The Enigma of the World (2)

 

 

After posting yesterday’s reflection, I was reading Psalm 121 and thought I ought to connect it to John 17:15, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”

 

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). As you may know, “from evil” can also be translated “from the evil one.” Considering that Jesus has just faced Satan, the evil one, in the Wilderness (Matthew 4:1 – 11), this may make sense, plus there are grammatical reasons for it…or not. In any event, since evil comes from the “evil one” Matthew 6:13 has us praying along with Jesus in John 17:15.

 

As we saw in the previous reflection, Jesus promises to keep us, which takes us to Psalm 121 (ESV):

 

 A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.

    From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the LORD,

    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;

    he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is your keeper;

    the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;

    he will keep your life.

8 The LORD will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time forth and forevermore.

 

I prefer the ESV for this psalm for its consistent use of the word “keep” in translation, if you compare it to other translations you’ll see what I mean. I strongly believe that if the original text uses a word repetitiously that we ought to be true to the text, Biblical emphasis should take precedence over our English convention of not repeating the same word.

 

In verse 4 we see that God keeps Israel, God keeps His People; He kept ancient Israel when Psalm 121 was written, and He keeps the New Covenant Israel (Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11 – 22) today. One of the messages of the book of Revelation is God’s protection of the Church through tribulation, with the background motif of Israel in Egypt and the Wilderness, Revelation portrays a victorious People in Christ who overcome by the “blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, not loving their lives even when faced with death” (Rev. 12:11). God does not keep us by removing us from the world but rather keeps us in Christ as we live in the world and overcome evil and the evil one.

 

“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

 

“We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

 

We must not minimize the distinction between the Kingdom of God and the world, we must not ignore the gulf between light and darkness, good and evil, life and death.

 

Notice that in Psalm 121:3 and 4 that our God is ever watchful over us, He never slumbers or sleeps; when we must sleep, He watches over us; we are always and forever in His tender loving and almighty care.

 

In 121:7 we see that our Father keeps us from “all evil” and that He will keep our soul.

 

(Here the ESV uses “life” but in this verse I much prefer the other option “soul.” I think it better captures the essence of who we are, going beyond physical life into the core of our being.)

 

We can connect 121:7 with Matthew 6:13 and John 17:15, being assured that our Good Shepherd will walk with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, comforting us and preparing a Table (His body and blood) before us in the presence of our enemies, anointing our heads with oil, and giving us overflowing cups (Psalm 23).

 

We can be confident that God will keep us from “all evil,” and that our souls are secure in Him; that no matter what may happen to our bodies, that our souls are safe in Christ and that we have eternal bodies waiting for us…glorious beyond our comprehension (2 Cor. 5:1 – 10).

 

If we consider the context of John 17:15, we will remember that shortly after Jesus prays that we will be kept from the evil one, that Jesus will be betrayed, arrested, tortured, mocked, abandoned, and crucified – yet though all of this the Father not only kept Him from the evil one, but Christ Jesus defeated the evil one through His obedience and sacrifice.

 

This, my friends, is our calling in Christ. We see this calling throughout the Old and New Testaments, we see our participation in the sufferings of Jesus Christ for His glory, for our koinonia with Him, and for the salvation of others. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. We behold this calling throughout the book of Revelation where the saints experience an ironic and irenic victory through suffering, even unto death. This has been our testimony through the ages, beginning with Abel (Hebrews 11:4). Let us not be so foolish as to follow a different gospel that would spare us the Cross of Christ.

 

We may have supreme and unwavering confidence that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will keep us, they will keep our souls; our future is sure and certain in God, He protects us from the evil one, He keeps our souls.

 

Now, let us live for God and others.

 

The Enigma of the World

 

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14 – 16).

 

“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).

 

Since in previous reflections we’ve explored our relationship with the world, including the world’s opposition to Christ and to us (see especially our consideration of John 15:18 – 16:4), we won’t retrace our steps. However, there is an enigma, a distinction, and a calling that we want to recognize in John 17:13 – 23.

 

Twice Jesus says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” What do the words “even as I” convey to us?

 

We are to love “even as” Jesus loves (John 13:34). Jesus sends us “even as” the Father sent Him (20:21). We are to be one “even as” the Father and Son are one (17:21). The Father loves us “even as” He loves the Son (17:23).

 

If we are truly “not of the world,” as Jesus is not of the world; if our origin and source of life, if our destiny and purpose is not of the world, just as it is with Jesus, then why are we preoccupied with the politics, economics, entertainments, values, priorities, and approval of the world? How have we gotten so side-tracked and distracted from the things of our Father, from our mission to the people of the world?

 

We are, after all, citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), and our Lord Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world…My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36). When we consider that Jesus is speaking to the Roman Empire in the person of Pontius Pilate, we ought to wonder why we don’t speak this same thing to the governments and political parties of our own time. Why don’t we make it clear to our generation that the Church of Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ, the People of Christ, are not of this world?

 

How is it that masses of Christians in our own country give themselves to agendas that are not of the Kingdom of God? How is that we have abandoned our calling in Christ to seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God? (Colossians 3:1 – 4), turning our attention and affection to the world…whether those things appear “good” or “bad”? When we do this, are we not eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as opposed to the Tree of Life (Jesus Christ)?

 

On another note, Jesus says, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one” (17:15).

 

We are here on mission, our calling is to complete the mission, not to abandon it. We are here to grow up into Christ, to fully express Christ, and to bring the Gospel to humanity. We are here to participate in the Stone cut without hands filling all the earth (Daniel 2).  We are not here to escape hardship, persecution, trial, or tribulation. We are not here to be snatched away. We are here to overcome in Jesus Christ, for His glory and the glory of our Father; for the salvation of others. We are not to be taken out of the world, but to be protected from the evil one, and we can trust our God that we shall indeed be protected as we are kept in the Father’s Name (John 17:12; 6:39; 10:27 – 30).

 

Something is amiss when we focus on self-preservation and not laying down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16), our thinking and practice are awry when we are not giving ourselves so that those who believe in Jesus will not perish, but have enteral life (John 3:16).

 

Our calling in Christ is to grow up as the sons and daughters of our Father, it is to grow up into Christ as a Mature Man (Ephesians 4:14 – 16; Colossians 1:24 - 29), we are to be overcomers in Christ (see the overcomer passages of Revelation chapters 2 3, and Revelation 21:7), we are to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the koinonia of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Phil. 3:10).

 

While Jesus says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16) mission to the world is embedded in John 17. This can be an enigma until we see this passage in the eyes of the Holy Spirit. It can be confusing until we see the clear distinction Jesus is making, when He says that we are in the world but we are not “of the world.” We are traveling as aliens, as strangers in a strange land (Hebrews 11:8 – 16), but we are not simply “passing through,” we are on mission to the world, proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed, living as the Presence of Christ.

 

We’ll close this reflection with a hymn by Palmer Hartsough, I learned this as a lad and I still sing it:

 

 

I AM RESOLVED

 

I am resolved no longer to linger,

Charmed by the world’s delight,

Things that are higher, things that are nobler,

These have allured my sight.

 

Refrain:

I will hasten to Him,

Hasten so glad and free;

Jesus, greatest, highest,

I will come to Thee.

 

I am resolved to go to the Savior,

Leaving my sin and strife;

He is the true One, He is the just One,

He hath the words of life.

 

I am resolved to follow the Savior,

Faithful and true each day;

Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,

He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom,

Leaving the paths of sin;

Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,

Still will I enter in.

 

I am resolved, and who will go with me?

Come, friends, without delay;

Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,

We’ll walk the heav’nly way.