Be Separate

2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.”

I have a small booklet I received from Living waters.com called “scientific facts in the Bible”.

The booklet gives a short but poignant look at how many current scientific facts have been revealed in scripture over thousands of years. Many of the practices that God had instructed Israel to perform, had a scientific reasoning behind them. Even though they didn’t understand them at the time, the laws served a purpose for their protection.

One such law was the way the were to handle people with leprosy. If someone was thought to have the disease, they were suppose to be brought to the priest, much like we go to a physician today. If the person had a lesion that appeared leprous, they were to be isolated from the camp and declared unclean. If the priest wasn’t sure, they were to isolate the person 7 days and then recheck the lesion to see if it progressed. If it appeared with a scab, the priest would deem him clean and they could return to the camp while the priest washed his clothes. The explanation for examining a wound and how the wound progressed was simply a lesson in infectious disease and how to treat it.

Leviticus 15:13 “And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean.”

The use of running water, isolation, virology, how to detect and diagnose disease, all have modern day applications today. If they had grasped the concepts of the Bible in the Middle Ages, they may have been able to save more lives back then. The people probably didn’t understand micro cellular biology in Moses’s day, they had to trust God for the processes He put in place. All of these rules were not only for the safety of the people, they also had a spiritual purpose to them as well.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”

“Therefore, “Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”
“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.”

God calls us to be separate from this world.

In the same way God isolated the leper or the dead, we are called to do the same in Holiness and sanctification before God.

What are those things that defile us?

The immediate concern is the danger of a believer marrying an unbeliever. The conjoining of two lives, one righteous and the other unrighteous is equivalent to defiling oneself with a leper in God’s eyes. It may seem drastic, but when you consider the stakes, righteousness requires drastic measures.

Isaiah 52:11 “Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.”

The Holiness of God’s people is directly associated with the Spirit of God who fills our hearts. We bear His name, we are called to shine the light of His glory, and we are to uphold His moral law in love for Him. The image we present is to be that of Jesus. The more we associate with the world, the easier it is for us to become stained with the world.

Revelation 18:4 “Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.”

Sin is the spiritual plague of mankind. In the same manner we treat a disease, is the same way we should treat sin. Those who practice sin move in a pattern contrary to God’s path.

James 4:4 “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Enmity defined is synonymous with hostility and animosity, they indicate a deep-seated dislike or ill will. It derives from an Anglo-French word meaning”enemy” and suggests true hatred, either overt or concealed. “Hostility” implies strong, open enmity that shows itself in attacks or aggression.

The world is considered “hostile” toward God. In the ways they live, think, and speak, with their goals or ambitions. It’s like they are at war with God and His people.

Does it make sense as to why we are not to be married to our enemy, or be friends with them? If we represent Christ, we stand as an enemy to the world and our expectation should be one of hostility. If they think we are one of them, if our lives don’t offend them, or if we think we might join in with their lifestyles….we have some serious self reflection that should take place as to whether we live what we believe.

Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”

How do you present yourself in this hostile world of darkness? Are you a man or woman after God’s own heart or does the world see you as their own?

The fruit we bear in our lives is always in keeping with repentance. Be in the world but not of the world is the standard we should strive for.