Identifying the cosmic system, part 16 John 15:19; 1John 3:8-10; 5:18-19.

Title: Identifying the cosmic system, part 16 John 15:19; 1John 3:8-10; 5:18-19.

 

 

The body and the soul are neutral while the natures are not. The body and soul of the believer can be under the influence or either nature and never both or neither of them.

 

An unbeliever cannot be neutral in this sense since he only has one nature. His only hope is under the laws of divine establishment, which is not a nature, but a law that keeps his old nature corralled so to speak.

 

To begin with, "the old nature" is not the body or the soul. The body itself is neutral as is the soul: they can be used either by the old sinful nature or by the new divine nature.

 

ROM 6:12 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts,

 

ROM 6:13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those [who are] alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God".

 

The tongue is especially useful for one or the other.

 

There are only two Adams and both of them live in every believer; 1 Cor 15:45: So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The Last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

 

1 John 2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.

 

1 John 2:14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

 

1 John 3:8 the one who practices [does or commits] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

 

1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

1 John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of [from] God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

 

Poneros refers to his character while diabolos refers to his person as a liar and deceiver and both his person and character built the cosmic system.  

 

Only the child of God can practice righteousness and have divine love for his fellow believer, but this is not the criteria for being a believer. This is the evidence that one is a believer, but not all believers have these virtues. I can walk into a home and smell cookies and I conclude there is a tray with warm cookies on it somewhere. If I don’t smell cookies can I conclude that there are none in the house?

 

1 John 5:18 We know that no one [divine nature] who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God [Jesus Christ] keeps him and the evil one [poneros] does not touch him.

 

Such a wonderful connection is drawn here by John. Our divine nature was born from God. The humanity of Christ was born from God. Christ did not sin and gave Himself as a substitute for all of our sins, which satisfied the justice of the Father so that He could impute to us at salvation a new nature that cannot sin.

 

This Christ, our Savior, our King, our Lord, our Master, our Husband, our Head, our Prince Ruler, then gives to us, as a legacy, protection from the cosmos and the evil all around us. It can’t even touch us if we live in the legacy that He left to us.

 

“keeps” thre,w[tereo] = to guard, to protect, to watch over, or to preserve. What protects the believer is the LPOG [legacy plan of God], which is a wall of fire to the cosmos diabolicus.

 

“Touch” is a word that means to cause relatively light physical or mental harm. In the legacy plan of God, the poneros can’t even do that. 

 

Remember His last word from the cross? That is the legacy, the doctrine, the impersonal love, the plan that He Himself lived in which He was able to remain sinless, and now to you, the believer in Christ is given a divine nature that cannot sin and such a nature that is in the very likeness of His nature, not just like His, but in the likeness of His.

 

ROM 6:3

For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,

 

It is the plan of God that protects the believer to the extent that the evil of the cosmos cannot do even light harm. TLJC was protected by the same plan. Outside the plan of God for my life I am exposed and human viewpoint and false doctrines will do harm to my soul.

 

1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one [poneros].

 

There is no word for power here. When the translators add it, it takes away from the true meaning. “The whole world lies in the evil one.”

 

As the believer is “in Christ” so the unbeliever is “in the evil one.”

 

I repeat: It is the plan of God that protects the believer to the extent that the evil of the cosmos cannot do even light harm. TLJC was protected by the same plan.

 

Notice how our Lord asks for this in His final prayer:

 

John 17:11 "And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.

 

John 17:12 "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

 

John 17:13 "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.

 

John 17:14 "I have given them Thy word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

 

John 17:15 "I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.

 

And so we come to the last chapter in our study of the cosmos. The world has only one end and that is judgment by God.

 

A cosmos which crucifies its Redeemer, hates those who are redeemed as it hates the Savior (John 15:18-19), and loves darkness rather than light, will hardly delude or outwit the Almighty.

 

No attempt will be made to salvage anything out of it when its day of demolition arrives.

 

Yet mankind is without excuse. A person cannot stand before God and blame the system he was born into for his unbelief and be justified. For 1000 years a very large number of people are going to live without a kosmic system, during the Millennial reign of Christ. Not only will many of them reject Him but they will gather for war against Him.

 

In fact, that is all the world understands when it comes to preserving a kingdom, war.

 

All “wars and fightings” among men are only a natural result of the evil qualities of this great federation.

 

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?

 

Jesus said to Pilate:

 

John 18:36

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.

 

It is a noticeable fact that the governments of the world depend upon physical power and a display of armament to maintain their position and authority, and the superior law of love is not adapted to, or understood by, the elements that make up the cosmos.

 

The cosmos has its property, which is really not its own, but has been allowed for a time to use it as such by God. Wealth is a myth. I may have a million dollars, but what if tomorrow the dollar is worth a thousandth of a cent. Now I have 10 dollars.

 

Gold, silver, stones, rare objects, land, work etc. are all worth what another person is willing to pay to get them. Yet God has allowed financial systems to continue on. In whatever society and time in history a believer finds himself there are always things of value.

 

Since the world system establishes the market place (in 1780 a regular work horse cost ,000 because of the war) the value of these goods and services are often referred to as the world's goods.

 

All earthly property is of the satanic order, which property the believer may use, but must not abuse:

 

1 John 3:17

But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

 

Mark 4:18-19

"And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

 

James 2:5

Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

 

Interestingly we don't have a genitive here which would be rendered the poor of the world but a dative article. Robertson describes it as an ethical dative of interest and translates it "as to the world." Vincent's New Testament Word Studies also translates this "to the world."

 

The point is that we do not have here just the poor in terms of wealth but in terms of all things that cosmos has to offer.

 

"did not God choose the poor as to the world [kosmos] to be rich in faith [faith in doctrine] and heirs to the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him."

 

Poor to the world is to be poor as regards to the cosmos which stands in contrast to those who are rich as to the world, who could be very poor financially, but have invested heavily in the cosmic system.

 

True, all unbelievers are in the cosmic system, but not all invest in it as heavily as others. Lingering doubts about what the system promises are open opportunities for the gospel. Believer's who do not get a direct dose of sound doctrine may come to have lingering doubts about religion or other parts of the kosmos and what it promises, however their hearts have open opportunities for the deliverance of sound doctrine as so we keep right on teaching doctrine.

 

With that in mind you will read 1Cor 1:26-29 like you never have before:

 

1 Cor 1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

 

This is wise,, mighty, and noble according to or in the place of [kata with the accusative] the flesh or OSN. These are also wise, strong, and approved towards the kosmic system.

 

1 Cor 1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

 

1 Cor 1:28 and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are,

 

So, this doesn't mean that God chose all the dummies, weaklings, and worthless people that exist in the world but rather He chose those who were like this in regards to the world system.

 

If a person never doubted the promises of the kosmic system then why would he believe the gospel?

 

1 Cor 1:29 that no man should boast before God.

 

This poverty is most honorable and should be the estate of every Christian.

 

And so we let the word of God state the end of the kosmos:

 

2 Thess 1:7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,

 

2 Thess 1:8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

 

2 Thess 1:9 And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

 

2 Thess 1:10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed —  for our testimony to you was believed.

 

REV 19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army.

 

REV 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

 

REV 19:21 And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

 

ISA 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom,

With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah,

This One who is majestic in His apparel,

Marching in the greatness of His strength?

"It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

 

This is no doubt TLJC. He is walking away from His first touch down on earth which inaugurates His first battle.

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Fittingly, He lands where the people of the conflict started in Abraham’s tent, for Edom is the land of the descendants of Esau and is adjacent to the wilderness of Paran where Ishmael settled, in fact, Esau married the daughter of Ishmael.

 

ISA 63:2 Why is Your apparel red,

And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?

 

ISA 63:3 "I have trodden the wine trough alone,

And from the peoples there was no man with Me.

I also trod them in My anger,

And trampled them in My wrath;

And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments,

And I stained all My raiment.

 

ISA 63:4 "For the day of vengeance was in My heart,

And My year of redemption has come.

 

ISA 63:5 "And I looked, and there was no one to help,

And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold;

So My own arm brought salvation to Me;

And My wrath upheld Me.

 

ISA 63:6 "And I trod down the peoples in My anger,

And made them drunk in My wrath,

And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."

 

ISA 34:1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!

Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.

 

ISA 34:2 For the Lord's indignation is against all the nations,

And His wrath against all their armies;

He has utterly destroyed them,

He has given them over to slaughter.

 

ISA 34:3 So their slain will be thrown out,

And their corpses will give off their stench,

And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

ISA 34:4 And all the host of heaven will wear away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or as one withers from the fig tree.

 

ISA 34:5 For My sword is satiated in heaven,

Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom,

And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.

 

ISA 34:6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,

It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

 

ISA 34:7 Wild oxen shall also fall with them,

And young bulls with strong ones;

Thus their land shall be soaked with blood,

And their dust become greasy with fat.

 

DAN 2:44

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.