“But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. (Psalm 49:15 ESV)

Let’s deal with the term “Sheol” to give this post some context. As I understand it, it’s a place of the dead, a term used in the Old Testament and referred to as “Hades” in the New Testament. A temporary place where souls await the final resurrection. You can dig further into this at www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/sheol.

Enough of that – we’ve established Sheol is a bad, undesirable place to go.

The term “ransom” is what caught my attention in this passage. A ransom is paid to release a hostage. This language is used frequently in scripture – “What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” (Psalm 89:48) and “I said, In the middle of my days, I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.” (Isaiah 38:10 ESV) provide two examples.

Jesus also uses the term “ransom”. Read Mark 10:45 ESV where he says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Bible uses symbolism, analogies and metaphors frequently to help get a point across and make it more relatable and understandable. The term ransom would have been understood, we do today, as something paid in exchange for the release of another. But the way the bible uses it and particularly how Jesus uses it, would be a new and perhaps strange application of the concept.

So, in the Mark verse above, if Jesus is the ransom, who are the hostages? The price of one life for so many – for potentially everyone that has ever been born and yet to be? And why are we hostages, being held captive by who or what?

The answer is that we are all enslaved to sin (John 8:34, Romans 6:16) and have no means of our own to obtain our freedom. Being enslaved or held captive means no matter what we do or try, we can’t get away from our captor – our continued sinning. “Sin”, would be separating ourselves from God by doing our own thing, not seeking and following his will.

We can’t enter God’s presence as a sin-filled hostage

Habakkuk 1:13 ESV reads, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?” God has “pure eyes” so he can’t look upon sin – meaning us. We are doomed to die and not enter his presence in his kingdom, so we’re cast into hell, away from him.

The only way out is if someone would ransom us out of this bondage. Enter Jesus. He lived a sinless life and gave his life in exchange for ours so that the ransom now has been paid. We are set free and are able to enter this kingdom of God upon our lives ending in this world.

Our Lives = Sin, Bondage, Hostages

Jesus = Paid Our Ransom, Freedom

So, we are set free. What would you do or give if you were held hostage here on earth and someone paid for your freedom? Think about it.

We now owe our lives to Jesus, for the give of our freedom from bondage he provides.