By T. Austin-Sparks
An Exodus Accomplished
Reading: Luke 9:27-36; 2 Pet. 1:16-18; John 18:33-37; Col. 1:13.
"There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God."
"My kingdom is not of this world."
"...who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love."
"Behold, there talked with him two men, who were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."
It is not fresh knowledge to you that that word translated 'decease' in the Revised Version, elsewhere 'departure ' or' death', is really the word 'exodus' - "spake of his exodus which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem". So the Cross is spoken of here as an exodus, which is simply a way or a going out, and the word itself, of course, immediately carries us back to a book which goes by that name, and records the going out of the people of Israel from Egypt. What the exodus was to Israel, the Cross was to the Lord Jesus and is for us - a way and a going out, but a going out through a definitely prescribed door, and that door the door of death. That was the only way out for Israel - through the door of death. It was the only way out for the Lord Jesus, and it is the only way out for us.
But that can be put in another way. The door of death was and is the way out! The Apostle, in the passage in Col. 1:13 completes it and says it is also the way in. "...who delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love". And in that connection, the presence of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration is particularly significant, for Moses and Elijah were two men in the Old Testament who knew, one, the way out and the other, the way in; the exodus and the translation, and they were there to speak with Him about this; that His death was the way out, but it was also the way in. It was an escape from one scene and condition, and a translation into another.
But we must give due heed to another word here - "the exodus that he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem". Another word for that is 'achieve'. It was not just a going out, that the door was opened and He went through; not at all. It was an achievement, an accomplishment; and, if we want some little idea of what that meant, look at the exodus of Israel again and see whether it was an accomplishment. Did they just walk out through a door that was opened? Not at all. There was an immense amount to be accomplished achieved, to get them out through that door.
And the type is only a very faint shadow of what the Cross of the Lord Jesus meant in the matter of something to be accomplished, a way out to be accomplished, achieved, a mighty work to be done. "Who delivered..." - it is upon the meaning of that word that we are going to dwell, I think, quite a lot. The deliverance of souls. "...who delivered us out of the authority of darkness". That is the one side. The other side - "and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love", - but that will await some further consideration.
Satan's Rights Destroyed
"Who delivered". What a tremendous amount there is in that word, what a history! We shall see that eighty years of the life of Moses were taken up by God with the formation of one who could deliver; deliverance is such a tremendous thing. "Who delivered us out of the authority" - the word 'power' is in our version, but it is that word which means authority or right, and here it has a double meaning. It refers to the person. You notice that it is translated in the plural in Eph. 6:12 - "Our wrestling is... against the principalities, against the powers..." - the same word, 'authorities'. These are personal things. They are entities in a certain position. The authority of darkness is firstly a person, of whom Pharaoh is but a faint type.
