It's Colossians 1, verse 9 through
verse 18, who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit. For this cause we also, since
the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you and to desire
that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding. reminds you of chapter 1 of Ephesians,
that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful in every good work, increasing in the knowledge of
God, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness, giving thanks
unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood,
even the forgiveness of sin, who is the image of the invisible
God the firstborn of every creature, for by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body
of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence." Now look again
at verse 13. We're working around this. "...who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of His Dear son, once again it behooves us
to make the comparison between the Ephesian epistle and that
one to the Colossians. We have Paul reassuring the saints
that he prays on their behalf. In both books he is telling them
that. As well as there follows after
that, a long-flowing sentence for which the Apostle Paul is
very famous. And we notice that the essence
of the prayer of our Lord concerning them in Colossians 1 is contained
in v. 9, v. 10, and v. 11, which comes to being for
them a prayer for an increase in spiritual blessings which
the Colossians had been blessed with in verse 9, that they might
be filled with a greater degree of knowledge, of wisdom, and
of understanding. Again, he prays further in verse
10, that they might live godly lives, that the influence of
the word of the truth of God upon them might influence them
unto godly lives. And in verse 11 he prays that
they might endure with patience those trials and tribulations
that were upon them or that might come upon them. Then, I think
in verse 12 down to about verse 23, it contains a short, nevertheless,
a very powerful summation of what John Davinant called in
his commentary on Colossians, evangelical doctrine of the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus. And there are three aspects of
that that are to be set before them. A. In verse 13 and in verse
14, he speaks to them of the essence of their redemption.
They have been translated, and that includes redemption. Then, in v. 15-19, He stops to declare to
them part of the glorious person of the One that has redeemed
them. That He is the eternal Creator. That He is very God indeed. And then see, when we look at
v. 20-22, we have the means of Christ securing the redemption of His
people. It was His bloody death upon
the cross, whereby in His death He reconciled them again unto
God. Now, beginning with verse 12,
and working our way further and further towards our text, Paul
says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet
to be partakers with the saints of God in life. There is a similar
expression found in Ephesians 1 and verse 11, in whom we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to His
good will. And this expression in both places,
but particularly in Colossians, is so eloquent when expositors
Help us with the Greek words that are used in this particular
place. Especially two words that are
here. The word partakers and the word
inheritance. The Father having made us meet. An old word probably fallen out
of use today, but it literally means to be fit. Or as the word
is translated in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 3 and verse 6, it is
translated, able are fit. God has made us able ministers
of the New Testament. Or competent ministers of the
New Testament is another way. The various meaning, therefore,
of the word meat that we have here in King James is to arrive
to enable and to qualify, and God is the one that does the
work. Next we come to the word partakers,
which means to have a share in, for Robertson says concerning
it in his word pictures in the New Testament, that it is an
old word and it means a share or a portion. We have an inheritance. We have a share, we have a portion
in the inheritance with the saints of God in life. And then remember
what the apostle Peter said to Simon the sorcerer in the 8th
chapter of the book of Acts, verse 21. Simeon offered money
to Peter that he might have the power to lay his hands upon men
and demons be ejected and such like. And Peter answers him by
using the word we have here, but using it in a negative way. He says to him, you have neither
part, nor lot, nor share, nor portion in this matter whatsoever. Then that word inheritance. As several good expositors that
I read after have shown, this word is sometimes used in the
sense of by-lot, having by-lot with the saints in life, a share
of the lot. Remember, the Israelites were
assigned their inheritance in the promised land by lots, by
the casting of lots. They did not choose, but by lots
were their portions assigned unto them in the land of Prometh."
That's by an act of the sovereign providence of God. For man hath
no part in the casting of a lot. It was God's sovereign providence. Numbers 34 and verse 13. Joshua chapter 15 and verse 1. Numbers chapter 36. And I believe
it is verse 3 in that chapter. All speak about the land being
divided by lot. Of course, Paul does not refer
here to an earthly inheritance. That's not in his mind at all. But as Devonette again put it,
the apostle alluding to the heavenly inheritance calls it the lot
of the saints. that which they inherit by lot. By a sovereign act of God they
have inherited in the kingdom of the Lord. Salvation has been
given unto them, or rather, the inheritance of it by lot. And it is an inheritance without
blemish. Paul adds two words in the end
of verse 12. Let's look at them in light. We are partakers, made us meet
to be partakers of an inheritance with the saints in light. And such conjoins with it partakers
of the inheritance of the saints of God, and that in the realm
of light or brightness. And it is a point of difference
with this good expositor and that, whether the words in light
there refer to the light of the gospel or to the light of the
glory of the age and state that is to come. But in verse 13,
as one put it, Paul has moved away now from his prayer in their
behalf into the theology of the saving work of the Lamb of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. His prayer has, as it were, trailed
away, and He puts them now in fresh remembrance of their experience
in Jesus Christ. The results being this, they
are a partaker of an inheritance with the saints in life. Now,
the who in verse 13 that opens it up has reference back to the
Father in the 12th verse, and also not exclusive of the entire
or whole Godhead. But the Father is said to have
made us a part of the spiritual inheritance. He has delivered
us from the power of darkness. Not only has He delivered us,
but He has translated us over into the kingdom of the Son of
His love. Now this is a great turning point
in the lives of the Colossian believers, disciples, or Christians,
where the Apostle wrote, even when we were dead in sin, God
quickened us. Last week, remember, in Ephesians. This Colossian text here that
we're studying today affords us the grand and present opportunity
to consider that great contrast between darkness and light in
the spiritual sense, which we illustrate by the physical sense,
of course. It is so frequent in the Scripture
to speak of darkness and of light, meaning in the spiritual sense,
of course. One more reference to the Ephesian
epistle, if I might. There it is. When you were dead
in trespasses and in sin, He quickened us. Here in Colossians,
though, the idea is we have been delivered from the power or authority,
some say the kingdom of darkness. Now, we several times see this
in the Scripture. A contrast between light and
darkness. Some who walk in darkness, others
who are walking in the light. Now there is a natural light
and a natural darkness. We experience each of them every
day. There comes day and night. All of us are aware of these. There is light and then the darkness
comes. Well, there is a spiritual darkness
and a spiritual light or illumination that is taught also in the scripture. John Owen wrote, the term darkness
is metaphorical and is borrowed from the realm of nature. So that we might understand what
darkness is in a spiritual sin, we have a great example of it
in the physical or in nature. that natural darkness might paint
us a picture of spiritual darkness for us to see. For natural or
physical darkness, that darkness which is natural or physical
may cause a hindrance in our activity. It puts a stop, as
it were, upon many things. Many operations must cease, therefore,
when the darkness overcome it. There are certain functions which
cease until the light of day returns again. As for example,
think of that plague of darkness down in the land of Egypt when
Moses would deliver the people. In Exodus chapter 10, you have
it in verse 21 through 23. darkness, a plague of darkness
came on the land. And in this great plague of darkness,
God made a great display between His attitude toward the Egyptians
and His attitude toward the Israelites. This plague was near the end
of the ten, and is described as to its severity, and I have
put it down. In Exodus 10, And verse 21, it
is described as darkness that might be felt. Now can you imagine
the darkest of darkness? Even darkness that might be felt. It would seem that it could be
felt. So dark and gripping was the plague of darkness upon the
land. In verse 22, it is called a thick
darkness. So thick that it cannot be seen
into or through. And then in chapter 10 of Exodus,
verse 23, the Egyptians could not see one another. Though they sat nearby in their
tents or houses, the darkness was so great that they could
not see one another. And so paralyzing was that darkness
that they stayed in their dwellings for three days and three nights
without moving. So paralyzing and hindering was
that darkness. And then we think about, well,
what about their candles and their lamps and such like? Evidently,
not even their lamps or candles could give them an artificial
light during this great plague. It was as if they had gone blind. The darkness completely immobilized
all of the Egyptian, and as it were, froze them in their place,
paralyzing them where they stood or sat in their houses. Now,
an illustration if you might. Over the years, quite a few years,
on vacation, you know that we love to go to the mountains and
such like, One of the things that we have done as a tourister
is to take tours through caves and to go down in old gold mines
that used to be mined for gold. Maybe 1,700 feet straight down
in the earth on a rickety old elevator and then back 100 feet
away you are underground or half a mile into a cave somewhere. And one of the things that the
guide always likes to do is to say, alright, I'm going to turn
out the lights and let you see darkness for yourself. And they
turn out the lights, and you never saw such darkness in all
of your life. You cannot see your hand before
your very face, even up against your nose. But in Exodus 10 and
verse 23, the Israelites had light over in their dwelling. God made a distinction between
one and the other. A sign of the distinguishing
mercy and goodness of God between the Egyptian and the Israelite. Even so, back to our text, there
is the hindrance that comes with spiritual darkness that such
cannot see. That is, they cannot see the
things of God. They cannot understand divine
truth, even when they are under the sound of the gospel in all
clarity. And no matter how bright the
sun may shine outside at noonday, the blind person is yet in perpetual
darkness. The bright light of the sun does
not penetrate into the eyes of a blind person. So no matter
how clear And no matter how wonderful and powerful the gospel is preached
to those that are in spiritual darkness, they are in the very
presence of light, but it will not cause them to see or open
their eyes. God must first dispel the spiritual
darkness, must first open up the blinded eyes and the eyes
of their understanding as Paul calls it in Ephesians chapter
1. Think of that, the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened. Now concerning this darkness,
this spiritual darkness, it is an apt description of the depravity
and the corruption of the unregenerate. And it concerns not the ignorance
of the natural man, It is not pertaining to the ignorance of
the natural man in secular matters, for he may be very learned and
very educated in things that are worldly or secular. One may
be even a genius, but not able to see the glorious light of
Christ in the gospel. John 3.19, they love darkness
rather than light because their deeds are evil. Ephesians 5 and
verse 11, engage in the unfruitful works of darkness, is what they
do. Ephesians 6 and 12, under the
influence of the rulers of the darkness of this world. John the Apostle loved using
this word darkness to describe the depravity of man in his natural
estate. John used it five times in the
first epistle of John. Five times in the gospel, I believe,
and six times in the first epistle of John, I believe, is correct. Now, what does our text say?
In Colossians 1.13, He delivered us from the power of darkness. Now, here darkness is put for
corruption, blindness, depravity and unregeneracy. It is the natural
state. While we are in darkness, we
are unenlightened, we are in the natural state, natural depravity. We are under the bondage of sin
and the servitude of the devil. Darkness in those places signifies
the whole way and walk of life without God, just as light signifies
the new way of life which is in Jesus Christ. He delivered
us, for Ephesians 5 and verse 8 said, ye were sometimes darkness. Ye were at one time in darkness. At one point ye were in darkness,
wherein we walked for we hated the light. We walked in the darkness. We loved darkness for our deeds
were evil and did not want them to be reproved by the light. In that verse in Ephesians 5
and verse 8, Paul not only said, Ye were sometimes darkness, but
he adds this, Then ye are now light in the Lord. You were once
darkness, you are light in the Lord. In 1 Peter 2 and verse
9, he speaks of Him who hath called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light. Here again is the great contrast. Here again is the great transfer. Here again is the great change
that God has wrought in their lives and does in all of the
elect at the appointed time. in Colossians 1.13, the work
and the power of God, the work of the ministry, the work of
John the Baptist was to turn people from darkness unto light. Luke 1.76, 77, and 79 you might
like to include in your notes. To go before the face of the
Lord, John was to prepare his way. to give knowledge of salvation
unto the people, to give light unto them that sit in darkness,
in the shadow of death, as the prophet had said. The prophet
Isaiah foretold of one who would come among them, Isaiah chapter
42 and verse 6, for a light unto the Gentiles and to bring from
prison those that sit in darkness. Remember the prophecy of Simeon
concerning the Lord's Christ. It is in Luke chapter 2 and verse
32. He prophesied that he was a light
to lighten the Gentiles. And of the two Jews and Gentiles,
the Gentiles sat in the grosser darkness, for they were without
revelation as the Jew. Before Agrippa, Paul rehearses
his experience. He recounts when Christ confronted
him and commissioned him to, in Acts 26, verse 17, the last
part, and verse 18, quote, The Gentiles unto whom now I send
you to open their eyes, to turn from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sin and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me." That is, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
back to our text, Colossians 1 and 13. And the last part of
the verse. He has not only delivered or
rescued us or taken us out from under the power of darkness. But he says a second thing. He has translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. Now, in the commentaries and
such like, concordances, I counted this word translated and found
five times in the New Testament. And only this once of the five,
here in Colossians 1 and 13 rendered as translated. In other words,
this is the only place where that Greek word is rendered translated
in the New Testament or the King James Version. For example, in
Luke 16 and verse 4, it is put out. It is put out. In Acts 13 and 22, it is removed. That's how it's translated. Acts
19 and 26, it is turned away. That is, they said that Paul
had turned away much people from the worship of the goddess Diana. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 2,
the same word is translated removed. Thus God has translated, He has
removed, He has put out, He has turned them away from the power
of darkness. Those believing Colossians had
had that experience. Paul speaks of two aspects of
God's work. Number one, the departure or
the removal from the power of darkness, the deliverance. Number
two, the arrival or the settlement into the kingdom of his dear
son. Now, there's something very interesting
here about the word translated in that those who are knowledgeable
in the Greek say that the word used here in classical or secular
Greek in the verb tense means to depart or to remove a body
of people to form a colony. that some are removed out of
a particular place to another place and formed there into a
colony. So that Paul tells them they
had been removed from the kingdom or the power of darkness and
colonized in the kingdom of Christ. They had been taken out of one
and had been colonized or transplanted or put into another. In fact,
J.B. Lightfoot, whom all say is good
with the Greek, gives this expanded version of Colossians 1.13, and
I want to share it with you. Quote, We were slaves in the
land of darkness. God rescued us from that fraud. He transplanted us, thence, and
settled us as free colonists and citizens in the kingdom of
His dear Son in the rim of life." And that's what Paul is telling
us that God has done by Jesus Christ. But now we come, ah,
the kingdom. Who shall we make? What shall
we make of this? What disagreements there are
between Christians today as to meaning of and concerning the
kingdom? The greatest expression used
to describe it, both from John the Baptist and our Lord, who
both opened their ministry with this proclamation, the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Matthew 3 and 2, and Matthew
4 and 17. The first one John, the second
one our Lord. And the different ways that the
kingdom is spoken of or used in the Scripture, such as the
kingdom, just simply the kingdom, James 2 and verse 5, a kingdom,
Hebrews 12 and verse 28, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom
of God many times in the Scripture, the everlasting kingdom, 2 Peter
chapter 1 verse 11, the heavenly kingdom in 2 Timothy 4 and verse
18, and even the kingdom of Christ and of God in Ephesians 5 and
verse 5, in 2 Peter 1 and verse 11, the everlasting kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. as well as our text in Colossians
1.13, translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now, according to Paul, the tenses
that he used, they are already in the kingdom of Christ. He
is writing to people who are already in the kingdom of Christ. It is a present state that he
is speaking of At the time he wrote, they had already been
colonized into Christ's kingdom, for a kingdom consists of a king,
a sovereign, a potentate, and one who has subjects over which
he rules and guides. The Lord Jesus Christ told Pilate. There was a contention about
him being the king of the Jews. The Lord Jesus said unto Pilate,
My kingdom is not of this world. John 18 and verse 36. Pilate was contented that the
Lord posed no threat to usurp the kingdom of Caesar. A king,
yes, he claimed to be, but not with a worldly kingdom. Some
commentators think that this kingdom has both a presence and
a future aspect unto it. That is, it has an earthly and
it has a celestial aspect unto this kingdom. Gil sees this kingdom
in its present form, quote, as being the kingdom of grace, or
that state of grace and light which only they brought to when
they were delivered from darkness and into the kingdom of Christ."
And now they have become subjects of Christ, our King, the King
of our life and of our soul. In verse 14, it is told how we
were delivered from the power of darkness. By being redeemed. The ransom that Christ paid. That upon that ransom, God has
righteously translated us out from under the power of darkness
into the kingdom of the Son of God. And that redemption consists
in a free, full pardon of sin. And through the redemption that
is in Christ, by the death He died. Now, there are two more
things to consider in this passage of the Scripture. Let's see if
we can do it in our allotted time. In connection with this
matter, to round out the blessings of what Paul has told us here,
two other things in regard to Christ that we want to consider.
Number one is verse 15 through verse 19. A description you have
there of the personal excellencies and glories of Christ. Ones that elevate Him above all
other beings. In those verses, the excellency,
personal excellencies of Christ. Secondly, you have in verse 20
through verse 22, the various aspects of the work of Christ. And let's
look at them. In verse 15, we have His deity,
His relationship unto God, being the very image of the invisible
God, bearing what is called an image of another, therefore must
possess a likeness unto that other, and the one who is in
fact An image must bear both a likeness and the nature of
the protege of which they are an image. Do you remember Hebrews
1 and 3? It uses the same language. He calls the Lord Jesus, quote,
the express image of His person. The express image of the Father. This image consists in Christ
having both the same essence and the same nature as God the
Father, His Father. Nor is this all of His glory,
for Paul says He is the medium of creation. He is the firstborn
of every creature, for or because by or through Him were all things
created. There is proved the preeminence
of Christ. as being the firstborn of every
creature by two testimonies. A. In verse 16, because as E.D. wrote, creation is here in the
fullest and most unqualified sense ascribed unto Christ. Creation in all respects. All things, it says there in
the verse, heaven, earth, visible and invisible, etc. But v. 17, His pre-existence and His
preservation of all things. He is before all things. And by Him all things consist. Or, as it is said again in Hebrews
1 and 3, upholding all things by the Word of His power. That not only is the Lord Jesus
Christ a Creator, But He is also preserver of that which He has
brought into existence. What He has created, He preserves
and keeps them in existence. Cohered. By Him, all things cohere. It's another good way to express
that. Verse 18, He's the head of the church in all things.
He has the preeminent. He has authority. and rule over
all of the redeemed, even them. And this is because the Father
is pleased that in Him should all fullness dwell. Colossians
2 and verse 9, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, the incarnate Christ. In other words, this was in His
incarnate state. in the body that God had prepared
Him. The fullness of God dwelt in
that one. And finally, in verse 20 through
verse 22 in the chapter, there is an account of the manner of
how our salvation was secured. And that was by the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Through the death of Him, in
whom all fullness dwells, him that is the very image of God,
him that thought it not robbery to be equal with God, took upon
him the form of a man, and being in the likeness of man, was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross." That's in Philippians,
the second chapter. Reconciling all things unto himself. Yes, the elect are reconciled
unto God, but all things also that were disordered by sin. Compare Ephesians 1 and verse
10. He made peace by the blood of
His cross. He ended our alienation, and
He blotted out our sinful enmity that was in our mind, so that
we are gladly reconciled unto God. And this he did, verse 22,
in his body, in his flesh through death, dying the death of the
cross, the result being that he presents his elect to God,
unblameable and unreprovable. He presents his to God without
spot or without blemish, cleansed by the blood, washed in the blood
that was shed upon the tree. And this, my brothers and sisters,
is how we were delivered from the power of darkness and colonized
into the kingdom of His dear Son. This is how we are made
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. This is
how we are children of life, and we ought to walk as children
of the light, stepping in the light. Loving light rather than
darkness. Because though once we were darkness,
now are we light in the Lord. What a wonderful description
of the saving work of God and of Christ. Translated us out
of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. If you have
had that experience, it is the experience of all experiences. of your life, it is the greatest
experience that one can have, living in their bodies in this
world, to be brought out from under the power of sin, darkness,
and Satan, and colonized into the kingdom of the dear Son of
God. Yes, what a blessing. All right,
thank you, and let's stand for prayer.