"For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." Hebrews 13:14
After King Solomon died, the nation of Israel divided- he was the last king to reign over a united nation. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Simeon, Ephraim, Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Issachar, and Zebulun (10 in all) comprised the southern kingdom of Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin comprised the nation of Judah in the North. For about 200 years the nation of Israel rebelled against the Lord, and in the end they were led into captivity. Before captivity, a few of the faithful fled North to Judah, the nation that had remained faithful. However, eventually Judah was taken into exile in Babylon for 70 years because they rebelled against the Lord. (The 70 year period was in order that the land could enjoy it's Sabbaths. 2 Chronicles 36:21; Leviticus 25:2-4)
"Then the king [Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon] commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and at the end of that time they were to stand before the king." Daniel 1:3-5
When Nebuchadnezzar brought these men into Babylon he had planned to do the same thing with the nation of Judah that he had done with all the other kingdoms he had conquered. His strategy was to bring young men of influence into Babylon, give them everything they could ever want, strip their culture from them, and immerse them in the culture of Babylon, then he would reinstate them as leaders in Judah to create a vassal state loyal to himself. He even renamed them to change their identities to that of Babylon. Satan's tactics have not changed. His strategy is still to remove us from our Biblical principles, to give us everything we could ever want, to strip the Heavenly culture from us, and to immerse us in the culture of this world, so we become lukewarm Christians.
The story of Daniel (and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah) proves that it is possible to be faithful to God even away from the Promised Land. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that Judah would be taken into Babylon, and, after it came to pass, he instructed the exiles on how to live in Babylon. "Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." (Jeremiah 29:5-7) In studying the life of Daniel in the Old Testament, we find that he was highly favoured in Babylon. He sought the welfare of Babylon, but he never compromised his obedience to the Lord. When he first arrived, he refused to defile himself with the king's food and requested to eat only vegetables and to drink water. When an injunction was enforced that no one should pray to any god or man other than Darius the Mede, Daniel continued to pray to the Lord three times a day. For this he was thrown into a den of lions, but was delivered because he trusted in God.
In the same way, we live in Babylon. (America resembles Babylon more than you would think). This world is not our home and the ways of this world are not our ways. In Romans 12, Paul warns Christians not to be conformed to the ways of this world, but instead to be transformed by seeking out the will of God. The Holy Spirit gives us more discernment the more we allow Him to speak into our lives. We are called to remain undefiled by the world. Our ways are God's ways, that means that we cannot endorse or approve (Romans 1:32) of the world's fallen values. The Bible is truth. Always. Period. It is not half-truth. It's truth is not contingent upon the "evolution" of science and culture. God alone determines right and wrong. Don't let the fallen culture of a fallen society do that for you.
As we live for purity and holiness in a fallen world, the world will hate us and reject us. Jesus said himself, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:18-19 Do not mistake me for saying that as Christians we need to walk around like holier-than-thou jerks. I am a sinner saved and redeemed to the Father by Jesus Christ. We are called to model the life of Jesus--a life of love, compassion, and grace. So what's more important, obeying God or loving people? Both! Jesus modeled both. (Luke 11:42)
My life has been far from holy and far from pure. I have fallen and repented. I have dealt with transgressions and iniquities. I need the blood of Jesus Christ on my life. I need the daily friendship of the Holy Spirit. I need the love of the Father. I desire to bring glory to the Lord in all that I do. I hope that the world will see in me an unrelenting desire to obey God AND a compassionate love for people. Because people are God's passion. The older that I get the more homesick I become for Heaven. This world is not my home and the ways of this world are not God's ways. But I know that I am here to seek God's provision over the welfare of the world in which I live and the people in it.
In closing, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Peter: "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." 1 Peter 2:11-12
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