Consider this interesting story about a man who went to a night club and saw a beautiful prostitute. All he was attracted to was her beauty so he brought her to his house. Before you could say "Jack Robinson" he married her! She became his wife and gave birth to two sons and one daughter for him.

Unfortunately, the leopard cannot change its spot; the prostitute could not change her ways. Even after having given birth to three children, once in a while, she would sneak out of the house and return to the night club and sleep with other men for money. Over a period of time, she abandoned her home and stayed full time at the night club.

One thing led to another and she got into debt, due to her lifestyle, and she was to be sold as a slave. When her husband heard about the predicament of his unfaithful wife, he went to the slave market to pay her debt, paid the fine, delivered her from the slave traders and brought her back home again to be his wife!

How could one describe this? Is this love or mercy? How many of us could go to this length to love an immoral woman?

The story I just told you is a true story of prophet Hosea. However, it was God that commanded Hosea to go and marry Gomer, a prostitute, and she did exactly what is described above.

God tried to illustrate what He would do for the idolatrous nation of Israel and ultimately, the entire human race, which includes you.

The good husband paid a "ransom to deliver" (redeem) his wife from her lawful captors. The woman was lawfully taken captive and she would not be delivered unless the appropriate ransom was paid.

It could have been easy for the husband to say, "good for her". "She deserves to be sold for her unfaithfulness". Rather, he chose to have compassion, and paid to deliver an unworthy woman from captivity.

Just as the prostitute was taken captive as a slave, so man was taken captive by the devil through sin. Adam and Eve sinned and gave birth to children born in sin. Because the children inherited a sinful nature from their ancestors, they too, continued in sin.
There is none of us that can claim, "I am not a sinner. I have no sin."

We lie, we take what does not belong to us without due permission (stealing), we lust, we covet (want what other people have), we manifest pride (looking down on other people), and so on.
Whoever commits sin, becomes a slave of Satan because the power of the devil over man is sin.
The only way that man can be reconciled to God and avoid spending eternity in hell for his sin is for a "ransom" to be paid to the devil to secure the release of man. Once the ransom is paid, man can be delivered from the slave market of sin and return home to be with God.

You might ask, "since God is the Almighty, why doesn't He just snatch man out of the grip of the devil?" No, God will not do that. He is righteous and even to the devil, God will maintain His righteousness. It was man that willingly entered the bondage of the devil through sin, therefore, the righteous condition to deliver a captive from the devil must be fully met. God will not break His own law; a ransom must be paid for man.

It is this "ransom" that Jesus Christ paid on the cross of Calvary when He sacrificed His life and shed His precious blood to atone for the sin of man.
Because all men have sinned, there is no man that can ransom man from the slave market of sin. So, God became flesh, was born through a woman but of the seed of the Spirit of God. Jesus lived a sinless life and that qualified Him to pay the ransom for man.

You know that a prisoner cannot stand in bail for another prisoner. It has to be someone that is free that can do that. In like manner, a man born of the seed of Adam cannot atone for the sin of man; he himself is a sinner. Every other religion in the world was started by a man born of the seed of Adam; only Jesus Christ was born outside of Adam.

On the cross, Jesus Christ paid the ransom; He redeemed man from the slavery of the devil. Whoever goes to Jesus Christ can receive this free gift of redemption. All you need to do is confess that you are a sinner and ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ.

You can do that right now.