“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

—Matthew11:28-30

Redemption is an interesting concept. It can refer to trading one thing in for another, like redeeming a coupon. It can refer to regaining possession of something, like redeeming something from a pawnbroker. But it can also carry with it the idea of salvation and second chances. 

Especially in our culture today, we tend to refer to it as something that is easily within reach, something we have the power to achieve on our own. I’m sure we’ve all heard someone say something along the lines of, “I’ve got to redeem myself,” when they don’t do well at a game or in a relationship. Regardless of the situation, the expectation is that we will achieve whatever redemption is necessary by our own grit, determination, and hard work.

As Christians, we know that’s not how redemption works, and even though we may not think about it often, the fact that it’s not up to us and our own strength is an amazing blessing. There are several stories in the Old Testament that symbolically illustrate God’s provision for His people and their redemption through Jesus.

Before we even make it out of the first 10 chapters of Genesis, we get to Noah and the story of the ark. When the ark was finally finished and the rain started, all Noah had to do was get on the ark with his family. They didn’t even have to close the door behind themselves. They followed God’s directions, and God took care of the rest.

A little later in Genesis, we meet another symbol of Jesus when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac. I’m sure God’s instructions to Abraham were about as confusing as the instructions to build a giant boat in a place that had never seen rain and much more painful, but just like Noah followed God’s instructions, so did Abraham. And God took care of the rest, providing a ram at the exact moment when it was needed to take Isaac’s place on the altar.

Then we move to Exodus. God’s people have left Egypt and it quickly begins to look like their favorite thing to do is say it would have been better to die in Egypt for one reason or another. When their reason is lack of water, God provides water to preserve their lives. When their reason is lack of food, God provides, in a rather literal sense, the bread of life to preserve them, with the only condition being that they do not leave any until the next day. All they had to do was go out in the morning and gather it. God made sure that it appeared every morning and that each person had enough.

Then we get to a story that is at once fascinating and kinda terrifying—the story of the bronze serpent. It’s a short blip of a story in the book of Numbers chapter 21. The people of Israel are complaining again, this time about the manna God has been faithfully providing for them every day. 

It’s the same old story that’s been happening as long as the people have been traveling through the wilderness—even though God is with them, demonstrating His power and Glory, what they focus on is what they feel like they don’t have, and as a result, they blame God. This time they even say that God has sent them to their deaths (because maybe they were bored to death with the manna?). 

In the past when the people grumbled, God demonstrated His power and His care for them by providing the thing they lacked, but considering the fact that they are grumbling again, that doesn’t seem to be working very well. So this time, when they say that God has led them to their deaths, He says, “Alright, if that’s what you want”  and sends a hoard of snakes into the camp. 

But even in this punishment, God provides a means of salvation and redemption for His people. He tells Moses to make a bronze serpent and to put the serpent on a pole and put it up where everyone will be able to see it. That way anyone who has been bitten by the snakes can look at the serpent and they will be healed. All they have to do is look.

I realize our verse for today doesn’t come from the Old Testament, but it illustrates Who Jesus is and what He requires of us as our part in the story of redemption. He doesn’t require that we try to redeem ourselves like our pride tempts us to do. The burden He requires of us is mercifully light. All we have to do is follow His instructions in faith; all we have to do is come to Him, look to Him, and He will take care of the rest.