Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13)
In Colossians 1, Paul opens his epistle to the saints with the experience of salvation, revealing a positional move. That move is from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son, Christ. Why is it that we can try so hard or struggle to improve, but we never have the power to truly change ourselves? That’s because salvation has nothing to do with our effort to overcome or “do right” in our behavior. To be saved, we must simply be moved!
From the moment we are reborn, we are transferred, crossing over from the realm of death and darkness to life through the Son. There is a clear line of demarcation inside of us that we no longer belong to Satan, sin, and the flesh. In our kingdom, we are the rulers; we decide everything we do. Our kingdom is our comfort zone. But the moment we are baptized, we give ourselves over to a different kingdom: “Lord, I give myself to You!” A believer’s change is regeneration, rebirth, a crossing from one kingdom to another. From this point on, our lives have a very clear, very definite line to live. But if we are always in our own kingdom, we will never experience the true freedom of being delivered and transferred from our kingdom to His. A believer’s change is based on this: “Who is your king?”
This kingdom is for transformation. The word “kingdom” in Greek is a compound word, with a root denoting “a person walking.” This means that just as a man gains territory by how far he walks, when we allow the Lord to walk in us, He gains His domain, His kingdom, there. Once we are saved, we are no longer on the throne. Instead, Christ is walking in us.
As Christ walks in us, He transforms us and gains us as His ground for reigning and expression continually. With each step He walks in us, His kingdom is incrementally ruling and changing us from within our spirit spreading outward. Actually, we are His kingdom! This is how believers can really change. In this new domain, we are ever new, ever changing, ever transforming as He gains ground in us. Today, the kingdom of the Son is us living daily under His authority. We are the ground where He reigns. May He expand His kingdom in us through our submission in love to Him.
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 3/17/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)