Satan's World: June 2015
Table of Contents
Satan’s World
All through the New Testament, we may see two great systems. There is one great system that belongs to the Father, and another that belongs to Satan. God made paradise. Man sinned and got out of it. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and built a city, and Satan’s world began. Then God sent His Son, and they would not have Him, and thus it was a judged world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. You may be tempted by it and have to overcome it, but if you love it, the love of the Father is not in you, because He has got a system of His own, and you are going to the other system. “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
The Father is the head and source and blessedness of a great system to which the world is entirely opposed, and therefore when the Son came into the world, the world rejected Him, and this has put the world in perfect antagonism to the Father. The flesh is against the Spirit, the world is against the Father, and the devil is against the Son. God’s system is for His glory and the honor of His Son; Satan’s system is to replace God and the Son with himself.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
The Origin of Satan’s World
When we consider the expression “world” as it is used in the Word of God, it is clear that at least three distinct meanings are attached to it. It is important to notice from the context just what meaning is intended in each scripture where we find the word.
The Material World
First of all, we have the world as a place — the physical world which God created and in which we live and move. Thus we read in John 1:10, “The world was made by Him,” referring to the material world, as we know it. It is interesting to notice that the Greek word frequently used for “world” in the New Testament, and especially in John’s ministry, is kosmos, which has the connotation of order or beauty. When God created this world and the things in it, He could say “that it was good” (Gen. 1:25). In spite of the ruin sin has brought in, we still today see much in this world that is beautiful and a reflection of the order in which God created it.
The People
Second, we have the world viewed in Scripture as the people in it. Thus we have what is perhaps the most well-known verse in the Bible telling us that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16), referring, of course, to the people in the world, and not to the material world itself. As another example, the Revelation refers to “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world” (Rev. 3:10), referring to the tribulation that will come upon the people in this world.
The World System
Third, we have the world viewed as a system — a vast interconnected arrangement of things such as culture, commerce, pleasure, and even religion, which seeks to cater to man’s needs.
Thus Psalm 17:14 refers to “men of the world, which have their portion in this life.” In the New Testament we find multiple references to the world as a system, such as, “Love not the world. ... If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). It is with this aspect of the world that we are concerned in this article. Where did the so-called world-system start and what are its characteristics, that Scripture has so much to say about it? As always, on any moral and spiritual subject, we find the answer in the Word of God.
The Origin
The world as a system is nothing new; it is almost as old as the presence of mankind in this world. It is true that the world as an organized, coordinated scheme of things has taken on a special significance since the rejection of the Lord Jesus and is spoken of in the New Testament much more than in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, the basic character of this world-system goes all the way back to Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve.
We know the story well, how that Cain and his brother Abel brought offerings unto the Lord. The Lord respected Abel’s offering of a lamb, but rejected Cain’s offering of the fruit of the ground. As a result, Cain murdered his brother Abel and brought upon himself a twofold punishment. First of all, the ground was cursed for his sake, so that it would no longer yield to him its fullness (Gen. 4:12). Second, and more important, Cain was pronounced “a fugitive and a vagabond” in the earth. Cain eventually “went out from the presence of the Lord” and built himself a city; then he and his descendants surrounded themselves with everything possible to make themselves as happy as they could, on a cursed earth and away from God. There are at least four distinct characteristics of the world-system that Cain set up — characteristics that persist today. The culture, commerce, pleasures, and material goods may have changed over the millennia, but the underlying principles remain the same.
No Repentance
First of all, there was no repentance on Cain’s part, either for presenting an unacceptable sacrifice or for murdering his brother. His pride took him to envy, one of the worst of sins, and murder was the outcome. When confronted with this, he made excuses, lied (to God Himself!), and then complained about the severity of his punishment. He was upset about the results of his sin, but there was no repentance for the sin itself. Actually, Cain deserved to die, but as God had not yet instituted either government or capital punishment, this was not carried out.
Out of God’s Presence
Second, Cain definitely and deliberately “went out from the presence of the Lord” (Gen. 4:16). Like those of a later date, he and his family “did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Rom. 1:28). Job could refer to the same kind of people — those who say to God, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways” (Job 21:14). Cain would take all the good that God could do for him, but he wanted to have nothing to do with any knowledge of or intimacy with God.
He Built a City
Third, “he builded a city, and called the name of it after his son, Enoch” (Gen. 4:17). The name Enoch means “dedicated,” and it is evident that Cain dedicated his city to his son, so that all his hopes and ambitions were centered in his family, not in God. There was nothing wrong in itself in building a city, but Cain’s object in doing this was not to glorify God; rather, it was to make a name for himself and for his family. There was no place for God in that city. It is refreshing to notice that a later descendant of Adam, through the family of Seth, was also named Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24). He too was dedicated, but in a right way, for we read that “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24).
Inventions for Happiness
Finally, Cain’s family proceeded to surround themselves with every invention that could minister to their comfort and happiness, while leaving God out. It took several generations for this to come about, but we read that eventually Jabal was “the father of such as dwell in tents, and have cattle” (Gen. 4:20). Then his brother Jubal was “the father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (vs. 21). Finally, Tubal-cain was “an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron” (vs. 22). Cattle ministered to man’s food, brass and iron ministered to man’s commerce, and the harp and organ ministered to man’s pleasure. These things were not wrong in themselves; it was the use to which they were put that was inappropriate.
All of these characteristics of Cain’s world are with us today. Man experiences remorse at the effects of sin, but there is no recognition of the seriousness of sin in God’s sight, and thus no repentance. He still does not want the knowledge of God. Likewise, man’s inventive mind seeks to make this world as comfortable as possible, gratifying his lusts and taking God’s goodness for granted. Doing his own will (which is the very essence of sin) is his code of conduct, while realizing that life must end someday. His core belief is summed up in what was said to me once by a coworker: “We are not here for a long time; just to have a good time!”
As the days grow darker and the world takes on an ever-increasing character of evil, we as believers need to seek grace from the Lord, in order to obey the injunction, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).
W. J. Prost
What Is the World That We Are Not to Love?
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
If we search the Word of God, we shall find that though sometimes the term “world” refers to the earth on which we live, yet it is more often used to denote a certain sphere or state of things here. Though the children of God are obliged to live in it as to their bodies, till death or the coming of the Lord takes them out of it, they no more belong to it, as our blessed Lord tells us, than He does Himself.
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). God tells us in Galatians 1:3-4, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.”
In Luke we find that when Satan tempted the perfect Man, one of the temptations was to offer all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them to the Son of God, if He would only worship him (Luke 4:5-7).
In 1 John 5:19, we are told that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (literally, “in the wicked one”). Our Lord owns Satan as “the prince of this world” in John 14:30, as also in John 12:31. And the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us that “the god of this world [blinds] the minds of them which believe not” the gospel, referring to Satan also. And again in Ephesians 2:1-3, those “dead in trespasses and sins [walk] according to the course of this world” — a course which is “according to the prince of the power of the air [Satan], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience [unbelievers].”
Such is the state of this sphere of things called “the world” that the Spirit says through James that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God,” and he calls those believers who mix with it “adulterers and adulteresses.” The reason is that the motives that govern the walk and ways of the world — “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but of the world,” and they are all going to pass away. But through these things Satan rules over the children of this world. If the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shined into our hearts, is it not most important for us to be thoroughly separate from the world? How can (as we read in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16) righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, the believer and the unbeliever, the temple of God and the temple of idols have fellowship — go along arm in arm — together? Today it is perhaps more difficult to draw the line between the world and the church, or the world and the family of God, because alas, in these last days, the world has gotten into the church and the church into the world.
Friendship with the world and loving the things of the world so deaden the souls of those who try to go on with it that the children of God go to sleep among the dead. They lose spiritual eyesight and power and perhaps have to be awakened by some humbling trial — the needed chastisement of the Father’s hand. They may have to look back on a lot of lost opportunities of serving the blessed Lord and helping souls around them, perhaps even to see how they have been a stumbling-block to others, when they might have been a help.
The world, like a beautiful Delilah, will seek to put us to sleep in its lap as she did Samson, the man separated to God in his day. And then, as with him, it will end in our spiritual eyes being put out and our strength taken away, if we do not learn to overcome the world.
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14).
The Young Christian (adapted)
What the World Is and How a Christian Can Live in It
To the serious and thoughtful Christian, the question often comes up: What is the world? What is it from which we are to keep ourselves unspotted? There are three senses in which the word “world” can be used. Literally, it means the order or system according to which human affairs are managed on the earth. The earth itself is called the world, because it is the platform on which the world-system operates, and the people who live according to this world-system are called the world also. These three may thus be distinguished — the world-space, the world-people, and the world-system. When we read that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, it may be understood that He came into the world-space, and in so doing He necessarily came in contact with the world-system, which hated Him. He said to His disciples, “Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” — that is, you are not under the system governed by it, finding your life in it. He that is a friend to that system is an enemy to God, because it is self-governed, not subject to God.
Society
Man wants society, and the world provides the social system. What a tremendous power the social system possesses to absorb heart and mind! Again, man wants political government, protection of life, property, rights; this necessity the world-system fully meets. And what a complete arrangement there is for what we call business! The working system of the world is perfectly amazing. Men of mere muscle find work; inventive minds have full scope for their “genius”; artistic souls revel in their world of sculpture, painting, music, poetry; students sit and study problems; writers write books; the very lusts and luxury of some furnish means of livelihood to others. It takes all kinds to make a world, men say.
Man is a very complicated creature. A good many different things taken together are needed for most; a little business, a little politics, a little society, a little study, and a little religion. Man is naturally religious, but religion is not godliness, for worshippers of idols are religious. Religion is as much a part of man’s nature as his intellect or memory, and the world-system has a special provision for its necessities, complete in every part. One is very sensitive to tender impressions — has a love for the beautiful; fine music, imposing ceremonies, and religious rites are provided for such a one. Another is free and outspoken in his nature; he must have opportunity to give vent to his feelings unrestrained. Another is cold, reserved, reasoning; a stern orthodoxy just suits him. One of a conscientious, self-depreciating disposition must do penance in some shape or other, and his requirements are also met and provided for, and so on. There are creeds and doctrines and sects for every variety of temperament, for every shade of the fleshly “religious” feeling.
The God of This World
Will it surprise anyone to hear that Satan is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, and manager of this stupendous system? His is the energy, his the presiding genius; he is its prince. When Jesus Christ was on earth, the devil came and offered Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them (Luke 4:5-7), for, said he, “that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it; if Thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be Thine.” Here we have the curtain lifted and the real object of all human religious worship exposed. Scripture describes Satan as “full of wisdom, perfect in beauty,” arraying himself “like an angel of light” (Ezek. 28:12; 2 Cor. 11:14).
No wonder men are deceived and deluded! How few have their eyes opened to see, by the Word of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, what the world really is. Some think they have escaped from the snare of worldliness if they have given up the so-called worldly pleasures and become members of churches or religious associations, not discerning that they are just as much in the world-system as before. Satan, its prince, has merely shifted them from one department to another, to quiet their uneasy consciences and make them better satisfied with themselves.
The Remedy
The question now arises: If these things are so, what is the remedy? The Apostle says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). The Christian’s normal mode of life is being governed by Christ, as a man’s body by his head; where there is health, there is no motion of hand or foot except as the head directs. In just this way Jesus Christ is the Christian’s Head, and he is under His immediate direction in all things small and great. This is how Christianity cuts at the very root of worldliness, for man’s free-will is the foundation principle on which the world-system is constructed. But the principle of the Christian life is dependence on God and obedience to His will. Satan’s great aim is to get up a system for man which will be a perfect substitute for God’s Spirit-leading. This will be his final masterpiece, and this is the prominent feature of the great apostasy fast approaching. Satan openly, and in his own person, will declare himself (through the Antichrist) to be god of this world, a full revelation of what is now hidden in mystery.
The Victory
Surely it is time then for Christians to awake out of sleep and to see to it that they are not in any way associated with a system so fast ripening for judgment. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” Faith does not look at outward circumstances, at what is possible or not possible; faith disregards what seems, and it looks at God. People all about, on every hand, will tell us what it is necessary to do and not to do, here among men, for what suits man is their standard and measure, but the child of God walks right along, paying no attention to what they say, for what suits God is his standard and measure. The one who walks by faith knows that whatever is universally agreed on as the right way must be wrong (Luke 16:15), for that is the broad way.
The Rejection
We who are saved are to be distinct, as taking sides with a rejected Christ, against the world which has crucified Him, and marked as men of a heavenly race, “blameless and harmless, sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). But to live in this way costs something. To shine as lights in the world for God provokes the world’s enmity, but if the life of Jesus is not made manifest in my mortal body, Christ is not discoverable in me.
The Contact
We need to be in contact with the world-system to some degree, but this contact is never to be one of fellowship. Jesus, who was not of this world, suffered and was straitened; the loneliness and tribulation were real to Him, and they will be just as real to us if we follow in His steps. The godly of old, whose report has come down to us that they pleased God, were despised — the offscouring of all things. The Word stands unalterable; all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. There is a narrow way; may we be of the “few” who find it. We are only waiting for the shout to be caught up into the air, to meet our Lord and be forever with Him. What a blessed hope!
J. N. Darby (adapted)
Satan - God and Prince of This World
Right from the beginning of man’s history, it is clear that Satan has been heavily involved with this world and with mankind. He was there very shortly after Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, ready to deceive them and thus bring sin into this world. After that, he was surely instrumental in exciting the lusts of man, thus manipulating him into every kind of evil. After the flood of Noah, he was doubtless somewhat staggered at the power of God unleashed in the flood and the awful judgment it brought upon man. But then, as we read in Romans 1, he introduced false religion and idolatry into the world, all the while standing behind the idols, and using his limited power to deceive man into thinking that it was God’s power. As a result, we read that “God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” (Rom. 1:24), and He also “gave them up unto vile affections” (vs. 26). Finally, we read that “God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (vs. 28), filling the earth once again with every kind of evil. This he did for thousands of years.
The Great Crime
But Satan was not finished yet; there was one more crime that he would instigate, greater than all the others. God knew beforehand all about the sin of man and Satan’s part in it. He had already provided the remedy, and He “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son” (Heb. 1:2). We also read that “when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son” (Gal. 4:4). After thousands of years of sin, God was prepared to magnify His grace and said, as Lord of the vineyard (according to the story in Luke 20), “What shall I do? I will send My beloved Son: it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him” (Luke 20:13). But man, energized by Satan, plotted the arrest, mock trial, and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
Had Satan won? For the moment it appeared so, for the Lord Jesus died and was buried, and the world gloated over its victory. Of course, we know that all this was in the purposes of God, that “through death He [the Lord Jesus] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15). In the very act of trying to get rid of the Son of God, man only fulfilled God’s purposes. We read in Acts 4:27-28, “Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done.” The Lord Jesus rose from the dead and after forty days ascended to heaven. Now “repentance and remission of sins” can be “preached in His name among all nations” (Luke 24:47).
The World’s God and Prince
But what of Satan in all this? Since the rejection of the Lord Jesus by this world, Scripture refers to Satan as both the god and the prince of this world. Three times he is spoken of as the prince of this world, and once as the god of this world. Let us look at these four scriptures.
First of all, we find the Lord’s words when He contemplated the cross, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The Lord Jesus was about to glorify the Father’s name by submitting to all that was before Him, first from the hand of man, and then, during the three hours of darkness, from the hand of God. Our blessed Lord recognized that in rejecting Him, the world had sealed its doom. God could have nothing more to say to it, except in judgment. Together with this, Satan, whom the Lord now recognized as the prince of this world, would be cast out. For the moment Satan might seem to have triumphed, but his doom too was sealed. In a coming day he will first be cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12), then bound in the bottomless pit for the 1000 years of the millennium (Rev. 20:1-3), and finally cast into the lake of fire forever (Rev. 20:10). During this present time he acts in his capacity as the prince of this world politically, but he knows that his days are numbered.
No Control of Him
Second, we read in John 14:30, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” Satan might be the prince of this world, manipulating man by his lusts, as he has done for thousands of years. But there was one Man who came into this world in whom the prince of this world had nothing. Satan found that out during the temptations of the Lord in the wilderness, where none of the things that normally tempt fallen man could tempt the Lord Jesus or make Him leave the path of dependence and obedience. Satan might harass the Lord Jesus and force upon Him all kinds of suffering and humiliation, but still the devil had nothing in Him — no control of Him.
The Prince Judged
Third, we find the Lord Jesus saying in John 16:8,11, “When He [the Comforter] is come, He will reprove the world of ... judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” If Satan has usurped the place belonging to the Lord Jesus and called himself the prince of this world, there is another at work in this world too — the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convinces this world of sin, righteousness and judgment — all because the Lord Jesus is rejected. But the judging of the prince of this world in this passage is not the same thought as in John 12:31. In that scripture, the prince of this world shall be cast out; here in John 16:11, he is judged. It is the moral victory that the Lord Jesus won over Satan at the cross, for although He submitted to suffering and death, He rose again and is now seated at the Father’s right hand. The presence of the Holy Spirit down here is the witness of this, for the Holy Spirit could not come down until the Lord Jesus was glorified (John 7:39). The Holy Spirit is stronger than Satan, for “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Satan has been judged; all his wiles against man and God have been exposed, and he has been defeated.
The Eyes Blinded
Finally, we find in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Religiously, Satan now takes the place as god of this world, for the world has rejected the one true God. The Lord Jesus came in grace to reveal the Father, and the world would not have Him. Now they must suffer the consequences of their choice and have Satan as their god. Awful thought! His work as god of this world is to blind men’s minds, not so much to the fact that man is a lost sinner, although true; rather, he primarily blinds men to the glory of Christ. Since Christ has died, God has proclaimed the gospel, and not merely a gospel of salvation from coming judgment, although true. But something far more glorious has been revealed — God’s purposes in His beloved Son. These were hidden in God until revealed to Paul, who was the instrument chosen of God to announce them. But for the believer, we can be thankful that “God ... hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
We must recognize the position Satan holds today, for he is both the god and the prince of this world for the moment. To be aware of his position and actions is to be on guard, as in the common saying, “Forewarned is forearmed.” But on the other hand, we can rest in the fact that “he hath but a short time” (Rev. 12:12), for the dispensation of God’s grace is almost over, and our Lord’s coming is near. The crown of righteousness will be awarded to those who love, not His coming for us, but His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8). In that day our blessed Lord and Saviour will have His rightful place, and He will claim His place in this world as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev. 19:16).
W. J. Prost
The Friendship of the World
“The friendship of the world is enmity with God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). This verse is a powerful testimony, which judges the walk and searches the heart. The world’s true character has now been manifested, because it has rejected and crucified the Son of God. Man had been already tried without law and under law, but after he had shown himself to be wholly evil without law and had broken the law when he had received it, then God Himself came in grace; He became man in order to bring the love of God home to the heart of man, having taken his nature. It was the final test of man’s heart. He came not to impute sin to them, but to reconcile the world to Himself. But the world would not receive Him, and it has shown that it is under the power of Satan and of darkness. It has seen and hated both Him and His Father.
The world is always the same world: Satan is its prince, and all that is in it — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life — is not of the Father, but of the world. Since the fall, the heart of man, the flesh, has been always at enmity against God. It is often thought and said that since the death of Christ, Satan is no longer the prince of this world, but it was precisely then that he declared himself as its prince, leading on all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, to crucify the Saviour. And although men now bear the name of Christ, the opposition of the world to His authority remains the same.
Christ Dishonored
Only observe and see if the name of Christ is not dishonored. Man may indeed be taught to honor it, but it is nonetheless true that where he finds his enjoyment, where his will is free, he shuts out Christ, lest He should come in and spoil his pleasures. If left alone, he does not think of Him; he does not like to be spoken to of the Saviour; he sees no beauty in Him that he should desire Him. Man likes to do his own will, and he does not want the Lord to come and oppose it; he prefers vanity and pleasures.
We have the true history of the world and its practical principles in Cain. He had slain his brother and was cast out of the presence of God, despairing of grace and refusing to humble himself. However great God’s goodness, man would not be disturbed in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world, nor submit himself to the authority of another; he would have the world for himself, fighting to obtain it, and snatching it from the hands of those who possessed it. Now, it is evident that the friendship of this world is enmity with God. As far as in them lay, they cast God out of the world and drove Him away. Man desires to be great in this world; we know that the world has crucified the Son of God — that it saw no beauty in the One in whom God finds all His delight.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
Overcoming the World
Worldliness is a terrible hindrance to the saint. The world is opposed to the Father, as the flesh opposes the Spirit, and the devil opposes Christ.
The difficulty lies in that we do not maintain nearness to Christ, which allows the world to come in and hinder. Then I am open to all sorts of error, for if I am not near Christ, I will not like to be bothered with correction. It is very troublesome and disagreeable sometimes to have to do with saints; one will not give up this thing, and another that. Then if we ourselves are at a distance from Christ, we shall be ready to give up on our brethren and shall not take the pains to help them get right when they are wrong. So Moses said, when in a wrong spirit, “Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that Thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom?” (Num. 11:12).
Christ in Glory and the Saints
Faith not only sees Christ in the glory, but sees also the connection between the glory of Christ and the saints, and it is that which enables us to go on. So Moses said of Israel, not only that God was their God, but also they are “Thy people.” The real hindrance is the world. The world desires entertainment, and it will be entertained with religion if it cannot get anything else. But what I know of the world’s path, spirit, affections and conduct is that it has crucified my Lord; not in its affections and lusts merely, but by wicked hands it has crucified my Master. Suppose it was but yesterday that you had seen Pontius Pilate the governor, the chief priests and the elders putting Christ to death, would you feel happy today in having fellowship with them? The stain of Christ’s blood is as fresh in God’s sight as if it had been done but yesterday; the time which has elapsed since makes no difference in its moral guilt.
The Power of the World
The question then is, Am I in my heart to get under the power of this world, or am I to overcome it? When Christ was down here, in all the beauty and attractive grace in which God the Father could delight, there was not found in the world one thought or sentiment of common interest or feeling drawing them to Him. The world in all its classes — rulers, priests, Pharisees, and the multitude — have all been associated in hanging the Son of God upon a cross; such is the world’s heart. If I have seen the glory of Christ’s person and see that He is the very Son of God who came down and was turned out by the world, can I be happy with that world? The link between the natural thoughts and affections and the world exists in every heart, so that in all kinds of things, even in walking through the streets, I constantly find that which attracts my eye, and my eye affects my heart.
The World’s Treatment of Christ
Nothing will overcome the world in my heart but the deep consciousness of how it has treated Christ. Take my children, for instance: Do I want them to get on well in the world? Must I have good places for them in it? Nothing but knowing the place Christ had in it will overcome the world in my heart. There is no possibility of getting on with God unless the world is given up and the heart is satisfied with Christ. Christ must be everything.
Abraham
Look at Abraham’s history: He sojourned in a strange country where he had no place to set his foot on. So we are not of the world, and this is the test of our affections, for as we are not at once taken out of the evil, we must have our hearts exercised to godliness. It is very easy to overcome the world when the love of Christ has made it distasteful. Satan is the god of this world. Perhaps you will say, That is true of the heathen world. Yes, but it is also true of much more than the heathen world. Although it was not till after the rejection of Christ that it was brought out, it was true before. God had spoken by His servants the prophets, and the world had beaten one, and stoned another, and killed another; then He said, I will send My beloved Son — maybe they will reverence Him when they see Him. But Him they crucified, thus proving that Satan was the master of man. So the Lord said, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee.” You will not have spiritual discernment or power of motive unless the heart is kept near to Christ. When I am near Him, I do not want the world. If my delight is in that in which God delights, that is Christ, then I can overcome. “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
The “Must I” Question
If I say, Why must I do everything for Christ? that very question proves that I have a heart away from Christ, calling it bondage to do all to the glory of God. It is not that we are to scorn the world in the least way, for God’s grace is for every poor sinner that will receive it. It is the spirit of the world in my own heart which I have to overcome — that by which my heart is in danger of being led away.
The heart that is resting on, looking to, eating, and feeding on Christ gets the consciousness of what the world is, and it overcomes. The Lord keep us in humble dependence on Himself. His grace is sufficient for us; His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
Mingle to Witness
This is the true answer to the question, “How far may we mingle with the world?” As far and as often as we can witness for Jesus. Christ’s mission, as regards His people, was for this sole object: “That He might deliver us from this present evil world.” And therefore in pleading for conformity to the world, we plead for conformity to that, deliverance from which cost nothing less than the death of the Son of God. The practical question for the believer is, Should I have fellowship with that with which He has none? It becomes not only a matter of faithfulness to God, but of love for the souls of others. Let us test everything that the world holds dear by the glory of the coming day of power and glory of Jesus, together with His saints, in whom He will be glorified. With this before us, let our hearts decide whether we are ready to count all as dung, that we may win Christ.
True love for the souls of others will lead to a clear and distinct disavowal of all connection with the world, that the testimony may lead those who are involved in it to see their danger. But the charity, falsely so-called, of the present day is the most murderous principle of Satan, who first deceives and then destroys.
The days are few and evil; the long-suffering of God is waiting still, but we know not for how long. May He give us grace to do His work in the “little while.”
H. Borlase (adapted)
The Prince of This World
When the will and lusts of men, in their hatred against the light and enmity against God, made them responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus, who was it that directed them and concentrated their animosity against that Man? Who was it that induced the haughty indifference and the cruelty of a Pilate, warned and alarmed as he was, to connect himself, for the rejection of the Son of God, with the inconceivable hatred of the leaders of the people filled with jealousy and the empty prejudices of the multitude? Who was it that united them to be copartners in this crime? It was the devil. He is the prince of this world, shown and declared to be such in the death of the Saviour by the hand of man, but judged by that very fact. He who ruled the world, its prince, showed himself such in the death of Him who was the Son of God come in grace. Before and after, he could excite passions, entice men’s lusts, produce wars, stir up the wrongs of one against another, provide for the corrupt desires of the heart, but all this was selfish and partial. But when the Son was there, he could join all together, those who hated and despised each other, against this one object — God manifested in goodness.
The prince of this world is the adversary of God. The moment had not yet come for the judgment of this world, but its judgment was certain, for its prince, he who ruled it entirely, was Satan, the adversary of God, as the cross of Jesus showed it. Now the presence of the Holy Spirit was the proof, not only that this Jesus was recognized of God as His Son, but that, as Son of Man, He was glorified at God’s right hand. In fact, this is the testimony of Peter speaking by the Spirit in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit would not have been in the world, if that had not been the case. The rupture between the world and God was complete and final: a solemn truth not sufficiently considered. The question that God puts to the world is: “Where is My Son? What hast thou done with Him?”
J. N. Darby (adapted)
The Atonement
The whole question of good and evil was brought to an issue at the cross. Man was there in absolute wickedness and hatred against God, who was manifested in goodness and love. Satan was there with his whole power as prince of this world and having the power of death. But man in perfect goodness in Christ was there, in obedience and love to His Father, and this in the place of sin, as made sin, for it was there that the need was for God’s glory and eternal redemption. Finally, God manifested Himself in perfect righteousness, majesty and perfect love, so that all was perfectly settled morally forever. The fruits will be complete only in the new heavens and new earth, though the value of that work is now known to faith, but what is eternal is settled forever by it, for its value is such and cannot change.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
The World
At the creation there was no such thing as “the world” as the Lord spoke of it in the Gospel of John and as John speaks of it in his writings. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” is what we read. But “the world” is a vast system in which every man is bent upon doing the best he can for himself, and God is really unknown: a system which Satan uses to ruin man and to destroy the power of God.
The presence of the Son of God in it brought out the fact that all that was of the world was not of the Father, whom He revealed. He overcame the world, and Satan, who led it against Him, for the first time received definitely the title “the prince of this world.” The judgment of the world was on the rejection of the Son of God — not yet executed, but certain. The presence of the Holy Spirit now convinces the world of sin in one common lump. It is the evidence that the world did not believe on the Son of God, but cast Him out, and He has no more to say to it, and never will till He judges it.
The man, therefore, who believes that “Jesus is the Son of God” (not merely that He is the Son of David or the Christ) overcomes the world (1 John 5:5). The world is that in which the flesh finds its place when the soul is not with God. We find it more than seventy times mentioned in the writings of John. It is that system which comes to light between the first coming of Christ and His appearing, and it is only then used in this moral sense.
Words of Truth (adapted)
Give Me Jesus
Take the world, but give me Jesus;
All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same.
Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Saviour watching o’er me,
I can sing while billows roll.
Take the world but give me Jesus;
Let me view His constant smile;
Then throughout my pilgrim journey
Light will cheer me all the while.
Take the world, but give me Jesus;
In His cross my trust shall be;
Till, with clearer, brighter vision,
Face to face my Lord I’ll see.
F. J. Crosby