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 4:5-75And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. (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. 28:1212Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. (Ezekiel 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. 8:1414For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 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 16:1515And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. (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. 2:1515That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 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)