Posted by (What the apostle Paul says here to the believers at the church in Colossae is applicable to believers everywhere.)
The apostle Paul declares to the believers at Colossae:
(13) He [God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14 ESV)
Through the Lord Jesus Christ – the One who is the Light of the World (John 8:12, 9:5) – God the Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness. The domain of darkness was the realm and dominion of sin in and over our lives. It is that domain or realm where “the god of this world” (i.e., Satan) blinds the minds of unbelieving men and women, discouraging them from seeking the things of God and hiding from their hearts and minds the real truths of God’s Word and of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. (2 Cor. 4:3-4; cf. Matt. 13:15, John 12:40; see also Isaiah 6:9-10)
Prior to our deliverance, and by virtue of our alienation from God, we had become darkened in our understanding of spiritual things (Eph. 4:18). In and of ourselves, we were incapable of coming to a saving knowledge of the truth. Thus, we see how sin binds and blinds the mind, enslaving body and soul to the dictates and desires of the sinful nature.
However, declares the apostle, from that evil and enslaving domain or dominion the Lord Jesus has delivered us. By means of his sacrificial, atoning and substitutionary death upon the shameful cross, and by his subsequent resurrection and ascension to the Majesty and Glory of his Father in heaven, he has purchased our full salvation at the cost of his own shed blood. The one and only perfect, sinless Sacrifice offered up to secure atonement, forgiveness and redemption for sinful men and women.
Not only so, declares Paul, the God who called us and saved us through Christ has transferred us (and all other believers in Christ) [into] the kingdom of his beloved Son. Not only has God adopted us into his family as his redeemed children; he has also granted us an inheritance among all the saints (i.e., believers) belonging to Christ’s kingdom and with whom we will reign. These saints are his children and they and we are his heirs—joint heirs with Christ in his glory and heirs to the glorious inheritance reserved for us in heaven.
What God has begun in us by his Holy Spirit he will most surely complete. By his grace, and by virtue of his Son’s redeeming work on our behalf, all those who believe on him will most assuredly meet with him in glory and dwell with him forever in his eternal heavenly home.
(Based on Gordon Lyons’ Expository Notes: Colossians; a work presently in preparation for future release on this website.)
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Gordon Lyons 