it is of God

It is of God that Christ becomes ours,that we are brought to him, and are united to him. It is of God that we receive faith to close with him, that we may have an interest in him. Eph. ii. 8. " For by grace ye are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." It is of God that we actually receive all the benefits that Christ has purchased. It is God that pardons and justifies, and delivers from going down to hell; and into his favour the redeemed are received, when they are justified. So it is God that delivers from the dominion of sin, cleanses us from our filthiness, and changes us from our deformity. It is of God that the redeemed receive all their true excellency, wisdom, and holiness;

true excellency, wisdom, and holiness;

a must!!

i hope everyone who comes to this blog, will click on this one. click here
i really feel stupid for ever getting down on my self after reading his blog, us humans can be so self centered. yet some one like nick with what would seem a world of problems has gotten it together. man, what a wake up call to get going for the Lord, there sure is nothing holding anyone back other then ourselves!!!

τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ

Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

we will note right off the bat that he is going to contrast the light of verse 12, with the powers of darkness. also we can see in the verse the contrast of the powers of darkness, or kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of his dear son or powers of the light.

the powers of darkness - Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. - note, the darkness is of this world and with it comes powers, and spiritual wickedness. eph 6:11 says Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
the powers, and darkness of this world and this spiritual wickedness can all be traced back to the devil. lets take a look at him.

Devil - Eze 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Eze 28:16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Eze 28:19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isa 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

this is not just any other person, he was a very great creation of the Lord until iniquity was found in him. and now he has been cast down to the ground - Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
let us not be ignorant of his ways but let us now take hope in our text -

we have been delivered out of this dark kingdom, translated into the kingdom of the Son. Jesus Christ delivered us by taking our sins to the cross, he then translated us at the time of our regeneration into his kingdom.
i see in this a picture of the rapture -
TRANSLA'TED, pp. Conveyed from one place to another; removed to heaven without dying; rendered into another language.
delivered out of this world and "raptured or translated" into the
kingdom of his dear Son. Amen Amen!!

one last note - of his dear son or, τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ
......................................................of the Son of His love.........
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
Heb 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Heb 1:6 And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
Heb 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Heb 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Amen!