In his defense before Agrippa, Paul says that he did not testify anything apart from the things which both the prophets and Moses said were about to take place, “that the Christ would suffer and that He, being the first to rise from the dead, would announce light both to the people and to the Gentiles” (v. 23). Literally, the Greek words rendered “would suffer” mean “was to be subject to suffering.” Furthermore, the Greek words translated, “He, being the first to rise from the dead, would announce” may be rendered, “by the resurrection of the dead He should be the first to announce” or “He being the first to rise from the dead should announce.” In 26:23 Paul says that Christ announced light both to the people and to the Gentiles. The word light here indicates the enlightenment of God, who is light (1 John 1:5), shining in Christ, who is the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5), through the preaching of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4, 6). Here Paul speaks of light instead of life because both the religious people and the Roman politicians were in darkness. Because they were in a dark “cell,” Paul says that Christ, as the first to rise from the dead, announced light both to the people and to the Gentiles.
Acts 26:18 presents the full, complete, perfect, whole gospel, of which Christ is the content: “To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” Here the opening of people’s eyes is the carrying out of the fulfillment of God’s jubilee, the acceptable year of the Lord, proclaimed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 4:18-21 according to God’s New Testament economy. The acceptable year of the Lord in Luke 4:19 is the New Testament age typified by the year of jubilee (Lev. 25:8-17), which is the time when God accepts the returned captives of sin (Isa. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:2) and when the oppressed under the bondage of sin may enjoy the release of God’s salvation. The first item of the spiritual and divine blessings of the New Testament jubilee, which are the blessings of the gospel of God, is to open the eyes of those who are fallen and turn them from darkness to light so that they may see the divine things in the spiritual realm. To see these things requires spiritual sight and divine light.
Many of us have had the experience of listening to certain messages that brought us into darkness and of listening to other messages that brought us into light. We may listen to a sermon given by a particular minister, pastor, or preacher. The more we listen to that sermon, the more we are brought into darkness, and everything becomes opaque. However, we may listen to another message, and the more we listen, the more the divine light shines in us. Day dawns, our eyes are opened, and we begin to see spiritual things. This is the kind of message that opens people’s eyes. If a ministry is living, it must open people’s eyes.
In order to open people’s eyes, we ourselves must have the vision and see the heavenly things. We must see the things concerning Christ, not by being taught but by having Christ appear to us. After we have seen the vision, we need to contact people, telling them that Jesus has appeared to us and that we have seen Him. Saul had his eyes opened; thus, he knew how to open the inner eyes of others. Whether or not our word, our ministry, could open other people’s eyes depends upon how much we have seen and how much we have experienced. Hence, we should pray to the Lord that we do not want to be opaque, that we want our eyes to be opened as they have never been opened before, and that we want to have eyes like the four living creatures in the book of Revelation who have eyes everywhere, without and within (4:6, 8).
Acts 26:18 speaks not only of the opening of the eyes but also of the turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God. To turn from darkness to light is to have a transfer from darkness to light, and to turn from the authority of Satan to God is to be transferred out of the authority of Satan to God. What a great transfer this is!
Darkness is a sign of sin and death; light is a sign of righteousness and life (John 1:4; 8:12). The authority of Satan is Satan’s kingdom (Matt. 12:26), which belongs to darkness. Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2). He has his authority and his angels (Matt. 25:41), who are his subordinates as principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12). Hence, Satan has his kingdom, the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).
According to Acts 26:18, we are transferred from the authority of Satan to God. Actually, to be transferred to God is to be transferred to the authority of God, which is God’s kingdom belonging to light. Formerly we were in darkness and under the authority of Satan. But we have been transferred out of darkness and the authority of Satan into light and God.
Darkness is actually the authority of Satan. Whenever we are in darkness, we are under the satanic authority. Light is God Himself (1 John 1:5). Therefore, when we are in the light, we are in God. Just as Satan and darkness are one, so God and light are one. The greatest transfer we can have is the transfer from darkness to light.