Revelation

The Kinsman Redeemer

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Prerequisite/Law

Lesson: 10-30

Genre: Talk

Track: 178

Dictation Name: RR129E10

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

…Our God our heavenly Father we give thanks unto Thee, that our times are in Thy hands who doest all things well. And so our Father we come to Thee, to commit all of our days and our tomorrows, ourselves, into Thy keeping. Guide us, protect us. Bless us by Thy word and by Thy Spirit, and grant us Thy peace. In Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture is the 5th chapter of Revelation. The Kinsman Redeemer. Revelation 5, the Kinsman Redeemer.

“5 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”

The fifth chapter of Revelation, when it is understood, comes to be to us one of the most encouraging and comforting of all chapters. This chapter gives us two important things, central to any understanding of the book of Revelation, and indeed any understanding of the Bible. The first is the book or roll, the second, Jesus Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah and the lamb of God. The book or roll is sealed with seven seals. This at once indicated to the churches of the day the nature of this book or roll. The simple problem therefore is not so much the content of this book, although the contents are to be revealed and require opening, but ‘who is able to open the book?’

The book is extended towards the church, towards the four and twenty elders, the church of the Old and New Testaments. It is extended by God in His right hand, the right hand is the hand of action and of power. And the book is written over completely within and on the backside with no room for any additions. The book is the key. What does this book or roll, paper or parchment rolled up and sealed, indicate?

The seven seals on the book immediately indicated to the churches of the day, the Asiatic churches in particular, that this document was a last will and testament. When a testator died, the testament was brought forward and when possible, was opened in the presences of the seven witnesses who sealed it. It was unsealed, read aloud, and executed.

This then is a last will and testament, and the testament is that which God offers to the church, the promise of His kingdom. The last will and testament is that made possible by Jesus Christ, who sealed it with His blood, and now as the executor opens it to mankind. It is man’s inheritance.

Now, man once was the heir of all the earth, of the kingdom of God, when God created him and set him in the Garden of Eden. Man had paradise. He had a perfect life. But man rebelled against God and forfeited his inheritance. He destroyed the kingdom God had given to him. Adams sin turned him out of paradise and brought sin and death into the world. God then promised a redeemer who would destroy the power of the adversary, and restore man to paradise.

This promise was given to Adam and to Eve, it was covenanted to Abraham, and fulfilled in its promises in the coming of Jesus Christ. But all this, the promise of heirship, of the inheritance of the earth, seemed very remote to the early church; suffering as those saints did. They lived under the power and authority of Rome, the persecuting power and authority. And so it seemed to those saints as though God indeed offered the kingdom, but it was not obtainable. No man was able to open the kingdom to mankind. And verse three declares:

“And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.”

The promise of God and His providential purpose, His kingdom, man’s inheritance in Christ, were extended to man. The kingdom by testament was given to man. But there was no man able to take hold of the promise because none were qualified. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All men are in bondage to sin and death. No man was qualified to open the book, because all men are sinners. “All we like sheep are gone astray.” There is none righteous, no not one, because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None have earned the kingdom, none have kept the commandments.

And so, John sees the church of both Testaments, feeling its total helplessness as it stands on the threshold of the kingdom, as it sees its inheritance offered to it, and finds itself incapable of receiving it. God offers the kingdom, man must receive it. But no man is qualified to receive it. John feels the frustration of the centuries and he weeps. The promises of life, the hope of the kingdom, the bodies potentiality and hope, the souls longing, to what end do these move other than to the grave? Man seeks his own kingdom apart from God, and its end is sin and death. But now, God offers His kingdom, and how can man attain to it?

At this point John tells us: the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, Jesus Christ steps forward, as the kinsman redeemer. One of the most beautiful names if not the most beautiful term applied to Jesus in the whole of the Bible is that of Redeemer, or more fully and literally in terms of the Hebrew, Kinsman Redeemer.

The Kinsman Redeemer was basic to Biblical law, basic to the Old Testament and the New, and to Biblical typology. And the book of Revelation can be called the fulfillment of the Old Testament law of the Kinsman Redeemer. Some of the central texts in scripture and the Old Testament concerning the Kinsman Redeemer are Leviticus 25, the book of Ruth, and Jeremiah 32:1-15.

To redeem, its basic meaning means to buy back, buy again, or repurchase. When property has passed out of the hands of the original owner, whether by sale or by security or of a loan, or a person has been sold into slavery for debt, then the redemption of it according to the law had to be only by the original owner or his next of kin acting on his behalf. He and he alone had the right to redeem the pledged property or the person. Man was the original tenant of paradise, but man is now incapable of gaining or redeeming paradise, because not only has he forfeited paradise, but he has sold himself into slavery. The slavery of sin and death, slavery to Satan. Thus it becomes the responsibility of the next of kin to redeem the property.

According to the Biblical law the Kinsman Redeemer or next of kin had certain responsibilities. First: he must be next of kin to the one whom he redeemed. Second: he must pay all accrued charges, and satisfy every legal claim. Third: The redemption of an inheritance might require marriage, as the book of Ruth gives evidence. Fourth: He must avenge the wrongs his kinfolk have suffered.

Thus the kinsman redeemer was to redeem a forfeited inheritance. A kinsman Redeemer was to ransom his kinsman from bondage, and a kinsman redeemer was to avenge the death of his kinsman, to redeem, to ransom, and to avenge. Adam forfeited his inheritance, he sold his race into the slavery of sin, and Jesus Christ came into the world. The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, and took upon himself flesh and blood, and thus became next of kin to Jew and Gentile.

Jesus Christ in His incarnation made Himself next of kin to us. He paid the price and ransomed the captives, and He will in due time take vengeance on Satan, the great enemy of his people.

One of the first and central acts of Jesus Christ was to proclaim Himself the kinsman redeemer. At the beginning of His ministry He returned to His home town Nazareth, and there in synagogue He turned to the Old Testament, to Isaiah 61:1-2, and read the great passage, wherein Isaiah prophetically sees the Kinsman Redeemer, the next of kin, proclaiming release to those who are in captivity.

Thus Jesus Christ enters history as our next of kin to redeem us from the power of sin and death, and to restore us to paradise, to the kingdom of God. Our salvation therefore in Jesus Christ is not merely negative; it is that, it is our release from sin and death, but it is also positive. It into righteousness, holiness, knowledge and dominion in His kingdom, both in time and in eternity. This is Gods declared purpose from the beginning of scripture. Made known to man, from one end of the Bible to other. As God said to Abraham: ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do, seeing all nations of the world shall be blessed in him?’

Jesus Christ therefore is our next of kin. He declares Himself to be closer to us than our family, closer to us than our friends, our next of kin who redeems us by His atoning work on the cross. And in this chapter, we see Jesus Christ the mediator, invested with the office of king over the universe, declared openly to be the one who is the executor, of that will which he signed and sealed with His own blood.

He redeems us, He establishes the inheritance, He executes the testament. He is the God man, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Heir of the throne of David, the Root and Branch of the house of David. He is the lamb of God, the atoning sacrifice. But He is a lamb portrayed here with seven horns, that is, with the fullness of omnipotence and power. And seven eyes, signifying His all-seeing prevue of the ages, and possessing the fullness of the Spirit of God, in His control, we are told, of all the earth.

Thus Jesus Christ is portrayed as the executor of the testament. King of the universe because of His victory at Calvary, next of kin to man, and as next of kin he came and took the book out of the hand of Him that sat on the throne.

Jesus Christ therefore is the key to history and the gateway to the kingdom. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” When the lamb with the seven horns takes the book, heaven and earth and all of creation resound in His praise. Three mighty hymns are sung in His praise; the first hymn is sung by the four living ones and by the twenty four elders. The church typified in the elders is the church of all time, not only of the past dispensation, the Old Testament era and of the New Testament era, but of those in heaven as well as those of us who are on earth, who offer up golden vials of odors, that is the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song, and in the songs we are told that a new song is for unexpected blessings and undeserved ones.

Theirs is the hymn of joy for redemption, a universal redemption of people out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation, to be made unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.

In the second hymn, in verses 11-12, the hosts of heaven chant the praises of the lamb and His worthiness, who was slain to receive power. And in the third hymn we have the mighty chorus of all God’s creatures in heaven, earth and sea, praising the lamb forever and ever. A praise of why Paul gives us a glimpse in Romans 8:20-22, and in Philippians 2:10-11.

This chapter then portrays for us two things, which are basic to the book of Revelation. First, the last will and Testament; our inheritance. And second, the executor Jesus Christ, who declared: “Blessed are the meek, the tamed of God. For they shall inherit the earth.”

And as the Psalmist declared long ago: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Jesus Christ therefore as the great executor embarks upon His task from heaven, to dispossess the enemy, and to open up the inheritance for His people. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee that Jesus Christ is our next of kin, that in Him we have boldness of access to Thy throne of grace; in Him we are heirs of creation, we shall inherit the earth. Make us therefore bold in our inheritance, confident unto victory, and grateful in all things unto Thee our God. Our God we thank Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now? Yes.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Oh yes. The question is with regard to the declaration of Jesus Christ as the king of kings and Lord of Lords, and (Hihee Solassees?) claim. A very good question. Of course, the claim of the Ethiopian royal family is that they are the lineal descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Of course there is no evidence of any union between them, but they claim that when the queen visited a child was born, and the Ethiopian royal house was descended from that child.

There are of course, any number of fallacies in that because (Siba or Sibia?) was in Eastern Arabia, and not in North Africa, North East Africa. But implicit in this claim is the belief that the kingdom of God and all the promises of God are going to be fulfilled politically, in and through a state. The Ethiopian state. This of course is not unlike the British Israel theory, that they are going to be fulfilled through the British Royal family. And this king of political messiah-ship was very common in the ancient world, and when the Ethiopians became Christian or ostensibly Christian, they simply changed their monarchs from saviors in a pagan sense to saviors in a supposedly Biblical sense.

Now, the official religion in Ethiopia is the Coptic church. The Coptic Church is supposedly a Christian church, but there is virtually no Christianity in it, and it simply backs up the basic paganism of the Ethiopian monarchy. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, the question is are the Ethiopians the black Jews. This goes back to the myth that the ten tribes when they were taken into captivity scattered, and they became the various peoples of the earth, of course the British Israelites say they are the ten lost tribes, that is the Anglo-Saxon peoples are. And you find various other groups claiming that. The theory also says that the Samurai of Japan are members of the lost tribes. Others say of course that various peoples in Africa represent the ‘Lost Tribes’.

Now it is true that you can find traces of the Jews and the Israelites all over the world. That doesn’t mean too much; you can find traces of the Scotch all over the world. And you can find traces of the Vikings and the Norsemen all over the world too. People wandered. The so-called ‘Ten Lost Tribes’ were not scattered and lost, a very sizeable percentage of them returned after the Babylonian captivity, they are the Galileans. Galilee was the Northern kingdoms territory. And you find the people of the various tribes mentioned throughout the New Testament.

So the idea that the Ethiopians are black Jews of course is nonsense. Certainly Jews settled among them, but this doesn’t make them black Jews, any more than it makes the Americans Jews because Jews settled here.

Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, (Ise Lassie?) does call for missionaries to go to Ethiopia. I think we are entitled to be a little bit skeptical about this. The missionaries can indeed go there, although it is dubious that they will be allowed to go after Haile Selassie dies. He has been, personally, receptive to having missionaries enter the country. But when the missionary gets there, a great many doors are closed to him. First of all, it is almost impossible for him to work among the Copts, because if he works among the Copts he can get into all kinds of trouble. And when he makes convert, and they are very difficult to make; the convert finds as for example (I know specifically of such a case) that his crops are destroyed during the night, fires set to them, his wheat crop before harvest; his wife is ordered to leave him, no one is permitted to sell food to him, he is starved out.

If he tries to convert a Muslim he may be killed. Now why do they want the missionaries there when there is very little opportunity for them to work? Well, basically because the missionaries will set up schools and clinics, and perform a great many medical and educational functions which Ethiopia is not capable of doing. This is a wonderful way of getting these services freely. And this is basically the reason why Haile Selassie welcomes missionaries.

The number of converts are extremely rare because of the handicaps, and these converts are wiped out as far as their homes and farms are concerned. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, the question was with regard to predestination and its effect on lifespan. Certainly all these things are a part of the sovereign purpose and decree of God. On the other hand, predestination is different from determinism. Determinism is what you have in the scientific world, it says basically that everything is determined by naturalistic forces, and man has nothing to do with them, and cannot control anything. Now, predestination affirms the primary and ultimate determinative causality of God, but it also affirms the reality of second causes, so that which we do is important and basic, it is a part of the which God predetermines; but it is also basic and essential in the universe.

Now, from that perspective you can say: “Yes it is all,” and you must say: “It is all predetermined, predestined.” On the other hand, one of the requirements that scripture lays down upon us is to be wise stewards of God, and one of the areas of stewardship is with respect to our bodies, as well as to our souls. So we all have a responsibility there.

Another question? Yes.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, the question is with regard to the people in Africa and the point made by a priest that he doubted whether they were capable of Christianity. Now we must recognize that there is a vast difference between those natives in Africa and ourselves. This is one of the fearful myths of our day, that there is no difference between peoples anywhere. There is a difference. There is a difference because we have several thousand years of civilization behind us, and from a thousand to two thousand years of Christianity, and of selective breeding in terms of that. So that, we do represent a higher intellectual development, and an inheritance that gives us a real superiority, whereas the Africans do not have this kind of thing in their background. As a result their intellectual caliber is definitely not equal to that of the average American, let’s say, or the average German or Scotchman, or any of the other western peoples.

Now, the Old Testament law recognized that there were differences between peoples; for example the Canaanites at that time were a degenerate people, who, even though they did have a background of civilization had a background of a very degenerate civilization. The civilization that was crawling on all fours, as it were, in depravity. So what was their requirement? They recognized that Canaanites could become believers, but they could not be moved overnight into the same position as the people of Israel. So it stipulated that some, such as the Edomites who were a related people, there would have to be three generations before they could be brought into the congregation. In other words, they could be believers, they could have their own synagogues or temples, whatever they chose, places of worship in other words. But they could not be integrated with the people of God for three generations, although they sprang from two brothers.

Others, ten generations. Ten generations of faith, you see, and development in terms of that. Now you can understand from this how the Bible would be very alien to our modern world, because we are going to go into the jungles of Africa and give them Democracy overnight, everybody is going to vote. Well this is nonsense. We are asking people who have no background for any comprehension, suddenly to take on all the responsibilities of centuries of western civilization. What they do need is authority. And here I think what would be most appropriate would be in a sense a combination of certain things Catholic and Protestant.

First: the basic Protestant emphasis on the scriptures. A thorough, teaching ministry. So that they understand the word of God and the requirements of God clearly and fully. But second, an authoritarianism in the church. Because those people are a long, long ways from the capacity to govern themselves or their churches, or their communities. This is beyond them; they need authority, and they require it for a long time to come; and they will have a real measure of progress if they are under this kind of authority, and are taught patiently for a number of generations. Colonialism did a great deal for Africa, and Africa without colonialism would not be as far along as it is today, and today all that is being done in Africa of course, is being done by loans from various countries. I talked today to someone who had just returned from about a year’s stay in Africa, and he said the tremendous factories and office buildings that are going up are amazing to see.

But where are the funds coming for these? They are coming from us predominately, and some other western countries, and from the Communist bloc. It is not coming from the people. You could call this a form of colonialism too, without it they could have nothing. Yes?

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] Romans 1:20…. Yes, the first chapter of Romans of course gives the fact that all of these people have had a witness from the beginning, that God has made clear all things in their hearts and the universe around them, so that they are without excuse. They hold down the righteousness of God, they suppress it. They know the truth, the righteousness of God, and in the twentieth verse Paul declares: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”

They have developed these people in the direction they wanted to develop, they represent a long development. They are not primitive peoples, they are degenerate peoples. And it is the Evolutionary perspective that makes us deny that.

Just this last Monday I believe it was, Valley Research had Dr. Dean as a speaker, and it was an exceptionally brilliant address I thought on science textbooks in our schools; and one point he made I thought was very interesting. He said: “We are getting a great deal of propaganda now about the origin of man, and therefore of civilization in Africa. Everything we know from history points to the Middle East, the fertile crescent. But now we are being told that it is Africa.”

And of course it is so obvious that science is here following modern politics.

[Audience Member] ...?...

[Rushdoony] We all need authority, and some people need it a lot more than others, a great deal more. And that is certainly true of the people of Africa.

A couple of things in the remaining time that I would like to share with you. In this past week I read a very interesting autobiography entitled: A Specimen of Human Life by Uriel Acosta. This is a document written by a Portuguese Noble who came of a Jewish background, they had been converts to Catholicism, and he trained for the priesthood but then decided to revert to the Jewish faith, of which he had no knowledge, he had not been brought up in it. His dates were 1585 – 1640. He left Portugal where he would have been of course turned over to the Inquisition probably for his faith, and he went to the Netherlands. When he went to the Netherlands he went there to go to the Jewish Ghetto, and this is the reason why I bring this up, because I pointed out before our entire knowledge of what ghettos were is nonsensical today.

The ghetto was an area that was set aside for a particular group, in this case the Jews, where their own law prevailed. So that it was entirely governed by the Jewish courts. The only thing they did not have was the right of capital punishment.

Now, when Acosta went to Amsterdam and entered the ghetto there and went into business and became very successful, he began to depart from Judaism, which was predominately, almost entirely at that time in that part of Europe, given over to Phariseeism. And as he describes his beliefs it is obvious that he was increasingly given over to a Sadduceean faith. And he was of course excommunicated, he was stripped, he was flogged in public, he was subjected to all kinds of civil penalties there. Why? Because he was entirely under Jewish law, and having entered under their law he had to abide by it.

Now this is exactly what Medieval Europe was. You did not have an over-all, totalitarian law. You had various kinds of laws, and you attached yourself to a particular type of community and its laws. You were under a Lord if you were on a Manor, or you could go to a town or city, and you were under the laws of that city, and under the laws of the religion of that city.

And so he had his choice, he had to be under law, he could not be an anarchist. And having gone over to Judaism he was under their law. If he chose to break with it, he could have walked outside of the ghetto any time, and re-adopted Christianity, and said: “I put myself under just Christian law.”

But this was the ghetto, and any Christian could have, or any German, or Dutch, or Frenchman, cross the line over into the ghetto, and they did this throughout the Middle Ages, and said: “I am going to be a Jew now, and I am going to be under your law, and I am going to operate my business under your jurisdiction.”

This is what the ghetto was, it represented local self government. That is all.

Then, a couple of items from the newspaper of late, this from the Los Angeles Times, Tuesday October 3, part 1 page 7. “Contraceptive food may curb population.” “Washington: The twenty first century may see population controlled by mass produced contraceptive agents in food stuffs, a University of Michigan scientist told a national conference looking at the future here Monday. Dr. John R. (Platt?) a Bio Physicist who is acting director of the universities mental health research institute,” (That wouldn’t do much for my mental health!) “said such a technique might control the world’s population explosion twenty to thirty years sooner than presently available methods. Quote: “Any couple that really wanted to have a baby would have to go down the street and by untreated food from the other store.” He said. “But this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, it would mean every child, a wanted child, which would of itself be a change of revolutionary value for the fiscal and psychological well-being of the children of the next generation.” Such a population control effort is beyond reach technically as well as politically, at the moment. Thank God. But (Platt?) told the American Institute of Planners,” (the American Institute of Planners! Not a scientific convention.) “The process once perfected, could be as simple as putting vitamin D in milk, or adding iodine to salt.”

And so on, and on, and on. Well, we can be thankful to almighty God that while man proposes, God disposes. And I would like to see him dispose of Mr. (Platt?).

Then this, I thought was a very interesting statement by Max (Learner?), definitely not a conservative, in the Oakland Tribune Friday October 13, 1967. “Examining the pleasure society.” Now a good deal of the article is given to hemming and hawing on the issue, but the last paragraph is interesting.

“The real danger of the pleasure society is a very different one. Not of selfishness, but of violence. If a society adopts the ‘Anything Goes’ motto in sexual behavior, in erotic literature, in drug experiment, it may find that the same philosophy of anything goes may be carried over into racial and class conflict, and may lead to killing on the streets. It is worth noting that the Marquis De Sade lived in the French Revolution, and that the principle of anarchy at the base of his life and writings was not very different from the principle of terrorism in The Terror.”

I am glad to see Max (Learner?) admitting that there was terrorism in The Terror. He and his cohorts have been apologizing for it for a long, long, time. Maybe now they are beginning to be a little worried about the monster they are creating.

Well, with that we stand adjourned.