¹³ For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Good news is described in Scripture in many different ways. Christians are saved, redeemed, regenerated, forgiven, justified, adopted, sanctified and secured. In our passage today, we are “rescued.” To be distinguished from the more general word, “saved,” the word rescued refers to deliverance from a dire circumstance. In this case, we have been delivered from the “domain of darkness.”

Darkness in Scripture has long been the analogy of life without God. In fact the Scripture, in referring to Jesus says, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5). He came because the world was plunged into spiritual blackness. He is the fulcrum between light and darkness: those who reject Him will be permanently cast into “outer darkness” (Matt 8:12). This is the judgment on all of us. But, God has provided a solution.

That solution is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Sovereign of the universe has “rescued” us out of that spiritual darkness, those who have dared to put the weight of our eternity on Him in faith. He whisked us away to a new kingdom that is not of darkness. This is the kingdom of “His beloved Son.” We are citizens of a new and different country, one that is diametrically distinctive, completely unlike the “domain of darkness.” As one person said, “Once I was blind, but now I see” (John 9:25). It’s the difference between day and night.

However, at just the mention of the Son of God, launches Paul into a brief exaltation of some of the aspects of what this means. First, because we have been rescued, we have also been redeemed. This means God has exchanged something of great value to Him, to obtain that which was of great desire to Him. We have been “purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). He sacrificed His Son, “in whom I am well-pleased” (Matt 17:5) to obtain you and me. Is that not the greatest thing to praise Him for? Scripture provides us words of praise, “Worthy are You … for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9).

Our praise expands because we have “the forgiveness of sins.” Our sin problem is solved—not that we will never again sin or that no one will ever sin against us. But we have been forgiven! All because of God’s love in reaching out to us lost image-bearers.