In the beginning was light, life, and love.
The Father loved the Son in the joy of the Holy Spirit (John 17:24).
Through the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them (Genesis 1:1–2; John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16).
He made man to have dominion and to rule the earth (Genesis 1:26–28).
Then God made a helper suitable for the man (Genesis 2:18–22).
God looked upon His creation and declared it very good (Genesis 1:31).
But now, when we look at the world, we see darkness, death, and disconnection. What happened?
In the heavens, a guardian cherub named Lucifer was beautiful (Ezekiel 28:12–17).
Because of his beauty, he became proud and sought to elevate himself above God (Isaiah 14:12–15).
So God threw him to the earth (Ezekiel 28:17).
Lucifer then incited the man, whom God had made in the image of God, to turn from light, life, and love—by orchestrating a relational crisis that provoked the man to willful disobedience (Genesis 3:1–6; 1 Timothy 2:14).
What do you get when you turn from light? Darkness.
From life? Death.
From love? Disconnection.
No longer walking with a loving Father (Genesis 3:8), mankind had aligned itself with the enemy of God (John 8:44).
Since we are servant or slave to the one we obey, man was now enslaved to sin under the dominion of darkness.
Since that moment of willful disobedience, all people have been born into slavery to sin, under the dominion of darkness (Colossians 1:13; Romans 5:12; Ephesians 2:1–3).
The kingdom of darkness blinds minds and enslaves hearts (2 Corinthians 4:4; John 10:10).
But the kingdom of light, ruled by the Son whom God loves, advances with truth, grace, and power (John 1:4–5; Luke 4:18–19).
This is not a battle of flesh and blood, but of spiritual dominion (Ephesians 6:12).
But what does love do when it sees the beloved trapped in a pit of darkness, death, and disconnection?
Love says:
Beloved, your pit will be my pit. Your death will be my death. Your disconnection will be my disconnection. (Philippians 2:5–8; Isaiah 53:4–6)
With wisdom and understanding, God lavished His grace on us and sent the Son whom He loves as light to the world overcoming darkness and to pay the ransom to redeem us from slavery to sin and captivity to darkness (John 3:16; Mark 10:45).
That ransom price was the blood and death of a sinless man (1 Peter 1:18–19; Hebrews 9:14).
Jesus came as a man, lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), was falsely condemned under both religious and civil authority, died an excruciating death on a Roman cross (Matthew 27:33–50), and was buried (Matthew 27:57–60). After three days and nights in the tomb, He was raised to life (Luke 24:6–7; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
The cross was not just a rescue—it was a victory.
At the cross, Jesus disarmed the powers of darkness and declared the reign of the true King (Colossians 2:15; Revelation 1:5).
Now we can be justified (made “just as if we had not sinned”) and declared righteous (Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21), (Able to stand in God’s presence without fear of condemnation (Romans 8:1).)
We can be rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves—
We can be adopted as God’s children (Galatians 4:4–7), made members of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19), and made citizens of His kingdom (Philippians 3:20).
We can be saved from the judgment due God’s enemies, the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (John 5:24; Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41).
Do you want to be made just as if you had not sinned and be declared righteous, able to stand in God’s presence without fear of condemnation?
Do you want to be adopted as God’s child—made a member of His household and citizen of His kingdom?
Do you want to be saved from the judgment of eternal fire prepared for God’s enemies, the devil and his angels?
We are justified (made just as if we had not sinned and declared righteous, able to stand in God’s presence without fear of condemnation) by believing that God raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 10:9).
We are rescued from the dominion of darkness and spared from the judgment, eternal exile, and wrath of God reserved for His enemies by becoming members of His household, citizens of His kingdom. We become members of God’s household and citizens of His kingdom by confessing Jesus as our Lord. If you truly make Jesus your Lord, you will obey His command. His command is “love one another, walk in love”. (Romans 5:9; Matthew 25:41; Colossians 1:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Luke 17:21; 2John 1:6).
We are given the right to become children of God if we receive Jesus and believe in his name. That is, we believe Jesus is the Son of God, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him, he came in the flesh as a man to destroy the works of the devil. (John 1:12; John 1; Matthew 28:18; 1John 3:8).