“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” – 2 Corinthians 6:17
When God called Abraham, he called him out. Out of the land of his nativity, out of the life he knew, and out of his comfort zone. God called him out, so that he might bring him into a relationship with God. When God did, and made a covenant promise with Abraham, he made circumcision a token of the covenant. The Lord would later bring in Sabbath, Passover, and many other tokens of promise. This would remain until Christ would come and fulfil the law and bring in a better covenant established on better promises, evident by the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Today, God still requires a separate people. We are living in the days after Christ, and in this day our covenant promise is deliverance from sin, and eternal life. Our token of that promise is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, living inside a repented, and converted heart. Personal, transformational salvation that makes a definite and complete change in the life of the believer. The Holy Spirit is the witness, the token, this is what calls us out and keeps us out. We have it because of Him, because of Jesus. It is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost that covenants with us, and it is through that Holy Ghost that we are made holy. By no other means, and through no other way but Him. We have been made Holy through Him and subsequent to this we are naturally called out by Him. Called to be a holy, separate people. This is not to say that we find an island somewhere and blockade ourselves off from this natural world around us. He put his “law in our hearts”, and in our minds, he writes it. He keeps us from the “evil of the world.” We are in the world but not of the world. Therefore, our thoughts, intentions, and general affection for the world changes. By “the world” I mean what 1 John means when he says: “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.” The world is crucified in us, and the life of Christ reigns in its stead. Like a monarch that has been dethroned, and another reigns in his stead. So, Christ has conquered the throne of our hearts, being witnessed by the Holy Ghost. Since it is Jesus on the throne, everything has now changed. We are now His subject, and citizens of His kingdom. Holiness is unity with Christ, and unity with Christ brings divorce from sin, and the world. This is holiness and holiness within will produce holiness without. The evident token of the better covenant will produce separation. The Holy Spirit invades every aspect of our life. Nothing is annexed. Our work, money, entertainment, dress, any and everything is subject to God. When we mingle with the world it dilutes that separation. It dulls the keen blade of the Spirit that seeks to cut away that which is not edifying.
Furthermore, separation is directly linked to evangelism, because only when you can divorce yourself from the old are you then able to be received into the new. Only those who have the witness of the Spirit can be a witness. God’s first requirement of Abraham was that he come out. Only after he left his old life was he used by God. When we languish our time in the love of the world, we obstruct the flood tides of evangelism and revival. Only when we commit to come out, can we be used of God, and experience all that God has prepared for us.
