Christ Jesus qualified us to share in the inheritance of
the saints in light. There was the promise of inheritance of the
Promise Land given to Abraham by God. The promise of the allotment of
land to Israel in the Promise Land. Along with the promise of land,
the nation of Israel was qualified by divine choice to be God's
Chosen People. Now through the saving work done by Christ Jesus all
of us can experience the divine inheritance of God. No longer do we
have to dwell in the darkness. There is a kingdom of light available
to all. This kingdom is God's kingdom where He is the light. And
the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for
the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The
nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring
their glory into it. (Revelation
21:23-24)
"In
the darkness of the catacombs, in the filth of underground sewers, in
the shadows of a thousand Roman nights, these phrases were searched
by tired faces. These pages were held in trembling hands. These words
sent the light of hope into the hearts of God's people. It was a
message straight from their Bibles. It was a message from their
beloved Pastor. It was a message from God. The Jesus Christ to Whom
you have given your all, the Jesus Christ in whom you have trusted,
the Jesus Christ for Whom you may be called upon to die is the King
of heaven – the God of Glory. God's message of hope is intended to
give us songs in the darkest night." - "From
Suffering to Singing" by Bob Marcaurelle p.6.
Col
1:11-14
12
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the
inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has
rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the
kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins.
1.
Light and Dark (vs. 12-13)
The
imagery here is powerful and suggestive. The contrast between light
and darkness, was a common theme with Paul and also with John: In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being
through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The
Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
(John 1:1-5). Christ Jesus is the Light in a dark world.
Here
in Colossians Paul was dealing with gnostic heresy, as well as the
common belief that certain angelic beings had fallen or had been
expelled from a higher world, and had created this material world in
which they were in control. This led to the gnostic view of the evil
of that which is material, thus to the heresy of the non-humanity of
Christ Jesus.
The
idea that Paul held too, and rightly so was that people are subject
to the “powers of the universe,” “the potentates of the dark
present,” the rulers of darkness. (Ephesians 6:12) For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
God, through
Christ Jesus can and will deliver you from the ruling power of
darkness. By His death and Resurrection Christ Jesus has overcome
these powers and will rescue you from their tyranny.
Two
very important lessons to notice here. One, there are two kingdoms:
light and darkness, flesh and spirit, good and evil. We have been
rescued from the darkness and brought into the kingdom of light. In
today's world many would say that Paul’s terminology is primitive
or out of date, that his understanding of the system of angelic
powers that rule is just silly superstition. The truth is Paul's
message is no less relevant today as it was when he wrote to the
Church at Colosse. Nor is the power of the promised deliverance any
less needed.
In
a technological society, it is easy for one to feel overwhelmed. How
often do you just want to give in to the feeling that you have no
control—that everything is determined by heredity, environment,
natural powers, economic and social forces. How ominous is the power
of sin! You move along as best you can, propelled by the forces
around you, bobbing erratically along the torrential river of life as
though you were a Ping-Pong ball in a mountain stream.
Paul
says there
is good news.
God
has taken a positive step on you behalf. God has
delivered you into a kingdom of light, of freedom through the Son He
loves. Through Christ Jesus, God will transfer you. He will move you
from one kingdom to another. God will take you from Satan's dark
realm, and place you into the bright light of Christ Jesus' kingdom.
You
have a choice to make, you have access to the power of Christ Jesus
to live against the tide of the philosophical doctrine of this world.
To be “saints of
the light,” and
the darkness will never prevail against the light (John 1:4–5).
Will take advantage of that power?
The
second lesson in these verses is, that if you know Christ Jesus as
Lord and Saviour; you are now residents of the new kingdom. This new
kingdom is not something that is yours in some distant future. You
have already been removed from a world which is subject to evil
forces into a realm in which Christ Jesus is King. He is Lord, and He
alone has ultimate authority over you. You can live your life with
confidence if you will just grab hold of this truth. No darkness can
overcome you, no power can overwhelm you, no experience can
completely devastate you. Sin cannot hold sway in your life. You
belong to Christ Jesus; His is the kingdom, the power and the glory.
You have been made eligible to be “partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” Will
you ask Christ Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour and move from the
darkness and into light now?
We are
qualified by God. Only by His grace can we enter the new kingdom.
Faith is
the path we walk into that new land. Our redemption is because of
Christ Jesus' death for us. “We
have redemption through His blood.”
2.
God's Work of Salvation (vs. 14)
Just as
clear is the assertion that we are “delivered.”
To get this clear
in our mind and let it saturate our total beings is precisely our
struggle in the Christian life. We preoccupy ourselves anxiously with
what we ought to be and do. In doing so we are constantly stirring up
all sorts of passions, inflaming these passions with new power. Our
energy is wasted as we focus on our efforts rather than releasing
ourselves to be empowered by Christ Jesus within us.
If you
have a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, then He is now your
Lord and Saviour. He has won the victory over sin and death, that is
no longer your battle. He draws your whole being into this victory,
giving you a complete Resurrection as a person. We have been “raised
with Christ” (Colossians
3:1); our life “is
hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians
3:3).
The
powerful meaning of this work of God through Christ Jesus is best
seen as we look at the specific things that have been done for us by
Him “in whom we
have redemption.” To
redeem someone means “to
buy them back and set them free.”
Christ Jesus' death paid the price to buy you back and set you free
from sin. Because of Christ Jesus' death on your behalf, you are set
free from both the penalty and the power of sin.
Forgiveness
parallels redemption. Forgive literally means “to send away, or to
cancel.” Through the death of Christ Jesus, God has canceled the
debt of your sin. It was a debt you could never repay; but since
Christ Jesus paid the debt for you, God has already forgiven that
debt.
However,
yes I know there always seems to be however and here it is. You have
to ask for forgiveness and then you will be forgiven and your dept
paid. Won't you ask for forgiveness now?
Again the Greek word for redemption is
also the word for ransoming and deliverance. It is the word that was
used for the emancipation of a slave, and for the buying back of
something which is in the power of someone else.
3.
We are No Longer Slaves, But Free
It is next to impossible for us who
have never been slaves in the literal sense, or actually imprisoned
behind bars, to sense the depth of this image. Charles T. Robinson,
an inmate in maximum security at the Colorado State Prison, through
poetry, gives a hint of the experience of being “inside.” Here is
one of those poems.
Serenely
now,
We
name the same clouds
in
the same blue sky;
from
different sides.
We
lie down
beneath
the same dust flecked night,
under
the same awesome moon:
on
different sides.
We
speak the same prayers,
our
words going up
to
the same quiet air;
petitioning
the same quiet God,
from
different sides.
You
dream dreams
that
come to pass
as
I dream nightmares
I
pray will not.
And
we sleep the same sleep,
in
different beds,
on
different sides.
We obviously are not locked up behind
bars like Charles, but never the less we need to be set free. Free
from all the passions, forces, influences, habits, and relationships
that have us in bondage. The list is almost endless. It does not take
much probing to locate the chains from which we have been freed by
Christ Jesus; and it does not take much perception to be aware that
we can become slaves again. So we stay conscious of and celebrate the
fact that we are no longer slaves, but free. We are no longer under
the power of Satan, but under the power of God.
You have a chance to be delivered by
God “into the kingdom of the Son of
His love” (v. 13). The forces of evil affect your life
in a variety of ways, but be sure of this: the power of Satan
controls you only when you give him permission. As a resident of the
kingdom of the Son of God’s love, evil will have no control over
your life as long as you say “no” to evil and “yes” to Christ
Jesus.
If you know Christ Jesus, you know
who's you are, and you know who Christ Jesus is, He is the one “in
whom we have redemption.”
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