Life on earth affords us the decision to spend an eternity with Heavenly Father or not. The decision not to spend an eternity with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ is the most tragic of any choice we will make. Everyone is not heaven bound. In truth, for whatever reason, most people will not choose to be present with the Lord. They will choose not to live in faith and will not believe in the One True All-Powerful and All-Knowing God who is full of unfailing love. When you are a child of God, you are interested in what He has to say. And you are not only interested in your origin, but you are also extremely thankful for the gift of eternal life in Christ. God tells us all about both our origin and the gift of eternal life in His Word, and He has made it clear that it is very important for us to know the predicament we were in and how He rescued us from darkness through His precious Son, Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:13-14(ESV) tells us, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.” The choice between darkness and light is not a new one. This choice has been presented to every human being, starting with the first created human, Adam. In Genesis 2:17, God told Adam that he could feast off any tree in the Garden of Eden, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He told Adam that if he ate of this tree, he would be sure to die. Our Heavenly Father could have restricted access to the tree and done so in such a way that Adam and Eve would never had known it existed, but love doesn’t behave this way. God is love, and He doesn’t restrict choices. He created us with free-will, and we get to choose who we will be and what we will do.
Adam and Eve chose disobedience. Through them, we understand that a person bows to what they believe. We will either serve the truth or a lie, and there is no in-between when it comes to this choice, for our Lord and Master taught us in Matthew 6:24(NLT), “No one can serve two masters.” No one forced Adam and Eve to make this decision and they knew exactly what they were doing. There were no impurities in their blood. They had perfect minds, perfect intellect, and perfect bodies. They willingly choose to defy the sovereignty of God by going against what He told them. He is a perfect and loving God. He didn’t force the first couple to love Him back, and He didn’t stop them when they chose not to.
God told them they’d die if they chose to disobey Him. Genesis 3:4-5 tells us that the devil told them they wouldn’t die, and that Heavenly Father had not told them the truth because He didn’t want their eyes to be opened to His level of wisdom. Eve wanted this wisdom. Genesis 3:6(NLT) says, “The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.” This was indeed a catastrophic choice, but it was theirs to make. All of us face choices every day, and our identity in Christ is either affirmed or denied by the decisions we make.
What many of us fail to acknowledge and understand is the consequences of disobedience and sin. We fail to connect the consequences we face in life with the choices we make.
Everything that God speaks is truth. If He tells us something is right or that something is going to come to pass, then it is right, and it will happen just as He says. There are no “what ifs” with God. His Word is absolute. So, when He told Adam and Eve that they’d die if they disobeyed, that is precisely what happened. They died a spiritual death and ultimately died a physical death. Romans 5:17(NLT) declares, “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.” Our Lord and Savior rescued us from the horrible consequences of sin and death, and because of him, we are sons and daughters of God through the new birth reality.
There is no power and blessing in the actions of Adam and Eve. They represent the old nature that we had before we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. The victory that Christ has given us allows us to make decisions and choices that reject sin and accept him. Because of Christ, we have the gift of Holy Spirit, God’s seed, living inside us. The Spirit helps us. Jesus Christ said in John 16:13 that the Spirit guides us to all truth and tells us what he hears from our Master Jesus. We have become new people in Christ, and we are set free from eternal death and darkness. Colossians 1:13-14 establishes that we have been delivered and transferred into God’s Kingdom.
We are Kingdom dwellers and ambassadors for Christ on earth. Because of the accomplishment of Jesus Christ, our sins have been forgiven. Let’s not go back to the way we were before Christ dwelled in our hearts and minds. Instead, let’s rejoice in the newness he has given us. We have been transformed into new creations in him. Old things are dead and gone, and we must embrace our new spiritual reality in our Master Jesus! Colossians 1:11(NLT) affirms, “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.” Through Christ we now live in God’s glorious light and power. We get to be in the presence of the Father because we are holy and righteous through Christ. We have received the opportunity to grow closer to God and become the embodiment of Jesus Christ, and this is something we have the privilege and honor to embrace and celebrate with each new day!■
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Delivered and Transferred”, written by JMack, 4theChristianMan.com© 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.