Come Out of Her, My People

November 14, 2021

In Revelation 18 we see a vision of the coming destruction of Rome (referred to figuratively as “Babylon”).  The city had become filled with sensuality, immorality, deceit, arrogance, and self-glorification. Because of this, God was about to bring the city down in fiery judgment.  In the vision of coming judgment, John heard a voice from heaven warning the people of God: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:4-5, NASB)

I think about this verse often, and the words of God often ring out in my mind:  Come out of her, my people!  Look around.  Do you see similarities between our society and that of Rome?  Is our society becoming dominated by sensuality, immorality, deceit, and arrogance against God?  Aren’t we bombarded by these things on a daily basis?  Will God rise up and judge our nation one day?  I do not know the plans of God, but I do know that we need to heed His warning:  Come out of her, my people!  There needs to be a serious effort by each one of us to distance ourselves and create a firewall between ourselves and the ways of the world around us.  There is a great danger that we would participate in their sins, and therefore be partakers of their judgment.  Of course, this is not to say that we should not befriend and have a great love for people outside of Christ, but we must not participate in the things of this world.

What concrete steps are you taking to come out and be separate?  Many of us may need to take a much more radical approach to separate living.  Our God is holy, and He expects us to walk in holiness.  He called us out of the realm of darkness, and He expects us to be separate from it.  He expects us to be different!  To be set apart!  Let us not participate in the ways of the world.  Let us strive for holiness so that no matter what may come, we will stand safely and securely on the side of our God.    

— Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

The Transforming Cross

March 30, 2018

The cross of Jesus refers to his crucifixion by the Romans, his burial in a rich man’s previously unused tomb, and his resurrection from the dead. Christians look back on this once for all event as permanently dealing with sins and gaining the victory over death. But Paul also uses the cross as a model for our lives as Christians.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

This daily crucifixion is a putting to death of myself so that Christ may live in me. The voluntary death to self is motivated by the great love that Christ and the Father have for us.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24, ESV)

The above passage from Paul lets us know that this crucifixion of ourselves also has to do the flesh. Flesh in Paul is defined well by the descriptive phrase that follows “with its passions and desires.” In other words, it is a putting to death of sinful desires in our life. It is a life lived by faith (Gal. 2:16), “through the Spirit, by faith” (Gal 5:5), and involves faith working through love (Gal. 5:6). Although we may be engaged in an inner moral struggle for Christian maturity, it is love that motivates us and the Spirit who strengthens us (Romans 8:13, Ephesians 3:16). It is not an unaided struggle.

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14, ESV)

The model of the cross is also a model for putting to death the world on a daily basis. Paul’s use of “world” is not to evoke the beauty of creation around us. Rather it is the world system that is hostile to God. My death to self is to result in a new creation (Gal. 6:15). It will be because I’m walking by the Spirit which is the opposite of gratifying the desires of the flesh (i.e., worldly, sinful desires). I’m to be led by the Spirit (Gal. 5:18) which will produce the fruit of the Spirit, which is a very different lifestyle from the one lived by worldly values. And Paul offers a challenge to us: “let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).We must pay attention to what it means to let Christ live in us. We must be vigilant that we are not slipping back into worldliness for the new creation is in Christ, it is not in the world.

As you ponder the cross of Christ, also consider your daily crucifixion of self. The cross of Christ is to be a transforming cross.

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Posted by Russell Holden