13 He 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
Transfers
change things. On the small scale we find ourselves, maybe more often than we
like, transferring money from the savings account to the debit or credit card
account to cover the amount. The transfer
that we make there changes things. Doing
so avoids a penalty, covers our credit, and accomplishes something in our lives
and the way we are able to live. The
bigger the transfer, the bigger the change moving forward. Any transfer has effects, it changes things.
Think for
a moment of an even bigger transfer.
Suppose you were called into the office at work and you were told you were
going to be transferred. At that point you would want to know the location and
the scope of your transfer. If you were
merely being shifted to a different area doing a similar job the transfer may
not mean that big of a change. However,
if you were told that you were being transferred to the company’s home office
in Tokyo or Dubai and your responsibilities would be radically altered from
your current ones, that would be a much bigger change.
A
transfer of that size would not only affect you, but also your family, friends,
acquaintances and coworkers. The bigger the
scope and location of the transfer, the bigger the change in the effects of
that transfer. The more radical the
transfer the more impossible it is for things to stay the same. If tomorrow you were told you were relocating
to Dubai, nothing in your life would be untouched by the change. I would like
to submit to you this related idea: If you have been transferred by God from “the
kingdom of darkness… into the kingdom of His beloved Son” nothing in your life
will remain the same.
Sadly though, many who claim to be
believers in Jesus Christ continue to live as if that transfer didn’t change
anything. But if we think about it, how
much bigger transfer could there be?
This is a cosmic, God-wrought, intense, earth shattering rescue operation. It says that we were
delivered from the “domain of darkness.”
This is bigger than a job transfer to Dubai. Before being rescued by God in Christ, we live in a domain characterized by the dark
forces of chaos, evil and judgment
with Satan, our own corrupted rebellious hearts and the world’s desires having
the ruling authority and sway.
God’s Word declares that through our
trust in Christ’s work on the cross for us, he delivers us, rescues us, saves
us out of that domain and instead transfers us to the domain or the kingdom of
Jesus Christ, his beloved son. We needed rescued from the life and world we lived in. He Rescues us by transferring us out of a dark rebel kingdom into the kingdom (of light), where the Son is. What has happened to the people in this kingdom? They have
redemption and forgiveness. To be
redeemed comes from the transaction (transfer) that happened in the slave
market. We were slaves to sin, we could
not free ourselves. Yet God paid the price to redeem us and free us through the
infinitely valuable life of his son. We are set free, but we are also, as the
verse says, forgiven. Tied closely to
redemption is the reality of forgiveness. More than human forgiveness where we withhold
our small desires for revenge and recompense, God’s forgiveness of a sinner
saved by grace is an incredible feat only accomplished by the cross.
If then we have been transferred on
this cosmic level from the domain and rulership we used to be in, what kind of
change ought to happen in us? We may forget about a bank transfer or even
adjust pretty well to the new normal of a job transfer, but this? God delivering us from the domain of death,
darkness, sin and penalty and placing us in the kingdom of light, forgiveness,
grace and mercy where his son, who died for us, reigns, rules and reconciles us
with God Himself? What in our lives
shouldn’t change just in light of our sheer gratefulness for his grace? This transfer changes things.
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