Have you ever made a little paper boat and put it in a stream? You watched it swirl in the water and float along, until it got stuck at the side or caught on stones. Or maybe it floated out of sight.
The story is told of a boy who carved a little boat out of wood. He set it afloat in a stream and ran along on the bank beside it, never intending to lose it. But the water flowed fast and carried it away until he couldn’t see it anymore. He was very sad about losing his little boat as he had spent a good deal of time carving it, and it meant a lot to him.
Some time passed. One day in the nearby town, he saw a boat in a store window that looked a lot like the one he had carved. He went inside. When he looked closely at the boat, he found that it was his own boat, but now there was a price tag on it! He would need all the money he had and more to buy it. He really wanted his little boat back, so he asked the storekeeper to put the boat under the counter and keep it until he had enough money to buy it.
How like little lost boats we are! First, God made us. But Satan came with his dishonest and misleading ways and caused us all to be separated from God by sin. We were all lost, swirling in the fast-moving flow of this world of sin. But God, who loves us dearly, saw us in our lost, sinful condition and gave the Lord Jesus, His beloved Son, to die for us and buy us back for Himself. “The Son of Man [Jesus] is come to save that which was lost” (Matthew 18:1111For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11)).
And that is exactly what the boy intended to do. He wanted to buy back his little boat. As soon as he had the right amount of money, he went very quickly to the store and paid for the boat. On the way home as he held it tightly, he said, “Now you are twice mine. First I made you, then I lost you, then I bought you back, and I won’t let you go again!”
The little, lost boat was safer with the boy the second time, and all who accept and trust the Lord Jesus for salvation are safe and secure in the arms of Jesus forever. “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)). He promises them a home in heaven when their life on earth is over.
The Lord Jesus can say to all who have accepted Him as Saviour and Lord, Now you are twice Mine! First, I made you . . . then you were lost . . . then I bought you back with My blood . . . now you are Mine for eternity. “Ye are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 7:2323Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men. (1 Corinthians 7:23)).
That is why Jesus is called “The Redeemer.” To redeem something is to buy it back. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7)).
ML-07/08/2007