Colossians Series

Chapter One

Verse Thirteen

Young’s Literal Translation

Verse 12 to keep in context, “Giving thanks to the Father who did make us meet for the participation of the inheritance of the saints in the light,”

Young’s Literal Translation – “who did rescue us out of the authority of the darkness, and did translate [us] into the reign of the Son of His love,”

1.  God rescued or delivered us out of the authority and power of the darkness.

2.  God moved us into the Kingdom of His dear (agape) Son

At salvation we become saints.  We gain the inheritance of the saints in the light.  We are part of the Kingdom of the Light.  When receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior a change takes place.  Verse 13 gives us insight into the change….

God delivered us out of the power of darkness.  Before salvation, we are under the power and authority of darkness.  Specifically, we are in bondage to sin.  Sin controls us.  Our will is not our own.  As Martin Luther put our wills are in bondage to sin prior to salvation.  Those who aren’t saved are under the control of sin.  The Bible tells us prior to salvation that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.  We are totally depraved prior to salvation.  God out of love sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  Through salvation we are rescued or delivered from the power and authority of sin. 

At salvation, God draws us to Himself.  He sets us free from the power of sin.  We are no longer enslaved to sin.  Since, we are free from the power of sin our lives should reflect this freedom.  Before we are saved we are told that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags.”  We can’t do anything pleasing to God prior to salvation.  After we are saved we now have two natures: we have a new nature and a sin nature.  Now we have a choice or a free will.  Prior to salvation we only had a sin nature and thus our wills were in bondage to sin.   We have been rescued and delivered from the bondage of sin.  We now can choose to live for God or sin.  Since, Jesus Christ died for us, we should live for Him.  We should willfully choose to live for God.

The word translated darkness is also translated blindness.     The Bible refers to the blind leading the blind.  When an unsaved person leads another, they are both blind.  We used to be blind to the things of God.  Now that we are saved, we can see because we are children of the Light.  When you are in complete darkness, you are blind to the things around you.  When someone turns the light on, then you can see things for how they really are.  The reason for the popular idea that there is no such thing as absolute truth is because those who believe it and perpetuate it are spiritually blind.  They don’t see that God’s Word is absolute truth and truth never changes.  Only salvation can open the eyes of the lost to see things as they really are.  As children of God we are in the light and God the Holy Spirit illumines us to the truth.

When someone moves to a new house, they leave the old one and take up residence in the new one.  They move out of one house into another.  At salvation, we are moved out of one kingdom into another.  We are moved from the realm and control of the evil one into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.  When a person moves to a new house they have to leave the old house behind.  When we are saved we need to leave our sin behind.  We are to take up residence in the Kingdom of God, later in Colossians 3 we are told that the Word of God is to take up residence in us.  A couple weeks ago, we covered the importance of being in the Word of God so as to grow up in Christ and avoid sinning.  Part of our new residence in Christ is living in His Word.  We have been moved by God out of one location into His glorious Kingdom.  The word translated “dear” in most translations is the word, agape, which means unconditional love.  Agape is the strongest word for love.  God the Father loves the Son with agape love.  Yet He loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, His agape Son, to die on the cross for our sins.   Through His love we are moved from darkness into light.  We change where we live, how we live, and where we will end up.  Today, have you made the move?  Are you saved?  Do you belong to God’s Kingdom or are you still in darkness?  What does the way you live say about you?  If you want to be part of the God’s Kingdom, let me know and I will show you from the Bible how you can be sure you are saved.