You Are FreeSýnishorn

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

Standing proud in the middle of the New York Harbor on Liberty Island is the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty welcomes immigrants to the United States. To these immigrants, she represents a better way of life and the promise of freedom. For most of us born in the United States, freedom is all we have ever known. But for many of those who land on our shores, it’s a different story altogether. Theirs is a tale of two very different countries.

And so it is for every Christian. Our story is a tale of two kingdoms that involves a daring rescue mission that snatches us away from one kingdom and places us fully and forever into a new kingdom.

Here is the story as Paul lays it out: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13, 14). God rescued you from the dominion of darkness. That’s where you once lived. But not anymore. You are now in the kingdom of the Son, a place of love, redemption and forgiveness.

There is no going back. If you compare the two, you will never want to go back.

The dominion of darkness – that sounds so ominous – dresses itself in glamour and glitz. On the surface everything shines, but that belies all that’s underneath. The “ruler of the air,” none other than Satan himself, oversees all the activities. He operates this kingdom on the principle of deception.

When we lived there, we readily followed his ways and the ways of the world, and we lived to carry out the desires of the flesh. We did so because we were spiritually dead, sinners by name. We lived as condemned people under the control of sin, and eternal death was our destiny. That’s the kingdom of darkness.

Jesus entered into that kingdom of darkness to rescue us and then to fit us to live in his kingdom. His plan was drawn up by love and grace and was carried out through death, burial and resurrection. Paul explained the intricacies: 

“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3, 4).

You died in Christ. Everything that was true of you in the dominion of darkness came to an end. It was buried once and for all. Then you were raised as a new creation in Christ. Now, your life is in him. That kingdom of darkness has no hold over you anymore. The power of sin and death has been broken. You are free.

You now belong to Christ. You have a new identity as a child of God. You are under grace and led by the Holy Spirit. Your destiny is with God forever as a citizen of the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1-4). 

Through faith in Jesus Christ, you have gone from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. You are in “the kingdom of the Son” where freedom reigns forever.