IT has been my sacred privilege to speak lately more than once on the great subject of redemption as taught in the Old Testament, and the last time I did so I directed your attention to the law of redemption, as laid down in the book of Leviticus. But that law conveys a very imperfect idea of the redemption by our Lord and Saviour. In some respects there is a remarkable agreement, but the type falls utterly short of the reality. Let me mention a single instance. If the kinsman came forward to redeem either the person or property of the debtor, the effect of that redemption was to restore the ruined man to his liberty and his home. The forfeited property was restored, and the bondman became free; but there it stopped. The poor man was no better off after redemption than he was before he was sold. All that redemption did for him was to restore him to his original position. Here, then, you see in a moment the enormous difference between this Levitical redemption and the blessed work of our most blessed Saviour. He raises man by redemption to a position far above his position before the fall. Adam in Paradise had nothing to compare with the sacred inheritance of the saints of God in the kingdom of our Lord. Man, as represented in Adam, was far below the angels; but as redeemed in Christ Jesus, the second Adam, is high above them. Man in Adam had his inheritance on earth, but redeemed man in Christ Jesus is made heir to an ‘inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for him.’ This point is very well illustrated by the case of Ruth. The history of Ruth is not unlike that of Joseph—a remarkable illustration, though never declared to be a type. We may, therefore, accept the illustration, though we must not ascribe to it a divine, or typical, authority.