Galatians 1:3-4 “3Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:”
So how did John describe what makes up or constitutes the world?
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (KJV)
Meaning all these streams did not originate with the Father. For in Genesis 3:1-6 we are told of the account of how Eve was deceived by the serpent; and so was driven out with Adam.
“1Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?… 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Cain Killed Abel.
According to Genesis 4:1-8;
“1And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD… 8And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him… 16And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden;” even as a murderer.
So when did the world begin?
Since the world is in such opposition to God, we must consider its origin and process of development.
Reading from Genesis 4:17,
“And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he (Cain) builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch;”
The world began with Cain.
Cain built the first city — organized society, civilization — which typifies the worldly system of independence from the SPIRIT and presence of the father.
So that which is termed the world, the organized fleshly society of men began with Cain, as man began to walk away from the presence and the glory of God to become more independent.
Cain did all that even after he has killed his brother and has walked away from the presence of God.
There was no city in Eden, no fleshly system, no external order, no carnal arrangement of things. Not a system, but LIFE!
We are talking of natural man walking in relation to the spirit of the serpent after Adam has been driven from the Garden. As he began to multiply on the earth he began to give direction and definition to “the new world order” of man independent of God.
“And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.” (Genesis 4:14-16)
He moved away from the presence of God into the land of wondering, and yet in the midst of this he built a city, an organized system without God’s Spirit and presence.
Now man has been taken over by the price of the power of the air, the devil (Ephesians 2:2) in his heart.
Now he is being described as;
“Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him?…” (1 John 3:12)
The preposition “of” is from the Greek EK meaning “out of.”
“Cain was OUT OF that Wicked One”
— the seed of the serpent! But we know that the parents of Cain were Adam and Eve, so why is he being referred to here as the seed of the serpent; it is simply because he was a product of the fallen man, the seed from his parents.
Meaning this serpent seed is in the nature of the fallen man, the fallen man in Adam.
The world did not exist when man was created (except in abstraction), but developed gradually after the fall, as man began to walk away from the presence and glory of God, to become more independent of God.
Basically then, you are in the world once you lack the presence, spirit of the Father. Every act of independence from the spirit of the Father brings you right there in the midst of the world.
To be continued…