Exodus 6, 6 and 7 says, Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great judgments, and I will take you to me for a people And I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." Even as Pharaoh was severely abusing the Hebrews in Egypt, the Lord is promising them that he will redeem them from bondage. That word, redeem, is confusing to a lot of people because, like so many words in our English language, there are a number of definitions and applications. The other day, my wife and I went to a restaurant where I redeemed a gift card. I gave the cashier my card, and he used it like cash to pay for our meals. Now, I'd paid and then was redeeming what I'd paid for. That's not exactly what is happening here in Exodus 6 during the Egyptian captivity of Israel. There's also an example of a prisoner owing a debt, either financial or in penalties due to their crimes. And someone can approach the authorities and pay the amount needed to redeem the prisoner. But again, that's not really what's going on here either. When we read of God redeeming Israel, it's simply the idea of rescuing or recovering. The Hebrews didn't owe Pharaoh anything. They had been taken captive and were under his control by the simple reality of brute force and power. That is the situation here in our text, and the Lord has promised to rescue and recover the Hebrew nation of Israel from their circumstances in Egypt. The Lord is going to redeem Israel. That makes Him the Redeemer of Israel. If you do a search for the words Redeemer and Israel in a Bible software program, you'll find that those two words used in the same verse of Scripture only appear eight times in the Bible, and it's only in the book of Isaiah. For example, Isaiah 47 says, As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. That's Jesus. And while the Lord is not redeeming Israel due to any fault of her own, he is also not redeeming them because they are something special in and of themselves. Again, Isaiah 41, 14 says, Fear not thou worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. The reference to Jacob and Isaiah there is to the nation of Israel. And the Lord is going to redeem them in spite of who they are, not because of who they are. Why? Will our Lord Jehovah, who is Jesus, why will he redeem Israel? Because he gave his word that he would. In his covenant with Abraham, the Lord Jesus promised to keep Abraham's seed that he later confirmed was through Isaac, and then Jacob, and then the twelve sons produced by Jacob, who became the twelve tribes of Israel. And he would provide a Messiah and an eternal kingdom. And this isn't guesswork. It's exactly what the Bible tells us in Exodus 2.24, where it says, and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God is redeeming Israel from captivity in Egypt because when he heard their cries for help, he was obligated by his promises to Abraham. God keeps his word. That's what Peter reminds the Jews of after Jesus has ascended to heaven and the apostles continue preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had actually crucified Jesus. And in Acts 3.25 it says, Ye are the children of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. And then Revelation 12 tells us how the Lord Jesus himself will save Israel at the end of the seven-year tribulation. Why? Because he gave his word. And that's what Paul is telling us in Romans 11, 26 and 27. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins. He keeps his word. Stick to the book, folks. You can't beat the book. It was written and produced by Jesus, the Redeemer of Israel. Amen.