Many times I have stated that the doctrine of Redemption is a doctrine that only pertains to Israel as Israel was the only nation in the world which was subject to the law, the only people who fell away from the law, and thus the only people who need to be redeemed from its curse. And of course when I refer to the Israel people today I am referring to the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and kindred peoples of the earth.

So I want to once again talk about this redemptive process. I spend a lot of time just browsing or reading from different sources. I recently was reading about redemption and I opened Zondervan's Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, and in turning to the word "redemption" found the following:

"Redemption is deliverance from the power of an alien dominion and the enjoyment of the resulting freedom. It involves the idea of restoration to one who possesses a more fundamental right or interest. The best example of redemption in the Old Testament was the deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage, from the dominion of the alien power in Egypt."

By virtue of this definition, every citizen of the United States "owes allegiance to" the United States, and likewise the United States as a nation has a certain claim upon or dominion over its citizens. Thus we notice that all countries issue passports and do so to establish the country of allegiance of the individual. And if a person who is a citizen of, for example, the United States, is in a foreign country and has some legal problem while there, he claims his citizenship and seeks assistance from the U.S. Embassy in that country. This is because the foreign country is an alien dominion.

Paul understood this concept when he said: "And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" Acts 22:25

In making this statement Paul asserted that he was a Roman, and that as a citizen of Rome, the Roman authorities must take notice of his citizenship and treat him in accordance with Roman laws governing their citizens. The point here is that, in this situation, Rome had legal dominion over Paul, and legal action could not be taken against him as it would be against someone who was not a Roman. And of course, this action precipitated Paul's eventual trip to Rome.

But if we go back into the history of Israel, we find no such legal connection between Israel and any government such as Rome. Well not quite. Remember that Abraham was from the land of Chaldee, and God called him out of that land and Abraham roamed around in other lands as a stranger and a sojourner. Isaac was born and he, like his father, was a sojourner and a stranger in the land of aliens. Jacob, who later became known as Israel, was born and this nomadic existence continued with no allegiance to any king or nation -- except God.

Israel had 4 wives and sired 12 sons, who grew into seventy persons at the time they entered Egypt. But all this time no earthly king or nation had dominion over them. God was their king, their lawgiver, and judge. By the time they spent some 200 years in Egypt they had grown into a multitude of people and were completely under the dominion of Pharaoh, and as we know Pharaoh did not want to let them go.

This dominion of Pharaoh's was an alien dominion or jurisdiction to Israel because God was their king and He had a right and title to Israel that preexisted the claim of Pharaoh. And thus God delivered or redeemed His Israel people from the alien dominion of Egypt.

In the story of great deliverance from Egyptian bondage, our attention falls not only on the act of the redemption but also upon the Redeemer Himself. God had the prior claim upon the people of Israel because He had obtained or chosen them as His people, and His act of redemption liberated Israel from the alien domination of Egypt and restored the people to His dominion as their rightful Lord.

At mount Sinai, Israel became the nation of Israel or the kingdom of God on earth. They later crossed the Red Sea and occupied the land of Canaan where God was still their king, their lawgiver, and judge. Even when they wanted and obtained their own earthly king, both the king and the people were still under the dominion of God.

This leads us to the great catastrophe in Israel's history -- that of the great exile. There were actually two exiles: 1) the house of Israel's exile into Assyria, along with most of the house of Judah, and 2) the remnants' exile, which we will call Jerusalem, into Babylonian captivity. The Assyrian captivity is described to us in Scripture as God divorcing the house of Israel and putting her away into captivity. The Jerusalem remnant was never given a bill of divorcement but they went into Babylonian captivity. Thus both the house of Israel and the Jerusalem remnant were once again under an alien dominion and were once again in need of redemption.

After 70 years in Babylonian captivity, the Jerusalem remnant returned to the city of Jerusalem and rebuilt the holy city. So once again we see a redemptive process being applied to the Jerusalem remnant. The Jerusalem remnant was delivered from "the power of an alien dominion," that is Babylon, by God who "possesses a more fundamental right or interest" to them.

So a redemption process was applied to the Jerusalem remnant in 534 B.C. but by the time of Christ the house of Israel had not been redeemed from their alien dominion. Of course, by this time as Peter and Paul testify to us, the house of Israel was scattered throughout Asia Minor, Greece, Rome and points to the West. Yes, we search the Scriptures in vain for a redemption process being applied to the house of Israel, and the reason we do not find such a redemption process is that the house of Israel was divorced by God and could not be redeemed in the same manner as was the Jerusalem remnant.

You see Scripture plainly tells us that a divorced woman may seek another husband, which would place her under the authority of another man or a dominion alien to her first husband. Likewise with the house of Israel, God married Israel but through the divorce process God gave up or released his dominion or jurisdiction over the house of Israel. Thus Israel's divorce allowed Israel to place herself under any dominion or jurisdiction she wanted, just like a divorced woman could remarry and place herself under the dominion of another husband.

However, over and over again, Scripture tells us that God will again redeem the house of Israel. Accordingly, in the 44th chapter of Isaiah, God Himself declares:

"... I have formed thee; thou art My servant: O Israel, and thou shalt not be forgotten of Me I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me: FOR I HAVE REDEEMED THEE," Isaiah 44:21

Yes, the biblical message of redemption is the deliverance of the Israel people of God from their bondage by the perfect sacrifice by Christ and their consequent restoration to God and His earthly kingdom.

Thus, the doctrine of REDEMPTION belongs to Israel and to Israel alone. And thus my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh who are Israelites, no matter what county you are physically located in, Christ has redeemed you from your current earthly bondage to a dominion that is alien to God's dominion.

This is why God's Word tells us we are citizens of heaven and this is why we are also told that we are ambassadors in behalf of Christ. It is because He has redeemed us from the alien dominion of the nations of this world just as He delivered our forefathers from Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria.

Why then, my brethren, do you so tenaciously cling to the dominion of earthly rulers and governments? Or are you like our ancient forefathers who cried to Moses to let them return to Egypt? Do you, my brethren, prefer an earthly government's dominion over you rather than having God as your king, your lawgiver, and your judge?