God Rescued Us

God Rescued Us In order to understand that God rescued us, we first should know how we got in a position to need rescuing. The roots of mankind’s dilemma stem back to the time of Genesis 1:28 when God originally gave man rulership, dominion and authority over this world. Man was placed in this world as the ruler and caretaker. But when sin entered the earthly realm, due to man’s disobedience to God, man lost his authority, dominion, rulership. The devil, who was handed the rulership in man’s fall, offered to give it to Jesus Christ in the temptation as recorded in Luke 4 . The devil said to Jesus Christ in Luke 4:6, “. . .for that [power and glory of the kingdoms of this world] is delivered unto me.” Therefore, unto this very day the world in which you and I live is Satan’s realm. We live in the realm which is under Satan’s rulership. According to Ephesians 2:1 all people are born in this world “. . .dead in trespasses and sins” and (verse 12) “. . .having no hope, and without God. . . .” Being in such a dire state, we definitely needed rescuing. Colossians 1:13: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of [by] his dear Son. The word “delivered” is more emphatically translated “rescued.” God in Christ “rescued us.” Notice that this verb is in the past tense. Therefore, God no longer needs to rescue us; He has already done so. The word “from” is the Greek word ek meaning “out of ” or “out from the center” (as of a circle). What did He rescue us out of or out from among? “The power of darkness.” This world, which is darkness and is under the dominion of the devil, is that which God has rescued us out from among. He rescued us out of this world even while we are still dwelling here. That God could do this is one of the greatest of miracles. The word “power” in the above verse (“from the power of darkness”) is the Greek word exousia from which English derives the word “exercise.” He has delivered us from the exercised pow