There are five main passages in the NT that are used by those that believe that the kingdom of God is spiritual and in the hearts of men rather than a physical, literal, and future kingdom that shall last one thousand years. These passages are: Luke 17:20-21; Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 4:20; Colossians 1:13; and Revelation 1:9.
I did a couple of sermons on this a while back. If you want a transcript of the entire thing, drop me a PM. Because of the interaction at church, and dividing it into two or three sermons as a result of the interaction, I am going to have to re-record the sermon, so it's not online for me to post a link to yet. You will have to have your Bible or e-Sword or something handy to look up the passages that are in brackets, but, as to the pertinent verse of Colossians 1:13:
Another verse that people use to try to promote this fallacy is [Colossians 1:13; power = authority]. Many have wrongly been led to think that the above passage teaches that the kingdom is not future or literal but rather now and spiritual. Let us break down the verse into two parts and thus cover both clauses:
1. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness…” What does it mean when Paul says that God the Father delivered us from the power of darkness? The word “power” can be translated as authority. An authority is someone or something that we submit to or yield ourselves to in order to obey or follow. Therefore, whoever or whatever we let control and guide our behavior is the authority over our lives. For example, the Roman centurion, in [Matthew 8:9], had soldiers under his authority. That’s the same word in the Greek text. This Roman centurion had soldiers under his authority. Those soldiers listened and obeyed his commands! Therefore, to be under “the power of darkness” means that darkness is controlling your life. It means to be controlled by darkness.
[1 John] The apostle John, in 1 John 1:6, tells us that “walking in darkness” is the opposite of practicing “the truth”. [1 John 1:6] The Apostle John is writing to saved people. Saved people can “walk in darkness”. When John refers to “the truth” it is in reference to future things or “things to come” (specifically “the reward of the inheritance,” that we find in Colossians 3:24) which the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of the truth,” reveals to our understanding.
What is the Spirit of [the] truth? John 16:13 tells us, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of [the] truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” [Ephesians 1:18]
In Colossians, Paul was preaching the truth about “things to come” at the church of Colosse. The message or good news that the saints at Colosse were hearing (the word of the truth of the gospel), we find in [Colossians 1:5; word of the truth]. Paul says “the truth” contains the good news about “the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.” This hope is the inheritance, which is defined for us by comparing it with 1 Peter 1:3-4, which says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (He was raised from the dead, exalted, and given glory, 1 Peter 1:21, and He received His inheritance, Acts 2:33), To [towards] an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.”
The inheritance is in reference to the Kingdom reward, which comes to the earth when Christ comes again in His glory to rule. Those that inherit the kingdom will rule as overcoming sons with Christ in that kingdom. [Matthew 25:31, 34] [Colossians 3:24; “shall receive; future] [Revelation 22:12] [Revelation 21:7; future, active, indicative]
Therefore, to be to be under “the power of darkness” or “walking in darkness” means that you do not live according to “the truth”. It means that although you may come to know about the truth and the reality of future things, you choose rather to live according to your flesh and are “earthly minded”. You live a lifestyle in which you are not at all prepared or even concerned about these future things, such as the judgment seat of Christ, the resurrection, and ruling and reigning with Christ, “in that day”, in His glorious Kingdom at His second coming. You live only for the things of this present world, blinded by its fleshly pleasures, pride, and your own pursuits. You are under the authority of “the rulers of darkness of this world”. I believe these are demons. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “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.”
[Colossians 1] This specific deliverance “from the power of darkness” did not happen to the Colossian saints when they first got saved and became Christians, as is commonly taught. This was a deliverance made possible some time after their initial salvation by teaching and preaching unto them “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. [Colossians 1:27-29]
When Paul writes about “the glory” in [verse 27], it is in reference to the second coming of Christ and His coming kingdom on this earth. Mark 13:26 tells us, “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” Titus 2:13 says, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”
Paul labored in preaching and teaching so that those in the churches would have Christ in them, which is not something mystical, but rather, it is “the hope of glory”. He defines “the hope of glory” in [Colossians 3:4], and that is the message that delivers one from the power of darkness.
God the Father, through Paul’s ministry of the word of the truth, the hope of glory, is now making fit; he’s making ready a group of people to be partakers of the inheritance. [Colossians 1:12-13; qualified=made fit] Notice that Ephesians 5:8 says, “For ye were sometimes darkness (living in the vanity of the mind), but now (delivered from the power of darkness, Colossians 1:13) are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8, which is a companion passage to Colossians 1:12, shows us that deliverance “from the power of darkness” is so we can walk as children of light.
Those that are called “the saints in the light”, in Colossians 1:12, are they that have been delivered from the power of darkness. They were once in darkness but now they are “light in the Lord”. In other words, being “in the light” is the opposite of having ones lifestyle under “the power of darkness.” Paul defines “the light”, in [2 Corinthians 4:6], which is consistent with his writings in Colossians.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is in reference to “the hope of glory”, which is mentioned in Colossians 1:27. It has to do with hope of hearing “well done thou good and faithful servant”. Matthew 25:21, which is part of the parable of the talents, the master says to the faithful servant, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” It was “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” which shined into the hearts of the Colossian Christians, making “the saints in the light”, delivering them from the power of darkness, which formerly had blinded their minds from seeing the light of the truth.
Now, let’s look at the second part of [Colossians 1:13]: “Hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.”
This portion of Colossians 1:13 has resulted in a good deal of confusion. It has caused many to believe that the Kingdom is here now in a spiritual form and all Christians enter into the Kingdom at the point of initial salvation. There can be nothing further from the truth! The Kingdom is not spiritual! Rather, it is literal and it comes at the second coming of Christ. Even the thief on the cross that was next to Jesus understood this reality when he said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”. (Luke 23:42) The kingdom comes when Christ comes again! 2 Timothy 4:1 tells us, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;”
This is also why Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 15:50 that, “flesh and blood (physical bodies) cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. In other words, the Kingdom awaits the future resurrection of the body. It is also recorded that Joseph of Arimathea, “a good and righteous man”, who buried the body of Jesus was someone that “waited for the Kingdom of God”. (Luke 23:50-51; waited – anticipated; imperfect) If the kingdom of God is now, why would Joseph of Arimathea be waiting for it? The literal kingdom reign of Christ is future, not present, and it will last “a thousand years”, as we are told in Revelation 20:6.
[Luke 4:5-6] All the kingdoms of the world are presently under Satan, as we are told in Luke 4:5-6. At the second coming of Christ, they shall be taken over by the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 11:15 says, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever”. Anyone who thinks he is ruling in the kingdom today would be ruling under Satan and not the Lord Jesus Christ.
