1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world
nor the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world,
love for the Father
is not in him;
Because all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes
and the vainglory of life,
is not of the Father
but is of the world.
And the world is passing away,
and its lust,
but he who does the will of God
abides forever.
The Greek word for world
in 1 John 2:15-17 and James 4:4
denotes an order, a set form, an orderly arrangement,
hence, an ordered system
(set up by Satan, the adversary of God),
not the earth;
the world is
an evil system
arranged systematically by Satan:
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.
The whole of such 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.
Satan is utilizing
the material world, the men of the world, and the things
that are in the world
to eventually head everything up
in the kingdom of Antichrist;
at that hour
the world system
will have reached its zenith,
and at that hour
every unit of it
will be revealed
to be anti-Christian;
eventually, the kingdom of this world
will become “the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ”.
All the things on the earth,
especially those related to mankind,
and all the things in the air
have been systematized by Satan
into his kingdom of darkness
to occupy people and frustrate them
from accomplishing the purpose of God
and to distract them
from the enjoyment of God;
the world is Satan’s mask
that he uses to deceive us and cheat us.
The world is against God the Father,
and the things in the world
are against the will of God;
the world is against God,
and those who love the world
are enemies of God.
“If anyone loves the world,
love for the Father is not in him”
(1 John 2:15);
ultimately, when we touch
the things of the world,
the question we must ask ourselves always
is, “How is this thing affecting
my relationship with the Father?”
This evil system, the kingdom of darkness,
was judged
when its ruler, Satan,
was cast out
by the Lord’s being crucified in the flesh.
Galatians 6:14 reveals
that the world has been crucified to us
and we to the world;
this has taken place not directly
but through Christ,
who was crucified;
verse 15 proves
that the world here
is mainly the religious world.
After leaving God’s presence,
Cain constructed a city
for his protection and self-existence;
within this city
he produced a worldly culture without God:
In the garden
God was everything to man
—his protection, maintenance, supply, and amusement;
when man lost God,
he lost everything.
Man’s loss of God
forced man to invent a worldly human culture,
the main elements of which
were cities for existence,
cattle-raising for making a living,
music for amusement,
and weapons for defense.
The godless culture invented in Genesis 4
will continue to develop
until it climaxes in the great Babylon.
The book of Exodus
reveals that God desires to rescue His chosen people
from every form of usurpation and preoccupation in the world
so that they may have nothing besides God Himself :
To be saved
is to be brought to a place
where there is nothing but God.
In the wilderness,
especially at Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God,
God was His chosen people’s center,
their purpose, their life, their home, and their everything.
God’s intention
in giving His chosen people
a revelation of
the true nature, meaning, and issue of life in Egypt (the world)
is to cause His people to hate
and become disgusted with Egypt,
to leave Egypt behind,
and to be separated to God
for His dwelling place :
The plague of the water becoming blood
throughout the whole land of Egypt
portrays that the nature and result of life in the world
with its entertainment and amusement
is death.
The plague of frogs
portrays that life in the world
is a life of nuisance and unending trouble.
The plague of the dust
becoming lice throughout all the land of Egypt
portrays that the source of the supply of our living in the world
eventually becomes a great discomfort
and a cause of extreme irritation.
The plague of swarms of flies
portrays that the moral atmosphere of the world
has been polluted,
having been filled with
all manner of unclean and evil things.
The plague of a grievous pestilence
that came upon all the Egyptian livestock
portrays that the means of transportation
and the way of eating in the world
are judged by God
and that His righteous judgment
deals with the implications of a sinful situation.
The plague of the ashes
becoming fine dust
to cause boils to break forth upon man
and beast
portrays that anything remaining of our fallen human life
must be dealt with by God.
The plague of hail mingled with fire
damaging the produce of the earth
portrays that if we are stubborn or rebellious,
our relationship with God
is destroyed,
and He alters
the spiritual function of the rain
by sending hail upon our spirit
and fire with the hail
to cause severe damage.
The plague of the wind
bringing in locusts
portrays that Satan eats up
the supply of man’s life and of everything related to man
as he lives in the world
under God’s condemnation.
The plague of thick darkness over all the land of Egypt
portrays that the worldly life outside of God’s presence
is filled with terrible darkness.
The plague of God’s judgment upon all the firstborn in Egypt
portrays that everything
that is related to Adam, the first man as the firstborn,
is condemned by God.
It is only by receiving a revelation
of the nature, significance, and result
of life in the world
and a revelation
of God’s attitude toward such a life
that we can truly become detached from the world
and hate the worldly life :
To God,
worldliness is worse than sinfulness;
sinfulness is against God’s righteousness,
whereas worldliness is against God’s holiness,
which is higher than His righteousness.
If we have a detailed vision of the world,
we shall know God’s attitude toward it,
and we shall spontaneously cease to love it.
If we would be God’s dwelling place on the earth,
we must know the world in a thorough way,
and the element of the world
must be purged out of our being.
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Prophecy note, 21 September 2014
Loving the world
constitutes God’s lover
an enemy of God.
Cain left the presence of God
and went his own way.
The first thing he did
was to build a city.
He produced a culture without God.
In the Bible
the concept of a city
is very significant,
and it is possible
to trace a line of cities
throughout the Scriptures,
beginning with
Enoch, a city built by Cain,
and ending with
the New Jerusalem, a city built by God.
The city constructed by Cain
will consummate in the Great Babylon.
The city of Enoch
was a counterfeit of God’s building.
It was not of God
but was initiated
by Satan within Cain.
Human culture developed
because humanity had lost God.
Originally, God, the Creator of man,
was everything to man.
In the garden,
man had no need to do anything
except to till the ground
to cooperate with God.
God was everything to man
in the garden.
However, when man lost God,
he lost everything.
He lost
protection, safeguard, maintenance,
supply, and amusement.
This loss of God
forced him
to invent human culture.
Because man had lost everything,
he had to invent something.
Jubal invented music.
In fact, the very name Jubal means
“jubilee” or “a joyful sound” or “music.”
Music is
a type of amusement
which makes people joyful.
Why does man need
such amusement?
Because he has lost God
as his joy.
God is man’s true enjoyment.
Why do people attend the movies
and go dancing?
Because they are empty.
They do not have God
as their joy.
The reason
we do not attend the movies
is not because
the church has
a regulation against it.
The church does not have
a list of commandments
against such things.
However, although there is
no such prohibition,
we would not attend a movie
even if someone paid us
thousands of dollars to do it.
We have something better.
We are filled with Christ,
and we have no capacity
for anything else.
God created man
to live on the earth
for the fulfillment of His purpose.
The whole of
the satanic system
lies in the evil one.
Loving it just a little
gives the evil one
the ground
to defeat us and occupy us.
Not loving such a world
is the ground
for overcoming the evil one.
To do the will of God
is to practice the will of God
habitually and continually,
not merely occasionally.
The world, its lust, and those
who love the world
are passing away.
But God, His will, and those
who do His will
abide forever.
The world has been crucified to us
and we to the world.
This has taken place not directly
but through Christ,
who was crucified.
By the cross
we are separated
from the religious world
and are thus qualified
to live in the new creation.
Day 6
James 4:4
Adulteresses,
do you not know
that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God?
Therefore whoever determines
to be a friend of the world
is constituted an enemy of God.
Rom. 9:17
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh,
“For this very thing
I have raised you up,
that I might show in you My power,
and that My name
might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
If we did not have
the first fourteen chapters of Exodus,
I do not believe
we could know the world thoroughly
or clearly see God’s attitude toward the world.
Pharaoh was unique in that he was not subdued.
He was not even subdued
when the firstborn were slain.
This is proved by the fact
that he later pursued the children of Israel.
God used Pharaoh to educate
the Egyptians, the children of Israel,
and His people throughout the generations.
The church people today
need to learn from these chapters in Exodus
the nature, significance, and result
of the life of the world
and God’s attitude toward such a life.
Only by receiving such a revelation
can we truly hate the worldly life.
Many Christians today
hate sin,
but not very many
hate the world.
We may be very careful
about losing our temper,
but we may be extremely careless
in guarding our hearts
from loving the world.
To lose our temper
is sinful,
but to love the world
is to be an enemy of God.
To God,
worldliness is worse than sinfulness.
Sinfulness is against God’s righteousness,
whereas worldliness is against God’s holiness,
which is higher than His righteousness.
How we need the education
afforded us by the book of Exodus!
It is through the early chapters in this book
that we come to see
how God hates worldliness.
If we have been educated by these chapters,
we shall hate
not only sin
but worldliness also.
If we have seen
the blood, the frogs, the lice, the pestilence,
the boils, the hail, the locusts, and the darkness,
we shall not need anyone to exhort us
not to love the world.
Spontaneously we shall see
that the things of the world
are not lovable,
and we shall automatically stop
loving the world.
Do you love things
such as frogs, lice, flies,
pestilence, locusts, and darkness?
Certainly not!
Only when you see
into the true nature of the things of the world
will you stop loving them.
We thank the Lord
for Pharaoh and his stubbornness.
In Romans 9
Paul presents the case of Pharaoh
as an example.
Because Pharaoh would not be subdued,
God sent one plague after another
upon the Egyptians.
In each plague
there is a lesson for us.
If we are deeply impressed
with the significance of the plagues,
we shall become detached from the world
and come to hate the life of the world.
In the first plague
there was blood,
and in the ninth,
darkness.
Both blood and darkness
signify death.
Hence, the plagues
went from death to death.
The life of the world
is altogether a matter of death.
Egypt is a type of the world.
If we have a detailed vision of the world,
we shall know God’s attitude toward it,
and we shall spontaneously cease to love it.
If we would be God’s dwelling place on earth,
we must know the world in a thorough way,
and the element of the world
must be purged out of our being.
Only through being separated from the world
can we become God’s dwelling place.
In God’s redemption
we are
not only saved from sin and from God’s judgment
but also separated from the world.
According to Galatians 1:4,
Christ gave Himself for our sins
in order to deliver us from this present evil age.
Full redemption thus includes
both the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea.
After the children of Israel
had been redeemed out of Egypt,
God brought them to Mount Horeb,
where they received the revelation
concerning God’s dwelling place.
The book of Exodus,
therefore, gives us
a clear view
both of the world
and of God’s dwelling place.
This is God’s judgment on the world
as unfolded in the book of Exodus.
Day 5
In the fourth conflict with Pharaoh,
the Lord smote all the borders of Egypt with frogs.
Frogs came up
from the waters of the rivers, the streams, and the ponds.
By coming upon Pharaoh, all his servants, and all the Egyptians,
the frogs destroyed
the enjoyment of the comfortable Egyptian living.
How troublesome these frogs were!
By sending the plague of the frogs upon the Egyptians,
the Lord wanted the Egyptians to realize
that their life in Egypt
was not really a life of enjoyment
but a life of trouble.
The Egyptians did not realize
that, in the eyes of God,
all their enjoyments were “frogs.”
In principle,
we may experience the same thing today.
Throughout the course of my life,
I have gathered many things
that turned out to be “frogs.”
At first,
I enjoyed these things.
But one by one,
they became “frogs.”
The frogs in Egypt
did not kill anyone,
but they were a nuisance to everyone.
They were everywhere.
The plague of the frogs
unveils the nature of the water in Egypt,
whereas the plague of the lice
unveils the nature of the dust in Egypt.
The dust becoming lice
indicates that the source
of the supply of our living in the world
eventually becomes a cause of irritation.
Although water and dust were created for us by God,
they have been taken over by Satan
and used for his own evil purpose.
The universe was not only created by God
but also arranged and ordained by Him
to meet the need of man.
Therefore, God has ordained
certain principles or laws
to govern the function of the universe.
In the seventh plague
God changed the principle
related to the functions of rain.
The rain no longer watered the earth
for the production of life,
but became hail
to damage the life on earth.
Instead of quenching people’s thirst,
it killed them.
Exodus 9:23 says
that as the hail was coming down,
fire ran along above the ground.
Furthermore, the fire
was even mingled with the hail.
Hence, two extremes
were mingled together as an indication
that God had changed
the function of the universe.
It is possible to apply this plague
to our own spiritual experience.
If our relationship with God is proper,
He sends the spiritual rain upon us
to water the garden in our spirit
and to quench our thirst.
But if we are stubborn or rebellious against the Lord,
our relationship with Him is destroyed,
and He alters the spiritual function of the rain
by sending hail upon our spirit
and fire with the hail.
This change of spiritual function
causes severe damage.
The plagues caused damage
to human living conditions in Egypt.
The blood ruined the water,
and the frogs disturbed the Egyptians’ peace and comfort.
In the plagues of the lice and the flies,
the soil and the air were damaged.
After the flies
came the pestilence,
and then the plague of the boils
that broke forth with blisters.
The plague of hail
damaged the environment,
and the locusts
devoured all
that remained after the severe damage
caused by the hail.
Finally, the plague of darkness
made it impossible for anyone to move.
But even after these nine plagues had passed,
Pharaoh still was not subdued,
although the entire environment
related to human living in Egypt
had been damaged.
In 12:30
we are told
that among the Egyptians
there was “no house
where there was not someone dead.”
By this last plague
Pharaoh was subdued
to such an extent
he was willing to let all Israel go,
not only with their little ones,
but also with their flocks and herds.
He and all the Egyptians
actually drove the children of Israel
out of Egypt.
Day 4
The book of Exodus
reveals that God desires to rescue His people
from everything other than Himself,
that He wants to deliver them from everything
that is not God.
After the exodus from Egypt,
God’s people saw a heavenly vision
by which they came to know God Himself
and, in addition, to know the kind of living
that is in accordance with God.
Then they could be built up
as God’s dwelling place on earth.
God longs to rescue His chosen people
from every form of usurpation and preoccupation
so that they may have nothing besides God Himself.
After the children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt
and had passed through the Red Sea,
they came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God.
There at the mountain of God
the people God had chosen
could be alone with Him.
When the children of Israel came to Mount Horeb,
God was
their center, their purpose, their business, and their very life.
He was even their home.
God was everything to them.
In the wilderness,
especially at the mountain of God, Mount Horeb,
the children of Israel
had nothing but God.
To be saved
is to be brought to a place
where there is nothing but God.
Although the New Testament speaks a great deal about the world,
even telling us
that the whole world lies in the evil one,
it does not present a clear picture
of what the world is.
For this,
we must come to the book of Exodus.
If we read chapters 5 through 12 in a proper way,
we shall see a series of vivid pictures
portraying the nature and meaning
of the life of the world.
Not only were the ten plagues
a warning and a punishment to the Egyptians,
but they were also
a revelation, an unveiling, to God’s people.
By means of these plagues,
the children of Israel must have come to see
the actual situation of Egyptian living.
As a result of these plagues,
they must have come to loathe their living in Egypt.
God wanted the life in Egypt to be exposed
so that His people would hate it
and want to flee from it.
Therefore, God’s purpose in sending the ten plagues
was not only to warn the Egyptians and to punish them.
It was also to show His own people
what the world was.
On the negative side,
the book of Exodus unveils the world.
On the positive side,
it reveals God’s dwelling place.
Firstly,
the true nature, meaning, and issue of life in Egypt
are exposed to God’s people.
God’s intention in giving this revelation
is to cause His people to become disgusted with Egypt,
to leave Egypt behind,
and to be separated to God
for His dwelling place.
The principle is the same today.
If we have not been separated from the world,
we cannot become God’s dwelling place.
For the building up of His dwelling place,
we must see the world
as it really is.
Furthermore,
we must loathe the world’s way of living
and be willing to forsake it.
God’s intention in sending the plagues
was not only to punish the Egyptians;
it was also to expose the Egyptian living.
Like the Egyptians in the book of Exodus,
the people in the world today
have no understanding of the actual situation
of life in the world.
The worldly people
have all been drugged.
Under the influence of Satan’s drugging,
they are happy with their life in the world.
They have no realization
of what it is to live without God in the world.
In their experience,
the water of the world
needs to be turned into blood.
Then they will know
the nature of life in the world
and the result of living in the world.
The nature of life in the world
is death,
and the result of living in the world
is also death.
Day 3
After leaving God’s presence,
Cain constructed a city
for his protection and self-existence.
Within this city
he produced a culture without God.
In the garden
God was everything to man
—his protection, maintenance, supply, and amusement.
When man lost God,
he lost everything.
Man’s loss of God
forced man to invent human culture,
the main elements of which
were cities for existence,
cattle-raising for making a living,
music for amusement,
and weapons for defense.
The godless culture invented in Genesis 4
will continue to develop
until it climaxes in the great Babylon.
Cain left the presence of God
and went his own way.
The first thing he did
was to build a city.
He produced a culture without God.
In the Bible
the concept of a city
is very significant,
and it is possible
to trace a line of cities throughout the Scriptures,
beginning with Enoch, a city built by Cain,
and ending with the New Jerusalem, a city built by God.
The city constructed by Cain
will consummate in the Great Babylon.
The city of Enoch
was a counterfeit of God’s building.
It was not of God
but was initiated by Satan within Cain.
Human culture developed
because humanity had lost God.
Originally, God, the Creator of man,
was everything to man.
God was
man’s protection, maintenance, supply,
joy, amusement, and defense.
In the garden,
man had no need to do anything
except to till the ground
to cooperate with God.
God was everything to man
in the garden.
However, when man lost God,
he lost everything.
He lost
protection, safeguard, maintenance, supply, and amusement.
This loss of God
forced him to invent human culture.
Because man had lost everything,
he had to invent something.
Satan, working from within Cain,
suggested to him
that he build a city.
Perhaps Satan said,
“Cain, you are afraid
that people will kill you.
For your existence
you need a city
to protect you.”
Because he lost God,
Cain was afraid.
He had lost God
as his supply, joy, and defense.
The main purpose for cities
in ancient times
was for protection.
In a godless culture
people are forced to fend for themselves.
Cain did not name the city Jehovah,
but Enoch, after the name of his son.
He gave the same name
to his son and to his city,
for, in a sense, his city was his child
and he loved it
as he loved his own son.
It is very meaningful to note
that the name Enoch means “initiated,”
referring to something initiated by Cain.
Cain was
the first city builder, the first city planner,
and the first architect.
Cain was an inventor, an initiator.
However, the first item of his invention
was not the city;
it was religion.
Firstly, he invented religion;
secondly, he invented city building.
One of Cain’s descendants was Lamech.
Lamech’s first wife
bore Jabal and Jubal.
Jabal was the father of cattle-raising.
He invented cattle-raising
for the purpose of making a living.
He became a nomad,
wandering from place to place,
because he had no land
that would yield to him its strength.
Jubal invented music.
He invented harps and pipes.
In fact, the very name Jubal means
“jubilee” or “a joyful sound” or “music.”
What is music?
Music is a type of amusement
which makes people joyful.
Why does man need such amusement?
Because he has lost God
as his joy.
God is man’s true enjoyment.
Why do people attend the movies
and go dancing?
Because they are empty.
They do not have God
as their joy.
The reason I do not attend the movies
is not because the church has a regulation against it.
The church does not have
a list of commandments against such things.
However, although there is no such prohibition,
I would not attend a movie
even if you paid me thousands of dollars to do it.
I have something better.
I am filled with Christ,
and I have no capacity
for anything else.
Day 2
The world is an evil system
arranged systematically by Satan.
All the things on the earth,
especially those related to mankind,
and all the things in the air
have been systematized by Satan
into his kingdom of darkness
to occupy people and frustrate them
from accomplishing the purpose of God,
and to distract them
from the enjoyment of God.
This evil system, the kingdom of darkness,
was judged
when its ruler, Satan,
was cast out
by the Lord’s being crucified in the flesh.
First John 2:13 and 14
mentions the evil one.
However, this evil one, Satan, the devil,
does not appear directly here.
Instead, he wears the masks
of the world and of antichrist.
No one would love the devil
if he were to appear directly.
But everyone loves the world.
The world is Satan’s mask
that he uses
to deceive us and cheat us.
In this section of 1 John,
the problem is not with the devil;
it is with the world
as the devil’s mask.
According to the Bible,
the world is against the Father,
the devil is against the Son,
and the flesh is against the Spirit.
On the one hand,
we have the Divine Trinity
—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
On the other hand,
we have an evil trinity
—the world, Satan, and the flesh.
If we enjoy the Divine Trinity,
we shall have nothing
to do with the evil trinity.
In 1 John 2:17
John goes on to say,
“And the world is passing away,
and its lust,
but he who does the will of God
abides forever.”
As the world is against God the Father,
so the things in the world,
which are its lust,
are against the will of God.
On the positive side,
we have the Father and His will.
On the negative side,
we have the world
and all the things in the world.
The world is against the Father,
and the things in the world
are against the will of the Father.
According to John’s word in verse 17,
the world is passing away
and its lust,
but he who does the will of God
abides forever.
To do the will of God
is to practice the will of God
habitually and continually, not merely occasionally.
The world, its lust, and those
who love the world
are passing away.
But God, His will, and those
who do His will
abide forever.
Ultimately, when we touch the things of the world,
the question we must ask ourselves always
is: “How is this thing affecting
my relationship with the Father?”
The time has passed
when we need to go out into the world
in order to make contact with it.
Today the world comes
and searches us out.
There is a force abroad now
which is captivating men.
Have you ever felt
the power of the world
as much as today?
Have you ever heard
so much talk about money?
Have you ever thought
so much about food and clothing?
Wherever you go, even among Christians,
the things of the world
are the topics of conversation.
The world has advanced
to the very door of the Church
and is seeking to draw
even the saints of God
into its grasp.
Never in this sphere of things
have we needed to know
the power of the Cross of Christ
to deliver us
as we do at the present time.
The world has been crucified to us
and we to the world.
This has taken place not directly
but through Christ,
who was crucified.
In Galatians
Paul dealt with religious people
who were concerned for the things of God
but who were misguided
and were in error
and whose religion had become a world.
By the cross
we are separated
from the religious world
and are thus qualified
to live in the new creation.
Day 1
The Greek word for world, kosmos,
has more than one meaning.
In Matthew 25:34; John 17:15; Acts 17:24;
Ephesians 1:4; and Revelation 13:8,
it denotes the material universe
as a system created by God.
In John 1:29; 3:16; and Romans 5:12,
it denotes the fallen human race
corrupted and usurped by Satan
as components for his evil world system.
In 1 Peter 3:3
it denotes adorning, ornament.
In 1 John 2:15-17,
as in John 15:19; 17:14; and James 4:4,
it denotes an order, a set form, an orderly arrangement,
hence, an ordered system
(set up by Satan, the adversary of God),
not the earth.
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,
has formed an anti-God world system on this earth
by systematizing men with
religion, culture, education,
industry, commerce, and entertainment
through men’s fallen nature
in their lusts, pleasures, pursuits,
and even in their indulgence in living necessities,
such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
The whole of such 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 us and occupy us.
The Bible opens with
God’s creation of the heavens and the earth.
It does not say
that He created the world in the sense
that we are discussing it now.
Through the Bible
the meaning of “the world” undergoes a development,
and it is only in the New Testament
(though perhaps to a lesser extent already
in the Psalms and some of the Prophets)
that “the world” comes to have
its full spiritual significance.
Before the Fall of man,
the world existed
only in the sense of the earth,
the people on the earth,
and the things on the earth.
As yet there was no kosmos, no “world,”
in the sense of a constituted order.
With the Fall, however,
Satan brought on to this earth the order
which he himself had conceived,
and with that
began the world-system
of which we are speaking.
Originally our physical earth
had no connection with “the world”
in this sense of a Satanic system,
nor indeed had man;
but Satan took advantage of man’s sin,
and of the door this threw open to him,
to introduce into the earth
the organization which he had set himself to establish.
From that point of time
this earth was in “the world,”
and man was in “the world.”
Just as the world belongs to Satan,
so the Kingdom belongs to our Lord Jesus.
Moreover it is this Kingdom
that displaces and that will displace the world.
When the “Stone
not made with hands”
shatters man’s proud image,
then the kingdom of this world
will “become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ”
Politics, education, literature,
science, art, law, commerce, music
—such are the things
that constitute the kosmos,
and these are things
that we meet daily.
Subtract them
and the world as a coherent system
ceases to be.
In studying the history of mankind
we have to acknowledge marked progress
in each of these departments.
The question however is:
In what direction
is this “progress” tending?
What is the ultimate goal
of all this development?
At the end,
John tells us,
antichrist will arise
and will set up his own kingdom in this world.
That is the direction
of this world’s advance.
Satan is utilizing
the material world,
the men of the world,
the things that are in the world,
to head everything up eventually
in the kingdom of antichrist.
At that hour
the world-system will have reached its zenith;
and at that hour
every unit of it
will be revealed
to be anti-Christian.