Grace Bible Church Gillette, Wyoming

1. Not only did the Father qualify believers to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, but He also delivered them from the domain of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of His Beloved Son.

2. These acts by the Father are just some of the riches in Christ that belong to believers (Eph 1:7, 18; 2:7; 3:8, 16; Col 1:27).

a. These riches cannot be earned by the believer but are granted freely in Christ.

b. These riches are granted only on the basis of the work of Christ.

c. These riches are granted to and for the believer at the moment of salvation.

d. These riches are irreversible and eternal.

e. These riches are also called “spiritual blessings” and “positional truths” (Eph 1:3).

f. An important distinction that must be made in order to understand much New Testament teaching; standing involves the following: God has placed the believer in a position that involves several unalterable features (he is justified, bound for heaven, there is no possibility that his sins can cause judgment and loss of salvation, etc.); on the other hand, the believer is to grow in Christ, increase in holiness, confess sins that break fellowship --- all of these describe things contributing to his state; 1 Cor. 1:2. (Karleen, P. S. (1987). The Handbook to Bible Study).

3. Being rescued and delivered from the domain of darkness is one of the believer’s spiritual blessings and positional truths.

B. Rescued From Danger

1. The Father rescued the believer. “Rescue” (rhuomai) literally means to drag as in a desperate attempt to drag another out of danger.

2. It means to bring someone out of severe and acute danger, save, deliver, rescue; in the NT [it is] always with God as the deliverer and with a person as the object (Fri).

a. Just as the Lord rescued Lot, He knows how to rescue the godly (2Pe 2:7-9).

b. The Lord rescued Paul from evil persecutors (2Ti 4:18).

c. The Lord rescued us from the wrath to come (1Th 1:10).

d. Our prayer to God is to be delivered from evil (Mat 6:13).

II. DOMAIN OF DARKNESS

A. Realm of Authority

1. The Father rescued the believer from the domain of darkness. “Domain” (exousia) denotes sphere or realm of authority, power, dominion.

2. Christ created all realms of authority (Col 1:16). Therefore, all authority is ultimately ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ (Jud 1:25), who is above all authority (Eph 1:21), and who is head of all rule and authority (Col 2:10).

3. However, in the case of Satan, his authority is only temporarily permitted and is limited by God. Nevertheless, He is the “prince of the power (exousia) of the air” (Eph 2:2). The believer’s struggle and spiritual warfare is against satanic powers (exousia) (Eph 6:12).

B. Realm of Satan’s Power Darkness

1. Satan’s domain and authority is rightly called the domain of darkness. “Darkness” is the Greek word skotos and literally is used in the sense of the absence of natural light (Joh 6:17).

2. Its metaphorical sense refers to spiritual darkness in the absence of spiritual understanding (Joh 12:46) and the absence of moral behavior (Joh 3:19; 8:12).

3. But another meaning, and that which was spoken of to the Colossians, was a reference to the kingdom of Satan and his power of evil over the unbelieving world.

a. Satan holds the unbelieving world under his power (1Jo 5:19).

b. Satan blinds the mind of the unregenerate in respect to the gospel (2Co 4:3-4).

c. Satan directs the course of the world in respect to disobedience (Eph 2:1-2).

d. Satan holds death as a leverage over a sinful world (Heb 2:14).

4. However, Christ’s death on the cross rendered the devil powerless in regard to the leverage of death for those who believe. In addition, the Father rescued and removed the believer out of Satan’s kingdom, out from under Satan’s power, and out from Satan’s blinding influence (Act 26:18).

III. DEPORTED BY FATHER

A. The believer was not only removed from Satan’s kingdom and power, but he was transferred into a new kingdom, the ultimate kingdom, that is, the kingdom of the Son.

B. “Transferred” (methistêmi) literally means to remove from one place to another (1Co 13:2). It can also mean a change in someone's official position (Act 13:22) (Fri).

C. This word was used to describe the deportation of a population from one country into another. History records the fact that Antiochus the Great transported at least 2,000 Jews from Babylonia to Colossae. (Wiersbe)

D. The use of two common prepositions become emphatic in this verse. The two prepositions are 1) “from” and 2) “to.” “From” is the Greek preposition ek which literally means “out of.” “To” is the preposition eis which literally means “into.”

E. The Father removed and changed the believer’s official position out of a lost estate into a saved estate, out of a worldly sphere into a heavenly sphere, and out of a Satanic dominion into the dominion and kingdom of the Son.

IV. DOMINION OF THE SON

A. “Kingdom”

1. The Father displaced and repositioned the believer into a “kingdom” (basileia - literal kingdom over a territory or people, Exo 19:6; Act 1:6-7) is a dominion over which one rules and reigns.

a. God’s kingdom is the spiritual rule and reign in the hearts of believers (Mat 6:33; Rom 14:17).

b. Christ’s rules and reigns over the church (Col 1:18).

c. Christ will return as the undisputed “King of Kings” (Rev 19:11, 16).

d. Christ will set up a future kingdom in the Millennium (Rev 20:4, 6).

2. The believer has a connection with each of these aspects in one sense or another (Heb 12:28). Believers are to allow Christ to rule and reign in our hearts as its right King.

B. “Beloved Son”

1. The kingdom to which believers have been transferred is both the Father’s kingdom (1Th 2:12) and the Son’s kingdom (2Pe 1:11).

2. In addition, the Son is the “Beloved Son.” “Beloved” is the Greek word agapês and is literally “the Son of His love.”

a. Scripture records that the Father spoke audibly twice identifying the “Beloved Son” (1^st (Baptism) - Mt 3:17, Mk 1:11, Lk 3:22; 2^nd (Transfiguration) - Mt 17:5, Mk 9:7 cf. 2Pe 1:17).

b. The eternal Father and Son have always had an eternal love among the Godhead (Joh 17:24; Joh 14:31).

c. The Father loves the Son and has given all things to Him, including the kingdom (Joh 3:35 cf. Son also hands over the kingdom to the Father (1Co 15:24).

d. The Father has also given the kingdom to believers (Luk 12:32; Jam 2:5).

V. REDEMPTION FOR THE BELIEVER

A. In order to be members of the kingdom of the Son, believers had to have been redeemed.

B. Redemption means liberation because of a payment made. To believers that concept has a special significance since the payment was the death of the Lord Himself. (Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, p.290)

C. The word in Col 1:14 is apolutrōsis and literally means “released from” usually with reference to the emancipation of slaves. It is an appropriate word choice for believers who have been released from slavery to sin, death, and Satan’s dominion through the death of Christ

1. Redemption is found “in Christ” and is included in the believer’s position (1Co 1:30).

2. The blood of Christ was the payment through which we have redemption (Eph 1:7).

3. Redemption is the basis through which God can justify the believer (Rom 3:24).

4. The Holy Spirit has sealed the believer for the day of redemption (Eph.4:30).

VI. FORGIVENESS OF SINS

A. Both redemption and the forgiveness of sins are based on the death of Christ. “Forgiveness” (aphesis) means a cancellation of a debt. Therefore, redemption is the payment for a debt and forgiveness is the cancellation of that debt.

1. The payment for the cancellation of the debt of sin was the shedding of Christ’s blood (Heb 9:22; 1Pe 1:18-19).

2. Through Christ, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in the gospel (Act 13:38).

3. All the prophets testify that everyone who believes in Christ receives forgiveness of sins (Act 10:43).

B. Redemption and forgiveness are not exactly parallel or identical concepts, but by putting the two terms in apposition to each other, the apostle teaches that the central feature of redemption is the forgiveness of sins. EXP

VII. OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS

A. The Father’s Rescue

1. The Father did not rescue the Son so that He might rescue the believer

2. Mat 27:42-43 "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him "HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

3. Fulfillment of Psa 22:8 - 7 All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 "Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him."

B. The Father’s Forgiveness

1. God goes to great lengths to assure the believer that his sins have been forgiven. There were:

a. cast behind God’s back (Isa 38:17).

b. cast into the depths of the sea (Mic 7:19).

c. removed as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12).

d. remembered no more (Jer 31:34; Isa 43:25)

C. The Father’s Love

1. Believer’s love God, because He first loved them (1Jo 4:19).

2. The Son loves believers even as the Father loves the Son (Joh 15:9).

3. The Father loves believers even as He loves the Son (Joh 17:23).

Grace Bible Church · 4000 E. Collins Rd · PO Box #3762 · Gillette, WY · (307) 686-1516