He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred
us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)
For nearly three decades a great wall of concrete and
razor wire divided East and West Berlin, a quite visible
boundary between two opposing domains. West Berlin was a
small island of relative freedom in the midst of a vast
empire of tyranny. Millions of oppressed souls longed for
the freedom of the West, but for most it was only an impossible
dream. Still, a few courageous ones overcame almost insurmountable
obstacles and escaped through tunnels under the wall, through
which they had to crawl on their hands and knees. They could
take nothing with them — only the clothes on their
backs — but they were happy to leave everything behind
for the hope of starting a new life.
Although only temporal, the example of the Berlin Wall can
help us to “see” the unseen but very real barrier
that separates the domain of darkness from the kingdom of
light, and understand what it takes to get from one to the
other.
The Domain of Darkness
The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. All
men are born under his sway. Although all men have a free
will, and a conscience by which they know good from evil,
they are alienated from God due to Adam’s sin and
must strive to make their own way in this world. Their
ingrained insecurity and self-interest make them easy prey
for the evil prince of this world, whose chief occupation
is to lead them astray. Were it not for the conscience,
human society would probably have ended long ago, but now
the restraint of conscience has given way to the insatiable
demands of self to the point that the very foundations of
morality have all but crumbled.
Such is the nature of this world. It runs on the engine
of self-interest. The souls of men — their intellect, will,
and emotions — are consumed with their own needs and desires,
with advancing their own careers, causes, and reputations,
and with maintaining and building up the systems of this
world order. Their conflicting desires and ambitions are
the cause of immeasurable human misery and the looming destruction
of the very planet they grudgingly share. Their eyes cannot
see any way out of the cycle of sin and death they are trapped
in. Even their religion does not set them free, but only
comforts them in their prison. They sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death.
The Kingdom of Light
Onto the battered landscape of human history walked an ordinary-looking
Man with an extraordinary message:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19)
From the day that He severed Himself in baptism from the
fallen religious system of His day, He spoke of nothing
but the gospel of the kingdom. He filled His disciples
and all who would listen with the vision of a new social
order based on love — the direct opposite of the self-interest
that fuels the domain of darkness. For by love He did not
mean merely an emotion, but rather the deliberate activation
of one’s will to seek the welfare of another without
regard for one’s own benefit or loss. He did not
envision occasional heroic deeds of love adorning the typical
routines of life in this world. He lived and died to bring
about a whole society of people who take no thought for
themselves, but spend their lives every day serving one
another. That is what He meant by seeking first the kingdom
of God.
The Master had absolutely no expectation of this new social
order filling the earth in this age. He did not commission
His disciples to make the world a better place by infiltrating
the world’s society, industry, or government. On
the contrary, He called them to come out of that fallen
system, even at the cost of their family ties, in order
to follow Him. Together they would form a “city”
set on a hill; together they would be a light to the world
around them. Their “cities” (communities)
would be islands of refuge in the midst of a world in bondage
to the evil one — a foretaste of the fullness of Messiah’s
kingdom that will fill the whole earth in the next age when
the evil one is bound.
However, that foretaste of the coming kingdom could not
come about until the Messiah had died as a ransom for all
and risen from the dead and ascended to His Father in heaven.
Then His Spirit could be released to fill the waiting disciples
and empower them to do everything the Master had taught
them about the kingdom of God. It is no accident that
the very first thing that happened when the Holy Spirit
was poured out upon them was that they spoke the gospel
of the kingdom with boldness, and three thousand men responded
to the call to “be saved from this perverse generation”
by utterly forsaking their old lives to live a common life
together. It was the normal and only fitting response
to the good news of the One who had died to ransom them
from the clutches of the evil one and his dark domain. Their
common life of love and unity was the witness of the kingdom
— the evidence that He was actually ruling in their midst.
The Barrier between the Kingdoms
Although the book of Acts tells this story in only a few
sentences, each of those 3000 men had to overcome his own
personal obstacles to surrendering his life. There were
many wives and children, parents and siblings, farms and
businesses, employees, possessions, and debts to be considered.
Probably not all of their families and friends were overjoyed
at the decisions they made that day to give up everything
to follow this resurrected Messiah who could only be seen
in His people. It took great courage for those men to walk
out the confessions of faith they made that day, at any
cost.
The
barrier
that
holds
men
captive
in
the
domain
of
darkness,
although
invisible,
is
every
bit
as
real
as
was
the
Berlin
Wall.
Instead
of
concrete
and
wire,
it
is
woven
of
fea
r,
shame,
insecurity,
intimidation,
anxiety,
peer
pressure,
emotional
attachments,
pride,
and
countless
worldly
entanglements.
When
someone
is
truly
weary
of
his
servitude
to
the
evil
prince
of
this
world
and
the
weight
of
his
own
guilt,
and
hears
the
voice
of
the
Righteous
One
through
His
servants,
and
is
drawn
to
the
light
emanating
from
their
camp,
he
or
she
will
inevitably
come
face-to-face
with
this
barrier.
All
manner
of
obstacles
will
bar
the
way — an unwilling
spouse, rebellious children, financial responsibilities,
the pleas, promises, threats, and warnings of family and
friends... The tentacles of the unseen realm of darkness
will reach out through every earthly tie to tighten their
grip on any who dare attempt escape.
It is not that the blood of the Son of God was insufficient
to pay the ransom for all, but all are not willing to do
His will. All are not thirsty enough to overcome every
obstacle that keeps them from drinking the water of life:
I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely
to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things,
and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly
and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually
immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall
have their part in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death. (Revelation 21:6-8)
Those who are too cowardly to overcome the obstacles betray
the fact of their unbelief. Preferring the pitiful comforts
of their captivity, they show contempt for the blood that
was shed for them and become guilty of it, classing themselves
as the worst of criminals.
There is no toll gate at the entrance to the kingdom of
light. The abundant life of the Son of God is freely given.
But just like that tunnel under the Berlin Wall, the way
of escape that leads to the kingdom is narrow and difficult,
and few are they who even find it. Nothing of the old
life can pass through it, which is why only those who hate
their life in this world will be able to make the passage.
They are the only ones who will be united with Him in the
likeness of His death, and serve Him where He is.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of
His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of
His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified
with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has
died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)
1 John 5:19
Ephesians 2:2
Genesis 3:22
Genesis
3:17-19
Revelation 12:9
Psalm 12:1
1 John 2:16
Luke 1:79
Matthew 3:1-15
References in the Gospels for “gospel of the
kingdom” and “kingdom
of heaven” and “kingdom of God” are too
numerous to cite, which makes it all the more striking
that today’s fallen religious system avoids the topic
entirely.
Luke 9:23-24
Matthew 6:31-33
2 Timothy
2:4
John 15:19; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Matthew 10:34-39;
Mark 10:29-30
Matthew 5:14-16 The Master was addressing
His disciples collectively, not as independent individuals.
The word “you” in
Matthew 5:14 is plural, while the words “light” and “city” are
singular.
Philippians 2:15
Revelation 20:1-3
1
Timothy 2:6
Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:3; John 14:26;
7:37-39
Acts 2:40-47
Matthew 24:14
Even today,
wherever He is truly being made Lord, the same
common life will prove it.
Matthew 10:34-39
John 7:17;
Hebrews 5:9; Acts 5:32
Luke 6:24
Matthew 11:23-24
Matthew 7:13-14
John 12:25-26
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