In the World Not of It
You can be in an evil world and still walk with God. Let’s look at some examples.
“Enoch walked with God and was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24), Hebrews 11:
5 tells us “by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not
found, because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this
testimony, that he pleased God”. Now we know that by the 6th chapter of Genesis
the Lord Yahweh said “My Spirit shall not always strive with man”; and God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, and it repented the Lord Yahweh,
that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord
Yahweh said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth”
Genesis 6:5-7a). Thank God found Noah. Noah walked with God. Noah was called
a just man and perfect man in his generations. And this even while God looked
upon the earth and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon
the earth. Noah was instructed to make the ark and he preached 120 years trying
to get people to recognize their evil ways and repent and enter the ark, but only 8
souls was saved from the flood (Genesis 6:8-13). Verse 6:22 says “thus did Noah,
according to all that God commanded him, so hid he”. Let’s look at Abram which
later was named Abraham, his father was an idol worshipper, yet when God spoke
to him and said “get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your
father’s house, to a land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And I
will bless them that bless you and course him that curses you, and in you shall all
families of the earth, be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord Yahweh had
spoken to him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy five years old, when
he departed out of Haran” (Genesis 12;1-4). Hebrews 11:8 says “by faith Abraham,
when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance obeyed, and he went out, not knowing where he went”. The key to
these examples, are that they obeyed God and did according to all that God
commanded them.
The Bible tells us how to do this in Galatians 5:16 says “this I say then, walk in the
Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh”; walking in the Spirit is walking
according to the Word of God. We are told in Ephesians to put off the old man
which is corrupt and to be renewed in the spirit of our mind and to put on the new
man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians4:22-
27). The book of Ephesians goes on to say “be you therefore followers of God and
dear children”, “walk as children of light” (5:1 and 5:8). We are called children of
light in the Lord. Light is illumination; the opposite of darkness. The New
Testament presents Jesus as the personification of light or divine illumination.
Jesus said “I am the light of the world, he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus plainly stated that those who
rejected this divine light would bring judgment upon themselves (John 3:19-21) “and
this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil, for every one that does evil, hates
the light, neither comes to the light, less his deeds should be reproved. But he that
does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are
wrought in God”. Throughout the Bible, light represents truth, goodness, and God’s
redemptive work. Darkness on the other hand, symbolizes error, evil, and the works
of satan. You know how when you turn on a light in a dark, filthy room sometimes
bugs will scatter. Well we are called salt and light, our salt and light will change
things around us. Jesus described His disciples as the salt of the earth, urging
them to imitate the usefulness of salt (Matthew 5;13-16) we are told to “let our light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven”. Salt was an important commodity in the ancient world. It was
used for seasoning foods as well as to purify and preserve certain substances. We
as salt and light are left in the world, so we can draw others to the light. Remember
that “God does not even one to perish, but that all men should come the knowledge
of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4).
Study by: Harriet Bond
Date: December 5, 2006