Transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son

Colossians 1:1-17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

² To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

³ We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, ⁴ since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; ⁵ because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel ⁶ which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth; ⁷ just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, ⁸ and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.

⁹ For this reason we also, since the day we heard about it, have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

¹³ For He rescued 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.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: ¹⁶ for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Today’s text says: …he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason we also, since the day we heard about it, have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.  If we say that we love Jesus, then in John 14:15 Jesus says: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” That is part of walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. It is part of what pleases Him. We also though need to know His will, doing not only what He commanded, but also following His leading each day. We need to understand not only what He said, but what He is saying and doing. In John 5:19 Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.” If we walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, we will do the things He is doing. In John 15:7-8 Jesus says: “If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” More even than just pleasing God, He is glorified when we bear fruit for the kingdom. That is His will for us.

The text says: For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  Who after being rescued from a life-threatening situation would willingly return to it? Yet so many who have been rescued from the domain of darkness choose to remain there rather than being transferred to the kingdom of light in Christ. Many mistakenly believe that Jesus redeemed sin so that now sin is acceptable to God. The truth is that we have been forgiven of and redeemed from sin, so that we are acceptable to God. 1 John 1:5-6;8 says: God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth… If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. God is not deceived by our sin. In Isaiah 5:20 He says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who, deceiving themselves, choose to continue to remain in the domain of darkness, refusing to be transferred to the kingdom of God and Christ.

The text says: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  In Revelation 21:5-8, the One who created all things and holds all things together says: “Behold, I am making all things new… It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give water to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life, without cost. The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 22:20-21 says: “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.