Everyone looks for some level of assurance in life. We want to be secure, in relationships, in community, in acceptance with others.
The starting point for all levels of security should be knowing that God has placed us in His care.
Although we did not know it before we were saved, we have come from what the Bible calls ‘darkness’ into light. We’ve come from being spiritually unaware into a full consciousness of God’s involvement and presence in our lives.
Out of darkness
We are transferred from that unholy place of spiritual darkness into light, where we understand the things of the kingdom of God, the day we accept Jesus as Lord.
Darkness is that place where the unsaved world lives, separated from God through sin. It means that people who do not know or believe that God exists live in a place of spiritual blindness, unaware and unconscious of His presence.
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 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.
1 Corinthians 4:3
That veiling causes the world to see a dim picture of reality. The gospel is strange to them because they cannot understand the things of the kingdom.
The enemy of Christ has obscured their view, mentally as well as spiritually, and the only way out is by being convinced by the Holy Spirit to reverse course and follow God as believers preach the good news (John 16:7-10).
The gospel, the good news, is the power of God onto salvation for those who believe (Rom.1:16). It will convert us from being under the spell of darkness to entering the will of God.
The world cannot see properly into God’s kingdom because its mind has been blinded and the real kingdom of heaven which surrounds us is out of view to their fogged-up life-lens.
Redeemed
This blinding of men’s minds is called the darkness. Its veil is over the eyes of unbelievers. But it can be lifted. If they can open their hearts to the truth of the gospel and allow the Word of God to enter so that they can be saved.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:13-14
Being delivered is being taken from one place to another. It is also called redemption, or being redeemed, which means to regain possession of something in exchange for payment.
The key here is having redemption through the blood of the Son of God, His blood being the price demanded.
Being redeemed means, in this context, to be purchased back from the enemy of God who captured the minds and wills of those who came under his spell. That price was the life, or the blood, of Jesus, who was sent to redeem us. He paid the ransom for our lives–His blood.
This in turn meant that all of our sins were forgiven. We were completely set free from guilt and shame. How do we enter this place of the redeemed? By receiving Jesus as our Saviour, confessing Him as our Lord.
Sealed
As we confessed Jesus as Lord we were sealed, and given the mark that identified us as a believer.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14
That word for ‘sealed’ means the same as being marked with a signet. The guarantee, or downpayment, of the Holy Spirit in our lives identifies us as children of God.
Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22
You see, once we have received Jesus as Lord and Saviour we are delivered out of the power and influence of darkness, the place where satan operates and captures the souls of the lost, and we are conveyed into the kingdom of heaven.
We no longer have to bow to the author of sin and death. Now we are subjects of the Spirit life in Christ Jesus.
We are made free from guilt and shame. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We come under the perfect law of liberty, which is the love of God in the Spirit.
Signed, sealed and delivered. There is our level of assurance. As long as we remain grounded and steadfast in Him we can be immoveable, having the sealed approval and guaranteed hope of salvation, and we belong to the greatest family of all.
