In John 17, Jesus Christ prayed to His Heavenly Father for His disciples and for all coming believers, that they would not be taken out of the world, but would be preserved in it and walk in the revelatory truth of God (cf. John 17:14-19).

 

14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

 

In order to walk in the revelatory truth of the Word of God, it is necessary to know and carry the Word of God in our heart, so that we are able to apply its principles and to increase in holiness, that leads to seeing God (cf. Hebrews 12:14).

 

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

 

 

To understand what it means to be in the world but not of the world, it is helpful to know what is meant by the term ‘world’ in terms of a ‘system’.

 

When the Word of God uses the term ‘world’ in relation to the system, the following areas are meant: commerce, industry, finance, education, science, medicine, legislation, religion. As saints, we should not attach our hearts to these structures that organize the social levels in all parts of the world.

 

The environment of the ‘world’ can also be defined as ‘Babel/Babylon’, because it was the inhabitants of the city who rebelled against God (note: YAHWEH), intending to create a high place with the aim of securing their own overview in the different sections of society. They were driven to be able to exercise control without God's standards. At that time people had a common culture, as indicated by their common language and communication (cf. Genesis 11:1).

 

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

 

This control and power, which they meant to gain reflects a false financial understanding (note: greed or fear of not having enough) and the influence of religion, which only includes a knowledge of God but excludes the relationship with God, YAHWEH, the Father in Christ Jesus.

 

If you take a closer look at chapters 17 and 18 of the book of Revelation, you can see that there are two ‘types’ of Babylon, namely the religious Babylon (note: harlot) and the economic Babylon (note: city).

 

This is the perversion of the divine structural framework of the heavenly messianic city of Jerusalem, which is both – the Bride and the wife of the Lamb (cf. Revelation 21:2.9b-10).

 

=> It takes a certain amount of time for the first Babylon to be destroyed, requiring the cooperation of the ten kingdoms (cf. Revelation 17:16).

 

16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

 

According to Revelation 17, it is clear that the merchants do not get rich from the trade of the ‘first Babylon’ while they do, on the other hand, from the ‘second Babylon’ (cf. Revelation 18:15-17a).

 

15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out: “ ‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!

17a In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’ …

 

With the one Babylon, people do not stay away for fear of destruction, which is instead the case with the second Babylon (cf. Revelation 18:10).

 

10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “ ‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!’

 

In the first Babylon the trade is not described, but the trade is part of the second Babylon.

 

The ‘first Babylon’ is destroyed over a period of time, with the ‘second Babylon’ being destroyed in one day (see Revelation 18:10). <=

(note: The text set in ‘=>’ is based on an explanation from the book ‘The Two Babylons’ by Gordon Lindsey, Dallas, TX: Christ for the Nations, Inc.,1988; S.411)

 

The origin and meaning of the name ‘Babel/Babylon’ was interpreted by the Babylonians as the ‘gate of God’ and in Israel was derived from the Hebrew word for ‘confusion’ (cf. Genesis 11:1-9). The city of Babel was geographically located on the Euphrates and was the center of the so-called Near East in the 2nd century B.C.

 

According to the Word of God, the Euphrates is the fourth branch of the river, which diverges from the river in the middle of the Garden of Eden. In the prophetic context, a river represents among other things economy.

 

From this it becomes clear that the plan of the opponent was to use the region of Babel/Babylon as a center of world economic control. The region where the people decided to build the high place in the form of a tower was in the land of ‘Shinar’, which translated means ‘two-city land/lion land’. ‘Shinar’ is a reference to the enemy's dominion, as the adversary walks around like a roaring lion looking for whom he can devour through his ‘system’ (cf. Genesis 11:1-9 i.c.w. 1 Peter 5:8).

 

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.

2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

9 That is why it was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

 

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

 

The system of the adversary is strongly influenced by the love of money, which is called mammon and is the root of all evil (cf. 1 Timothy 6:10).

 

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.

 

 

Since we as God's people are walking ahead in Christ Jesus and His work is the final work of redemption, it is important in this context to look at things from the perspective of the redemptive power of Christ.

 

Jesus Christ revealed to us as the people of God a strategy for using the power of ‘mammon’ for the good purpose to bring forth friends who respect and acknowledge His work of redemption (cf. Luke 16:9 i.c.w. John 12:47).

 

9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

 

47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. …”

 

The establishment of divine friendship is closely related to the remission of debts, as revealed to us in the parable of the wise stewardship in Luke 16:1-9. In this shared parable, a steward remitted once 50% and then 20% of the debts in the form of oil and wheat to respective debtors.

It is no coincidence that the apostle Peter, whose original spiritual home was the city of Jerusalem, spoke of the greeting of the chosen community of saints (note: gr. ekklēsia) in Babylon.

 

In the same greeting quote we can find the greeting of Mark (note: means ‘man’), who in this case represents ‘authority’ (see 1 Peter 5:13).

1 Peter 5:13:
13 She (note: the 'ekklēsia') who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.

This greeting of Peter's should encourage us as God's people at this time to look out of the redemptive work of Christ and recognize a strategy.

Jesus Christ is the door through which we enter in and out in order to find green pasture (note: Kingdom economy). The green pasture is closely related to the presence of God and His authority (see Revelation 4:2-3).

 

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald (note: green) encircled the throne.

 

From this we, who carry Jesus Christ in our hearts, can see that the practice of faithful stewardship can become an opportunity for people to be led into the presence of the Heavenly Father through the commanded strategy of Christ according to Luke 16:9, so that confusion occurs in the camp of the enemy (cf. Isaiah 22:5.7).

Isaiah 22:5.7:
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision (cf. Genesis 11:2.7.9), a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains. …

7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates.

 

Confidence in Transition

We can be confident that the LORD will send His angelic hosts in the form of fiery chariots and horses to protect us as His people and bring separation between the spirit and the flesh. As a result, the governing movement of the throne of God manifests itself in the form of a whirlwind filled with light in our spiritual realm to bring us as His people to a higher level of revelation and government (cf. 2 Kings 2:11; 2 Kings 6:17 i.c.w. Ezekiel 10:13).

2 Kings 2:11:
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

2 Kings 6:17:
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Ezekiel 10:13:
13 I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” (note: ‘galgal’)

 

It is also no coincidence that a powerful wind and fire at Shavuot/Pentecost manifested itself in the upper room in Jerusalem over the approximately one hundred and twenty saints who announced a new era (cf. Acts 1:12-13a.15 i.c.w. Acts 2:1-4).

 

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.

13a When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. …

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) …

 

1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.

2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

 

We can be confident that if we put our heart only in the Lord and know that we do not belong to the system ‘world’, but to our destiny in transition, which takes us to the higher realms of the heavenly dimension, new power and more authority will be given to us to build the kingdom.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm