God’s Word stands forever and brings deliverance for fallen man, who lives in the bondage of the kingdom of darkness. Since God is holy, His Word is holy. God’s Word is holy, alive, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword and brings division between soul and spirit. When you have been born again by faith in Jesus Christ and have been delivered from the power of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of God, a change has taken place in the spiritual realm. This change shall become visible in your life and your relationships with others. Although Jesus Christ, the Living Word has delivered you from the power of the devil and you may live in freedom in Christ, this freedom comes with a price. Because God’s Word brings division between those, who belong to Him and have God as Father and those, who belong to the world and have the devil as father. Let’s look at why God’s Word brings division and how God’s Word brings division.
God’s Word brought division in the Old Covenant
Now therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: And you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. (出埃及记 19:5-6)
Just like during the creation of the heavens and the earth, God brought division by His Word between the light and the darkness, God also brought division between His people and the other people on earth.
Among all the nations God had chosen a people. 人民, whom God had chosen and belonged to Him were born of the seed of Jacob (Israel).
When the people of God lived in Egypt in bondage as slaves of Pharaoh and cried out unto God, God heard their cry and answered their cry, and showed Himself as the holy and true God of Israel.
God delivered His people from the power of Pharaoh and led them out of Egypt through the water into the wilderness, where God dwelled together with His people.
In the stillness, far away from the influence of the pagan nations and their daily occupancies, God made Himself known to His people, by giving them 他的诫命 through the law.
Be holy for I am holy
And the Lord spake unto Moses, 说, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy (利未记 19:1)
By giving the law to Moses, God revealed Himself and 他的意志 through His words to His people. God sanctified His people and brought division between the pagan nations and His people.
And you shall be holy unto Me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that you should be Mine. (Lev 20:26)
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth (申命记 7:6)
His people were sanctified and made holy; they were set apart from the other nations upon the face of the earth. By keeping the law, His people separated themselves from the pagan nations and their culture, 习惯, and idols
The people were a testimony of God to other nations. Through their lives, they made 他的名字 known among the nations, causing other nations to fear the omnipotent God of Israel.
As long as they stayed obedient to God and His Word and abode in His hiding place, by keeping the law and by obeying and doing the words God spoke through the mouth of the rulers and prophets, they stayed sanctified and holy and were justified before God and worshipped and exalted God. And God protected His people and went before His people and fought for His people and God blessed His people
God’s Word brings division in the New Covenant
Because of the goodness and the mercy of God, salvation came through Jesus Christ; the living Word to the Gentiles. The Gentiles also had the ability to become a new creation and be reconciled with God and be part of God’s people by 信仰 在耶稣基督里; the Word and through regeneration.
每个人, who is born again in Jesus Christ by faith and has become a son of God is transferred to another Kingdom; the Kingdom of God.
The person is no longer a citizen of the kingdom of darkness and doesn’t belong to the world anymore. But the person has become a citizen of the Kingdom of God, where Jesus Christ; the Word reigns.
借着耶稣的宝血, the person has been made righteous and holy in Christ Jesus. This means that the person has been reconciled with God and set apart from the world unto the service of God.
Although God loved and still loves people and gave His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for the world, God didn’t love the works of the world.
Although Jesus Christ; the Word lived in the world, Jesus didn’t belong to the world. Therefore the world didn’t love Him, since Jesus; the Word testified that her works were evil.
The Holy Spirit of God; the Spirit of Truth, dwelled in Him and testified the world of sin, 罪孽, and judgment (约翰 7:7, 8:23, 16:8-11, 17:14-16).
每个人, who identifies themselves with Christ His dying and His resurrection, 通过再生, and has received the Holy Spirit doesn’t belong to the world anymore, 就像耶稣一样. The world hates those, who belong to Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit.
Look at the lives of the disciples. Before the disciples were born again and received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, they belonged to the world and didn’t experience any rejection, 反抗, or persecution.
But when they were baptized and received the other Comforter; the Holy Spirit and Christ made His abode in them, they experienced rejection, 反抗, and persecution, which many times ended in death, just like their Master Jesus (另请阅读: ‘为什么世界讨厌基督徒?’).
God’s Word brings division between the new man and the old man
God’s Word brought division between the old man, who belonged to the ruler of the world and his kingdom, and the new man, who belonged to Jesus and His Kingdom. Just like God’s Word brought division between Israel and the pagan nations
And God’s Word has not changed and still brings division in our time, between the 老人 and the 新人.
因为你肉体的软弱，我按照人的方式说话: 因为你们使你们的肢体成为污秽的奴仆，成为罪孽的奴仆。; 即使这样，现在也要让你们的肢体成为公义的仆人，以致圣洁. For when you were the servants of sin, 你们脱离了正义. 你们当时在那些你们现在感到羞耻的事上有什么果子呢？? 因为那些事情的结局就是死亡. 但现在已经脱离了罪孽, 并成为神的仆人, 你们已经结出圣洁的果子, 和永生的终结. 因为罪的工价就是死亡; 但神的恩赐是通过我们的主耶稣基督获得永生 (罗马书 6:19-23).
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 哥林多前书 7:1).
并且你们穿上了新人, 神是按着公义和真正的圣洁被造的 (以弗所书 4:24).
每个人, who is born again in Jesus Christ has been made holy and righteous.
The new man is holy, which means that the new man is separated from the world and belongs to God. Therefore the new man shall speak the words of Jesus, which are the same words as God, and shall live according to God’s will and what pleases Him (1 帖撒罗尼迦人 4:7).
When there is no difference between the life of a believer and the life of an unbeliever, the believer is not born again and is still the old creation.
It is impossible to become a new creation; 新人, without any visible change and proof of this spiritual transformation that has taken place in the life of the person and the person doesn’t experience any resistance and/or persecution from the world.
When you repent and become born again and the rest of your family or relatives and part of your acquaintances and friends are unbelievers, you can count on it, that you will experience resistance and that they shall dislike and maybe even hate you for no reason. They shall accuse you and ridicule you, just like Jesus was accused and ridiculed. They shall reject you and your words, just like Jesus and His words were rejected.
耶稣; the Word brought division
But Jesus has said, that He had come to bring division between a man and his father and between a daughter and her mother and between a daughter in law and her mother in law and that someone’s household would become his enemies (马修 10:35, 卢克 12:53).
事实上, you cannot have relationships and fellowship with people, who keep living in sin and are not willing to repent. Because Christ dwells in you and the Holy Spirit testifies of their sin and iniquity and judges their evil works.
Depending upon the state of their heart, they shall repent and get rid of their sin, or they will persevere in sin and get rid of you or they may try to persuade you to compromise, so that you will approve their sin and bow down and eventually become indifferent towards sin. You shall consider sin as something that is just part of life and therefore you shall accept sin and approve of sin
Jesus didn’t approve of sin
But Jesus didn’t accept and didn’t approve of sin. Jesus didn’t hang out and fellowship with sinners, who persevered in sin. 反而, 耶稣带领罪人悔改. That’s a whole other story.
Look at the publicans and prostitutes, who sat at the same table and ate with Jesus. They had met Jesus; the Word and after hearing Jesus’ words they didn’t stay the same and didn’t persevere in their sins and iniquities, but they repented and their works testified of their repentance (另请阅读: Was Jesus a Friend of publicans?).
这 call to repentance was the message that Jesus preached. And not only Jesus preached this message. Because when the followers of Jesus were born again, they also called the people to repentance, just like their Master.
And if you have become a son of God through regeneration in Christ and have been made holy and righteous, then you will also preach the same message. You shall call the people to repentance, so that by hearing God’s Word many souls will be saved and delivered from the power of the devil and the kingdom of darkness and longer live under the authority of death.
God’s Word brings division between soul and spirit
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ (以弗所书 4:17-20)
Only the Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword and brings division between soul and spirit. 正因为如此, God’s Word brings division between the people, who are spiritual, and the people, who are unspiritual or in other words soulish.
By submitting and obedience to God’s Word, the new man shall no longer walk in harmony with the world after the flesh in sin.
反而, the new man shall live in harmony with God after the Word and the Spirit in righteousness and separate and distinguish himself/herself from those, who belong to the world and live after the flesh.
The new man is risen from the dead and has become a new creation and is no longer the old man.
Because of the change of God and the change of heart, the nature of the person has changed. The new man lives in harmony with God and lives after His will, which is present in the nature of the new man.
The new man loves God and loves God’s Word. The new man rejoices in God’s Word and abides in God’s Word and doesn’t leave God’s Word. Because God’s Word is the Mirror of the new man and the highest Authority in the new man’s life.
The new man lives from God’s Word and despises the things, which God despises and are an abomination to Him. The new man shall just like his Father never compromise with sin and submit to the devil.
The difference between the old man and the new man
The difference between the old man and the new man is, that the law of sin and death reigns in the old man. The old man listens to the words of the devil; the words of the world and lives after the 魔鬼的意志 (约翰 8:38-47).
The old man lives after the will and the commandments of the devil; you shall hate God, you shall rebel against God’s Word you shall bow down for other gods, you shall rebel against your parents, you shall lie, you shall envy, you shall covet, you shall be jealous, you shall commit adultery, 你应该 离婚, you shall kill, ETC.
The old man lives after the wisdom and knowledge of the world, which causes the old man to trust in his own intellect and ability and doesn’t need God.
The old man is sense ruled and acts by science, which believes that every natural effect has a natural cause.
The old man acts in the natural realm from the flesh according to the natural (科学的) laws and doctrines and uses natural means, 方法, 技术, 公式, 原则, 楷模, ETC. to achieve the desired result.
But the new man doesn’t live that way anymore. The law of the Spirit of life reigns in the new man. Therefore the man listens to God and God’s Word and lives in obedience to His commandments; you shall love God with all your heart, 头脑, 灵魂, and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The new man lives after the wisdom and knowledge of God, causing the new man to rely fully on God and His Word and His authority and power.
The new man is no longer sense ruled, but is led by the Word and the Spirit and acts from the spiritual realm according to the spiritual laws and calls those things which are not as though they were.
Because the new man lives from the knowledge and wisdom of God and knows that every natural effect has a spiritual cause.
Therefore the new man acts from his position (恩膏) as a son of God in the authority of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit and calls those things which are not as though they were, to get the desired result, and bring the Kingdom of God to the people.
Every person on earth represents a kingdom. As Jesus said, by the lives of the people, you can see to which kingdom they belong; the kingdom of darkness or the Kingdom of God. Everyone can say that they believe, but the devil also believes in God and doesn’t belong to God
耶稣说, why do you call Me Lord, 主, but don’t do what I say. 这些日子, there are many people, who call Jesus their Lord, but don’t do what He says and live like the old man, 谁属于世界 (马修 7:21, 卢克 6:46).
Living like priests and reigning as kings unto God
Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 阿门 (启示 1:6)
Although the Old Covenant has been replaced by the New Covenant, God’s Word has not changed and is still the same.
God’s Word is holy and in the Old Covenant God’s Word set His people apart and brought division between those, who belonged to God by natural birth from the seed of Jacob and those, who belonged to the devil; the ruler of the earth by natural birth from the seed of the Gentiles.
And in the New Covenant God’s Word still brings division between those, who belong to God through regeneration in Jesus Christ and those, who belong to the devil, the ruler of the world.
Jesus is the High Priest of the New Covenant and those, who are born again in Him have become sons of God and they shall live in holiness in His Kingdom. The sons of God shall live like priests and reign as kings on earth.
‘成为地球之盐’
