By D.B.E. Atkins

SEPARATION is one of the most unpopular words in a way when the ecumenical movement is Gaining ground in what will ultimately be headed up for judgement as “great Babylon ”, the great whore of Revelation 17 and 18. Part of this movement is the dreadful call “back to Rome”, and it is having its repercussions among the companies of those who profess to be gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus, according to Matthew 18:20 and 2 Timothy 2:19-21, so that there is no longer the distinction which once marked us off from the world and from its systems.

The history of Israel was very similar, after the same wonderful call out of the nations round about, to glorify the One who had called them to separation from he nations, with their wickedness and their idolatry, to live as witness to Jehovah their God. The call began with Abram when God said, in Genesis 12:1, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee”, etc. This resulted in his leaving a modern city in its day and becoming a pilgrim, walking with the One who had called him out of idolatry. There followed the history of his descendants until God's call out of Egypt on that momentous night in Exodus 12, when all the first born in the land of Egypt were slain, and then the journey into the land, lengthened into forty years by the unbelief of those who made the journey, until the whole of that generation, save Joshua and Caleb, perished.

When they entered the land they made the fatal initial mistake of not fully dispossessing their enemies, so that we find little pockets of unsubdued territory, and the faithful Caleb seems to have been only one fully to have taken possession of his lot, and we get very grievous like those recorded in Judges 1:27-36, and even before that, when the ruin had not begun to set in, the sad need for the exhortation of Joshua 18:3. Then, alas, came the sad words of Judges 2:7, 10: “and the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that He did for Israel...and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which He had done for Israel”. Verses 11-13 show the great lapse into idolatry, which led, first to Israel (then ten tribes) being driven out of the land, and then to Judah following suit, but not for a long time, and not before God's patience had been tried to the utmost limits by the repeated wickedness of His people. Nowhere do we get more eloquent words from Jehovah, than in the early chapters of the Prophecy of Ezekiel. Reference is made to the way God nurtured them in chapter 16:2-14, and to the sad response and result in verses 15-59, and even then God remembered mercy, and promised blessing in the remainder of that long chapter.

But long before the departure, there were the loving words of Deuteronomy 4:32-40, and there were frequent calls from God by means of the prophets, so that they were absolutely without excuse for their departure from following Jehovah their God, and being a living witness to the nations of the goodness of God. In our day, we are also totally without excuse for our long and continued departure from the Lord Jesus. 1 Peter 2:9-10   says : “but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy”. The words of 2 Corinthians 6: 14-18 have a tremendous significance for us in these days- firstly, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers,” and secondly, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.” No doubt there is an allusion to Isaiah 52:11 here, and that applies to a day when God is dealing with the nation of Israel with a view to its restoration. There is a similar call to separation out of the harlot church in Revelation18:4. What is intended is to show the similarity of our call to that of Israel , and our own failure to act up to what we once knew, and should still know, of the call of God, and our departure from it.

It is not inapposite also to quote that other well-known call to separation in Hebrews 13:13,14. The Lord Jesus suffered outside the gates of Jerusalem , and we are called to the same outside position of separation. “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach”. The allusion here is to Exodus 32 and 33 where, because of the dreadful action of Aaron and the children of Israel, Moses had to pitch the tent “outside the camp, far from the camp”.(chap. 33:7) Beloved brethren, what have all these things to say to us? Surely they demonstrate the wrong of forming links in service, or otherwise, with those who do not take the line laid down by Scripture. The question is, do we want to be faithful to Him who has called us, or do we prefer to be mixed up with the world and its systems? “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17 ), and, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22 ).