Characterizing the world system; John 15:18.

Title: Characterizing the world system; John 15:18.

 

The transition from the end of 15:17 to this new section is rather abrupt. Throughout vss. 1-17 the focus is on the close fellowship that unites Jesus with the believer. But now the overriding emphasis is on the hostility that will be directed against the disciples as well as all believers after Jesus’ departure.

 

John 15:18 "If the world hates you [and it does], you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

 

The key words are the actions of hate and persecution.

 

The hatred and persecution arise from the world. This is not the physical earth. It refers to an organized system that hates Jesus Christ.

 

 “world” - ko,smoj[kosmos] = an organized system of thought, institutions, and people developed by the creature genius of satan.x

 

It includes everything from religion, to systems of government, political thought, and concepts of life. But the world is first of all an organised system of thought. Secondly, the world is a system of organizations, all of which are outside the framework of the divine institutions like international organizations, religious organizations, and so on. Thirdly, the world is a category of people the unbelievers, e.g. John 17. The word kosmos describes all of these—a system of thought, an organisational system, and a type of person.

 

 “hates” - mise,w[miseo; present active indicative] = malicious and unjustifiable feelings towards another, to despise, or to detest. It is the opposite of love.

 

This is a very intense word.

As it applies to Christ, “hated” is in the perfect tense, meaning that the world system has hated Christ from the first advent and will continue to do so throughout all generations.

 

Ex: Millennium. Hated right until the end of history.

 

REV 20:9

And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

 

Jesus then gives encouragement in entreating us to not take such hatred personal.

 

John 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

 

 “you know” - ginw,skw[ginosko; present active indicative] = to learn to know or to come to know that the world system has hated Christ first.

 

Christ was the target in the angelic conflict before the Church Age began. It hated Christ from Genesis 3:15 until His resurrection, ascension and session.

 

GEN 3:15

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel."

 

Satan’s seed became legalism, religion, progressivism, liberalism, socialism, etc. with their thought content and the people involved.

 

Now Christ is gone and every believer is still on the earth, and this verse is saying, then, that in the intensified stage of the angelic conflict you are a target, always will be a target, there never will be a time when you are not a target. The enmity of satan’s seed is pointed right at you.

 

Jesus Christ has left us the word, GHS, election, predestination, hope, love, and happiness so that we don’t fall apart under the pressure, but rather overcome it through Him.

 

You are a target for intense hatred and it is not just people hating you. Remember that it is a system that hates you, a type of thought. That system is religionism, legalism, and it despises you. So the first reason that the world hates the believer is because the cosmic system hates Christ and we are related to Him.

 

The promise to the overcomers are in Rev 2-3 where the escrow blessings are revealed and the overcomer enters into the abundance of his inheritance.

 

The world is filled with propaganda - information put out by an organization to promote a policy, idea, or cause.

 

1 Tim 4:1

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

 

This conundrum is the result of the fall. God did not create the earth as an evil and deceitful place.

 

Jesus Christ created the earth:

 ISA 45:8

"Drip down, O heavens, from above,

And let the clouds pour down righteousness;

Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit,

And righteousness spring up with it.

I, the Lord, have created it.

 

He gave control of it to mankind:

GEN 1:28

And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

 

Man lost control of it after the fall:

GEN 3:7

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

 

Before the fall they had all the wisdom and power and innocence to make any attempt by satan to get control futile. But after the fall they are so weak that they can’t even bare their own nakedness. They felt exposed, unprotected, and frail and anyone in that condition can be easily ruled. And the human race has been ruled ever since.

 

Sin, evil, and spiritual death are the basis for satan’s rule. So Christ came into the world to enlighten it and save the people in it.

 

John 1:9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

 

In contrast to satan’s kingdom, Christ has a kingdom on this earth, a spiritual kingdom in which His light is projected through the Church.

 

Matt 16:18

upon this rock [Himself] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

 

The Church remains here as the body of Christ in order to represent Christ. Only the Church can provide the base for any client nation so that the Gospel can be freely taught in the world.

 

So then, it is extremely important that the individual believer overcome the world through positional truth and experiential growth in doctrine.

 

Christ has overcome the world, John 16:33, so that believers can overcome the world, 1 John 5:4,5.

 

John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

 

1 John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

 

1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.

 

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

 

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world —  our faith.

 

1 John 5:5 And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

You know that you have overcome the world when the commands of God are not burdensome but enjoyable through divine virtue love.

 

Therefore the importance of mental attitude based on Bible doctrine …

 

Prov 23:7

For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

 

Phil 2:5

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

 

2 Tim 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

 

 

2 Cor 10:4

for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

 

2 Cor 10:5

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

 

1 Cor 2:16

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

ISA 26:3-4

 "The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace,

Because he trusts in Thee.

"Trust in the Lord forever,

For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.

 

Phil 4:7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Reversionism is characterized by friendship with the world, James 4:4.

 

James 4:1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

 

James 4:2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

 

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

 

There is nothing wrong with pleasure. This refers to inordinate pleasure seeking which does mental, verbal, or physical violence to those in its path.

 

Ironically, when people aggressively pursue pleasure in this way they lose the ability to enjoy the simple pleasures in life, which in the CWL there are thousands of these every day that pass right under the unsuspecting noses of the pleasure seekers.

 

I wrote that last line a few hours before I found an article from the American Journal of Psychiatry (Jan 2003)

 

Dopamine, Little explains, triggers the actions required to repeat previous pleasures. It's not only involved in drug users' "high" -- it helps drive us to eat, work, feel emotions, and reproduce. Normally, when something pleasurable happens, dopamine neurons pump the chemical into the gaps between themselves and related brain cells. Dopamine finds its way to receptors on neighboring cells, triggering signals that help set off pathways to different feelings or sensations.

Then, the dopamine is normally brought back into its home cell, entering through a gateway in the membrane called a transporter. While our brain waits for another pleasurable stimulus -- a good meal, a smile from a friend, a kiss -- dopamine lies waiting inside the neuron, sequestered in tiny packets called vesicles. VMAT2 acts as a pump to pull returning dopamine into vesicles.

When it comes time for another dopamine release, the vesicles merge with the cell membrane, dumping their contents into the gap, or synapse, and the pleasure signaling process begins again.

 

This is the normal function of pleasure that God has graciously given to every person. The article continues:

 

When first taken, cocaine has a disruptive effect on the brain's dopamine system: It blocks the transporters that return dopamine to its home cell once its signaling job is done. With nowhere to go, dopamine builds up in the synapse and keeps binding with other cells' receptors, sending pleasure signals over and over again. This helps cause the intense "high" cocaine users feel.

 

Since the dopamine system helps us recognize pleasurable experiences and seek to repeat them, cocaine's long-term dopamine effects likely contribute to the craving addicts feel, and the decreased motivation, stunted emotion and uncomfortable withdrawal they face.

 

The study went on to say that the over stimulation over a significant time damages and destroys the dopamine neurons.

 

Outside of this extreme case the pleasure seeker has a lot of the same habits. If a person is willing to quarrel, conflict, hate and even murder in order to gain what they want it means that they are not satisfied with the normal pleasures of life. That becomes a serious condition and one that doctrine corrects.