The Ransom Money

Exodus 30:11-16

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.”

Ransom ~ the price for a life

As I read the above verse today in my studies I got to the word ransom and thought . . . WHAT? Who can determine the price of a life? How will they know how much to give?

As I continued, I discovered that God told them what the ransom would be for their life. He told them all to give a half-shekel rich and poor alike when giving this ransom as atonement for their sins. The rich should not give more and the poor should not give less. Sin is Sin! And the payment for it must be the same. This is a truth that I've know for years but today as I read it in this context it really spoke to me. Christ had not come yet to be the final sacrifice for sin, but God still set the standard for being rightly related to Him. Everyone was on level ground. The rich. The poor. The young. The old. The prostitute. The slave. The priest. The leader. The follower. The price was the same.

I had to wonder . . . what if someone did not have a half-shekel? What then? Would they be plagued with some kind of sickness? I don't know if everyone had a half-shekel to give that day. But I know that today everyone has access to the ransom for their soul. Jesus is that ransom. He gave His life (died), that I might live. He paid the price for my sin. All I had to do was acknowledge what He died for me. It was free and available to me, for the taking. And it is free to anyone who wants to accept His payment for their sin. We are all on level ground when we stand at the cross.

I am so thankful that my atonement is not dependant on me or my efforts. All can come, all can have the life that Christ offers. The forgiveness. The freedom. Access the One and Only God of the Universe.

He is what I want. Oh Lord, you are precious to me! You have hemmed me in, and laid your hand on my life. You went out before me, and you have come in behind me (Ps. 139:5). My days have been of no surprise to you. My trials have not caught you off guard. You have purposed them for my good. Some of them are even what led me to you. You have been with me and I lack nothing (Duet. 2:7). I cannot go a day without you. You are what I desire. I love you Lord.