1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
We need to see the vision of the world as the system arranged systematically by Satan to usurp God’s people from God and His purpose.
We may see the vision of Christ and the church, but if we don’t see the vision of the world, if we are not aware of what the world really is, without our knowing we may be used by Satan to fight against God and what He is after.
If we don’t see the vision of the self Satan may use us to fight against God (as Peter did in Matt. 16), and if we don’t see the vision of the world we may be at enmity with God, using worldly means to do the work of God.
We need the Lord’s mercy to expose the vision of the world to us so that we may see that there’s a spiritual warfare going on today, and Satan systematizes everything and everyone in his world-system to be anti-God and against the building up of the church. It is not easy to see the vision of the world since we are in the world, and the things of the world are all around us.
If we don’t see the world, even though we may desire to have an increase in the church for God, we may use worldly means, entertainment, and advertisements to “gain people for God.” In Genesis we see that Lot had “an increase”, which was produced by incest; the Moabites and the Ammonites produced of him still are the enemy of God’s people.
There is a battle when it comes to preaching the gospel, and if we are to have an impact when we speak the word of God, the gates of Hades will fight against us. May we not be the Pergamos of today, the church married to the world, the church who lost its power and whose word does not move the enemy.
We need to see the vision of the world and realize what the world really is. In the Bible the world refers to material universe created by God, the fallen human race corrupted by Satan, adorning or ornament, and the system set up by Satan to distract God’s people from accomplishing His purpose.
The meaning of the word “world” in this article refers to the system set up by Satan, the adversary of God, to distract, usurp, and corrupt man from living a life for God’s purpose on earth (see 1 John 2:15-17).
The World is an Evil System Arranged Systematically by Satan to Usurp God’s People
The whole world as a satanic system lies in the evil one; not loving such a world is the ground for overcoming the evil one; loving it just a little gives the evil one the ground to defeat and occupy us. Quote from: Witness Lee
What is the world? In the Bible there are a few meanings of the usage of this word, world. In Matt. 25:34; John 17:5; Acts 17:24; Eph. 1:4; and Rev. 13:8 the world refers to the material universe created by God, the heavens and the earth.
In John 1:29; 3:16; and Rom. 5:12 the world denotes the fallen human race which was corrupted and usurped by Satan to be components of his evil world system. In 1 Pet. 3:3 the world refers to adorning, ornaments.
In John 15:19, James 4:4, and 1 John 2:15-17 the world refers to an order, a set for, an orderly arrangement – an ordered system set up by Satan, the adversary of God.
God created man to live on the earth for the fulfillment of His purpose. But His enemy, Satan, in order to usurp the God-created man, formed an anti-God world system on this earth by systematizing men with religion, culture, education, industry, commerce, entertainment, etc., through men’s fallen nature, in their lusts, pleasures, and pursuits, and even in their indulgence in necessities for their living, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation (see note 312 in John 12). The whole of such a satanic system lies in the evil one (5:19). Not loving such a world is the ground for overcoming the evil one. Loving it just a little gives the evil one the ground to defeat and occupy us. (1 John 2:15, footnote 2 on, the world)
God created the heavens and the earth – He didn’t create the world. It was Satan who came in, taking advantage of the fall of man, to corrupt the earth and the things on the earth, and he arranged all things on earth into a system, a kosmos, to serve his purpose.
God created man to live on earth for the fulfillment of His purpose, but His enemy, Satan, came in and took advantage of man’s fall to usurp the man created by God and to form an anti-God world system on earth.
Satan systematized man, the earth, and the things on the earth with things such as religion, culture, education, industry, commerce, entertainment, etc, and he took advantage of man’s lusts, pleasures, and pursuits, and even their indulgence in necessities for their living to create a world system that would usurp them and distract them from God’s purpose.
Things such as food, clothing, housing, shelter, and transportation have been usurped by Satan and made into a system that occupies man, preoccupies man, and distracts man from God. Even such a useful thing as education can be used by the enemy to usurp us and occupy us.
The whole of such a satanic system lies in the evil one – the whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19; Eph. 6:12), and he is free to operate in this system as he wishes. If we love the world even just a little and allow Satan to usurp us with one aspect of the world that fits our natural being, we give Satan the ground to defeat us and occupy us.
But if we do not love the world we overcome the evil one (see Rev. 2:12-13a, 17)! We need to be the young men, the strong ones, those who have God’s word abide in them, so that we would overcome the enemy and not love the world and the things in the world.
May the Lord make us His young men who overcome the evil ones, those who are strong ones for His purpose.
Eventually, the World System will be Fully Anti-God and Anti-Christian; Christ will Return and Bring in the Kingdom of God!
Rev. 11:15 The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.
After Adam and Eve fell, the world system was not that developed but it was still enough to keep them busy away from God. Throughout history there has been a complex and complicated world system being built up by Satan, a system with many aspects, branches, and facets.
Politics, education, literature, science, art, sports, commerce, music, etc are a few of the things that constitute the kosmos, the world system set up by Satan, and many of these things we meet and use daily.
In this “modern age” people are very much busy with celebrity gossip, news, entertainment, games, movies, parties, and technology. All these are being constantly developed and improved, and there’s a constant progress in every department of the world.
Satan is utilizing the material world, the men of the world, and the things that are in the world to eventually head up everything up in the kingdom of Antichrist. Just as God desires to head up all things in Christ, Satan is working behind the scenes in his world system to head up everything in the kingdom of Antichrist, and at that time the whole world will be revealed to be anti-God and anti-Christian (see 2 Thes. 2:3-12)!
The seeming harmless and innocent pursuit of happiness by enjoying so many things in the world today apart from God will culminate in a complete anti-God and anti-Christian attitude, and the whole world will become anti-God and anti-Christian.
However, this is NOT the end; there is another story, and there is another conclusion to what is happening.
God Himself is working also, in spite of Satan’s complex and complicated world-system, to gain a pure bride, the Body of Christ, and eventually Christ with His overcomers will return as a smashing stone and crush the great human image and destroy it; then, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15; Dan. 2:44-45).
The Lord Jesus came to preach the gospel of the kingdom, we repent for the kingdom of God, we become kingdom people, we enthrone Christ as king, we are being delivered from the world and its usurpation by being in the word of God and by loving God, and we will bring in the kingdom of God to this earth to recover the whole earth for God.
Lord, show us the vision of the world. Expose what the world is in its essence. May we see the world as the system created by Satan to usurp man from fulfilling God’s purpose. Lord Jesus, have mercy on us that we may not be people of this world, those systematized and usurped by Satan to accomplish his evil intention. We want to be in Your sanctifying word and love You to the uttermost so that we would be in this world but not of this world. O Lord Jesus, expose any aspect of the usurpation of Satan in our being and our living!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Albert Lim’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 John, msg. 20, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Heavenly Vision, week 5 / msg 5, The Vision of the World.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Give up the world, Christ to obtain, / He is your heart’s very need; / What else can you desire or seek? / All things are empty indeed! / He is so rich, He is so full, / He can fulfill all your needs! / He is so good, He is so sweet, / All your desire He exceeds! (Hymns #1025)
# If I gained the world, but lost the Savior, / Were my life worth living for a day? / Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort / In the things that soon must pass away? (Hymns #1079)
# Don’t let me go; I’m here for You and this You know. / Day by day, Your life within me has to grow. / Though this world is so corrupt, / I can and do love You. (Song on Loving God and not the world)
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