TWO DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE CONDITIONS:
“From Darkness to Light.”
“Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” This it is for which the apostle gives thanks to God. God delivers from the power of darkness into the kingdom of Christ, “the Light of the world.” Col. 1:12, 13, R.V. You, reader, may have passed from a room of black, impenetrable darkness into one flooded with electric light or brightly illuminated by the sun. The change was decided, wasn’t it? It was literally “from darkness to light.” But not less decided and actual is the change that is wrought in what is commonly called conversion. That soul who yields all to Christ, and accepts with all his heart all that Christ Jesus longs to be to him, is delivered from the power of darkness, and is translated into the kingdom of light. In the darkness he knew not the way. He stumbled and fell, and walked in circles, and beat his head against the wall, trampled upon precious things, and fell into the holes of the pit of darkness, till his own soul became enswathed in the gloom of the shadow and despair of death. But he hears a Voice. One has come to deliver. He opens the darkened den, and floods the way of deliverance with light. He takes the soul from the cell of darkness-wrought chaos, and lifts it to the glorious kingdom of light. The former state is this world. The latter is the kingdom of God’s grace established in this world in the hearts of His children. The former is the unregenerate, carnal, natural heart of man; the latter is the heart changed, made new by God’s grace. The transition period from darkness to light may be through the gloom, but the two conditions themselves are diametrically opposite; and he who does not know it, is yet in the darkness or gloom of a transition period unnecessarily prolonged. O, it is the very message of the glad news of the Gospel, “to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” Acts 26:18. The world, sin, self, is darkness; Christianity is the light of life. From Slavery to Authority.
It is not alone by light and darkness that the apostle illustrates the change wrought by God’s grace. Read again the work wrought in Christ for which Paul thanks God: “Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Deliverance presumes previous bondage. And that is the condition of every sinner. “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [“bond-servant,” literally] of sin.” Sin is master, the man is slave. But God delivers the trusting soul from sin’s bondage, and translates him to a throne. He is delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom, not to serve as an involuntary slave there, but to reign with the King. He hath made us to sit together with Christ in heavenly places; He hath made us to be kings and priests unto our God, and we reign on the earth, even here and now, over sin and all its vile brood. Surely in this also there is marked distinction between the two states of the man. Yesterday he was a slave; to-day he is free. Yesterday he served sin; to-day he is a servant of God, triumphing over sin. Yesterday he served a hard bondage; to-day he reigns a king. And it is all wrought by the power of God. But there is more than this. As darkness is connected with sin, even so it is with hate; for “he that hateth his brother is in darkness.” Hate is the black negative of love, eating like a living mass of worms at the heart’s center, rejoicing at others’ ills, and injuring those hated where selfish prudence will permit. But God takes the selfish hater in darkness who surrenders, and translates him into the kingdom of the Son of His love. It is no longer a7negative life of hate, but a positive life of love. It is no longer darkness, but light. It is no longer bondage, but freedom. SURELY there is a difference between Christianity and the world. The great, sad fact is, that so few, even among those who profess His name, know this. Would to God that many more could thank Him, as did the apostle, because of His power. Then, indeed, would they say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Many are in the ever-deepening gloom. They wanted God. They purposed to serve God. New light broke in. They joined the church, and professed His name. Their path was darkness brightening to dawn and morning. But they found a church moulded after precedent, tradition, worldly forms, and many, so many, of the poor blinded souls have remained in the transition period, some going back to the world through gloom to darkness, some going forward through the twilight to dawn. O soul, Christianity means something. It is life; it is light; it is power; it is love; it is all things good. If you do not know it, you are not yet translated. Many persons are hoping for translation to God’s everlasting kingdom in immortal bodies; but the soul must be translated here. The character must first become incorruptible, immortal, before God can change the body. Set the face Godward. Yield all to Him and know Him as He is.