On 23 May 1939, the brand new submarine USS Squalas was undergoing sea trials just off the coast of New Hampshire. When it went to make a routine dive that fateful morning, her main engine air induction valve failed, allowing water to gush into the aft compartments, drowning 26 men. Within moments, the submarine sank and had come to rest on the ocean floor, 240 feet beneath the waves. Up until that time, there had been not successful rescue of a sunken submarine beyond 20 feet. The remaining crew, 33 men, crew lay helpless, crowed in the forward torpedo room of the Squalas at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The crew sent up smoke flares, hoping that their location would become known. Her sister submarine, the USS Sculpin did locate them. Time was of the essence as the oxygen supply in that small compartment dwindled. The next day the USS Falcon arrived on scene with the brand new and untested ten-ton McCann Rescue Chamber. The Rescue Chamber was lowered numerous times, bringing to safety the 33 surviving crew members.
Here is the interesting thing: Not one of the thirty-three men said to their rescuers,
“I will think it over,” nor “I will wait for a more convenient season,” nor “I am in good condition as I am,” nor “Leave me alone, there is too much to give up,” nor “I don’t understand this rescue thing, I think I’ll wait until I do.” nor “Go away, I will save myself.”
All of those rescued instantly and gratefully accepted the means of escape from death.[1]
Interesting thing: We live in perilous times. But people often turns down being rescued because they are too comfortable being right where they are. There are even those that stare at death in the face, and fail to see the means of salvation. But the fact is, we live in a fallen broken world, a world marred by evil and death. Here is the problem, men love the darkness rather than the light:
John 3:19 (NKJV) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
People love the evil. They do not see that the darkness, the evil of the world has control over them. We wrestle with the evil powers, every day. Anyone here not tempted in some way every day?
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
But we who are saved and we can begin to see the evil from which were rescued from. Evil that we would have never noticed except that the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ illuminated the evil. When we come into the light, we can clearly see the evil, that is why evil is done in the dark.
John 3:20–21 (NKJV) For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
That brings us to our focal passage today. To put our passage into context, Paul is expounding on the preeminence of Jesus Christ. The verses that follow today’s passage talks about how the universe came into being, that everything was created by Him and through Him and for Him. He is before all things and in Him all thing have their existence.
Considering all that, you have to wonder, why did Jesus save me? Why would Jesus take my sin upon himself and go to the cross for me? To answer that, we have to look, not into who we are, but look at who He is. Little wonder Paul writes about giving thanks:
Colossians 1:12 (NKJV) giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Giving thanks to God. The focus of these verses is the giving of thanks to God. We ought to be giving thanks for our salvation continually. Not only do we have salvation, but look at the little word, “qualified” other translation have “enabled.” God had qualified or enabled us to partake in the inheritance we have with Jesus. We talked about that inheritance last week. We were redeemed to inherit all things, to understand the mysteries of God. We, as the descendants of Adam, we have Adam’s sin nature, but God transforms us into the likeness of Christ so that we will be fit for heaven. John tells us that when we see Him, that is Jesus, we shall be like Him.
1 John 3:2 (NKJV) Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
To be like Jesus is what will make heaven so wonderful. You see the rest of the world, they may say they want to go to heaven, but if the unsaved were to find themselves in heaven, they will be totally and thoroughly miserable, because they are not fit for heaven. They are not fit to receive the inheritance. “the inheritance of the saints in the light” Saints, the holy ones, we who have been made holy, who have been made fit for heaven, are in the light.
We understand the contrast of light and darkness in the Bible: Light is good, darkness is bad or evil. Light is of God, darkness is where Satan dwells and rules. We are in the light as He is in the light.
1 John 1:7 (NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
We as Christian, saved believers in Christ, walk in light. Because we are in the light, the light shines on those things of God, that we can have knowledge of God, knowledge of what is holy.
2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV) For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
I do question people who claim to have knowledge of God, yet their walk is clearly against what is in the word of God. John also talks to that:
1 John 1:6 (NKJV) If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
We have a responsibility as children of God to continue in the light.
Ephesians 5:11 (NKJV) And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
We expose the works of darkness and not live in them. For we have been rescued from darkness.
Colossians 1:13 (NKJV) He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
“Delivered” – other translation use the word “rescue.” We have been rescued from the very powers of darkness. Part of being saved, or redeemed, is what we have been saved from. We understand this in the eternal sense that we have been saved or redeemed from everlasting torment in hell, to be with Jesus for eternity. But also in the temporal sense, we have been rescued and delivered from the evils of this world, the very powers of darkness. Here is the problem; we did not see the evils of the world until God’s light was shined on us.
2 Corinthians 4:3–4 (NKJV) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
The darkness blinds us. That is why we must continue to walk in the light. When we slip back into darkness our spiritual eyes are blinded and we cannot see the evil around us nor see the darkness overtaking us. Here is the thing about being rescued: we could not do it ourselves. It is like those men in the sunken submarine. Someone had to come and rescue them, they could not save themselves.
It’s a little like a drowning man, grabbing his own hair and trying to lift himself out of the water. We could not save ourselves. In fact for most of us, it was not until we heard the gospel and the light was shined on our sins that we even knew we needed saving. And such is the world around us. We have the dead walking around and they do not even know they are dead. And such we were once:
Ephesians 2:1–2 (NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
It is all about Jesus, and what He has done. We did nothing except respond to His call. And we could not do that unless He enable us to do so.
Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV) For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Jesus has delivered us from all that. Moreover, he moved us, transferred us into His kingdom. “conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” We are now part of His kingdom. The scriptures tells us that we will reign with Him. As the Scriptures also tells us that Jesus is coming again. To be part of that kingdom when he returns will be a joyful event. To not be in Jesus’ kingdom at His return will be a fearful event.
And how are transferred into His kingdom?
Colossians 1:14 (NKJV) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. By the redemption we have through His shed blood.
(through His blood, is not in many of the ancient manuscripts but it is included in the parallel passage we read last week in Ephesians 1:7)
Redemption and forgiveness, go hand in hand. Because we have been redeemed, bought with a price, we have given forgiveness. All my sin, past, present, and future, has been forgiven. A ransom was paid, but was not paid to Satan, but to God. Jesus sacrifice on the cross, taking our place, met the holy demands of God’s law. (The wages of sin is death! Romans 6:23a)
By our redemption, we have been rescued from the power of darkness. This was Paul’s mission. The gospel was to:
Acts 26:18 (NKJV) to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.
We were saved and redeemed from the powers of darkness, when we could not even see the dangers, when we were enslaved to sin. We were redeemed from utter destruction to an inheritance more glorious than our wildest dreams.
Psalm 107:2 (NKJV)
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy
Has Jesus redeemed you?
[1] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1212. http://ussnautilus.org/blog/the-sinking-of-uss-squalus-ss-192/ and http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08192.htm and http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-great-rescue-squalus-2/
