The principle of separation can be seen throughout the entire bible and it deals with God calling people to make choices. The choice that people make will result in their separation to God. Even Jesus constantly called people to make choices either for or against him and called them to count the cost. Counting the cost and separation are related to one another because if they will count the cost that will result in their separation. The reason that Jesus asked people to count the cost was so that this would bring them to separation to Him.

The original purpose of mankind was that they were to serve God and obey God and they were created for fellowship with God.

Genesis 3:8-10 (NIV)

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

It is evident that God was seeking fellowship with the man that He had made. God gave mankind a human freewill so that they could choose to freely love and serve God. Without a human freewill mankind would be just a robot and his love would be nothing of value to God. Love has to be given by a free choice or else that love is meaningless as a robot that plays a recording saying, “I love you!” It was for this reason that God placed the forbidden tree in the midst of the Garden and it was a test to see if man would obey God. If there were no forbidden tree then there would be no test because man would not have any choice to exercise and could not make use of his human freewill.

God has always given mankind choices and God makes it clear what His will is and mankind has to make a choice to either obey or disobey the Lord.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 (NIV)

²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse–

²⁷ the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today;

²⁸ the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

God sets before mankind choices and expects them to use their human freewill to make the right choice. God said that he sets before them a blessing and a curse. If they obey the commands of the Lord, they will choose the blessing but if they disobey the commands of the Lord then they will choose a curse.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)

¹⁹ This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live

²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God sets before mankind life and death and sets before them blessings and curses. God encourages them to choose life so that they might live. The way to choose life is to choose to love the Lord and listening to His voice and the way to choose death is to choose to disobey God and His commandments.

Adam and Eve chose death when they chose disobedience to God’s commands. This spiritual death separated them from God and they were driven out of the Garden of Eden and separated from the presence of God and dwelt in the land of darkness and cursing.

Isaiah 59:2 (NIV)

² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Sin separates mankind from God and sin is committed whenever people make a willful choice to disobey the commands of God just as Adam and Eve disobeyed in the beginning.

This principle of separation can be seen throughout the bible and it is all related to choosing to obey God or disobey God. Those who obey God separate themselves from the world and the devil and are separated to God by their obedience. Those who disobey God and follow the sin nature are separated away from God just as Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden and separated from God’s presence by sin. Making choices determines if they will be separated away from God or separated to God.

Genesis 6:5-7 (NIV)

⁵ The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

⁶ The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

⁷ So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth–men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air–for I am grieved that I have made them.”

After Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden they were separated away from God. Later as the population of humanity multiplied on the earth, they fell under the influence of the god of his world who is Satan. He is called the Tempter and he works to get mankind to sin and break the laws of God. All that is of the world is from the devil who brings mankind toward defilement and he tempts them to break God’s laws. After the descendants of Adam and Eve multiplied on the earth, their wickedness became great and every inclination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil all of the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made mankind on the earth and so God determined to wipe out the entire human population that had become worthless to Him so that He could start over again.

Genesis 6:8-9 (NIV)

⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

⁹ This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

At this time in world history there was only one man on the entire planet who was still righteous and blameless and who walked with God.

Amos 3:3 (NIV)

³ Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?

The only way that a man can walk with God is if that man will choose to obey God and walk in agreement with God. God will not adapt Himself to the sinful and worldly ways of mankind but mankind is expected to adopt themselves to God. Noah chose to adopt himself to God and he obeyed the laws of God and was blameless and righteous because he made the right choices. Noah chose to obey God using his own freewill and he was the only man left on earth who used his human freewill to obey God’s commands.

Genesis 6:11-13 (NIV)

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.

¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

¹³ So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

God saw how corrupt the earth was with the entire human population becoming vile and breaking all of God’s laws. The earth was filled with violence as the people become lawless and broke all of God’s laws. God put an end to the people because they were worthless in His sight. They did not obey His laws and they provided no fellowship for God because they separated themselves from God by their wickedness. Wickedness can have no fellowship with that which is holy.

Genesis 6:17-18 (NIV)

¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.

¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark–you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

God brought floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens but He established His covenant with Noah because Noah was righteous in God’s sight. A covenant is an agreement that two individuals enter into together. When someone uses their human freewill to make a decision to enter into a contract with God then this agreement is called a covenant. Noah had a covenant with God and he agreed to continue to obey God’s laws and God agreed to preserve His covenant partner and keep him alive and bless him in exchange for Noah’s obedience.

What happened in the time of Noah was separation. Only eight living souls were separated to God in the ark while the entire human population of earth was exterminated. God has always sought to bring people into separation to Himself because He looks for a people who will choose to serve Him by their own freewill.

Later after the flood occurred the earth was repopulated again from Noah and his sons and their descendants. It was God’s intentions to start a new human race from one righteous man and his offspring. It was hoped that one righteous man would teach his children about the ways of God and that they would teach their children and so the godly influence of the founding father would spread to all generations after him. This was the reason why God started over again with the human race using the righteous man Noah and his family as human seed to repopulate the earth again.

But Satan is alive and well on earth and he continues to serve as a tempter to cause men to disobey God and break God’s laws and sin. Soon after the worldwide flood the population of earth began to become vile again as mankind used their freewill to break God’s laws and do what is wicked in the sight of God.

Again, God sought to find a man whom He could make a covenant with. God wanted a man who would choose to freely obey God’s laws and follow God in all things.

Genesis 17:1-7 (NIV)

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.

² I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

³ Abram fell face-down, and God said to him,

⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

⁵ No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

God desired to make a covenant with a righteous man and God found that Abram was righteous in His sight and Abram used his freewill to obey and serve God. God said that he would confirm his covenant with Abram and give God gave him a new name “Abraham” that means father of nations. God wanted Abraham to be multiplied into a nation that would serve God and have godly influence on all nations on earth. The covenant between God and Abraham was initiated based upon Abraham’s separation to God.

Genesis 12:1-3 (NIV)

¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

God told Abram to leave his country and leave his people and leave his relatives and go to a land that God would show him. This was separation because God wanted to separate Abraham from the defilement and idolatry of the people of his place of origin. It was God’s plan to separate Abraham out and make him into a great nation and through this godly nation there would be godly influence spread to all of the heathen nations on earth.

Genesis 18:18-19 (NIV)

¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Abraham was chosen by God to become a great and powerful nation so that through this godly nation all the nations of earth would be blessed through him. God chose Abraham that he would direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what was right and just in the sight of God. If Abraham ordered his home and taught his children the ways of God and his children taught their children the ways of God then godly influence had the potential of spreading to all generations after Abraham. This is how an entire nation could be multiplied from one man and that one man could bring godly influence to an entire nation and that godly nation would serve as a light of truth to all the heathen nations on earth.

This all started with separating one man to God and this involved being separated from the world and idolatry and pagan ways and sin. This is what separation to God is all about. God is always seeking to separate people from the world and bring them to Himself in holiness. This is what God did with Noah and again with Abraham because God was looking for people who would serve Him by their own free choice.

Psalm 78:4-7 (NIV)

⁴ We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.

⁵ He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children,

⁶ so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

⁷ Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were multiplied in Egypt and they are the same group of people which were later led out of Egypt under Moses. These same people today are identified as the Jewish race and they are the only people group on earth who observe the Passover just as their forefathers did during the time of Exodus from Egypt. The observance of the Passover is one of the covenant-indicators that distinguish the Jewish race as God’s chosen people who are under the covenant blessing given to Abraham and his descendants by God.

It was God’s will that Abraham should teach his children the ways of God. The laws of God and God’s statutes were given to Jacob’s offspring through Moses and they were to be passed onto all following generations. In this manner godly influence would be spread from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob and then to his twelve sons and then to the entire Jewish race that came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The successive generations of Jewish people continue to teach their children the laws of God and they are to continue to maintain their separation to God even in dispersion among the nations.

Observing the Sabbath and observing the Passover and observing circumcision on the eighth day are all covenant-indicators that indicate that the Jewish race is separated to God. Jews can be found in every nation on earth and regardless of what nation they are living they are to teach their children at home the Hebrew language and teach them the laws of God in Hebrew and how to obey and serve God. Jews were able to maintain their separation and hold their Jewish identity even while living among all of the nations on earth. They were to be like a light in a dark world wherever they lived and often they were the only ones who had a decent and moral way of life in countries that were full of spiritual darkness and wickedness. Those who were not Jewish typically lived like animals with no moral code to follow and no restraint and as such godless heathens tend to drift toward the same defilement that the world drifted toward during the time of Noah.

Leviticus 20:23-26 (NIV)

²³ You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

²⁴ But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations.

²⁵ “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground–those which I have set apart as unclean for you.

²⁶ You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

The children of Israel where required not to live according to the customs of the nations that inhabited the Promised Land before the time of the conquest of Joshua. These pagan people broke all of God’s laws and followed the wicked ways of Satan who is the corrupter of the entire human race. God set the children of Israel apart from the heathen nations to be different and holy in behavior. Setting them apart speaks of separation to God. The children of Israel were to be holy to the Lord because the Lord is holy and God has no fellowship with darkness. God set His chosen people apart from all of the nations of earth and they were to be separated by their holy behavior. The Jewish race was to be a light to the pagan nations of earth that were living in darkness. The only way to draw out people from darkness is if God’s people walk in the light and be holy. As soon as God’s people loose separation they have no more power to draw anyone out of darkness because they themselves are living in darkness and are no different than the heathen nations.

1 Kings 8:53 (NASB)

⁵³ “For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord GOD.”

God separated out the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob from all of the people of earth as His inheritance. They were to be a light to the earth because they received the laws of God and the ways of God.

Leviticus 15:31 (NLT2)

³¹ “This is how you will guard the people of Israel from ceremonial uncleanness. Otherwise they would die, for their impurity would defile my Tabernacle that stands among them.

The Israelites had many laws given to them by Moses and these laws caused them to be separated from the peoples of the earth. They separated and distinguished themselves by observing the law of God. It is these laws that serve as covenant-indicators and show that these people are God’s chosen people by their behavior in observing their Jewish laws.

Deuteronomy 22:9-11 (NIV)

⁹ Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.

¹⁰ Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

¹¹ Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.

These laws all speak of separation for God’s people. Not planting two kinds of seed in their vineyard speaks of keeping separation. Not plowing with an ox and a donkey in the same yoke speaks of separation of two different kinds of species. Not wearing wool and linen woven together speak so not mixing a plant and animal material in the same clothing. While these stipulations may seem odd to Gentiles, they nevertheless speak of the same principle of separation.

Jewish people have gone to great lengths to separate things growing in the same garden plot and they have gone to great lengths to make sure there is no wool and linen mixed together in the same article of clothing. There are even Jewish laboratories dedicated to the testing of garments for this purpose. The effort that Jewish people expend on keeping these laws distinguishes them from the Gentiles who give no thought for such things. While this behavior may seem odd to a Gentile, I commend the Jews for what they are doing because no one else on earth have gone through so much effort and attention to detail in a noble attempt to obey God’s laws. This behavior of trying to obey God in detail is a distinguishing quality of Jewish people. Their effort in obeying God’s laws distinguishes them and separates them from all of the Gentile people in every nation in which they live on earth.

Even dietary laws and restrictions of the Jew separate them from the Gentiles who do not observe such things. The manner in which they live is displayed in diet and displayed in the great effort expended to obey the laws of God and this is all related to their separation.

Deuteronomy 8:19-20 (NIV)

¹⁹ If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.

²⁰ Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Whenever the children of Israel lost their separation, they become just like the nations around them and followed the same bad behavior. When this happens God will destroy them because they became useless to God as soon as they lose separation. Only Noah was saved out of the entire population of earth because he was the only one that did not become like the world and follow the satanic defilement of the world. When people become like the world, they are useless to God and are in danger of complete annihilation! God’s people (the Jews) were also destroyed when they followed the ways of the heathen nations among them. They were destroyed because they lost their separation to God and become just like the world. Whenever someone becomes like the world, they have joined the world and separation is lost and there is no hope of drawing anyone out of the world anymore.

Luke 17:26-27 (NIV)

²⁶ “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.

²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

There was separation in the time of Noah as those who were ungodly were separated to destruction and those eight souls who were righteous were separated to be saved. The coming of the Lord will follow the same way of separation as the wicked will be separated for destruction and the godly will be separated for salvation.

Matthew 13:24-30 (NASB)

²⁴ Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

²⁵ “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.

²⁶ “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

²⁷ “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

²⁸ “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’

²⁹ “But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

³⁰ ~’Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

A tare is a weed that is probably Darnell grass that looks similar to wheat but the seeds this weed produces are toxic and make people sick if they are accidentally ground up together with the wheat kernels when making flour. This parable speaks of the principle of separation because just as the enemy sowed weeds in the field of wheat so Satan works to corrupt mankind upon the earth just as he did in the time of Noah. Those who remain righteous in a time of apostasy are those who have made a willful choice to do so. The tares spoken of in this parable were not immediately uprooted but allowed to grow with the wheat until harvest time and then they were separated from the wheat. The tares were gathered in bundles to be burned but the wheat was gathered into the barn. This speaks of the separation of the wicked to be burned in the fires of hell while the righteous will be separated to eternal life in heaven.

Luke 17:28-29 (NASB)

²⁸ “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;

²⁹ but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

In the time of Lot, the people in the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah were eating and drinking and buying and selling and planting and building and had no concern about sudden destruction coming upon them. But the day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed all of them. This again speaks of the separation of the wicked for judgment and the separation of the righteous for salvation.

Luke 17:31-33 (NIV)

³¹ On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.

³² Remember Lot’s wife!

³³ Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.

This speaks of the fact that some people have worldly affections and have desires for earthy things or possessions. Not considering goods in the house or going back to get something left in a field speaks of not having attachments to natural things of the earth. Jesus warned of Lot’s wife who perished in judgment because she stopped to look back. She had worldly affections and remorse over seeing the wicked cities destroyed. Those who try to keep their life will lose it and those who lose their life will preserve it. This all speaks of separation and those who are separated to God are those who will separate their hearts from worldly affections and love for natural possessions and security on earth.

Acts 4:34-35 (NASB)

³⁴ For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales

³⁵ and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

Shortly after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost there was a revival that resulted in about three thousand Jewish converts being made in a single day. Those who owned land or houses in Jerusalem would sell their property and bring the proceeds of the sales to the church and they would use the money to meet the needs of the new converts in the church.

Luke 21:20-22 (NASB)

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near.

²¹ “Then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those who are in the midst of the city must leave, and those who are in the country must not enter the city;

²² because these are days of vengeance, so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.

Jesus predicted the coming destruction of Jerusalem and this destruction came to pass in 70 AD. Those who were in Judea were to flee to the mountains and those within the city of Jerusalem were to leave the city and those who were in the country should not enter the city of Jerusalem for refuge because everyone in the city would be destroyed.

As it turned out those who sold their homes and property in Jerusalem were the winners because they were not tied down by possessions and they were free to flee before the siege of Jerusalem began. Those who bought property and homes were dull and passive about fleeing and did not think they would be destroyed. They remained in Jerusalem and perished when the city was leveled and its inhabitants were all annihilated.

This speaks of the same principle that killed the wife of Lot because she had worldly affections that caused her to look back and lament the destruction of the wicked city. Those who have worldly affections and seek security on earth will not be those who will be separated to God for salvation. Those who love the world will perish together with the world and this is true of carnal Christians as well.

Carnal Christians are those who love the world and they dress like the world and behave like the world. In all their ways the carnal Christians follow the world but at the same time they also profess that they know Christ.

Matthew 7:18-23 (NIV)

¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The true believer will produce fruit of holiness in their lives but those who are false Christians are like tares and they will produce nothing but wickedness and sin and follow the ways of the world. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and burned in the fire and in the same is true of all those professing carnal Christians who do not produce fruit of holiness in their lives. They will be cut down and burned in the fires of hell. It is the fruit that is produced that will distinguish a true believer from a carnal Christian who professes to know Christ. Many carnal Christians will call Jesus their Lord but only those who do the will of the heavenly Father are true believers. Carnal Christians will tell the Lord that they prophesied in His Name and cast out demons and performed miracles. All of these things are what Christians can do. But Jesus will tell them that He never knew them and say, “Depart from Me you evildoers!” Those who profess to be Christians but are evildoers and lawless people are those who will be separated as barren fruit trees and they will be burned in the fires of hell. The carnal Christian will have the same damnation as the unbelievers in the world because they have no fruit of holiness in their lives.

Titus 1:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

There are many carnal Christian who claim to know God but their actions deny Him because they are detestable, disobedient and unfit for anything good. Such people have not made a separation from the world because they love the world and they are a friend of the world.

James 4:4 (NIV)

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

These carnal Christians made themselves a friend of the world and anyone who makes himself as a friend of the world is an enemy of God. Lot’s wife was a friend of the world and she had great remorse and anguish when the worldly city of Sodom was destroyed and she looked back because she mourned its loss. But she was swept away together in the judgment because she loved the world and made herself and enemy of God.

Carnal Christians are worldly and they love worldly clothing fashion and worldly hairstyles and worldly body piercing and worldly tattoos and they follow and imitate the world in every way. But they still think they can escape hell by being a professing Christian who has no fruit of holiness in their lives. They are living in self-deception and they will be separated to destruction together with the world and they will be burned in the fires of hell as a barren and fruitless tree.

Luke 13:23-30 (NIV)

²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them,

²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.

²⁵ Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

²⁶ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

²⁸ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.

²⁹ People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

³⁰ Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

This parable speaks of separation of those who will enter the kingdom of God. Jesus said the way to heaven is a narrow or specific way and many will try to enter but be unable to do so. Those who have not separated themselves from the world and all of its lusts will not make it into the narrow way.

There is a time for men to repent and when this time is passed then the door is closed to them there will be no more repentance made available. The Lord will tell them to depart from Him because they are a bunch of evildoers and lawless people. Weeping and gnashing of teeth speaks of the eternal torments of hell that cause men to gnash their teeth in agony. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all followed God and obeyed God and entered into heaven together with the prophets who were faithful to the Lord. But those who do not produce fruit of holiness will be cast out and will be burned as an unfruitful tree. The last will be first and the first will be last speaks of a reversal of things within the kingdom of God. Those who sold out everything on earth and separated themselves in holiness to the Lord may seem like they are making a big mistake. Those who sold out all of their property in Jerusalem also appeared to be fools. But later it turned out that those who sold everything were the winners and those who bought property were losers. Those who were seeking security on earth lost it all and perished and those who sold out saved their own necks! Those who were last on earth will be first in heaven and those who are first on earth will be last when they are cast into hell. It is all about having a spiritual perspective rather than a natural one.

Matthew 25:31-46 (NIV)

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

The nations that are gathered before the Lord for judgment are the Gentiles or non-Jewish people. These Gentiles will be judged according to how they treated the Jews during the coming time of worldwide Jewish persecution. Satan has always held a grudge against the Jewish race because it was through the Jews that the Jewish Messiah Jesus was born who defeated Satan. Satan is the god of his world so he naturally inspires his children to have hatred toward the Jews.

Jesus will judge the Gentiles based on their treatment of His brethren the Jews. Those Gentiles who are kind to the Jews and help them will be rewarded and welcomed into heaven. They do not earn their salvation by good works to Jews but because they are saved (and have spiritual enlightenment) it is only natural for them to care for God’s people. It is an indicator of spiritual regeneration for believers to have a love for the people of Israel. If they have no love for them it is an indication they are not saved.

The Jews will be hungry and thirsty, and treated as strangers and outcasts and naked and sick and imprisoned. This paints a vivid picture of what is going to happen to Jews worldwide when the world falls into the hands of a one-world government. This has already happened in past world history as Jewish people were driven from their homes and businesses and their possessions were looted and stolen by angry mobs. The same will be repeated on a worldwide scale in times to come. Jewish people will be run off as outcasts and the angry mobs may even will rip the clothing off their backs and beat them with rods and send them away naked and bleeding. They will be denied food and shelter and they will not be permitted to drink from any community wells. They will be treated as stray dogs and driven away to die of exposure. Some of them will also be imprisoned because a time is coming when it will be illegal to be Jewish. The children of the devil will be the leaders in this Jewish persecution and they will be looting the Jews and none of the devil’s crowd will offer any assistance or aid to those Jewish people who are suffering. They will close their doors on them and say, “It serves them right!”

At this time, it will be the true believers that will distinguish themselves because true believers are those who have a supernatural love for God’s chosen people the Jews. The true believers will risk their own lives and endanger themselves with the mob by offering help to the persecuted Jews. They will feed the Jews who are hungry and they will give drink to those who are thirsty. They will invite them into their homes and provide shelter and comfort to them. They will cloth those who are naked and minister to those who are sick from exposure and weakened by hunger. Those who are in prison and forgotten by the world will have true believers visit them in prison and show them comfort. The true believers will do all of these things because they are believers and this is a fruit of their spiritual regeneration and is an indication that they are saved. They will be rewarded on judgment day because they cared for the Jewish people in their great time of need and worldwide persecution.

Jesus will reply to the Gentile believers that whatever they did for the least of these brothers of His then they did it for Him. Jesus is a Jew and His brethren are the Jewish people and helping them will be rewarded the same as if good deeds were done to Jesus Himself.

The exact opposite will happen to the carnal Christians and unbelievers who did will not show any care or assistance to the Jewish race. Even in past history there were many professing Christians who abused and neglected the Jews during their time of trouble. They will justify their neglect and argue that the Jews are not God’s chosen people and they deserve any mistreatment that they receive.

John 16:2-3 (NIV)

² They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.

³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.

Those who do not know God are typically enemies of those who do know God. A time will come when anyone who kills a Jew will think they are offering a service to God. They do such things because they do not know the heavenly Father or Jesus.

But those who know Jesus will distinguish themselves by their love for the Jews while carnal Christians and unbelievers will neglect or even abuse the Jews during their time of trouble.

Jesus will separate the Gentiles based on their treatment of the Jews. Those who helped the Jews indicate their regeneration and will be rewarded in heaven for it. Those who did not help the Jews are those who are carnal Christians and unbelievers who will be burned in hell. They indicate their salvation or lack of salvation by their actions and so the Gentiles will be sorted out based upon how they treat the Jewish race.

This is again dealing with separation as Jesus separates out those who are good to the Jews from those who neglect and abuse the Jews. Only those who help the Jews indicate that they have spiritual regeneration within indicated by the accompanying divine love poured out within their hearts for God’s chosen people the Jews. Those who hate the Jews indicate that they are indeed children of the devil and have no evidence of spiritual regeneration within them.

Luke 17:34-37 (NIV)

³⁴ I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.

³⁵ Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.

³⁶ “

³⁷ “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”

There will be two people in one bed with one taken and one left and two women grinding grain with one taken and one left and this all speaks of separation of one to judgment and one to reward. This is like the separation of the tares from the wheat and this theme is constant throughout scriptures and throughout the parables of Jesus.

Matthew 13:47-50 (NIV)

⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.

⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.

⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous

⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus also compared the kingdom of heaven to a net that was used to catch all kinds of fish. When it was full the fisherman pulled it to shore and the collected the good fish in baskets and they grew the bad ones away. The angels will also separate the wicked from the righteous and throw the wicked into the fiery furnace of hell where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

What is the distinguishing factor of being wicked rather than righteous? This occurs by the choices that men make in separating themselves from that which is evil. The carnal Christian is exactly like the world and they will go to hell together with the world in the same place of eternal judgment. The carnal Christian has not distinguished themselves and have not separated themselves from the ways of the world. It is the true believer who is counted righteous and who has separated themselves by their holy behavior. This is what Noah did as a righteous man and for this reason he was not destroyed together with the wicked.

Luke 21:34-36 (NIV)

³⁴ “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.

³⁵ For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.

³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Those who are true believers are those who are separated to God have the characteristic of being watchful. They guard their hearts so that they will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and anxieties of life. They will watch and pray that they will be able to escape what is about to happen when the time of judgment arrives upon the earth. Those who are ready will be able to escape judgment and stand before the Lord.

Matthew 25:1-13 (NIV)

¹ “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

² Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.

⁴ The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.

⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

¹² “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The parable of the ten virgins speaks of believers who were ready and those who were not. The wise virgins took extra oil with them and they were prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom. But the foolish virgins were not ready for the long duration and ran out of oil. This is a picture of carnal Christians who did not count the cost and prepare themselves to endure for the long run.

The foolish virgins were gone buying more oil when the bridegroom came and they were locked out of the wedding banquet. This is a picture of carnal Christians who will be denied access to enter the wedding banquet of the Lamb in heaven. Such will be left outside of heaven in the lake of fire and they will burn eternally together with the unbelievers.

Matthew 25:31-32 (NIV)

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

When Jesus separates the Gentiles on the basis of how they treat the Jews this judgment is compared to how a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Again the principle of separation is repeated as people will be judged by their fruit of their actions. Those who do nothing to help the Jews will be damned to hell while those who do help the Jews demonstrate their salvation by their actions.

Ezekiel 14:20 (NIV)

²⁰ as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.

Noah and Daniel and Job were all three righteous men who distinguished themselves by their righteous behavior before God. In time of judgment these three men would save their own lives by their righteousness. This is what separation is all about as men separate themselves to God by their righteous behavior. Those who are unrighteous are no different than the world and they will be judged together with the world as barren trees which are fruitless and are burned in the fires of hell.

The Recabites

Another example of separation can be seen among the Recabites, a desert nomadic people living in the land of Israel.

The Recabites were descendants of Moses’ father-in-law Jethro (also called Reuel) who was a Kenite. (Judges 1:16) From the lineage of the Kenites came the father of the house of Recab. (1 Chron. 2:55) These people lived in the southern desert of Judah in the Negev among the Amalekites (Judges 1:16, 1 Sam. 15:6) They were a desert nomadic people who lived in similar fashion as Moses did during his forty years tending sheep in the arid desert wilderness of the Sinai region. Hobab was the son of Reuel the Midianite (who was the father-in-law of Moses). (Numbers 10:29-32) Later Heber the Kenite left the other Kenites (the descendants of Hobab) in southern Judah and lived in Kedesh during the time of Deborah. It was these people who were originally descendants Moses’ father-in-law which lived a nomadic lifestyle in the desert region of Midian (which is not far from Sinai). They later moved into the Promised Land upon the invitation of Moses (Numbers 10:29) and they continued their nomadic lifestyle among their following generations.

God used the family of the descendants of Recab as an illustration of faithfulness and obedience. God told the prophet Jeremiah to offer wine to these people and see what they would do.

Jeremiah 35:1-19 (NIV)

¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD during the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

² “Go to the Recabite family and invite them to come to one of the side rooms of the house of the LORD and give them wine to drink.”

³ So I went to get Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons–the whole family of the Recabites.

⁴ I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah the man of God. It was next to the room of the officials, which was over that of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper.

⁵ Then I set bowls full of wine and some cups before the men of the Recabite family and said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.

⁷ Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’

⁸ We have obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab son of Recab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine

⁹ or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.

¹⁰ We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us.

¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Come, we must go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ So we have remained in Jerusalem.”

¹² Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:

¹³ “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go and tell the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not learn a lesson and obey my words?’ declares the LORD.

¹⁴ ‘Jonadab son of Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine and this command has been kept. To this day they do not drink wine, because they obey their forefather’s command. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not obeyed me.

¹⁵ Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, “Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your fathers.” But you have not paid attention or listened to me.

¹⁶ The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’

¹⁷ “Therefore, this is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.'”

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Recabites, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’

¹⁹ Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jonadab son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve me.'”

Jonadab the son of Recab must have been a God-fearing man because he was present in the time of Jehu when the evil dynasty of Ahab was exterminated and he assisted Jehu with the purging. (2 Kings 10:15-27)

This Jonadab (the son of Recab) gave his descendants a command that they should never drink wine, build houses, sow seed, or plant vineyards or have any of these things but they were to live in tents according to a nomadic lifestyle. It was their prohibitions and their lifestyle that distinguished them from all of the people living in the land of Israel. It was this nomadic lifestyle that suggests that this group of people were not focused on many of the natural things that distract others in life. They are free to move at any time and they were not burdened by possessions and property or seeking financial security on this earth. It was this same attitude that was held by the believers in Jerusalem who sold their houses and property in order to care for more than 3,000 new converts following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the day of Pentecost. (Acts 2:42) They lived as a community together and sold what they had in order to provide for the needs of those in their group. (Acts 2:44-45)

Acts 4:34-35 (NASB)

³⁴ For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales

³⁵ and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.

These people who sold their land or houses were demonstrating that they did not have earthly affections. This turned out for their benefit shortly after when the Roman army came and completely destroyed Jerusalem and exterminated the entire population! Those who sold out their property were those who were free flee at a moment’s notice and they escaped during a small window of opportunity and fled to the mountains as Jesus had warned them through prophetic utterance.

Luke 21:20-21 (NIV)

²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.

²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.

Jesus made it clear that those who remained in Jerusalem would not survive and so those who sold homes or property in Jerusalem were those who were free and able to flee and a moment’s notice. This is the attitude portrayed by the nomadic lifestyle of the Recabites because they were not tied down by the ownership of possessions and property and were free to move at a moment’s notice. It was Lot’s wife who was swept away in the judgment of Sodom because she had worldly affections and attachments within the city of Sodom. This caused her to turn back in her yearning for the city that she loved and she became a partaker of the judgment and perished together with the wicked people living in that city.

Everything that happened to the people in the Old Testament is an example for those who live in present times and the example of Lot’s wife is no exception to this.

1 Corinthians 10:11 (NIV)

¹¹ These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

The apostle Paul makes it clear that those things that occurred in the Old Testament were all done as examples for us and were written for us who live in the end times upon which the fulfillment of the ages has come. Lot’s wife speaks of the principle of not having worldly affections that can distract a believer from his devotion to Christ.

1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

⁹ People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

The believer is to foster contentment in their lives because godliness with contentment is something that is of great gain. We brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it. The believer is to be content if they have food and clothing and thank God for it. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and fall into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. Many believers have gone astray because of the love of money and the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Those believers who are eager to get money are those who have often wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many griefs.

This is the principle that can be seen in Lot’s wife because she had worldly affections and she had attachments to her home and things in the city of Sodom and she indicated her love for these things when she turned back in grief to see her beloved city and her material possessions being destroyed. She perished together with the material possessions that she loved so much.

Luke 12:16-21 (NIV)

¹⁶ And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.

¹⁷ He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

¹⁸ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹ And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

²¹ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Jesus spoke of the parable of the rich man whose land produced a good crop and he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones and then store all of his gain and goods and possessions so he could live a life of ease and have financial security on earth. He thought he would have good things laid up for himself for many years to come so he could take life easy, eat and drink and be merry and enjoy himself with his great financial success. But God called him a fool because his life would be demanded of him that very night and then what would become of all of those things, he had hoarded up for himself? Jesus said that this is how it is with anyone who stores up things for himself but who is not rich toward God.

The Recabites were people who were living a nomadic lifestyle and only kept those things that they could carry with them and they had no land or houses and did not plant crops or store grain or sell produce. They lived a simple lifestyle and apparently, they were focused more on spiritual things because Jonadab was a God-fearing man who was present when the evil dynasty of Ahab was judged. This shows that this man cared about living right and obeying God’s laws. This is the lifestyle also of Abraham who also lived a temporary type of lifestyle in tents during his time on earth.

Genesis 23:3-4 (NASB)

³ Then Abraham rose from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴ “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Abraham said that he was a stranger and sojourner among those living in the land of Canaan. A sojourner is a traveling man who leads a temporary existence like a nomad living in a tent. Abraham was a wealthy man but at the same time he was also not tied to this earth by land and property and possessions because he lived a simple lifestyle and he had God first place in his life.

Genesis 24:63 (NASB)

⁶³ Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming.

Abraham taught his son Isaac about the God of Israel and it is evident that Isaac also was not focused on pursing wealth because he would take time out of his day to meditate on the Lord and put God first place in his life. Yes, Isaac was also blessed by God but he also lived a nomadic lifestyle just as his father Abraham did. The same was true of Jacob who also lived a nomadic lifestyle by dwelling in tents as his father and grandfather had also done before him.

Genesis 18:1-2 (NIV)

¹ The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.

² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

It seems that Abraham lived a life of constant communion with God and would meditate on the Lord and was not distracted by material possessions or wealth. The Lord appeared to Abraham as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent meditating on the Lord.

Genesis 18:16-19 (NIV)

¹⁶ When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.

¹⁷ Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

Abraham walked with God and God confided in Abraham as a friend and told him what He was about to do. God chose Abraham because he would direct his children after him to keep the way of the Lord and do what is right and just in the sight of God. This shows that Abraham’s primary focus was not just on getting rich or hoarding up wealth. He was constantly meditating on the ways of the Lord and what was right and just in God’s sight. Abraham taught these things to his children and Isaac was also meditating on the same things. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did not have their primary focus on the accumulation of wealth but they were primarily focused on living right and pleasing God. That is why they became the fathers of the descendants which became God’s chosen people-the Jews.

The Jewish race follows the laws given to them by Moses and this includes the observance of the Sabbath Day of rest. The principle of the Sabbath Day of rest means that they do their part and they work hard for six days but on the seventh day they were to rest from their labors and they were to spend that day in study and meditation of God’s words. A Jew therefore has to accomplish the same amount of work in six days that their Gentile competition does in seven days because they are not allowed to work on the Sabbath Day. This is what has caused the industrious Jewish culture that is seen in New York City (which has the greatest concentration of Jewish people of any city on earth). The number of Jews in New York causes it to have a Jewish culture and that is why they have an expression that says, “There is nothing faster than a New York minute!” That is true because Jewish people cannot waste time when they are limited to only six days of work and need to get their job done fast because when the Sabbath Day comes they will cease from work and spend that day meditating on God and the laws of God just as their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob also did. The industrious Jewish culture of New York gave it the name of the “Big Apple” because it is a premiere business environment that influenced many other business centers on earth.

Yes, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were all wealthy men but they did not waste time. Jacob even labored day and night during his time of service to Laban. (Gen. 31:40) But the same men never lost their purpose in life and they kept their primary focus on God. Jewish people may labor diligently for six days a week but it is for the purpose that they would be able to have some free time to seek the Lord on the Sabbath Day. The attitude of diligence is for the purpose of accomplishing more in six days than the Gentile competition does in seven. In this manner they will gain some time to take off one full day per week to meditate on God’s word.

This Jewish attitude is in great contrast to Gentiles who spend seven days a week pursuing wealth. The Gentiles are like the rich fool who spent his entire life hoarding material possessions and then died and went to hell and left all of his goods on earth. That man was a fool because he did not focus on eternal things.

Yes, a man has to make a living but those who put God first place will be blessed financially because they are not seeking wealth as their main pursuit of life but are seeking the Lord instead.

Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)

³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Jesus said that the believer should not be following the example of the worldly people who seek after what they can eat and what they can drink and what they can wear. The pagans run after all of these things and spend seven days a week seeking after wealth so that they can indulge their sin nature and vices. But Jesus commanded the believers to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness then all of these natural things would be added to them.

The same principle can be seen in the lives of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob because they all put God first place and did not fail to meditate on God’s laws and doing what was right in the sight of God. Their descendants (the Jewish race) continue to meditate on the law of God and they even memorize the God’s laws from a young age. The purpose of working hard for six days a week was not to have a party on the seventh day but to have the free time to seek the Lord and meditate on God’s laws.

The same principle can be seen in the lifestyle of the Recabites who lived as nomads much the same way as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob also lived.

Jeremiah 35:6-7 (NIV)

⁶ But they replied, “We do not drink wine, because our forefather Jonadab son of Recab gave us this command: ‘Neither you nor your descendants must ever drink wine.

⁷ Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’

Jonadab the son of Recab instructed his descendants not to drink wine, build houses, sow seed, plant vineyards, but only live in tents. This simplification of lifestyle is suggestive that they were not being distracted away from their pursuit of God by natural things. Yes, a man has to eat and be a provider for his family but at the same time their main focus in life is not to be chasing wealth. They were not to be living for pleasure or seeking to have a party all of the time like the unbelievers. Not drinking wine speaks of not seeking getting drunk and having revelry! Not drinking any alcohol at all will certainly prohibit drunkenness!

Proverbs 31:4-5 (NIV)

⁴ “It is not for kings, O Lemuel– not for kings to drink wine, not for rulers to crave beer,

⁵ lest they drink and forget what the law decrees, and deprive all the oppressed of their rights.

Those who are required to make sound decisions are those who will not be seeking after alcohol otherwise they may get drunk and forget God’s laws and God’s decrees. Those who are of a sound mind will not give themselves to drunkenness because they want to keep their mind sharp and intelligent and focused on obeying what God has commanded them to do.

Jonadab the son of Recab proclaimed a total ban on consuming alcohol and this shows that he was serious about keeping a sound mind for meditating on the laws of God. Permitting alcohol in moderation will still open the door for someone to go beyond their limits into drunkenness and that is when men do and speak perverse things.

Proverbs 23:29-33 (NIV)

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?

³⁰ Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.

³¹ Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

³² In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

³³ Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things.

Those who have woe and sorrow and strife and complaints and needless bruises and bloodshot eyes are those who linger over wine and get drunk. Their eyes will see strange sights and their minds will imagine confusing things. No man who wants to keep his mind sound and sharp and focused on God’s word will engage in drunkenness.

By creating a total ban on alcohol Jonadab closed the door on drunkenness among his descendants. There was no compromise with alcohol by his descendants sampling a little of this and a little of that until they were drunk. Total abstinence stopped drunkenness by closing the door on compromise and this kept them from playing with alcohol completely.

The attitude of Jonadab was that he was serious about eternal things and he completely closed the door on things that could provide any danger of distraction. If his descendants were distracted with acquiring land and growing and selling produce and chasing material wealth that could easily sidetrack them into hell like so many have gone to hell over materialism already. Those who seek to get drunk and have a party and enjoy life and indulge in vices are not considering anything eternal and they will also end up in hell.

The simple lifestyle instituted for the descendants of Jonadab the son of Recab closed the door on earthly pursuits of chasing wealth and seeking pleasures and drunkenness. He wanted his family to focus on eternal things and be content with food and clothing and put their minds and their focus on the word of God. This is much like the Jewish culture today of those Jews who follow the Law of Moses and observe the Sabbath day of rest. Sabbath day was not a day to get drunk and have a party but it was a day to be sober and focus on God’s laws and to meditate on the word of the Lord.

Jeremiah 35:8-10 (NIV)

⁸ We have obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab son of Recab commanded us. Neither we nor our wives nor our sons and daughters have ever drunk wine

⁹ or built houses to live in or had vineyards, fields or crops.

¹⁰ We have lived in tents and have fully obeyed everything our forefather Jonadab commanded us.

The descendants of Jonadab the son of Recab (who were living in the time of Jeremiah the prophet) would not compromise what their father told them to do. The men nor their wives or their sons or daughters never drank any wine and none of them ever built houses to live in or had vineyards or fields or crops. This type of nomadic lifestyle symbolized that they are just pilgrims who are passing through this earth and their real homeland is in heaven.

Hebrews 11:13-16 (NKJV)

¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

¹⁴ For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.

¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Those heroes of faith who have lived before us all had a transient attitude just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob also had. These men admitted that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth and this means that they do not belong here but are just passing through. They clearly have the right attitude by focusing on eternal things rather than on natural things. If believers do not have the same attitude, they will easily be distracted by seeking wealth and pleasure and drunkenness and vices and they will go to hell together with the world that seeks the same things. These godly heroes of faith were seeking a heavenly homeland and they were aware that the decisions that they made and the actions that they took will have eternal consequences.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NIV)

¹³ Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.

¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

The conclusion of the whole matter of life is to fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of mankind. God will bring into judgment every deed and every hidden thing whether it is good or evil.

Those who are serious about eternal things are going to close the door on anything that can possibly hinder or distract them from finishing their race on earth and obtaining eternal life. If drunkenness can make a man forget God and cause his mind to be dull and in a stupor then those who are serious about eternal things will close the door on alcohol completely just as Jonadab the son of Recab did for his descendants. If chasing material possessions can sidetrack a man from eternal things and send him to hell for greed (which is idolatry) then they will close the door on materialism the same as Jonadab the son of Recab who forbid ownership of land, planting of crops, building of houses and all of those things normally associated with financial security on earth.

Jeremiah 35:18-19 (NIV)

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Recabites, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’

¹⁹ Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jonadab son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve me.'”

God honored the Recabites who obeyed their forefather Jonadab and kept his commands and followed all of his instructions and did everything that he ordered them to do. God desired that his people Israel would have obeyed His commands in the same manner. Therefore God said that Jonadab the son of Recab would never fail to have a man to serve Him. Possibly this means that these men are in heaven today serving God because of their faithfulness in shunning materialism and drunkenness and self-indulgence and pride of life while they lived upon the earth. God will always reward those who place their primary focus on eternal things rather than seeking wealth and pleasure on earth.

Our interest in the nomadic lifestyle of the Recabites lies in the fact that believers in Christ are to have a similar loose-hold on the things of the world. They are to keep and maintain their focus on eternal things and focus on their eternal destiny without being distracted by the things that send carnal Christians and unbelievers to hell.

2 Peter 2:12-15 (NIV)

¹² But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.

¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

¹⁴ With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed–an accursed brood!

¹⁵ They have left the straightway and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

This is a description of false prophets who entered the church and were among true believers in Christ. They are compared to brute beasts of natural instinct that are only born to be caught and destroyed like a hyena that devours flesh, breeds, makes puppies and then dies. A beast has no eternal purpose other than filling its stomach and indulging its cravings and instincts. A beast that is moved by instincts is not a creature of forethought but only follows impulses. This behavior also describes worldly people who live to indulge their sin nature, urges and appetites and have no regard for eternal things. These carnal people carouse and get drunk in broad daylight because they live for pleasure and as soon as the alcohol is out of their system they will seek another drink.

Proverbs 23:35 (NIV)

³⁵ “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”

Those who live for pleasure cannot wait for the alcohol to leave their system so they can get drunk again. Wicked people have their eyes are full of adultery and they never stop sinning and they are experts in greed. They are like the fallen prophet Balaam who sold his gift in order to get wealth. The description of these false prophets is everything that is opposite of the Recabites who closed the door on all self-indulgence and drunkenness and greed by the simple lifestyle that they lived.

Exodus 2:21-22 (NASB)

²¹ Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.

²² Then she gave birth to a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

Moses named his first son Gershom which means “sojourn there.” Moses said that he had been a sojourner in a foreign land. This also paints a picture of the life of a believer whose real home is in heaven and who also is a sojourner on earth. The word sojourn means “a temporary stay” so a sojourner is one who is just traveling through but has no permanent home. It is like a stranger or alien in a foreign land who has no permanent lodging place. Moses also lived a nomadic lifestyle which he adopted from his Midianite father-in-law. It was the same lifestyle of his forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who lived before him.

Leviticus 25:23-25 (NASB)

²³ ‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.

²⁴ ~’Thus for every piece of your property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵ ‘If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative has sold.

God considered that the land of Israel belonged exclusively to Him. The Israelites were just stewards of God’s land and it was not to be sold permanently. The Jewish people were considered aliens and sojourners in the sight of God and they were just living on God’s land on a temporary basis as if they were just passing through during their temporary stay on earth.

When a Jewish person was poor and had to sell his land to relieve is financial distress it was not actually the land that was being sold but rather the crops that the land could produce which were sold. The poor man was to have his relative redeem his land back for him again after the lease of the new owner was expired.

Proceeds of the Land Restored

2 Kings 8:1-2 (NIV)

¹ Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.”

² The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

The prophet Elisha predicted a famine would come upon the land that would last for seven years so the woman whose son he had restored to life went to sojourn in the land of the Philistines. When she came back, she asked the King of Israel to restore her land back to her again.

2 Kings 8:4-6 (NIV)

⁴ The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.”

⁵ Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”

⁶ The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income from her land from the day she left the country until now.”

This woman returned to Israel after seven years but found that someone else had moved into her house and was using her land during her absence. She petitioned the King and he assigned an official to her case to give her back everything that belonged to her including the income from her land from the day that she left the country until now. This means that the squatter who assumed control of her house and land was now liable to pay her back for the harvest that the land could have yielded for seven years (regardless if there was a drought or not). The squatter should have thought of this before he assumed to take her property for himself without paying for it.

This illustrates that it was the produce of the land that was considered of worth and this is what was restored to her and she was again given the right to farm her own land and live in her own house. But the land was not really bought on a permanent basis in Israel but it was actually considered a stewardship of God’s land and it was more like a lease with the proceeds of the crops produced as being what was paid for in a lease arrangement.

Leviticus 25:25-28 (NIV)

²⁵ “‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.

²⁶ If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it,

²⁷ he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.

²⁸ But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.

A poor man who sold some of his land (because of his financial need) could have his nearest relative redeem it again and keep it in the family. If he prospered enough to buy it back then the lease holder would have to sell it back to him again. He would have to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he leased it to. This value refers to the value of the crops that were produced on that land rather than the value of the land itself. If this poor man is unable to acquire the means to redeem his land it would remain in the possession of the leasing party until the year of Jubilee and then it will be returned to the original owner again. So, land in Israel was not sold on a permanent basis but it was considered land that belonging to God and the people were stewards of it and if they had a need to sell it was the value of the produce of the land that was considered rather than the value of the land itself.

Again, the temporal nature of life on earth was reinforced by the laws of Leviticus related to the redemption of land sold. It could more accurately be called “land-leased” rather than “land-sold” because it was the produce of the land that held the value in the transaction rather than the land itself. All of the principles of God’s word were given to cause people to think of their lives as being temporary and they are to think of themselves as sojourners who are just passing through this earth without owning anything (like the land itself).

Brevity of Life Illustrates the Temporal Nature of Life on Earth

Genesis 5:27 (NIV)

²⁷ Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died.

Just after the time of Adam mankind had longer life-spans than they do now. For example, one-man Methuselah lived to be 969 years old!

Genesis 6:3 (NASB)

³ Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

The longer that mankind lived upon earth, the more that they forgot God and were distracted by earthly pursuits and self-indulgence. The longer that they lived the more they sinned against God. So, God shortened the life-span of mankind down to only 120-years old because this created urgency for them to get right with God and to think about eternal things rather than just focusing natural matters.

Psalm 90:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ The length of our days is seventy years– or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

By the time of King David, the life-span of humans was again shortened to about 70-80 years old. This short life-span is still evident among humans at this present time and most people do not live much longer than 70-80 years old. Anyone who has lived very long on the earth can tell you that time will pass by faster with each year that goes by. It seems that after age forty that people feel as if time begins to accelerate and they are on a downhill ride on a roller-coaster headed for eternity! By the time someone has lived to reach the age of eighty they will tell you that it seems like just yesterday that they were young teenagers full of hope for life and now they are already near their finish line! The brevity of life forces mankind to consider eternal things.

Matthew 16:26 (NIV)

²⁶ What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

Jesus spoke of the vanity of pursuing financial security on earth. Even if a man gained the entire world for himself, what good would that do him when he goes to the grave at the end of his brief life on earth because he cannot take anything with him when he dies?

Ecclesiastes 5:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.

Solomon was the richest man on earth, who had so much gold that silver was counted as nothing during his time. But Solomon said that a man is born naked from his mother’s womb and he would die the same way as he came. He will take nothing with him from the fruit of his labor when he dies. The purpose of the book of Ecclesiastes is to show mankind how temporal life really is and there is no meaning outside of eternal things.

Psalm 103:15-16 (NIV)

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

Grass can sprout up and pass away quickly and the same is true of a flower that blooms only a few days and then is gone. This is like the life-span of a man because even if a human could live to be a hundred years old that would still seem like only a breathe that is visible for a moment on a cold day and then vanishes the next instant!

James 4:14 (NASB)

¹⁴ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Mankind is headed toward eternity and their time on earth accelerates faster toward the end of their lives the older that they become. They are like a vapor of breath that vanishes in a moment and then they are gone from the earth.

It is the brevity of life that forces mankind to consider eternal things. If they pursue only wealth and pleasure and self-indulgence their short life will be over on earth and they will spend eternity in hell. Those who are conscience of eternal things will have a different attitude in life and be like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who lived as strangers and pilgrims on the earth. They must have a temporary hold on natural things on earth and give their main focus toward things that are of eternal value.

Genesis 47:9 (NIV)

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.”

Jacob said that the years of his pilgrimage on earth were few and difficult even though he had already lived to be 130-years old by this time. This describes the brevity of life even if a man should live over a hundred years old. Time accelerates toward eternity with each passing year and one quickly goes to the grave.

It is this brevity of life that creates an urgency for mankind to get right with God and keep God’s commands and obey God and prepare themselves for eternity. Natural pursuits and attractions and pleasures can all distract mankind and send them to hell. It was for this purpose that the Recabites closed the door on natural things and simplified their lives in order to have an eternal focus and prepare themselves for heaven.

Lifestyle of the Jews

It is interesting to note that Jewish people have been able to keep and retain their separation and identity in every country of their dispersion. They teach their children how to read Hebrew and they study the Torah and they keep God’s laws like circumcision on the eight day, observing the Passover, and observance of the Sabbath day. All of these things are covenant indicators that show that these people have a covenant with the God of Israel.

It is the observance of these laws given to them by God through Moses that causes them to be set apart from all the nations of the earth and this causes them to be a peculiar people.

Leviticus 20:25-26 (NIV)

²⁵ “‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground–those which I have set apart as unclean for you.

²⁶ You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

The children of Israel were set apart by God from all of the nations of the earth and the thing that distinguished them was the fact that they obeyed God’s laws and they made a distinction from that which was clean and that which was unclean in the sight of God. The observance of God’s laws affects their behavior and their diet and everything that they do. They most certainly are peculiar people in the sight of the Gentile nations who do not know God or know the ways of God.

1 Peter 4:4 (NIV)

⁴ They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.

Those who are of the world live for the flesh and self-indulgence and when a group of people separate themselves from immoral behavior and self-indulgence and vices and sin then the sinners will consider their righteous behavior strange or unusual. It is normal for a sinner to live in wickedness and self-indulgence as they do not have any other purpose in life. They expect that everyone will follow them and plunge into the same flood of dissipation together with them. Dissipation means corruptness, debasement, debauchery, degradation, perversion and everything that is opposite of being good and moral or having virtue. Wicked people expect that everyone will follow their example of living in unrestrained sin and they consider moral people to be strange in their sight.

Deuteronomy 14:2 (KJV)

² For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

The KJV of the bible uses the word “peculiar” to describe God’s people and that is what the unbelievers consider a group of moral people to be because it seems that they are peculiar or unusual because they have no desire or impulse to behave like the rest of the heathens. The Jewish people generally do not spend lots of money on luxury vehicles or expensive watches for the vain purpose of trying to buy acceptance from mankind. They generally are not going to be following clothing fashion of the world or dressing like the world in a vain attempt to be accepted by the world. They will save their money for investments rather than blowing it on vices and worldly fashion or trying to be socially acceptable to the world. All of this behavior in trying to obey God’s laws in detail makes them a peculiar people in the sight of the world. The Jew will typically be indifferent about trying to be accepted by the world but instead will spend their time focusing on being accepted by God instead. The effort that they spend in obeying the laws of God given by Moses is noble and it is commendable. What other people group on earth spends so much time and effort in trying to be obedient in detail to the laws of God? It is this effort that causes the Jew to be set apart from all of the peoples and nations of the earth even as they live in dispersion among many countries.

Deuteronomy 26:16-19 (NIV)

¹⁶ The LORD your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹⁷ You have declared this day that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him.

¹⁸ And the LORD has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands.

¹⁹ He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.

The Lord God of Israel commanded His people to follow His decrees and His laws and to carefully observe them with all of their heart and with all of their soul. It is for this reason that Jewish children learn the Torah from the youngest age and even commit the laws of God to memory. The purpose of this attention to the word of God is that God’s people should walk in His ways, and keep His decrees and obey His commands and keep God’s laws. In doing so the Jewish race distinguishes themselves from all of the nations of the earth as God’s treasured possession. God would exalt them in praise and fame and honor high above all of the nations that He has made and the Jewish people were to be a holy people to their Lord God. This will be evident when the Lord returns to rule the earth and Jerusalem is made the capital and center of the earth when He reigns on earth for a thousand years. The Jewish people will be exalted over all of the nations of earth at this time.

Psalm 135:4 (NIV)

⁴ For the LORD has chosen Jacob to be his own, Israel to be his treasured possession.

The Lord has chosen Jacob (the father of the Jewish race) to be His own and the descendants of Jacob are chosen to be God’s treasured possession.

Deuteronomy 32:8-11 (NIV)

⁸ When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.

⁹ For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

¹⁰ In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,

¹¹ like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.

The Lord’s portion is His people Israel and the descendants of Jacob are God’s allotted inheritance. God guarded the children of Israel in the desert just as a man would be protective his eye and would not allow anything to touch it.

What made the Jewish race special was that they had God’s laws and they were expected to obey them and live by them and be set apart from all of the Gentile nations on earth. But whenever the children of Israel broke their separation and become just like the pagans around them then they were destroyed as being useless to God. This has been a constant theme throughout Jewish history. They are only pleasing to God to the extent that they separate themselves from the wicked ways of the world and live according to the laws of God.

Deuteronomy 4:7-9 (NIV)

⁷ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

⁸ And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

⁹ Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

The distinguishing factor that made the children of Israel great was that they were given the laws of God to live by. If they were careful to follow God’s laws closely that would make them a treasure in God’s eyes. They were to teach their children the laws of God so that the generations to come would also know about God and the laws of God. They were to follow these things as long as they live and that is what makes the lifestyle of the Jew peculiar to those who do not know God.

Deuteronomy 4:5-6 (NIV)

⁵ See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.

⁶ Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Those who follow God’s laws and live by them are those who will distinguish themselves as being a great people who are wise and understanding because the wisdom of God is contained in His laws.

There is evident a distinctive lifestyle among the Jews who observe the Law of Moses. They are distinct and set apart from all of the nations of earth by their observance of God’s laws. Not desiring to be accepted by the world or by the society but desiring to be pleasing to God instead is a distinguishing quality of God’s chosen people. This however has direct application also to the God-fearing Gentiles who have come into faith in Jesus the Jewish Messiah.

Titus 2:14 (KJV)

¹⁴ Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Jesus gave Himself for all mankind including the Gentiles also that He might redeem them from all iniquity and purify for Himself a peculiar people who are zealous for good works. This means that those who Gentiles (who are true believers in Jesus) should also display their faith by their good behavior. In the same way that the Jews are not concerned about being accepted by the world the true believers should be the same way. A true believer should not be spending their money on the vanity of being accepted by the world by the things that they possess or the clothing that they wear. The true believer should have an eternal purpose of pleasing God rather than trying to be accepted by mankind. There must be separation so that believers do not become like the world and do not seek to look like the world or behave like the world. The same principle of separation applies both to the Jews as well as to those Gentiles who are true believers in Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9-10 (KJV)

⁹ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

¹⁰ Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The Gentile believers are to be separated to God in the same way as God’s chosen people are. They are to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and a holy nation and a peculiar people. Being “peculiar” means that they are set apart from the world and the ways of the world. God’s people are called out of darkness of sin to walk in the light of holiness with God. In the past the Gentiles were living like dogs and were not God’s people but after Jesus died for all mankind and provided eternal life for all that is when many of the Gentiles also came into faith in Jesus Christ. The believing Gentiles are also considered God’s people by faith and have obtained mercy from God by faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:11-13 (NIV)

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)–

¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

The Gentiles were formerly called uncircumcised meaning that they were without covenant with God and they were strangers to God’s promises and foreigners to the covenants of promise given to the descendants of Jacob. The Gentiles before Christ were at that time without God and without hope in the world. But through Jesus Christ they who were once far away from God were brought near through the blood of Jesus that washed them from sin.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (NIV)

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.

¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

The point of view that a believer in Christ should have is that they are aliens and strangers in the world because they do not belong to the world anymore. Christ redeemed them out of the world so they should no longer have the same pursuit of worldly things as the unbelievers pursue. A true believer should be living for a divine purpose rather than running after all of those things that the unbelievers crave for. They are to be a good example and live good and godly lives as a light among the dark world of sin. The believer is to display himself by his godly character as being separated from the world and behave as one chosen by God.

Titus 1:16 (NIV)

¹⁶ They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Those who are carnal Christians claim that they know God and even assume they will go to heaven. But in fact, it is the actions of the carnal Christians that deny the Lord. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. In short, they are like barren tree that has produced no fruit of holiness in their lives and they will be chopped down and cast into the fires of hell. A true believer will distinguish himself from those who are carnal Christians and unbelievers by his godly behavior. A true believer will produce fruit of holiness in his or her life. It is the godly behavior of God’s people that separate them from those who are living in wickedness. Both carnal Christians and unbelievers will burn in hell because they are exactly the same bunch. The carnal Christians love the world and love the ways of the world. The carnal Christian will want to follow worldly clothing fashion and worldly hairstyles because they want to be accepted by the world. They listen to worldly music and behave just like the world because they are of the world and there is no difference between them and the unbelievers.

It is evident that those who are true believers are to distinguish themselves by their godly behavior and their separation from the ways of the world. If they are busy trying to be accepted by the world then they have become a friend of the world and have made themselves enemies of God.

James 4:4-5 (NASB)

⁴ You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?

Those who are a friend of the world become an enemy of God. God is a jealous God and being worldly is the same thing in God’s sight as committing adultery against Christ. It is for this reason that God requires that His people be separate from the world and be separated from the ways of the world.

2 Corinthians 6:15-18 (NIV)

¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶ What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹⁸ “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

The believer is to be separated from carnal Christians and is to be separated from the unbelievers and not live according to their worldly behavior. Satan is the god of this world and he influences the unbelievers to behave the way that they do. If a believer behaves like the world they will lose separation and become carnal Christians and in the end they will be burned in hell together with the unbelievers. God calls His people to come out from the midst of the wicked and be separate in behavior. If they will not touch that which is unclean then God will receive them and welcome them. Those who separate themselves to God will become sons and daughters of God.

Lot lost his separation from the world when he pitched his tents near the city of Sodom. Sodom was a city of people who were extremely wicked in the sight of God.

Genesis 13:10-12 (NIV)

¹⁰ Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:

¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

Lot lost his separation and went to live with the world and even ended up in the same city as the wicked men of Sodom.

Genesis 19:4-10 (NIV)

⁴ Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom–both young and old–surrounded the house.

⁵ They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

⁶ Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him

⁷ and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.

⁸ Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹ “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰ But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.

Lot lost his separation from the world and ended up living right inside the city of Sodom. His moral standards become so corrupted that Lot even offered his virgin daughters to a gang of homosexual rapists! The men of Sodom said that Lot was an alien and was now living among them and acting like a judge of their evil behavior. The homosexuals did not want anyone to tell them that they were unrighteous because they were just in their own sight.

Genesis 13:13-18 (NIV)

¹³ Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

¹⁴ The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.

¹⁵ All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.

¹⁶ I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.

¹⁷ Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Abraham kept and retained his separation to God and lived his nomadic lifestyle and dwelt in tents and stayed in the remote areas away from the population centers that were totally given over to corruption. Lot lost everything when Sodom was judged by God but Abraham was blessed because he kept and maintained his separation.

This same principle of separation can be seen with the Jewish race today and this same principle is required by God of all of the Gentiles who come to faith in Jesus Christ. They are to come out of the world and be separate so that they will not be swept away together in their judgment.

Genesis 19:15 (NASB)

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.”

Lot was told to get out of the city and separate himself from the wicked so that he would not be swept away in their judgment.

Genesis 19:24-26 (NASB)

²⁴ Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,

²⁵ and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

²⁶ But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

When God destroyed the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah the wife of Lot looked back with longing and yearning for the worldly cities that she loved so much. It was for this reason that she was swept away in the judgment that fell upon the wicked. Those carnal Christians who love the world and love the ways of the world will be swept away together with the unbelievers in the judgment of the world. Carnal Christians are those who profess to know Christ but they have not made a separation from the world and they dress like the world and behave like the world and seek to be accepted by the world. They are just like Lot’s wife who had worldly affections and was destroyed together with the wicked. Lot lost everything because he pitched his tent near to Sodom and eventually, he even moved into Sodom to live with the wicked. Those who do not separate themselves from the world will be destroyed together with the world and Lot’s wife is an example of this.

EXILES SET THEMSELVES TO OBEY GOD’S WORD

In the time of Nehemiah and Ezra the exiles that returned from captivity in Babylon were serious about obeying the word of the Lord. They understood that their nation was destroyed and made desolate because those before them had disobeyed God’s laws. They did not want to have the same judgment repeated again by neglecting to hear and obey God’s word.

Nehemiah 8:1-3 (NASB)

¹ And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel.

² Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

³ He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

The scripture says that they gathered together as one man in the square and this speaks of unity of purpose just as the members of a man’s human body all follow one mind and obey the will of the man who has control over his own mind and will. So the people gathered together for one unified purpose and they all had the same mind or the same thinking even though there was many individuals gathered together in one place.

These people all had a unified purpose in seeking the Lord and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the Law of Moses and Ezra read God’s law to all of those people who gathered together to hear God’s word. He began reading early in the morning and read all the way through to midday in the presence of these people who had a heart to understand the word of the Lord. The people were all attentive to the book of God’s law because they had a heart to hear and obey what God commanded them to do.

Nehemiah 8:5 (NASB)

⁵ Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.

The attitude of the people in reverencing the word of the Lord could be seen in their behavior as they all stood up when the word of God was opened. They were attentive and stood just as Ezra also was standing while reading the Law of God to them.

Nehemiah 8:6 (NASB)

⁶ Then Ezra blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

The people also lifted up their hands in praise and worship to the Lord and they even bowed down low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground as a sign of humility.

Nehemiah 8:8 (NASB)

⁸ They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.

The Levites were helping to instruct the people and they also read from the book of the Law of God and they translated it to give the sense so that the people could understand the meaning of God’s word. If people have no understanding, they will lose what they have in their hearts because they will not be able to apply God’s word to their personal lives.

Mark 4:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

Those people who have hearts hardened to the word of God by indifference are like seed sown on a hard path where the seed is trampled upon and the birds come and eat that seed and snatch it away. The people who were destroyed before the return of exiles in the time of Nehemiah and Ezra returned to the land of Israel were like this. These former inhabitants of the land were careless and indifferent toward the word of God like someone trampling upon the word as if they do not care. It was for this reason they were all destroyed by war, famine, and pestilence and their land was made desolate.

Nehemiah 8:9-12 (NASB)

⁹ Then Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

¹¹ So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved.”

¹² All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival, because they understood the words which had been made known to them.

Nehemiah was the governor in charge of natural matters of rebuilding and Ezra the priest and scribe was the one in charge of the spiritual matters of laying a foundation of God’s word in the lives of people. Everyone who returned to the land of Israel from exile knew and understood clearly that the reason those before them were destroyed was because they failed to obey God’s laws. It was evident that if these returning exiles did not correct their behavior, they would be destroyed the same as those before them were destroyed. When God’s word was read before the people they wept when they heard the Law of God. They had a broken and humble heart and they were weeping tears of repentance over the sins against God that were committed before them. This repentance and humility before the Lord was part of the spiritual foundation necessary in rebuilding the nation. Without repentance and humility toward God’s word the people would only be destroyed again just as those were destroyed before them.

Numbers 25:6 (NIV)

⁶ Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

In the time of Moses, the Midianites were advised by Balaam to send pagan women into the camp to seduce Israeli men to eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. In this manner they would bring a curse upon themselves from God. One of the Israelite leaders brought a pagan woman to his family tent for sexual immorality and he brazenly did this in sight of the whole assembly of Israel who were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. The people who were weeping were those who separated themselves from the sinners who were engaged in idol worship and immorality and they were weeping tears of repentance as they were grieved over the sin that was taking place in the camp.

Numbers 25:7-13 (NIV)

⁷ When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand

⁸ and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them–through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;

⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

¹⁰ The LORD said to Moses,

¹¹ “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them.

¹² Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him.

¹³ He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

Phinehas distinguished himself in the sight of God because he was not passive with sin that was taking place within his sight. He went after the offending Israeli man and the pagan woman and pinned them both to the ground with one strike as they were engaged in sexual immorality in the tent. This stopped the plague from God that had already killed 24, 000 people in the camp. Phinehas was zealous for the honor of God and he stopped the plague and saved the lives of many people from destruction at the hands of the jealous God! Phinehas received a covenant of peace from the Lord because of his zeal for God. He received a covenant of a lasting priesthood because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites. This is the way that a true man of God should be and he should rebuke sin and do away with those who live wickedly and break God’s laws brazenly within the congregation.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 (NIV)

¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

² And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

In the church at Corinth there was a man who was committing sexual immorality with the wife of his own father. Possibly the woman was his step mother and maybe his father had remarried to this woman and this man was living under the same roof together with his father and then engaged in an immoral relationship with this woman. The woman is not mentioned in the church discipline so she may have been an unbeliever who did not attend the church so she was not under the sphere of authority of Apostle Paul. But the offending man was living in unrepentant sexual immorality and continued to attend the church at the same time. Paul spoke strong words about this man and commanded that he be cast out of the fellowship. There was a spirit of holiness in the early church and they did not tolerate people living in unrepentant sin. If they did not want to repent, they would be cast out of the church and they could join the unbelievers outside the church and go to hell together with them.

1 Corinthians 5:6 (NIV)

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

Paul spoke of sin in the body of Christ as being like leaven that can work through an entire batch of dough and cause it to rise. The Passover was celebrated with unleavened bread because leaven was symbolic of sin that permeates the entire batch of dough. When unrepentant sinners are not cast out of the church, they will bring ungodly influence into the entire congregation and defile all of them. The presence of ungodly people will grieve the Holy Spirit and cause the gifts of the Spirit to cease their operation. The presence and power of God will not be restored again until the unrepentant sinners are removed from their midst.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NIV)

⁹ I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–

¹⁰ not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

¹¹ But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

The believers were not to associate with anyone who was sexually immoral but that was not referring to the unbelievers because that is only natural behavior to unregenerate people. Paul was referring to not associating with those who call themselves believers who were engaged in immorality, greed, idolatry or slander or drunkenness or swindling. The true believers were not even to eat with such a man because that would be endorsing their evil behavior. Paul did not judge the unbelievers outside the church because it was God who would bring judgment upon them. But within the church Paul exercised his authority of an apostle to give commandment to expel that wicked man from among them. They were not to tolerate the wicked in their midst because passivity is equal to endorsement and they would bring God’s judgment on the rest of the congregation for not taking action in this matter to expel those who are living wickedly among them.

The Achan Principle

The same principle can be seen with Achan in the time of Joshua.

Joshua 7:1 (NIV)

¹ But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.

Achan took some of the spoil of Jericho but this first city was to be given over to the Lord wholly like a burnt offering and they were banned from taking any spoil of this first city that was destroyed by the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land. But Achan took of the spoil and disobeyed God’s ban and because of this God’s blessing departed from the entire nation and they were defeated before their enemies.

Joshua 7:2-9 (NIV)

² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.

³ When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.”

⁴ So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,

⁵ who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

⁶ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face-down to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads.

⁷ And Joshua said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!

⁸ O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?

⁹ The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”

The Israelites were defeated in their very next battle with the small town of Ai. That town was so small that they sent only about 3,000 soldiers against it expecting an easy victory. But they were defeated by the least of their enemies because God’s presence with not with them. They were greatly shocked at this defeat and were perplexed as to why they were routed by their enemies. They cried out to God in anguish over this unexpected defeat and that is when they discovered that sin had been committed in the camp and God would not help them anymore unless they dealt with this unrepentant sin.

Joshua 7:10-12 (NIV)

¹⁰ The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?

¹¹ Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.

¹² That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

The clear meaning of the Achan principle can be seen in the fact that God would no longer be with His people anymore and they would not have any success as long as there was sin among them. The Israelites could not stand against their enemies and they were all liable to destruction because God was not with them anymore. The only way that God’s presence would be restored is if they would deal with the sinner among them and do away with that sin that brought a curse to the entire congregation. To be passive with one sinner is to show God that that this sinner is more important than God. This is what brought destruction upon Eli because he was passive with his two wicked sons and did not discipline them or put them to death for their offense against God. Those who are passive with sin will be destroyed together with the sinner that is among them and that is what happened in the time of Achan.

Joshua 7:4-5 (NIV)

⁴ So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,

⁵ who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

The first slaughter in the confrontation with the small town of Ai resulted in the death of 36 Israeli soldiers. This means that 36 men died on the account of one man who sinned in the congregation. Some people will defend their sin and say that what they do privately is of no consequence to others but this is not true at all. If people are allowed to sin in the church it will result in the grieving of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit will cease and there will be no more anointing or revelation and ministry will cease because God’s presence will be gone. God requires that men deal with sin among them and call men to repent or get out.

Joshua 7:13 (NIV)

¹³ “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.

God told the Israelites that they could not stand before their enemies until they remove the sinner from among them.

Joshua 7:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!'”

God gave commandment concerning the one who had transgressed against the commandment of the Lord and the death penalty shows the seriousness of the crime just as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities was a testimony to all future generations that people should not give themselves over to sin and break God’s laws.

Joshua 7:19-26 (NIV)

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

²⁰ Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:

²¹ When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.

²³ They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.

²⁴ Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.

²⁵ Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.” Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.

²⁶ Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore, that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

Achan was revealed to be the one who was the sinner in the congregation and he was dealt with without mercy because he had caused the death of many others because of his own sin. Joshua declared that this man brought trouble upon the entire congregation of Israel so God would bring trouble upon him and they stoned him to death and destroyed all that he had because they were not taking any chances with leaving anything that could bring a curse to the congregation of Israel.

The fact of the matter is that if there is no separation from sinners then the judgment of God will come upon the entire congregation who are passive in dealing with sin in their midst. The sin of one man can bring a curse upon the entire congregation and cause God’s presence to depart from among them all. It is for this reason that godly leaders like Joshua could not tolerate sin among them but they were required to deal with that sin decisively. Paul cast out a wicked man from their congregation because of unrepentant sin. If people want to sin they can stay out of the church and go to hell with the unbelievers. There is no point in attending church and pretending to be a Christian while living in unrepentant sin.

It is the Achan principle that illustrates the need to have separation of God’s people from the world and from unbelievers and also from carnal Christians who love the world and behave just like the world. Those who are carnal Christians will end up in hell together with the world that they love so dearly and standing among the believers in the church is not going to save them.

2 Peter 2:9 (NASB)

⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

God will separate the wicked from the godly in the Day of Judgment just like separating the tares from the wheat to burn the weeds in unquenchable fire and reserve the godly for heaven.

Exodus 12:38 (NASB)

³⁸ A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.

When the children of Israel left Egypt there was a mixed multitude of pagans that joined them because they were terrorized by the plagues that inflicted the land of Egypt. These mixed multitude people were not true converts or believers in the God of Israel but only thought that if they would stand among the children of Israel that they might escape the plagues that struck the Egyptians in the time of Moses. Even today there are mixed multitude people who can be found in almost every church. These are people who live like heathens outside the church in unrepentant sin but they attend the church and stand among the Christians and suppose they can escape the judgment of God just like the mixed multitude that stood among the children of Israel in the time of Moses. These sorts of people are living in self-deception thinking that they can escape hell by standing in a church. They are no more a Christian by standing in a church anymore than standing in a garage will make them into a car! God knows how to separate the wicked from the ungodly and bring destruction and judgment upon them and every man will have to stand before the judgment throne of Christ and not one of them will escape their due penalty of sin.

Numbers 11:4 (NIV)

⁴ The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

It was this mixed multitude that poisoned the minds of the Israelites when they started wailing and crying for some meat to eat. Soon the entire congregation of Israel joined the mixed multitude and began to complain and murmur just like the rabble that was standing among them. This brought a curse to the entire congregation as they expressed ungratefulness toward God and were destroyed by God’s anger.

God’s people are to keep and maintain their separation to God and only those who love and serve God are to be allowed in the congregation. Those who love sin and love the world should be expelled from the church because they bring nothing but bad influence and sin and are just like leaven that permeates an entire lump of dough. In the same way as leaven affects dough so the bad influence of wicked people and professing Christians can bring defilement to an entire congregation.

I have witnessed men who were passive in dealing with sin in the church and they in fact showed favor toward the sinners by not dealing with the disorder that was introduced by these people into the church. As a result, good people left the church because of the obvious disorder that was present and the fake pastor was left only with these losers and freeloaders and sinners who did not give a dime to God. It was insane that he showed preference to someone as worthless as these people instead of dealing with them in masculine manner and casting them out of the church.

I know of another pastor who was a real man of God. He had a group of elders which rose up against him like Korah and his men rose up against Moses. One of the men reported to the pastor what went on in that unauthorized elder meeting as these wicked men decided to control and manipulate this pastor. The next Sunday the pastor boldly told all of these wicked elders to stand up and he publicly cast them all out of his church and told anyone else who was with them to get out. He had a large church but he lost over 400 members because of casting out this group of elders and those people who followed them. But he later said that this was 400 problems walking out the door and from that time forward his ministry really exploded and he had thousands more new members join his church. This church growth took place after he took authority over these wicked men and cast them out of his church.

I know of an Evangelist also who was conducting a crusade overseas in a large tent. There was a pub nearby and the owner of this pub specifically sent some drunkards to disturb his meeting. He asked the ushers to deal with the disturbance but they refused to take action. He was left with no other option but to deal with the disturbance himself and take authority over it. He told the congregation to all raise their hands and close their eyes and worship God. Then he went to the back of the tent and physically threw these drunkards out of his meeting. He did not know if the people would want to hear what he had to say after throwing out these drunkards but what happened next was that the power of the Holy Spirit fell in that meeting and great signs and wonders and healing took place and thousands were saved and healed. That move of God came after a man of God used his authority to put things in order and cast out those who were disturbing the meeting. God was not displeased with the use of force and on the contrary the decisive action brought on a move of God!

God requires that men use their God-given authority just as Apostle Paul did in dealing with wicked people and unrepentant sinners in the church. There is to be separation of the godly from the ungodly and casting out rebellious people publicly in a church can be enough to restore order in the church and after the rabble were gone the church population can really explode because people were happy to have a real man of God who uses his authority. Even in the tent crusade the people applauded the man of God when he used his authority to expel the drunkards from their meeting. This is what Joshua did also with Achan who brought a curse to the entire congregation and caused the presence of God to depart from all of them. The Achan principle speaks of the principle of separating the ungodly from the godly just as chaff is separated from the wheat.

Matthew 3:12 (NIV)

¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John the Baptist spoke of the ministry of Jesus who would clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into the barn and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. This clearly depicts the righteous being separated from the unrighteous. The righteous will be gathered into heaven while the unrighteous will be burned in the unquenchable fires of hell!

There must be a separation of the godly from the ungodly because the two cannot walk together in agreement when one party follows the sin nature and the devil while the other party follows after righteousness and pleasing God. People cannot serve the devil and serve God at the same time. A choice must be made as to who they will serve and their choices will determine if they will spend eternity in heaven or spend eternity in hell!

Over and over again I have heard testimonies of real men of God dealing with sin and disorder within their congregations and after they did so the anointing of God would fall and the presence of God would be restored to the congregation again. Sin will grieve the Holy Spirit and stop the operation of the gifts of the Spirit in the church. This is a key factor of why these carnal churches are so powerless and dead and are nothing more than a dead social club. When mankind harbors unrepentant sin in their hearts then it will cause God’s presence to depart from them and this is part of the Achan Principle.

The Achan Principle shows that leaders cannot be passive with sin and disobedience and still expect the presence of God to be among their congregation. The entire congregation will suffer if they allow one unrepentant sinner to remain among them.

Another form of separation that can be seen is in the story of the ten spies who spied out the Promised Land. These men gave an evil report of the land and the whole congregation was affected by what they said.

Numbers 13:31-33 (NIV)

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

³² And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

³³ We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

The ten evil spies did not renew their minds to the word of God as Joshua and Caleb did and they began to moan and cry and say it was impossible to enter the Promised Land. They were focused only on the negative rather than looking at what God could do.

Numbers 14:1-4 (NIV)

¹ That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.

² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!

³ Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁴ And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

The entire community was filled with evil imaginations and they imagined that they would all be killed by the giants and their wives and children would be taken as plunder. They wanted to give up and choose a new leader to return back to slavery in Egypt again! God could do nothing with them because they lived in the negative and God does not dwell in the negative.

Numbers 14:6-10 (NIV)

⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes

⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.

⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.

⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

¹⁰ But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.

Joshua and Caleb were the only two men in the entire congregation who had their minds renewed to think like God. They said that nothing was impossible for God and God could give them the Promised Land. But when Joshua and Caleb spoke differently than the negative minded congregation, the congregation got angry and spoke of stoning Joshua and Caleb to death because they did not think negative like the rest of the congregation.

Numbers 14:11-12 (NIV)

¹¹ The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?

¹² I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

The negative thinking of these people angered God because they were stubborn in their refusal to believe Him.

Numbers 14:28-38 (NIV)

²⁸ So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say:

²⁹ In this desert your bodies will fall–every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.

³⁰ Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹ As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

³² But you–your bodies will fall in this desert.

³³ Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.

³⁴ For forty years–one year for each of the forty days you explored the land–you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’

³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”

³⁶ So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it–

³⁷ these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.

³⁸ Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

The entire congregation who murmured against God with their doubt and unbelief were sentenced to death! They were punished by being required to wander in the wilderness for another forty years until every last one of the murmuring congregation all died off from age 20 years old and above. The ten spies who brought an evil report against the land all died off in a plague before the Lord and the only two survivors were Joshua and Caleb who spoke in agreement with what God could do.

This biblical account makes it clear that those who speak in disagreement with what God says are going to cut their own throats by their negative words. These negative people did not fellowship with God or renew their minds to think like God as Joshua and Caleb did.

Joshua 1:8-9 (NIV)

⁸ Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

God commanded Joshua to meditate in the book of the Law of God day and night. He was to speak God’s word continually and not let it depart from his mouth. Joshua was to be strong and courageous and not be moved by the circumstances that he saw but he was to be only moved by what God said. Joshua must have taught the same principle to Caleb his friend because these were the only two men who had their minds renewed to think like God when the rest of the congregation only looking at natural circumstances around them.

This has direct application to the believer today because if they do not renew their minds like Joshua and Caleb, they will live defeated lives and they will not fulfill their race on earth and they will end up in hell. A true believer is to meditate on God’s word day and night and renew their thinking to think like God.

If they do not meditate on the word of God and renew their mind then they will be carnal minded and the carnal mind cannot please God.

Romans 8:6-7 (NKJV)

⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

The carnal mind is a natural mind or sinful mind that dwells on the negative. It is an enemy of God because it cannot please God. The congregation who spoke evil words when they heard a negative report of the land all had a carnal mind or a sinful mind that was full of the thoughts and evil imaginations of the devil.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The believer is to cast down every evil thought of the devil and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. They are not to allow any negative satanic thought of failure in their minds but they are to renew their thinking to think in agreement with God and God’s word.

This brings us to the topic of separation from that which is evil. This can include worldly news found on radio, newspapers, television or internet. The news given by the children of the devil will commonly focus on that which is negative. If a believer meditates on worldly news they are actually meditating on the thoughts of the devil. The children of the devil will praise that which is evil and disdain that which is good and if a believer listens to the evil reports given by wicked media then he will become greatly discouraged like the congregation who listened to the evil report of the ten spies whose minds were full of the thoughts of the devil. The secular news can give the believer a false idea that Satan is in control of everything and God has fallen off His throne and the devil’s people are in control of the entire earth! That is a product of listening to satanic lies and negative reports of children of the devil. A man cannot walk in faith and be listening to worldly news at the same time! There must be a separation from all that is worldly and seeks to contaminate his mind.

A believer should not be following the news of the world or listening to worldly music or following worldly clothing fashion or worldly hair styles or looking or dressing like the world because all that is of the world comes from Satan who is the god of this world. If a Christian is worldly that means they are a carnal Christian who loves the world and wants to be just like the world.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NASB)

³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,

⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Satan is called the god of this world because he is in control of bringing contamination and defilement to all people on earth. The devil seeks to use worldly news and movies and books and advertising and all that he can to bring contamination to the minds of humanity. The devil also works on the minds of believers to cause them to think worldly thoughts and become like the world which is defiled by the devil’s point of view. Believers are to resist the worldly influence that seeks to contaminate their minds and they are to be like Joshua and Caleb who renewed their minds daily with God’s word.

James 4:4 (NIV)

⁴ You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Those who are a friend of the world are those who are enemies of God. A believer can become a friend of the world when they think like the world, behave like the world, dress like the world and want to be accepted by the world. Being fashionable is largely an effort of a worldly person who desires to be accepted by the world by dressing like them. A believer has to separate themselves from everything that is worldly or they will make themselves an enemy of God!

Romans 12:2 (NIV)

² Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God’s word teaches the believer to no longer conform themselves to the pattern of the world but they are to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. The believer renews his mind by meditation on God’s word constantly just as Joshua and Caleb did. The word of God is light that will dispel all darkness from their minds. They cannot think the thoughts of the world and of the devil the same time that they are thinking God’s thoughts. They cannot speak the word of God at the same time they speak the thoughts of the devil which are full of failure and defeat. The believer must separate themselves from all that is worldly and demonic and renew their minds and their thoughts to think like God and speak like God. If they do not, they will drift into become carnal Christians and they will be judged together with the world and sent to hell.

The end result of people being separated to God is that they will have a spiritual emphasis rather than a natural one. Yes Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all three wealthy men but at the same time they were not covetous or materialistic and they lived a simple lifestyle like a pilgrim that was passing through earth and lived in tents. They always put God and the word of God first place in their lives. These men all practiced meditation and they meditated on God’s word and renewed their minds the same as Joshua and Caleb also did.

Those who are separated to God will have a simple lifestyle and not seek worldly acceptance and now follow the ways of the world but will renew their minds to think like God. They will separate themselves from all that is in the world.

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

¹⁶ For everything in the world–the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does–comes not from the Father but from the world.

¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

The believer is not to love the world or anything that is in the world. If anyone loves the world then the love of the father is not in him. The carnal Christian is a person who professes to be a Christian but they love the world and want to be accepted by the world. They fill their minds with movies and news and worldly things that make them think like the world and receive defilement in their minds. Everything that is in the world is influenced by Satan-the tempter and leads men toward defilement and hell. The cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what they have all comes from the world. Worldly people are full of lust for vices and sin and materialism and greed. These things of the world are all temporal and they will all pass away but only those who separate themselves from the world will enter eternal life and live forever.

Being separated to God involves being separated from both carnal Christians and the world and those who fellowship together in the church are to be separated away from all that is evil and has defiling influence upon them. The teaching about separation speaks of separating oneself to God in holiness because without holiness no man will see God.

General Biblical Topics

Three Parts of Man

Abraham Bosom

Spiritual Restraints

New Creation Born of God

Led by the Spirit

Origin and Operation of Demons

Doctrines of Demons

Factors that Affect Healing

Atonement Series

Giving and Kingdom Finances

Gift of Businessman “Giver”

Thornbush Leaders and Freeloaders

Salvation’s Race

Escape from Christendom

Overcoming Christian

Fear of the Lord

Christians in Hell

Button Hole Principle

Forsake Not Grace

Temperament Types

Faking-it-in-the-Flesh

Cutting Stones of Fit

Social Work Failure

Sin Nature Crucifixion

Remain in Ordained Place

Principle of Separation