01.04. Chapter IV - THE WORLD AND SEPARATION FROM IT
Chapter IV - THE WORLD AND SEPARATION FROM IT The world which we shall speak about in this lesson is not our material or created world but the world order and system which Satan has built up on this material earth. In the Greek language, in which the New Testament was originally written, there are three different words used which are all translated "world" in our King James English Bible. They are (1) "aion" which means "an age, time, dispensation," (2) "kosmos," meaning "order, form, fashion, arrangement," (3) "oikoumene" meaning "the habitable earth or land." The majority of the verses in our Bible which speak of the world have reference to the world order and system which man under Satan has built upon earth - "kosmos." It is this world system which the Christian is called to walk in separation from.
Satan, its Prince and God In John 12:31; John 14:30 the Lord spoke of Satan as "the prince of this world" (kosmos) and in Ephesians 2:2 we are told that "in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." The course and order of the world system we are surrounded by is after Satan who is its’ ruler and the prince of the evil powers of the air that work in the unsaved.
2 Corinthians 4:4 speaks of Satan as "the god of this world" or "this age" (aion), and in Galatians 1:4 we read of "this present evil world" (aion) or "age." Because Satan is its head and god and has built up its great system and orders its course, it is an evil world or age which we live in. "The whole world lies in the wicked one," John tells us (1 John 5:19, New Trans.). The Character of the World System In 1 John 2:15-17 we are told: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world [kosmos]. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the World. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever."
Here we have clearly set forth the character of all that is in the world which Satan has built up. Every thing in it appeals to one or the other of the three lusts of fallen man’s evil nature - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the pride of life. When Satan tempted Eve and Christ, he appealed to these three lusts in his temptations (see Genesis 3:6; Matthew 4:1-10). Eve responded and sinned but Satan found in Christ no response to his temptations, for there was no sinful nature in Him. The things in the world system are not of God our Father and will pass away. They appeal to our evil nature, which we saw in our last talk we are to reckon ourselves as dead with Christ, therefore the Christian must walk in separation from Satan’s evil world and all its enticement if he would have a happy and victorious Christian life. The things of this world system, which Satan would get us occupied and taken up with, are temporal, for time, and will pass away. "The world languisheth and fadeth away" (Isaiah 24:4), "but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." The new nature, which the Christian is to walk after, does not love Satan’s evil world; it loves God the Father and seeks to please Him, and since the world is not of the Father, but after Satan, the Christian with a divine nature does not desire to walk after the things of this evil world and cannot be happy in any fellowship with it, therefore the apostle says, "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." A true Christian is not characterized by love for the world. The World Crucified Christ When the Lord Jesus came into the world He had created, the world (kosmos) knew Him not (John 1:10). Later Jew and Gentile, religious and irreligious, united together in rejecting and crucifying Him. The title which was put upon His cross was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, the languages of the religious world, the learned world and the political world of that day. Thus the whole world system united in rejecting their Creator and crucifying Him. In speaking of the wisdom of God in 1 Corinthians 2:7-8, the apostle says, "Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Thus the princes of this world are spoken of as ignorant of Christ, the wisdom of God, and as those who crucified Him. In John 15:18-25 the Lord speaks of the world hating Himself, His Father and His own without a cause. This attitude of the world towards Christ and God is still the same. It has never repented of the terrible crime of crucifying Christ, therefore this world system is stained with the blood of God’s beloved Son, and the Christian who loves the Lord must walk in separation from it if he would be true to His rejected Savior. The Cross Separates us from the World
Since the world gave Christ the cross of rejection and crucifixion, how then can the Christian love or be one with this evil world system that has Satan as its god and prince and hates Christ and His Father and His people? Friendship with such a world is enmity with God as James 4:4 tells us - "whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.". The apostle Paul said that by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world was crucified unto him and he unto it (Galatians 6:14). The cross of Christ should stand as an impassable and immovable barrier between the world and the Christian - as that which forever separates him from it. The Christian is not of the World In John 15:19 the Lord. tells us, "because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." The Lord has chosen us out of this world system, and in saving our souls He "delivered us from the power of darkness," from Satan’s kingdom of this evil world, and "translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1:13). Our citizenship and associations of life are in heaven (Php 3:20; Rev. Ver.). The Christian thus belongs to a different world and kingdom of which Christ is the center and circumference and is therefore not of this present evil world system. The Christian is in the world but not of it.He is like a ship in the water. The ship is made for the water and to be useful in it, but if the water gets in the ship it will soon sink. So with a Christian; he is to be useful to the Lord and precious souls in the world, but the world which he is in must not get into his heart so that he becomes part of it, if it does, he will make shipwreck of the faith (1 Timothy 1:19). So the Lord prayed in John 17:15-16 : "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." The Lord’s desire and prayer for His own is that they may be kept from the evil of the world system, that they might truly and practically be "not of the world." May we, then, dear Christian reader, keep ourselves "un spotted from the world" (James 1:27) in answer to our Lord’s desire and prayer. A Separate People The Lord would thus have His people separated unto Himself and walking apart from this evil world which crucified Him and hates both Himself and His Father. This is the way the new nature of the believer would go and the way the indwelling Spirit would lead us. This is a vital essential of the Christian life and no child of God can prosper in his soul or really enjoy Christ and his heavenly inheritance if he is not walking in practical separation from the spirit and course of this present evil world.
God’s people throughout the Bible, in every age, were called upon to be a separated people unto the Lord. The following Scriptures emphasize this: Exodus 33:16 ; Leviticus 20:24; Ezra 10:11; Nehemiah 9:2. "Ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine" (Leviticus 20:26), is a typical example of God’s call to His people of old, and to us today, to walk in separation from the world and those who are not His. No Unequal Yokes with Unbelievers
If one would walk in separation from the world, one cannot be unequally yoked with those who are unbelievers and thus part of Satan’s system. 2 Corinthians 6:14 gives us definite instructions as to this: "Be ye not un equally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" When two are yoked together they are to pull and work together as one. But how can a Christian walk together with an unbeliever? They are as different as light and darkness. To be yoked together thus is an unequal and unhappy yoke. Therefore, any business, religious or marriage yoke of Christians with unbelievers is an unequal yoke with the world and is to be shunned because it is very detrimental and harmful to one’s Christian life and testimony. Many believers have not heeded the above instruction and have found out to their great sorrow how such unequal yokes have made them to suffer and hindered them in their Christian life.
Watch Your Companionships
What leads to unequal yokes with the world is the first step of companionship with the world, with the unsaved. Therefore, it is most important that Christians be very careful as to whom they have companionship with. The Psalmist said, "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts" (Psalms 119:63). Make the Lord Jesus your chief companion and all those that love and fear Him and keep His word your friends and companions. We are affected by the company we keep. "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners" (1 Corinthians 15:33). "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed" (Proverbs 13:20). If a believer has companionship with those who are of the world and love its evil course, he will soon be worldly minded and mixed up with the world system himself.
Having considered what has been presented in this lesson, we trust the reader will see that separation in every way from this present, evil world system is a vital essential of the Christian life and that one cannot en joy the abundant life in Christ if friendship with the world is practiced. Separation from the world should be the natural result of communion with Christ and walking in the Spirit and after the new nature. Devotedness to the Savior and the enjoyment of Himself is the spring and power for separation from the world. May we know more of it in living power.