Daily Bible Reading 4th June 2025 // Colossians 1:12b-14
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 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.
Everything that Paul affirms in vv 12-14 is true for every Christian. And Oh how wonderful and marvellous it is. Ponder anew the complementary aspects of salvation which Paul highlights here. (1) Inheritance: We have been fitted and qualified to share, with all believers, the promised land of God's eternal kingdom. Ours is a Kingly heritage, the glory and the majesty of the eternal kingdom of light. Paul calls us (Romans 8:17) 'children of God', 'heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ'. What a rich and distinguishing heritage! (2) Deliverance and liberty: God has rescued us (-ve) from the tyranny of darkness and He has brought us (+ve) into the kingdom of His Son. There are, you see, two realms/kingdoms to which men belong: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. For Paul, mankind, in and of itself, is held in the thraldom of Satan's dark power. But God, in Christ, has rescued us. Christ, by his life and, supremely, by his death on the Cross, has bruised the head of the Serpent. Christ has struck the fatal blow. He has conquered the evil one and so has delivered us into the Kingdom of light. He has brought us out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (3) To say that we have redemption in Christ is to say that we have been liberated, set free. We have been delivered from bondage by the payment of a ransom. Our freedom has been purchased. In the slave markets of old. The redemption price was the price needed to secure the liberty of the slave. Christ has purchased our redemption by laying down his life (Ephesians 1:7-8). (4) The companion blessing of 'forgiveness' speaks to us of pardon and of a clean slate. It speaks to us of the cancellation or lifting of a debt. As with redemption, forgiveness flows from the Cross where Christ not only purchased our redemption but cancelled our debt. He broke the power of sin once and for all and so provided forgiveness and pardon. Hallelujah!