(3.) But our delightful assurance is that all the while we are safe in our Redeemer’s hand. He has delivered; He will deliver; and He is delivering. Or, if we take the word ‘redeem’ in its full sense, He has redeemed; He will redeem; and He is now redeeming. He has set us free by His finished atonement. He will set us free by His resurrection power; and He is now setting us free by the mighty indwelling of God the Holy Ghost. See, then, the unspeakable blessedness of such a text as that in Jerem. L. 34: ‘Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of Hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause.’ He is our Redeemer, for He has redeemed us by His blood: He is a strong Redeemer, for He is the Lord of Hosts: He is a gracious Redeemer, for He pleads for His people; and putting all together, He is a perfectly sure Redeemer, so we will trust Him never to leave us for a moment, till He give to every one of us a triumphant victory, and present us sinless and deathless before His glorious throne, saved by His grace, redeemed by His blood. II. ISRAEL. ‘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.’—EXOD. vi. 6. ‘Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.’—EXOD. xv. 13. THESE texts have a very important connexion with each other. The first contains God’s promise when He appeared to Moses and promised deliverance to Israel. The second is part of the thanksgiving of Moses when the first portion of the promise had been fulfilled and Israel was free. ‘I will redeem,’ said God. ‘Thou hast redeemed,’ said Moses. Of course both passages refer to the deliverance from Egypt, and both show perfectly clearly that the word ‘to redeem’ means ‘_to_ deliver,’ and not merely to make atonement, or satisfaction, for sin. They both, therefore, throw great light on the subject of redemption.