Delivered From the Power of Darkness
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Colossians 1:13 (each of the scriptures are taken from the NASB)
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Eph:2:1-2
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1 John 5:19
to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' Acts 26:18
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11
The Woman in the Red Dress
In the film The Matrix there is a powerful scene where Neo (the main character) has been awoken from the world of illusions that is enslaving all people so that machines can use them as a power source. Upon being brought out of this world by Morpheus and others he is brought to a training program where everyone seems to be going about their business. While they walk though the crowds Morpheus explains to Neo that when they walk around in the Matrix they see all of the people who they desperately want to save from their unconscious slavery. However, Morpheus goes on to say, they are so deeply entrenched in the system that binds them that they are unable to be unplugged from it. If given the choice they will even fight to defend the system that is destroying them. After explaining this a woman in a red dress walks by and distracts Neo. Morpheus asks Neo if He is listening or if he was distracted by the woman in the red dress. When Neo looks again he sees the woman has been changed into an agent of the Matrix leveling a gun at his head. The moral of the story for Neo is that if someone is not unplugged then they are available to the use of the enemy.
The Parallel
This same concept exists here in the world. All people, we learn from the Bible, are trapped in the domain of darkness. This dark and sinful world, this satanic system is all that they have access to…It is all that they know! Just like the people in the matrix would defend the matrix because it was the only thing they knew the men and women of this world will fight vehemently to defend the sin and the world and the master that they serve. They were given no choice what system they were born into, and are not able fight it.
Is there a Way out?
The Bible tells us that the moment that we put our faith in Jesus Christ we were redeemed from this domain of darkness, from this ungodly, rebellious system and restored to the place that God has for us. When this happens the believer is no longer subject to the ungodly system that the rest of the world is subject to, we are rescued from the system and thereby able to think freely, to see clearly and no longer to be controlled by the powers of darkness. The beautiful reality of what Christ has won for us is that there is not a single thing that the powers of darkness can do to actually interfere with our position in Christ!
So that’s it then?
However, while the three-fold enemy of the believer (the world, the flesh and the Devil) cannot do a single thing to negatively affect our position there is still a way that these powers of darkness can impact the believer. The first thing that the powers of darkness intend to do is to work to blind the unsaved more thoroughly. By lies and deceit the enemies of God will do anything to keep their followers from seeing all that God is and all that He has done in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
The second thing that the threefold enemy of God tries to do is to make the believer live as if it were not so. That ungodly system calls back to the believer and tries to argue for its own virtue, its legitimacy. The believer who walks in the flesh accepts this lie: that there really is no other world but the ungodly worldly system, and the god of that world the only true God. This is a lie that many believers live in simply because they don’t want to make the sacrifice to live a life that trusts God and what He has done in Jesus Christ.
A third thing that the powers of darkness may try to do is to cause to drive the believer away. This has been happening since the dawn of Christianity. The early Church had to deal with the Roman Government that could not tolerate a faith that did not leave room for the deification of the Emperor. Thus believers were responded to with Violence. This treatment continued throughout time. Luther, Calvin and the other reformers were shunned and pushed away by the Catholic Church for bringing the reality of this Grace to the forefront. Today believers are discouraged from sharing their faith, from praying in schools, from sharing the great news about Jesus Christ and all that it means to poor, helpless sinners.
Conclusion
A believer in Christ is no longer subject to the powers of darkness. He need no longer chase after the things that the world, the flesh and the Devil encourage him to run after. The believer is saved from this power of darkness and given the power to live in the light, in utter freedom from the curses of the wandering blind. All that the powers of darkness are able to do is use those people in the lives of the believer whom they still control, and try to fool the believer into thinking that the system is the only way to live.
No comments:
Post a Comment