John’s first Epistle brings out the contrast of the Father’s heart and the world very distinctly. In it the world is characterized by seven things: in chapter 2:16 it is a
LUSTFUL WORLD.
Man’s eye, ear, and heart are all tainted with the corrupt lusts of the world, which drown men in perdition. Notwithstanding all the learning and refinement abroad, the root of evil is untouched, the bad soil of the human heart producing the noxious weeds of uncleanness, fornication, idolatry, and lasciviousness.
In the second place, in chapter 2:17, we learn that it is a
TRANSIENT WORLD.
Its pleasures are only for a season, its sins have their termination, its hopes are blighted, its ambition disappointed-evanescent, passing, transient is stamped upon it; the feet which trod the earth gaily, soberly, or sadly a century ago, now, for the most part, lie moldering in the cold, silent grave.
Again, we learn (chap. 3:1) that it is an ignorant world. “The world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” Alas, for its boasted intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom; the light (Christ) shining in darkness only discovered how black and deep that darkness was; and it is the same world still, the mystery of godliness has never been unraveled by the wise ones here, for the world by wisdom knew not God, and it is true today that some have not the knowledge of God—this is spoken to their shame.
But not only is man’s mind blinded by the ignorance that is in him, but we learn that he can hate what he does not understand; and so chapter 3:13 reveals it as a hateful world.
It hated Christ when He was on earth; it hates those who are Christ’s now, for no other reason than that the heart of man, which is so dark that it cannot understand God, is so utterly ruined, that it is full of enmity against that which it cannot understand or appreciate, and can hate that which is light and purity, because it is filthy and corrupt; so that the two things which were true of Christ when here, should be true of all believers now; they are a misunderstood people, and a hated people.
In chapter 5:1-4 we learn that it is an anti-christian world.
Evil spirits, making use of the name of Christ, and personating the power of the Holy Ghost, were using men to blaspheme and deny the only true God and His Son Jesus Christ, by introducing a false Christ, and saying He was not a real man; they sought to bring ruin and discredit upon the grand and glorious truths of Christianity, and verse 5 shows us how readily man drank in the poisoned lie of the serpent, and shows us a
DELUDED WORLD.
“The world heareth them;” it had no ear for Christ, no heart for Christ, charm He never so wisely; but Satan’s gilded chains enthrall the minds of his willing captives; and today the world is characterized by the blinding of the God of this world, who has shrouded in deathly deceit the hearts of those that believe not. On the other hand, those who are not of this world but are of God, are those who have heard God’s word, believed that the true Christ of God, the Son of the Father, came from God, and instead of listening to the lie of Satan, “hear us” (ver. 6), that is, the apostles, those whom God used to convey His mind in His word; and as the Lord says, “My sheep hear my voice,” all who have not heard His voice are deluded still by the voices not of God, and, alas! prove that, instead of being children in the Father’s many-mansioned house, they belong to a
SATANIC WORLD,
For “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (chap. 5:19), or in the arms of the “wicked one.” Imagine the darling babe of your bosom enveloped in the coils of a deadly serpent, whose glittering eyes and deadly fangs await in gloating desire the life of its victim, and you have a faint picture of this lustful, transient, ignorant, hateful, anti-christian, deluded, Satanic world, the end of which will be, for all who belong to it, “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power, and the lake of fire which burneth forever and ever.”
We have seen the world in its enmity, ruin, and sin, and as we think of the holiness of God, ice may well exclaim that justice, eternal justice, demands punishment without mercy; but, oh, wonder of wonders! a way has been found by which God can be just, and the Justifier of the believer; and in this action of our God we learn His love, for we read this very world is that which “God so loved, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”—not the elect world, the refined world, the religious world, but this world of sinners of the deepest dye—this world that in itself deserves nothing but righteous indignation and eternal condemnation.
And now notice the contrast between it and the heart of God. In chapter 2 The love has manifested itself in providing a righteous basis upon which it can act, “Grace reigning through righteousness,” not at the expense of it, and so we read of a propitiation, not merely for the Jew, but for the whole world. A Jew understood a mercy-seat; it was a new thing for a Gentile; but the heart of God must take in the whole world—nothing less. So there is a golden seat, upon which blood, precious blood, has been sprinkled, God’s claims have been satisfied, justice, holiness, and all His attributes fully, completely, entirely met. Man sinned—Christ died. Man outraged God—that very God provided a mercy-seat, In chapter 4:9 we read, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his Son into the world, that we might live through him.” Sin had reigned unto death, grace now reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Man had destroyed himself, but God had not changed, and so we find His blessed love delighting itself in conferring upon prodigals, lost and dead,
LIFE ETERNAL.
But the next verse (10) tells us that we are guilty sinners, as well as dead sinners, and so we need an atonement to be made for our guilt. Again God acts, satisfying His own claims, and meeting the sinner’s need. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, bat that he loved us, and sent his Son the propitiation for our sins.” God is holy, we are unholy; none could by any means give to God a ransom for his soul, so God, out of the fullness of His love, provided a PROPITIATION for our sins. Man had sold himself to Satan, departed from God, earned hell and destruction; to save, deliver, rescue him from this, God has provided a Savior (ver. 14), and that Savior is no less than His beloved Son, through whose name is preached the joyful news of a full, free, present, and eternal
SALVATION.
Nay, more, God has not only wrought this salvation, but Christ having taken our place in judgment, we have His place before God, as a present reality, and the result is, boldness in the day of judgment; and in order to assure our hearts, and give us the enjoyment of our place before Himself, being justified by faith, we have peace with God; all the floodgates being removed, God can let in the mighty tide of His love into our souls, and shed abroad that love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, and thus eject fear from our hearts.
Nay, more, in chapter v. we find that one simple act of faith has so connected us with Christ, and all that is Christ’s, that we get victory over the world, as the result of present association with Christ, the victorious Conqueror, and instead of being “of the world,” we are delighted to hear Him tell us “we are of God,” and praise and adore, as we marvel and say, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Beloved, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1, 21Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1‑2).)
It is thus we are entitled to speak who through grace have found our sins atoned for, God’s claims met, eternal life given, peace made, fear ejected, boldness conferred, and victory ours, and that through Christ alone, as the divine channel through which God can righteously bless.
Is my reader a stranger to these things? If so, permit me to direct your earnest, instant, serious gaze to the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and listen to the word of God. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” and be privileged to possess and enjoy eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:2121That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:21)); peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:11Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)); joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1111And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:11)); and a full, final and complete victory over sin, Satan, and death, through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:5757But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57).) H. N.