The Gap of Lawlessness

THE GAP OF LAWLESSNESS

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Many—perhaps most—of the believers in Christ are living in the gap of lawlessness. They have been taught that the Law of Moses does not apply to them but they do not understand how to enter the law of the Spirit of life. They do not realize we have become dead to the Law of Moses in order that we may be married to Christ, not so we can live as we please. They are waiting to die and go to Heaven so they may be happy. The Kingdom principles of righteousness, peace, and joy are not known to them.

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for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)

Righteousness is defined as upright, just, morally proper, virtuous conduct.

Righteousness always is determined by a set of standards. A set of standards is a law. Some person or persons must decide what is upright and what is not upright, what is morally proper and what is not morally proper, what is just and what is unjust, what is virtuous and what is not virtuous.

The one supreme Judge of the conduct of men and angels is the Lord God of Heaven.

The absence of obedience to law, to the standard of righteous conduct by which the Judge judges, is lawlessness.

Today there is a gap of lawlessness, a gap between two types of expression of the law of God. The gap of lawlessness is found in the Kingdom of God and also in the kingdoms of the world; for the operations of the world often run parallel to the operations of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness, upright conduct, virtuous behavior in terms of God’s standard of virtue, always is first in importance. In the Kingdom of God, righteousness is more important than peace. Righteousness is more important than joy. Peace and joy follow righteousness, but in the pursuit of righteousness we often are lacking in peace and joy. Yet, these two blessings come to us eventually if we persist in walking in righteousness.

God will not have fellowship with people who are not observing His laws of righteous conduct. The servant of the Lord always is called in righteousness.

Speaking of Christ:

“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, (Isaiah 42:6)

The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ makes it possible for us initially to approach God apart from righteous conduct on our part. The blood gives us entrance past the holy veil.

The purpose of the blood atonement is to give us the opportunity and time to be made new creations in the Lord. We are not to regard the blood atonement as a permanent solution to the problem of unrighteousness in man. The blood atonement is in actuality a legal device that makes it possible for us to be released from Satan and brought into righteousness of conduct.

The blood of Christ imputes righteousness to us while our behavior is being transformed. The blood sanctifies us legally until actual sanctification of personality can be developed in us. The blood is the basis for the entire work of redemption.

The Lord God never planned that we should continue in unrighteousness after we have received the gift of forgiveness. God cannot have fellowship with unrighteousness. It is impossible for light to have fellowship with darkness (II Corinthians 6:14).

The goal of the working of the Divine redemption is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness eventually brings peace. Peace brings joy. But righteousness, which is doing God’s will so God is satisfied with our behavior, is of first importance in the Kingdom of God.

The scepter of Christ is the scepter of righteousness. The hope of the Christian saint is that a new world will come in which righteousness abounds—not imputed (ascribed) righteousness but righteous behavior on the part of every citizen.

The righteous behavior of the new world will be behavior in harmony with God’s law of moral-social behavior. God has left it to men to discover the laws of physics, of chemistry, of biology. But God has not left it up to us to discover moral-social laws. People attempt to formulate moral-social laws according to their own ideas but always fail tragically. Moral-social behavior must be practiced according to God’s Word.

The two great moral-social laws are as follows: (1) to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and (2) to love our neighbor as ourselves. All the laws of righteousness come from these two laws of the Kingdom of God.

The goal of God is righteousness. The goal of mankind is peace and joy, with righteousness being a minor issue. The supreme goal of people is pleasure and the young people pursue fun. But fun is an impoverished cousin of joy. As people mature in Christ they understand clearly that peace and joy are of far more value than fleshly “fun,” than animal thrills.

Fun often is frantic and may bring remorse. But peace is of true worth. There can be no true joy apart from peace. Fun cares little about peace because fun often is mixed with lusts and other demon-driven appetites of the flesh. People are having “fun” even when they are destroying their own bodies and minds. True joy, however, is a sister of peace.

Fun belongs to children. Peace and joy are the blessing of the spiritually mature and are the fruit of the Spirit of God.

The supreme goal of God for mankind is righteousness. The supreme goal of people is joy. Humans are dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. Because of this difference in priority a gap of lawlessness has been created in the Kingdom of God and also in the kingdoms of the world.

Let us consider first the gap of lawlessness in the kingdoms of the world, keeping in mind that the pursuit of joy, of happiness, is the top priority of human beings.

A monarchy is a form of government in which the law is interpreted and enforced by a king. The king determines what is righteous and virtuous and what is not righteous or virtuous. The king’s judgment determines acceptable conduct. There have been some good and some evil kings of history—good or evil as judged by the Lord, who is the King of all kings and the Judge of all judges.

A monarchy governed by a king who is just, strong, and compassionate is the best form of government for mankind. The Kingdom of God is a righteous monarchy. Under a righteous monarchy the land is filled with law that protects the innocent and brings swift punishment on the lawbreakers. There are kings of history who have won the affection and loyalty of their subjects because of their righteousness and compassion. King David of Israel was one such righteous king.

Because of abuses of their authority by some kings there has arisen in the past few hundred years a revolt against monarchy as a form of government. The peoples of the world, because of their desire for the freedom to pursue happiness and pleasure (not righteousness it may be noticed) have fought for and obtained various forms of democracy (self-government).

The goal of democracy is to achieve government by the people that will guarantee to individuals the opportunity for liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But in this wave of revolution against monarchy, righteousness—particularly the righteousness having to do with God’s moral Nature, walking humbly by faith in God—is not prominent. It seldom is mentioned.

The Constitution of the United States of America is being interpreted to mean government must not be linked in any manner with faith in God. This is, of course, an abomination to the God of Heaven who is more interested in faith and righteousness than He is in the pursuit of human happiness and pleasure.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
“teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:19,20)

Today, in democratic nations, much is being said about human rights. Virtually nothing is stated concerning the rights of God. Americans worship the rights of people and freedom of expression instead of God. This is the beginning of the great apostasy mentioned in the Scriptures (II Thessalonians 2:3).

Because God’s chief desire for people is their correct relationship to Himself, not their life in the flesh nor their freedom from monarchy nor their pursuit of happiness nor their “rights,” it can be seen that the efforts of people to govern themselves do not fulfill God’s desires for the people whom He has created.

God never will defend and bless a government that does not support His will concerning the moral behavior of people. All the governments of the earth rule with God’s consent and they are obligated to enforce His moral laws.

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.
For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. (Romans 13:3,4)

“Practices evil” as judged by God’s standards, as found in the Scriptures.

There are at least two reasons why people who are attempting to make the transition from monarchy to self-government fall into the gap of lawlessness.

The first reason is, their motive for making the transition proceeds from a goal that is not God’s highest goal. Therefore the constitution and laws of the new government may reject God and His laws rather than embrace them. Whenever human happiness and God’s laws come into conflict the issue will be resolved in favor of human happiness.
The second reason is, self-government is based on the assumption that man is basically good and if he is educated and dealt with fairly he will employ self-control, making self-government possible. However, self-control is a fruit of the Spirit of God, not of the fleshly nature of man.

The conduct of people in the United States of America and England is evidence enough that reliance on people to govern themselves wisely apart from strict—even harsh—external controls is folly. The result always will be moral, financial, intellectual, artistic, judicial, and physical impoverishment.

Even today the moral-social behavior of people in the democratic countries is leading to their national destruction. Yet the leaders and intellectuals of the countries involved choose to ignore the danger signals, hoping some new humanly conceived plan will save their nation from destruction, from eventual takeover by a more disciplined culture.

It is a continual amazement that scientists who are so effective in studying cause and effect relationships in other areas are blind concerning the effect on people of godly or ungodly behavior; to the obvious relationship of obedience to God to the welfare of the nations.

There is abundant historical evidence that nations that have walked in the biblical principles of righteousness have prospered in every area of human activity, while nations that have given themselves over to immorality have perished. The abundant evidence is ignored as though it doesn’t exist, while the scanty, disjointed, highly questionable evidence employed to support the hypothesis of evolution, for example, is treated as though the evidence agrees with the hypothesis in a clear, consistent manner.

The response of the democratic governments to AIDS reveals a willful bias when moral behavior is involved. AIDS should be regarded as a contagious, deadly disease. However, because of the association of AIDS with homosexuality, the national leaderships are unwilling to take even reasonable precautions to protect healthy people, such as barring AIDS victims from working in food or health services, but instead are making them a protected minority against whom there is to be no discrimination. Also—and this is a glaring evidence of biased behavior—there is little or no attempt to persuade people to avoid homosexual behavior.

There are national campaigns against smoking cigarettes because smoking cigarettes causes sickness and death. But there is no national campaign against homosexual behavior, although homosexual behavior is directly associated with AIDS. It appears that it is more desirable to endanger the national health than to imply that the practice of homosexuality is anything other than an acceptable—even desirable—behavior. There is no scientific, rational basis for such preferential treatment.

The reason for the willful blindness is, first of all, that Satan is the spirit that works in people who are not part of Christ. Second, the recognition of a personal, intervening God leads directly to moral requirements. The scientists and university professors, like all other classes of human beings, will not accept the placing of controls on their moral, social, or intellectual behavior. They desire to be free to do whatever pleases them, particularly in the area of adultery and fornication.

People are not motivated by truth nearly so much as they are by their lusts. Their reasonings are not a search for truth but a device to justify their undisciplined behavior.

Experience and the Scriptures reveal that man is not basically good. The democratic nations will continue to permit immorality until the grossest debauchery, sorcery, and every other form of perversion and unlawful (in God’s sight) practice will be protected by the laws established by the government.

The democratic nations, because of their adoration of their principles of human freedom, are unable to pass laws harsh enough to control crime. Therefore they will continue to experience the murder and rape of innocent people by the demon-possessed. Their worship of human liberty in place of the God of Heaven and His Christ will bring them down to moral and social destruction, and there is no manmade solution.

The secular governments apparently do not realize that whenever one person’s rights are protected another person’s rights are taken away. Whenever the rights of the criminal are lavishly “protected” the rights of the law-abiding individual are removed. Severe external punishment and guidance are necessary to control human behavior because of the lack of self-control. Many citizens will not and cannot control themselves.

The recent wave of drug abuse is another example of the unwillingness and inability of people to govern themselves. It is obvious that the use of drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, destroys the individual’s ability to take advantage of his or her opportunities. But life without Christ, without God, is so miserable that people seek to escape through the use of drugs.

The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one. (Psalms 14:2,3)
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. (Psalms 51:5)
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. (Psalms 58:3)

If self-government is based on self-control, and if the nature of mankind as described above is the fountain from which the self-control should be flowing, then the people leaving monarchy on their way toward self-government will fall into the gap of lawlessness.

Because people are not seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness but their own happiness and liberty, and because people are so created that they cannot control themselves apart from the Spirit of Christ, they will have difficulty forming a people-directed government that protects the innocent and punishes the guilty. They will fall into the gap of lawlessness.

They have left the external controls of monarchy but are not able to control themselves. Law and order will disintegrate. Every man will do what is right in his own eyes. Soon the land will be filled with moral filth, social conflicts, and crime, from the slums to the highest halls of government and law.

The gap of lawlessness in the civil realm, which we have just described, runs parallel to a similar problem in the Kingdom of God.

God, with the intention of achieving righteousness, peace, and joy for people, gave to us the Law of Moses. The Law is spiritual in origin. It is from God. When people obey the Law, and many Israelites strove to keep the Law as do numerous Jews today, they achieve a measure of righteousness, peace, and joy.

But human beings cannot keep the Law of Moses perfectly because of their carnality. The Law is spiritual but we are bound in the chains of lust and self-seeking.

Again, with the intention of achieving righteousness, peace, and joy for people, God has given to us the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. God has given to us His Holy Spirit in order that we may be led in the paths of righteousness, that we may possess God’s peace, and that we may be filled with the joy of God’s Presence while we yet are in the present world. Also, we have the hope of the perfect righteousness, peace, and joy that will come to us with the Lord’s return from Heaven.

When the human being believes in Christ, repents of his sins, is baptized in water, is filled with the Holy Spirit, and then takes up his cross and follows Christ, he begins to achieve (and more so each day of his pilgrimage) righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. He takes God’s route to joy, which is by way of righteousness and peace.

The saint may be in distress for a season, but the end of his pilgrimage will be perfect righteousness, perfect peace, and perfect joy.

An obstacle has arisen with respect to God’s plan for righteousness under the new covenant. The interpreters of the Scriptures have misunderstood God’s goal. They have taught that the purpose of the Christian redemption is to cover our sins so we may be accepted into Heaven when we die. They have made the Divine salvation primarily an act of forgiveness rather than what it is in actuality—the re-creation through Christ of the human personality so that God’s law is placed in the mind and inscribed in the heart (Hebrews 8:10).

Without realizing it, the teachers of the Bible have done precisely what the kingdoms of the world have done. They have put human happiness and peace first and have given righteousness a minor role.

By righteousness we mean turning away from the pursuit of our own interests in the world, putting to death through the Spirit the lusts of our flesh, and taking up our cross and following Christ with our eyes fixed on Him. Such a pursuit of righteousness can bring the disciple into difficult tests of his faithfulness to God and his trust in God, but there is no other path to peace and joy. It is the right way to live.

The result of limiting the Christian redemption to forgiveness of our behavior, neglecting the change in behavior that is the main part of the new covenant, has been the falling of Christian people into the gap of lawlessness—the same gap inhabited by so many of the citizens of the governments that were created by and for the people.

The elect no longer are governed by the Law of Moses; neither are they governed by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. They are divorced from Moses but they are not married to Jesus. They are without law. They are in the gap that exists between the Law of Moses and the law of the Holy Spirit.

Two kinds of civil law are as follows: externally imposed law, such as in a monarchy; and self-government based on self-control.

Two kinds of law of the Kingdom of God are as follows: the externally imposed Law of Moses; and the rule of the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us.

In the case of the governments of the world, the presence of sin and self-seeking in the lives of the unsaved makes it impossible for their programs of self-government to succeed. Such programs often have worthy aspirations, but the sin and self-seeking of the participants destroy the programs before they accomplish their goals.

The government of the United States is filled with lying and thievery. The United States capital, Washington D.C., is one of the most crime-ridden cities of the nation. Why isn’t something done about the crime in the nation’s capital? It is because the principles of democracy forbid the kind of actions that would be necessary to bring about righteousness and justice. The national capital lies in the gap of lawlessness. It is both morally and fiscally bankrupt.

In the case of the Christian churches the people have left the externally imposed standard of the Law of Moses but they have not made the transition to the rule of the Holy Spirit. In many instances the Holy Spirit is not governing the Christians of today. The churches are filled with every form of the sins of the flesh, including adultery, rage, drunkenness, and greed.

One reason for such lawlessness is that a number of Christian teachers interpret the Apostle Paul’s doctrine that we are not under law but under grace to mean Christ continues to receive the believer whether he serves God or whether he does not. It is a wonder Paul has not arisen from his grave because of such a distortion of his gospel!

We understand, then, that there are two classes of people living in the gap of lawlessness. Numerous members of the self-governing nations are there and many Christians are there.

It is our point of view that a marriage will take place between these two groups of lawless individuals. A world government will be formed that will be an integration of civil lawlessness and Christian and religious lawlessness.

Many Christian people of today are confused concerning the total difference between the Kingdom of God and civil self-government. Christians are being drawn into the struggle for “human rights,” the struggle for the opportunity to pursue happiness (not righteousness) according to one’s own scheme.

Freedom from monarchy, from the rule of a king, or even from oppressive government, does not bring true freedom to people. The true freedom, that which the Lord Jesus brings to human beings, is freedom from the bondages of sin and self-will. It is freedom to be lawful in God’s sight.

The revolutionary movements of the past few hundred years have not emphasized the Kingdom of God, the rule of God’s Spirit, the lordship of Christ. People have fought for freedom from monarchy because of past abuses of monarchial power. But freedom from monarchial abuses is not God’s principal concern. God’s principal concern is our righteous conduct in His sight. This is the emphasis of the Scriptures. This must become our emphasis.

The holy Scriptures have little if anything to say about democratic forms of government. They have much to say about righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God. It may be observed that the peoples of today who have won the right to govern themselves are turning away from God’s standard of righteousness rather than toward God.

For example, one of the diabolical fruits of the governmental guarantee of freedom of speech is pornography. It appears that pornography is about to make tremendous leaps of immoral influence through the Internet. Pastors and congregations alike will immerse themselves in the immoral contributions of the Internet because of the confusion over what the Apostle Paul meant by “grace.”

The Scriptures do not guarantee freedom of speech. They require that an individual guard his tongue with the greatest diligence (James 3:2-8).

Many of the democratic nations of today are experiencing a breakdown of the moral behavior commanded by the Scriptures.

Because we believers do not understand clearly the total difference between having liberty and happiness as our goal, and having righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God as our goal, we are ready subjects for the government of Antichrist.

Antichrist does not present himself as the opposite of Christ. Rather, Antichrist is the human imitation of Christ. Antichrist is Christ without a cross and his followers are “Christians” without crosses.

The False Prophet (the spirit of religious deception) and his followers, who include numerous Christian believers, are seeking the power and authority of God; but they do not desire to have God’s moral character or to walk in strict obedience to Him or to enter union with Him. They want God’s power but they do not want to submit to God or to become part of Him.

Antichrist understands that the Lord’s people do not grasp the difference between the pursuit of happiness and liberty, and the pursuit of righteousness. Therefore he will play on the self-love both of the peoples of the world and of the Christians. He will produce a government acceptable to both groups, a program that (perhaps in the name of Christ) emphasizes the rights of people as its objective. Here is the master deception of the last days.

The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture, the concept that God will not allow His elect to suffer, is part of the focus on the “rights of people.” So are the concepts of salvation apart from thorough repentance, God is only love, and the get-what-you-want-by-faith teaching, that are undermining the spiritual strength of the believers of our day.

Antichrist will not remove the churches, he will support them. This is why the church of Laodicea will be rich and increased with goods. Antichrist will encourage the Christian people to support such worthy goals as human dignity, the feeding and clothing of the poor, education, and the appreciation of diverse cultures (all of which are proper Christian values).

The Christian people, who are lovers of peace and good will, will not be able to perceive they are being led away from the Life of the Holy Spirit, whose primary concern is exalting Christ and perfecting the Wife of the Lamb, not the securing of the rights of people.

The subordinating of the Divine goals to the welfare of human beings is taking place today in many Christian organizations. It is a snare of Satan. It is an easy trap to fall into because Christians are sensitive to human need.

We must remember, however, that the establishing of human dignity, the feeding and clothing of the poor, education, and the appreciation of diverse cultures, pose no threat to Satan’s kingdom unless the Spirit of God is leading us in these areas. Exalting the Lord Jesus Christ and perfecting the Wife of the Lamb indeed are direct threats to Satan’s kingdom.

The Spirit of God recognizes the need for human dignity. The Christians have led the world in good works of all kinds, whether in the area of the abolition of slavery, feeding the poor, the betterment of children, or the humane treatment of casualties of war. All the worthy goals of humanism are achieved as the natural outgrowth of the redemption in Christ. Good works are the fruit, not the tree of the Divine salvation.

The Spirit of God speaks of Christ, of the blood of the cross, of the self-denying worship and service of God, of the coming of the Kingdom of God into the earth. These are the elements that perfect the Body of Christ. The result of the coming of Christ in His Kingdom will be that human dignity, justice for the oppressed, and every other good work will be brought into being.

“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles [nations]. (Isaiah 42:1)
He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law.” (Isaiah 42:4)

The Servant of the Lord is Christ—Head and Body. When the Body has been made ready, the Head will descend upon the Body. Then justice will be brought to the nations. This is why the main emphasis of the Christian churches must be on preparing the Body of Christ.

till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of [maturity as measured by] the stature of the fullness of Christ; (Ephesians 4:13)

The gap of lawlessness contains the ingredients for the coming brief reign of Antichrist. The confusion that always results from an attempt to mix Christ’s teachings with human government, to put man as the head of the Kingdom of God, may be observed as the systems of justice of some countries are deteriorating because of the attempt to mix Jesus’ teaching concerning mercy with the administration of criminal law.

The extraordinary protection of the “rights” of criminals in imitation of the compassion of Jesus is an attempt to utilize those aspects of the Gospel that appear to promote the welfare of the individual. Without the iron strength and clear wisdom of the Spirit of God, such efforts lead only to chaos.

The resulting rise in the number of persons who must be incarcerated has so overloaded the jails and prisons that in some instances the inmates kill each other because of the lack of decent, orderly supervision. It is said that violent homosexual behavior is practiced in the prisons of America. The effort to promote human welfare apart from the Lord leads only to human destruction.

An even more amazing deception is the practice of abortion. In the effort to secure the rights of the mother, the fetus is murdered. The “rights” of the mother supposedly were protected, but what about the rights of the child?

In the world, it is impossible for any individual to enjoy perfect liberty and happiness without depriving someone else. Every adult who bears responsibility understands this well enough. For example, the father has the choice of sacrificing his own liberty and happiness for his child, or preserving his own liberty and happiness at the expense of the child by getting a divorce, refusing to support his family, and spending his time on his own interests while ignoring his child.

The desired situation is not perfect liberty and happiness, it is perfect obedience to God. Every person who practices perfect obedience to God is a blessing to those around him. But he who insists on his own liberty and happiness harms and deprives others.

There may be little we Christians actually can do about the lawlessness in the world other than to pray to God for our own nation, that God will bring in righteousness at any cost; not peace at any cost, but righteousness at any cost. We are not to seek first the joy of people but the joy of God.

There is, however, much we can do about our own condition before Christ. We can flee from the teaching that suggests Christians are not to be governed by any law. Indeed, we are under the sternest of all laws—the law of the Spirit of life. To be under the law of the Spirit of life is to obey the Holy Spirit strictly, to walk in the Spirit. When we live by that law our actual righteousness of behavior exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

Also, the Lord is coming to His Churches today and demanding that we receive Him as absolute King and Lord of our lives. Numerous Christians have received Jesus as their Savior without receiving Him as absolute Lord over every part of their behavior.

As we enter Christ we find that the Spirit of God deals with the sins of our flesh, such as drinking alcohol, smoking, swearing, lying, stealing, and all forms of sexual immorality, hatred and murder. In addition, the Spirit uncovers our attitudes, our imaginations, our motivations, our words. The Spirit brings us into trouble and suffering that reveal to us the monster our self-seeking soul actually is.

Little by little we become the Lord’s possession. Soon we find ourselves in arenas that develop finer points of faith, trust, and hope. Now we are walking in the wisdom and power of the Spirit of God Himself. We have climbed out of the gap of lawlessness and have placed ourselves under a completely demanding law—the law that requires our perfect union with the Life of Christ.

Multitudes are in the valley of decision. The Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. Will you be one who climbs out of the valley of decision, out of the gap of lawlessness, and chooses to submit to the law of the Spirit of life?—to Christ’s scepter of righteous behavior?

(“The Gap of Lawlessness”, 3275-1)