When we believed into the Lord Jesus, we received the divine life and we were transferred out of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
However, this transfer was not once for all; we were initially transferred out of darkness and into light, but daily we still need to be transferred into the kingdom of God.
There are many things in our daily life that still keep us in the realm of the kingdom of darkness; even good things such as religion, philosophy, culture, and ethics can keep us in darkness, for they replace Christ as light in our being.
When we speak of the kingdom of God, one aspect of this kingdom is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love; the church today is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
This means that in the church life we should live by the divine life so that we may live the kingdom life; just as the Son of God came that we may have life and have it abundantly, so in the kingdom of God we enjoy the divine life, we are filled with the divine love, and we are under the divine light.
Hallelujah, he who has the Son has the life; we who have received the Lord Jesus as life, we have the real life!
Also, the kingdom into which we have been transferred is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love; this realm of life is in love, not in fear. There’s no fear in this kingdom; we don’t “fear our almighty King” and submit to Him because of this, rather, we love Him, we spend time with Him, we enjoy Him, and we submit to Him in love.
Yes, this kingdom has a lot of requirements and rules, and these are so high that no human being can fulfill them, but it is when we contact the Lord, are filled with Him, and love Him that He in us can fulfill what the requirements of the kingdom say.
The kingdom in which we find ourselves today is a realm full of life, light, and love; in this realm we enjoy the Son of God as life, we are loved by God the Father by being in His Beloved Son, and God shines in us and over us in Christ as the divine light.
Hallelujah for the church as the kingdom of the Son of God’s love! Don’t we want to live and have our being in such a realm full of life, light, and love?
May we daily choose to turn to the Lord and be transferred out of the authority of darkness a little more, in more and more aspects, until we fully live in this kingdom!
We have been Transferred into the Kingdom of God, where we are Ruled in Love with Life
Hallelujah, God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son (1 John 5:11), so he who has the Son of God has the life (v. 12).
This means that, when we believed into the Lord Jesus, we were transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love, that is, into the Son who is life to us. Christ the Son of God is in resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 6:4-5) and He is now the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).
He rules us in His resurrection with love. The kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love into which we have been transferred is a realm of love and life; in this realm, we are ruled in love with life.
Actually, under this heavenly ruling and restriction we have genuine freedom, the proper freedom in love, with life, and under light. In the kingdom of God as the kingdom of the Son of God’s love we enjoy Christ and we have the church life.
In this realm where we are ruled in love with life there’s no opinion, there’s no division, but we have one thing: we have the church life with Christ as everything to us; this is what the book of Colossians shows us.
When we live by Christ as our life in resurrection, we are living in His kingdom, enjoying Him in the Father’s love; here we have the church life (Col. 3:4; John 6:57).
When we were crucified with Christ, we died together with Him, and when He was raised, we were raised with Him; we were grafted into Christ – we have been joined to Him, and we grow together with Him in the likeness of His death and of His resurrection.
Hallelujah, we have been transferred into the kingdom of God by being grafted into Christ; we are joined to the Lord, we are organically one with Him, and we are being mingled with Him.
Now it is not just us alone trying to live a good Christian life and church life but rather, we have been bound, joined, and connected with this One through the organic union in grafting! Hallelujah!
Being grafted in Christ allows us to experience the enriching, strengthening, and uplifting of His divine life, and at the same time we are restricted and limited. But in this joining with the Lord we experience the supply, the enrichment, and the strengthening.
Because the Father delights in the Son, the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love into which we have been transferred is a pleasant thing, a matter of delight (Matt. 3:17; 17:5).
In the church as the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, we have the reality and practicality of the organic Body of Christ (Col. 2:19).
It is in this realm where we are ruled in love with life that we can be the one new man; here, in the church life, we have the practicality and the reality of the universal one new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11).
In the new man everything of the old is put away, and we have put on the church life, the kingdom of God. When we put on the new man, we are not so free; when we are ruled in love with life, we are limited, but we enjoy the Lord and are inwardly supplied!
Hallelujah, we have been transferred out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, a realm of light where we are ruled in love with life! Thank You Lord Jesus for releasing us from the power of darkness and joining us, binding us, and organically grafting us into Yourself so that we may live in the kingdom of God. We want to remain in this organic union, Lord, where we can enjoy all that God is to us in Christ. We want to live in the church as the kingdom of the Son of God’s love to have the reality and practicality of the organic Body of Christ and of the universal one new man!
Our Need to Still be Transferred out of the Authority of Darkness into God’s Kingdom
In the book of Colossians the authority of darkness referred to in 1:13 refers not to sin, the world, or the flesh, but to the good aspects of our culture, our character, our disposition, and our natural being.
The authority of darkness referred to in this portion is not the world with its system but rather our virtues, religion, philosophy, observances, ordinances, principles, and ethical standards.
When we were regenerated, God has delivered us out of all these and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love! Hallelujah!
In this kingdom we are ruled in love with life, and we do not sens that we’re under righteousness, power, or authority, but under the loving and lovable Lord Jesus.
The more we open to the Lord, pray, and tell Him that we love Him, the more we are freed from the authority of darkness on one hand, and the more we are restricted and ruled inwardly on the other hand.
Because we love the Lord, we take Him as our person and our life, and we live Christ for the church life. Even though we were initially transferred out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, we still need to be transferred into God’s kingdom from many aspects of the authority of darkness.
There are many things in our life and our environment that are a substitute for Christ.
Anything that replaces Christ keeps us in darkness, whether it is something sinful or something that seems positive. Such things as philosophy, religion, character, virtues, concepts, and opinions, become the authority of darkness to control us.
Mysticism, pagan ordinances (which are not found in the Bible but “seem good” and “according to the Bible”), asceticism, and many things can replace Christ and thus become the authority of darkness to us.
In so many situations, in so many environments, and in so many ways the kingdom of darkness still has a grip on us; we still need to be transferred out of the authority of darkness and into God’s kingdom.
For example, even such a good thing as reading the Bible, which is the word of God, can be something in darkness, if we do not contact the Lord.
We may think that this is too much, that when we read the Bible we definitely are in the kingdom of God, but the Pharisees read the Bible yet were not willing to come to the Lord, who has life, so that they may receive the life contained in the Bible, so they remained in darkness (John 9:38-41; 5:39-40).
Unless we come to the Lord as we read the Bible, unless we are in the Lord’s presence as we read the word of God, even such a good practice of reading the Bible can be in darkness.
Any place where the Lord Jesus is not present is the authority of darkness; any time we do not contact the Lord yet do things for Him, it is possible for us to be under the authority of darkness. Oh Lord Jesus!
How much we need to be delivered out of the authority of darkness and be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love where we can enjoy Christ and be ruled inwardly by love in life!
Dear Lord Jesus, we come to You again and again to be transferred out of any aspect of the authority of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love! Oh Lord, may we contact You, seek to be and remain in Your presence, and enjoy You more and more, until our whole being with all its activities and things is transferred out of darkness and into light, life, and love! Save us from remaining under the authority of darkness in all its aspects. We love You Lord, we come to You, and we allow You to rule in us; Your rule is full of love, life, and light, and by You ruling in us we can live Christ for the church life as the kingdom of God!
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References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Colossians, msgs. 3-4 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Development of the Kingdom of God in the Church Life and the Christian Life (2019 spring ITERO), week 3, The Kingdom and the Church.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Here in this heav’nly realm we live, / And with this heav’nly pow’r possessed / We walk and fight in heav’nly light / Until the Kingdom’s manifest. (Hymns #942)
# The essence of the Kingdom is / A life that’s under heaven’s rule, / A life whose nature is divine / With Christ experienced in full. (Hymns #944)
# Not philosophy nor / Any element / Can to Christ conform us / As His complement; / But ‘tis Christ Himself who / All our nature takes / And in resurrection / Us His members makes. (Hymns #541)
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