Number 72

THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD

‘This is my Father’s world." Thus spoke the poet, and his words are in complete harmony with those of the Psalmist who declares that God has said, "the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof" (Psa. 50:12). He is its Founder; He is its Maker; and He so loved it that He put His only Son into it, thus creating the arrangement that whosoever in the world believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, John 1:10). In these truths we can rest and proclaim with confidence that He will never allow His world to slip out of His hand. It will never come to an end, nor will it ever be destroyed.

In a previous study (Issue No. 71), it was declared that the world is the arrangement, order, system, ecology, or environment that is upon the earth. In fact, it is the sum total of everything that constitutes an orderly and proper habitation for man. It includes all that is essential to man’s well-being.

Since the word kosmos basically means order, system, or arrangement, it is possible to use it of other systems, great and small. We know from the Bible that man has created many worlds which at present we must use and in which we are forced to live (1 Cor. 7:31), although some of these we must hate and shun. However, these will not be dealt with in this study, as our present task is to consider the salvation of the world that God made and loves.

In the theologies of Christendom, there is no place for the salvation of the world. Even believing men can see no further than the salvation of individuals. Some are able to see the salvation of Israel, as Paul so emphatically declares in Romans 11:26; but even this is usually limited to the redemption of a number of Israelites, a remnant that will later be established as a nation. Thus, they deny what they affirm and do not really believe that, "All Israel shall be saved."

It is to be carefully noted here that Paul does not say "all Israelites," since it is a fact that the salvation of Israel will be accomplished by the elimination altogether of some Israelites. Ezekiel declares this when speaking of the regathering and deliverance of Israel: "And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against Me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD" (Ezek. 20:38).

From what has been said above, let no one think or suggest that I believe in some future universal salvation of every Israelite that ever descended from Jacob. I am sure that restored Israel will be a far better nation if such men as Ahab (1 Kgs. 16:33) and Judas Iscariot are forever eliminated from among the people. And it will be a far better nation when such men as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are again a part of it (Matt. 8:11).

While the salvation of the world may have no place in the theology of Christendom, it does have a prominent place in the Word of God. One of the most important declarations in regard to this is found in John’s Gospel: "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved" (3:17). This glorious promise has been stultified in the Scofield Reference Bible by a marginal note that says kosmos here equals "mankind," a note that was wisely deleted by the Editors of the New Scofield Reference Bible. Later, our Lord declared: "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12:47). And as if to epitomize this great truth in one statement, the Apostle John declared: "The Father sent (Gk. apostellO — commissioned) the Son to be the Savior of the world" (1 John 4:14).

The passages cited in the paragraph above are simple and plain statements of truth, and they should not be nullified by erroneous interpretations. In fact, they are so direct that certain enemies of Christ are now using them to argue that both Jesus and John were deceivers who, if followed, would lead men astray by false promises. They point to the world nineteen hundred years after these declarations were made; and there is nothing to indicate that it has been saved, or that it is being saved from the bondage of sin, corruption, and pollution that strangles it more and more each passing day. Of course, these Christ rejectors know nothing at all about the present parenthetical dispensation of the grace of God, a period of time during which God is writing into the history of His long dealings with mankind a record of the grace that is inherent in His character. This record will be a precious deposit that God will place in the world after He does His great work of salvation.

The flippant will say, "There is nothing wrong with the world; it is the people in it." But this is false. There is something wrong with the world, yes, something very seriously wrong with the system or order into which everyone is born and in which all of us must live. Malignancies have insinuated themselves into every part of the environment which is man’s home.

The world today is desperately ill—so seriously ill that many wonder if it can be saved. The putrid eruptions that are seen in every land are only the tip of the iceberg. "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty" (Psa. 74:20). Men do what they can to alleviate these openly festering spots, at times achieving some small degree of success; but they soon break forth again in a more virulent form in the same or another place. Thus, the world that God made as a proper habitation for man becomes increasingly inhospitable to all who live in it. A malignancy is rampant in the world, from which the world needs to be saved.

As stated before, the average Christian today knows nothing about the salvation of the world. It is no part of his thinking, and it forms no part of his hope. And since with so many, nothing is true except what they already know and believe, they quickly deny and repudiate all Biblical declarations concerning the salvation of the world. No matter how much Biblical evidence may be marshaled in support of this great truth, they steadfastly refuse to add to their faith this knowledge.

That the Greek word kosmos has to do with order, arrangement, and system is a fact that is well-known to all students and one to which all lexicons will give witness. Nevertheless, by its usage in the New Testament, it is evident that in its most exalted meaning, it has to do with an order, system, and arrangement which is what it is because it was so determined by a Master Mind, a Peerless Arranger, a Supreme Architect. This is called "creation’s order" in Rom. 1:20 (from the Gk. upo ktiseOs kosmou), and this is the world of which I am speaking when I proclaim the salvation of the world.

From the Bible we know that it was an ideal system or environment which God provided for man, even before his creation. "And God saw that it was good," is the fourfold repeated statement that God made before He created the first member of the human race. Man was expected to utilize and enjoy the world that God had made for him. However, certain things went wrong, and they have grown progressively worse mostly because man has chosen it to be this way.

The most revealing statement concerning what happened to God’s world is found in Romans 5:12: "Wherefore, even as through one man the sin entered into the world, and through the sin the death, even so the death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned" (TRV). Thus, if we believe God, it was by one man (Adam) that the principle of sin (singular) entered into the world and became then, and still is, the origin of all the acts that are classified as sins (plural). Sin is the root and sins are the fruit. For example, murder is not sin; it is one of the sins that has its source in the sin that came in through Adam. I make this statement at the risk of being misquoted and misunderstood.

The fact of sin in the world is a fact to be faced and reckoned with. Sin is a prime mover that results in many motions, all of which are sins. When sin entered the world, it opened the door to death; and now sin is transmitted through death. We are not born sinners, but we are born dying; that is, death is working in every member of the Adamic race and it produces all the illnesses, diseases, and infirmities that exist among men today.

If the world is to be saved, if it is to be rescued, delivered, and made safe as a proper habitation for mankind, then sin as a principle will have to be removed from it. However, this is a definite part of God’s overall plan of redemption, even as John the Baptist boldly announced: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

In this passage the word "world" should not be stultified by making it to mean mankind or some out of mankind who receive Christ, nor should it be made to mean every member of the human race. This passage has nothing to do with the sins of men, and it is not to be equated with Rom. 5:8 or 1 Cor. 15:3—passages which do have to do with your sins and my sins.

Jesus Christ in His death has done all that is necessary to remove the principle of sin from the world. One man, Adam, did all that was necessary to bring sin and death into the world; and another man, the God-man Christ Jesus has done everything that is necessary to get it out. This removal has long been delayed, but it is sure and certain. When that moment comes in God’s time-table for the removal of sin, it will be done; and this will also mean the removal of Adamic death and all the ills that flow out of it.

The removal of the companion principles of sin and death from the world does not mean that none will ever sin again or that none will ever die. But it does mean that never again can any man be a "federal head" who, by some act of his, brings the principle of sin back into the world, or that death or mortality can be transmitted from generation to generation. It will then be in the world even as Jeremiah has declared it will be in Israel. (See Jeremiah 31:29, 30.)

The salvation of the world is one great segment of the work of God that will result in the kingdom of God becoming a reality upon the earth. God’s government is to function in a world that He has rescued, delivered, and made safe. He will save the world first, and then He will judge the world in righteousness by that One Whom He has ordained, even Christ Jesus.

INDEX

Issue no. 072