Friends,
The Lord has commanded every one of His people to be separate from all that is unholy, unrighteous, unjust, and false. He has always commanded this. If He is someone’s God and Savior, then He must be that person’s Lord. Lord means Boss, Master, Captain, Controller, and Absolute Sovereign King. There is no negotiation concerning this separation. It is a must. It is a requirement. Anyone who refuses to separate himself in full holiness unto the Lord will be viewed by God to have shown Him contempt. (Num. 14:22,23 & 16:30) Anyone who refuses to follow His commands will be considered by God to have profaned His holy name. (Lev. 22:31-33)

“That’s Old Testament,” many say. “We live under grace.” But God will smite these wicked teachers for disdaining His name, for they speak blasphemously against His Word which, over and over, demands separation from all that is unclean. Did Jesus and the apostles quote the Old Testament because it is no longer applicable? God’s Word is clear about which part is now obsolete and which is not. The Jewish laws were a shadow, but God’s moral law is forever intact.

Did Paul, in 2 Cor. 6:16c-18, quote the Old Testament for nothing when he quoted Lev., Jer., Ezek., Isa., and 2 Sam. in these three verses? Was he pulling verses out of context to support his doctrine? Of course not. Yet false teachers make such accusations whenever they don’t want to believe that God’s Word teaches something they don’t like. (I often wonder what they think when they read 1 Peter; or do they not notice all the Old Testament quotes there as well?)

So let’s understand what God is saying in His Word: We are to separate ourselves from all that is unclean. God declares that straw has nothing to do with grain. (Jer. 23:28) –That those who have God’s living Word within them are to speak it faithfully and leave the false teachers to their delusions. (v. 28 & whole ch.) “For we are the temple of the living God.” (2 Cor. 6:16b) And because we are, and if we expect God to continue to live in us, and call us His own, then we are to totally come out from the unbelieving wicked. (v. 14-16a) If we do not, we remain touching uncleanliness, and we will not be received as God’s children (v. 16c-18), but will be destroyed for defiling His holy dwelling. (1 Cor. 3:16,17) For of the one who continues to disobey the Lord’s commands, God will view that one as having forsaken Him (Titus 1:16), and He will, in turn, forsake that blasphemer (2 Chron. 24:20 // 2 Tim. 2:12), casting him to the raging fires of Hell. (Heb. 10:26-31)

So, to the wicked man, the one who has, through his mockery and pride, and through his trust in the gods of money and power, blasphemed God, His Word, and His servants (2 Kings 19:6,22-24), the LORD says, “But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against Me. Because you rage against Me and your insolence has reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.” (v. 27,28) “For it is upon Me you have heaped your insults.” (See v. 22,23) “‘You have rejected Me,’ declares the LORD. ‘You keep on backsliding. So I will lay hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show compassion.’” (Jer. 15:6) “I will bring bereavement and destruction on you because you have not changed your ways [see v. 7]… and suddenly I will bring down on you anguish and terror.” (See v. 8 )

What has this arrogant man done to bring upon himself the wrath of God? He has tried to exalt himself above God (Dan. 5:23), and while praising the gods of gold, bronze, iron, wood and stone (same verse), he has gone to God’s temple, and knowing full well what he was doing, tried to drink from that which is set apart for only the Lord’s use. (See same verse) Thus, defiling (or trying to defile) God’s sacred possession, he has shown God extreme contempt. Such a man, if he does not turn from his wickedness in genuine and complete humility and repentance, will be cut down to the stump (v. 20,21 & 4:14), and then eventually killed (5:30), for God’s wrath does indeed come on all who have treated His holiness with scorn.

Therefore, heed the warning: Come out from them and be separate. Honor God and remain set apart only for Him. Touch nothing unclean and do not accept any defilement into God’s temple, for “you yourselves are God’s temple.” (1 Cor. 3:16) “Be holy in all you do” (1 Peter 1:15), and walk that highway consistently. For whoever refuses to do so will never enter the Promised Land. (Num. 14:22,23 // Eph. 5:3-7)

Sincerely,
with love,
Rachel