Season 3 Podcast 147 Be in the World but not of the World
Be in the World but not of the World
Paradox is typical in Christian doctrine because we are pulled between two worlds: The temporal world and the spiritual world, the world of the physical body and the world of the spiritual body, the world of God and the world of Satan, the law of justice and the law of mercy, the world of temporal laws and the world of spiritual laws, the world of Babylon and the world of the New Jerusalem. In the Intercessory Prayer, the Savior makes the following paradoxical statement
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. (John 17: 11, 14-15)
Perhaps there is no greater description of the world as the image of Babylon given by John in the Book of Revelation.
“3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17:3-5)
The saints were told to come out of Babylon:
“4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)
Her economy shall fall:
“11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.” (Revelation 18:11-13)
Babylon will have a violent end:
“21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 23 … for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” (Revelation 18:21, 23)
The question all Christians face is, “How can I be in Babylon but not of Babylon?” Christ recognized that we must live in the world. In the Intercessory Prayer quoted above he said, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.” The only way we can be taken out of the world is in a casket. It was Christ who created the world. It was Christ who created us from the dust of the world. And it was Christ who sent us into the world that we may have a physical body. Obviously it is good for us to be here.
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