Antipas, the martyr, is referred to by name. His name literally means: ‘against everything’. This is apparently the impression he gave of a Christian who was against everything. Antipas did not play along with the crowd. He did not play to the gallery. He dared to stand alone, not following the majority in wrongdoing.2 Antipas was alleged to have been told at his trial: ‘The whole world is against you!’ And he was alleged to have replied: ‘Then I turn against the whole world.’ Antipas did live in the world,3 but he did not feel at home there, as Demas did.4 However, opposition—being against everything—is not the characteristic of the true Christian in the world. Being a faithful witness is the characteristic.5 ‘My faithful witness’: how wonderful to be able to hear that from the lips of the Faithful Witness!6 ‘Nevertheless, I have a few things against you…’ They were not all like Antipas. There were also some who adhered to the teaching of Balaam.7 What was that exactly?
Balaam was hired to curse Israel. But standing on a hilltop in the Sinai-desert, looking at the tents and the hundreds of thousands Israelites he exclaimed: ‘“How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? “As I see him from the top of the rocks, and I look at him from the hills; Behold, a people who dwells apart, and will not be reckoned among the nations.’ Biblically speaking there are all the nations of the world (today coming together in the United Nations) plus one more nation: Israel, which stands alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations of the world.
Balaam was unable to curse the people of God, however much he would have liked to do so. He was unable to find anything against them in the end, but his irrational hatred nevertheless sought ways of putting these people down, to render them helpless and powerless. So what did he advise Balak, the king of Moab? “Invite the Israelites to your wonderful feasts, to your sacrificial rites, and then have a group of girls rush in. Soon you will see what will be left of this people’s principled attitude8—prostitution and offerings to idols.” Balaam’s evil scheme was to seduce Israelite men into pagan and immoral practices thus turning them from walking in the light to sinning in the dark.
But what does light have to do with darkness?9 It is God’s will that you be sanctified.10 This mingling with the world can take on many forms—even today. In our modern days, meat is not bought from a butcher employed in an idolatrous temple. But the current practice of playing along with the world is enjoying and giving your body and senses over to its music, to its parties, to its sexual morals, to its occultism and syncretism— sometimes even in churches. ‘Dialogue’ is the magic word—talking to representatives of other world religions, practising Hindu and Buddhist meditation techniques such as yoga, approving sexual intercourse before and outside of marriage, considering homosexual and heterosexual behaviour to be on par, cohabitation, “lat” relationships (‘living apart together’ with each of the partners living alone and by themselves but they nevertheless have a sexual relationship), the use of stimulating ‘mind expanding’ substances, etcetera. There are those who indulge in the above all the while and nevertheless continue to claim to be a true believer, a true Christian. That is impossible!
• At the end of the great list of heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 there is a small remark: ‘The world was not worthy of them.’ That is why they wandered around like foreigners. Therefore, says Hebrews 12:1, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, such as Antipas and Polycarp and all the martyrs of church history, let us lay all sin aside, and everything that hinders or easily entangles us. Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us—our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith—while we strive for the prize of divine calling.11
Bible References:
1.NIV 2.Exodus 23:2 3.Romans 12:2; Galatians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 4:11–13; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15–17 and 3:1 4.2 Timothy 4:10 5.Matthew 10:32–33; 2 Timothy 2:1–2 6. Revelation 1:3 7.See Numbers 22–24 8.See Numbers 25:1–3; Joshua 24:9–10 and 13:22; Deuteronomy 23:5 9.2 Corinthians 6:14–18 10.1 Thessalonians 4:3 11.Philippians 3:14
