There are four major types in the Scripture of God's plan of redemption through Christ. Redemption is restoring to the rightful owners that which was stolen from them, or which they had forfeited for some reason, or which was taken from them by force.

These four types are found in the Old Testament. They are the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the seven days of creation, the wilderness wandering of Israel, and the feasts of the Lord. Each of these four is divided into seven principal parts, and each part gives us insight into the program of salvation.

The natural right of mankind is to be in God's image, to be in union with God, to be fruitful, and to have rulership over God's handiwork. These original rights were taken from mankind by evil, unclean spiritual forces in the heavenlies. Through Christ, God has set in operation a complete plan that will totally redeem His obedient children and restore all that was taken from them by the ancient adversary, who seeks their ruin.

The four great types of redemption, or salvation, are as follows:

The seven days of creation described in Genesis, Chapter One.

The journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the land of promise.

The Tabernacle of the Congregation.

The feasts of the Lord listed in Leviticus, Chapter 23.

Each of the four types of redemption has seven aspects, seven being the number that symbolizes the fullness of the plan of redemption. It should be kept in mind as we study the seven aspects of redemption that they do not represent levels of attainment, such as grades of progress through school. Rather, they are seven facets of the one salvation in Christ.

Time and sequence are not the main considerations. Growth in Christ is somewhat like an ascending spiral in that we keep coming back to the same aspect of grace but at an increasingly mature plane of growth and achievement.

The seven days of creation are an important symbolic portrayal of the redemption that is in Christ as well as being a factual record of the creation of the material universe. The days may have been twenty-four hour periods, or seven minutes, given the power of God. On the other hand, the seven days of creation may have little reference to time as we know it. God's days are periods of significant accomplishment. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years. God is quite able to work independently of time.

The first of the types is the days of creation. The days of creation were seven in number:

Day one—the creating of light, the dividing of the light from the darkness, and the naming of the light and the darkness.

Day two—the placing of a firmament in the midst of the waters, and the use of the firmament to divide the waters that were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament.

Day three—the pulling back of the waters under the firmament to allow dry land to appear, the naming of the land and the waters under the firmament, and the creating of vegetation on the dry land.

To be continued.