Dear Friends in Faith,
     In the July issue of SAF I brought out the truth on a message board that one who is ransomed is one who is freed. However, the contention arose: while it is true that those who were in slavery in Egypt were ransomed and were freed from slavery, and were thus saved by God into that freedom, it is also true not all who were ransomed made it into the promised land.
     I’ve been thinking about this contention. My thinking was: since every animal in the Old testament which was ransomed was freed and every animal which was not ransomed went to the fires of sacrifice (except the donkey; It’s neck was broken) and every human who was ransomed was freed that, if I brought this concept into the New Testament it would show the reason why “God wills that all mankind be saved.” Now those little cogs began to turn and whirl in that little pea-sized brain of mine. Not only were all of those Israelites ransomed, the Bible says they were all redeemed! (Exodus 15:13 etc.)
     And I thought to myself, What about Moses and Aaron? They were redeemed. They were ransomed. They didn’t make it into the promised land either. But I thought about something which was nagging me. What about the vision Christ and three of His disciples saw when Christ was transfigured on the mountain? They saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Christ in the vision. Can we infer that because Moses (and some with him) did not make it into the Promised Land that he as well as they therefore are lost for all eternity?
     Can it be properly deduced that if all who were ransomed in the O.T. did not make it into the promised land that this shows even though all mankind were ransomed by the Great Ransom, Christ, this does not mean all mankind will enter into that which God wills for them, namely His salvation?
     In the Old Testament, all who were ransomed were freed, be it animal or human. In the New Testament we see all mankind are slaves of sin and death and corruption. We see all mankind have been ransomed. Therefore the ONLY logical conclusion must be reached that all mankind will be freed from sin, death and corruption into that salvation which God wills for all mankind.

Tony Nungesser