The Three Looks of Redemption

 

By Virginia Brandt Berg

Audio length: 06:29
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In Isaiah 50:10 we find this simple admonition: “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” Oh, that’s a wonderful verse for times like these when there’s so much darkness and the world’s skies are so overcast!

But times of darkness come also to dedicated disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though you may be walking in utter obedience to the will of the Lord and faithful in His service, there are times when you may be perplexed and confused, times when you don’t know what to do or which way to turn. It may feel as though you are groping in the dark, wondering which way you should look and what you should do to have the light of heaven break through the darkness and show you the way.

If you look within, you will find only discouragement and despair. If you look at others, you find only doubt and disappointment.

But we must remember that there are three great aspects of redemption, namely atonement, advent, and advocacy. And there are three looks that correspond to these.

There is the backward look. Not the backward look that some people take in their misery, looking back at their own past with frustrating regret and bitterly wishing they had done better. That isn’t the backward look that God’s Word points us to. Fastening the mind on mistakes of the past brings only discouragement and makes the darkness deepen. The apostle Paul said, “Forgetting the things which are behind, … I press on toward the goal of the high calling” (Philippians 3:13–14).

There is only one backward look that can ever help when the darkness comes, and that is the look back at the cross of Calvary, to Christ’s atonement, where God’s forgiveness and mercy is displayed through the sacrificial love of Christ’s finished work there. Isaiah 45:22 says, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.” Look to Jesus. Just keep on looking until you look way back to the old rugged cross, where there is forgiveness and cleansing for all your past. Look back that far.

And there is also the forward look. I don’t mean looking forward like some do when in a hard place and with a “Pollyanna” optimism hoping for better days, and they say, “Well, I’ll only think of the better days and not worry about the darkness. If I only believe it and say it over and over, it will break through to light.” That’s of little comfort when the darkness is so great that you can’t see one step ahead and you are groping your way all alone.

But there is a forward look that brings joy and peace to the true follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonderful expectations spoken of in Titus 2:13, “Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.”—The blessed onward look.

What a glorious expectation that is: the advent, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ! All the events of today, the things you read about and hear in the news, they’re pointing toward His coming.

Wonderful expectation! He is coming, dearly beloved, to receive His own. Christ is coming. These wonderful events should strike no fear to your heart and bring no doubts. The Lord Jesus Christ knew the dangers and difficulties and all the things that we would encounter in times like these. He knew that very dark days were coming. He never hid from His followers the fact they would have tribulation, but He urged us to be of good cheer, that He had already overcome the world and therefore our victory would be assured (John 16:33).

He pointed us to the upward look, where He is in the place of advocacy. Isn’t that wonderful? He is our advocate before the Father. He is no longer in the place of atonement but in the presence of God interceding for us. He is our high priest, our advocate, pleading our cause in the courts of heaven.

This is the upward look: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Look up, dear one, look up! If you are weary and discouraged, there is life, there’s hope. Christ has triumphed over all your foes—the world of flesh and the Devil.

You will never get the victory or overcome the darkness by struggling or by vain resolutions, but by realizing that Jesus Christ has already conquered death and that He gives His victory to you if you will accept it. That’s the victory of Calvary: All things are yours through Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:21–23).

You can have His grace for every time of darkness in times like these, for we are more than conquerors through Him who gave Himself for us (Romans 8:37)!

From a transcript of a Meditation Moments broadcast. Published on Anchor April 2026. Read by Debra Lee. https://anchor.tfionline.com/post/the-three-looks-of-redemption/?check_auth=