law to redeem us at the predetermined price, which the Father has declared. When Jesus became flesh and blood and took on the body of man he forever linked himself to us as kin and he too was then subject to the law of Father God in all it says. We; the sold into slavery relatives, we the fallen into sin relatives; can now cry out to Jesus our kin and say “Save us oh Lord, save us because we are brothers and sisters according to the law and principles of our legal adoption that are now in force as the Father declares it be done in written word”. And Jesus in his love did just that, Jesus in his love and knowledge of the obligation he was under had to pay the price for our redemption and he did so when he went to the cross and shed his Royal Blood. The Father said that the only acceptable price for redeeming us and removing the yoke of slavery and bondage to sin was a blood offering and Jesus made that offering on our behalf with his own blood, given freely for our sins while he was sin free himself. The blood offering that God required had to be pure blood, untainted blood, free from all imperfection or contaminations because of sin, and it was found in Christ alone. Jesus knew that the obligation for him to be our kinsmen redeemer was placed upon him and him alone and he fulfilled every requirement of the law in regards to paying the price for the redemption of us, a fellow kin.

The full power and impact of having Jesus Christ as our kinsmen redeemer can be seen in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Paul addresses this in both the 3rd and 4th chapters. In chapter 3, verse 13; Paul says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written; “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree”. He redeemed us in order that the blessings given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit”. And in chapter 4 Paul says; “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law that we might receive the full rights of sons (and daughters). Because you are sons (and daughters) God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba Father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son (or daughter), and since you are a son (or daughter), God has made you also an heir” (emphasis mine).
Think back to the start of today’s teaching. We saw that a kinsmen redeemer was one who bought back or made atonement for a kin. This friend is what Jesus had done for each of us hearing or seeing these words. The law required that a sacrifice must be made, that blood must be shed for the atonement of sin and in God’s love and grace, in God’s mercy and compassion he sent his very own Son to be that pure and perfect sacrifice. Father God knew that we, on our own, could never live up to or ever meet the requirements of the law, and since Father God is and must be unchangeable in all he is and does, since God must always be the same today and in all the tomorrows as he was in all the yesterdays; he sent his Son to fulfill his holy law and bring us salvation by redeeming us from the Pharaohs of life. God, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, redeemed us from the grasp of sin and death and all the requirements demanded justly so by our sinful lifestyle. Jesus our kinsmen redeemer paid the price, he called us back, he redeemed us, and he’s snatched us from the doors of hell and has allowed us to enjoy the benefits of adopted heirs and co-heirs with himself the Son. Because Jesus is our kinsmen redeemer we have access to God’s Holy Spirit and the gifts he brings. Because Jesus is our kinsmen redeemer we have access to the Father through the Son who is now our intercessor and we are assured that our prayers are heard and answered. And because Jesus is our kinsmen redeemer we have full expectation of experiencing the glory of heaven when Jesus returns to gather his church. I must mention here that what I just said id the gospel truth, God the Father does hear and answer every prayer. But know yea will, friend that he doesn’t always say “Yes” to our every request. “No” is as much an answer to prayer as is “Yes”. Just know that God’s answer is always fair and just, always right and in our best interest.

Beloved it is good to have friends in high places. It is good to have a kinsmen redeemer who has fulfilled every obligation placed upon him by the law and it is good to know that our kinsmen redeemer will always be there for us regardless of what we do because his love for us is so great that he was willing to suffer the pains of death and his strength is so mighty that he is able to conquer every obstacle we could ever encounter, he is strong enough to remove every yoke ever placed on us and his Spirit is there to guide us through all the paths our life will ever take. Amen.
Grace and peace