Salvation (3) Economic/Business

When humans sinned, they withdrew their submission to God’s authority and submitted to the authority of the tempter. By obeying his suggestion, they give him authority over their lives. They lost God’s protection and unwittingly placed themselves under the accuser’s authority.

The devil is a cheat, and once he gained a sliver of authority he used it to take humans captive. He refused to set humans free and demanded a ransom they could not afford before setting them free. The ransom that he demanded was blood.

Even when the prosecutor lost his court case because the judge declares the people accused to be righteous through faith in Jesus, the devil refuses to set them free. He does not care whether they are guilty or righteous, because he continues to keep them captive regardless. Even after they were declared righteous in God’s court, the spiritual powers of evil had a hold over humans. They had taken them captive and demanded a ransom before setting them free.

Jesus death paid the ransom that the spiritual powers of evil demanded (1 Tim 2:6). He went into Hades and set the captured free. He did not use physical or spiritual force. He simply went to the devil and said that the ransom was paid. The life of the Son of God was so valuable that it paid the price for all humans. This left the spiritual powers of evil powerless. They had set their price so high, they thought that it could not be paid, but Jesus paid it. They had to set the captives free, because their demands had been met.