REDEMPTION, SANCTIFICATION, DELIVERANCE
Exodus 30:11-15
"11) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (12) When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. (13) This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. (14) Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. (15)The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls."
This half-shekel was silver and this silver was to be paid as an atonement for their souls. (The Tabernacle)
It was blood money. While some animals were designated to be used as sacrifices for various cleansings, the silver tax on each male person that was delivered out of Egypt was once and for all. They were each able to pay it, as they had left Egypt with as much wealth as the Egyptians could give them to carry out. They were more eager to see the Israelites leave Egypt than the Israelites were eager to go. Who would want to risk more dire plagues upon themselves than this last one which took the firstborn male of every family that had not blood-washed their doorposts?
The first time this silver tax was paid, the half-shekels were melted down and formed into silver sockets, or bars, and used as the foundation for the tabernacle which was a shadow of Jesus Christ and the church. I say "and the church" because each person who comes to Christ, must first come through the blood of Christ on an INDIVIDUAL, PERSONAL responsibility.
Atonement for sin could only be given through a blood sacrifice and that sacrifice had to be paid for with Silver. And it was. Even in the New Testament. Who does not remember what Judas was paid? Thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15 'they covenanted with him'), in other words for 30 shekels.
If the silver could not be paid, that person was put to death. If we do not accept God's payment of atoning power for our sins on an individual basis, we must pay the death penalty ourselves. Romans 3:10 "There is none righteous, no, not one."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." John 3:18 "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 1 John 5:12 "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
For it is in Jesus Christ that we are redeemed by the divine blood which was shed for our sins. It is in Jesus Christ that we are made complete, whole, one. It is in Jesus Christ that we are for ever delivered from the bondages of sin.
Redeemed. Complete. Delivered.
