But the deliverance is not finished, and therefore in the sense of deliverance the redemption is not yet complete. The atonement was perfected on the cross, but the deliverance will not be perfected till the Advent. Thus there are many passages in which it is spoken of as still future. In St. Luke, xxi. 28, our Lord said, ‘When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.’ In Rom. viii. 23, those who have the first-fruits of the Spirit are described as waiting for ‘the redemption of the body,’ or, in other words, for the final deliverance of the body itself at the resurrection, _i.e._, for the gift promised through the prophet Hosea, ‘I will redeem them from death.’ So in the Epistle to the Ephesians the saints are said both to have redemption, and to be looking for it. In chap. i. 7, they are described as having it. ‘In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace,’ and in chap. iv. 30, as waiting for it, ‘Ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’ The reason is that the atoning blood on which forgiveness rests has been long since shed, and the atonement perfected. He ‘has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us.’ But the final deliverance will not be complete till His return, when all God’s elect from all ages and all countries shall be all gathered together in one, without a sorrow, and without a fear, without death, without sin, without even a temptation to mar their joy; one vast company ransomed by one atoning sacrifice saved by one perfect Saviour, inheritors of one glorious kingdom, and bound together in one heavenly fellowship in a blessed eternity of never-ending joy. * * * * * III. What, then, is our present position? of course I mean the position of those that are really in Christ Jesus? I think this may be very well illustrated by the words of Moses, Exod. xv. 13: ‘Thou in thy mercy hast led forth thy people whom thou hast redeemed.’ Those people had been set free from Egypt, and therefore were said to be redeemed. They were already free, but they were not yet in Canaan, or nearly so. They had not yet reached ‘his holy habitation.’ But meanwhile they were in His hand, and they might be perfectly sure that He would guide them every inch of their way.