Leaving Before Coming

“My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.” (Jer 51:45 AV)

This is the call to pre-captive Judah and Israel to come out of Babylon.  Babylon will invade and carry away Judah, where they will meet what is left of the ten tribes of Israel.  By the mouth of Jeremiah, God is calling Israel apart from Babylon when it will be possible.  They will have to serve Babylon for 70 years.  At the end of those seventy years, Cyrus the Great of the Medes and Persians will decree that the Jews can return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple.  Artaxerxes, a later Persian king, will send Nehemiah and a remnant to Jerusalem to repair the city walls.  Although the exact number returning under Ezra and Nehemiah is unknown, the approximate number was somewhere around 50,000.  That pales in comparison to the total number of Israelites.  If there are millions, then less than one percent decided to return.  The calling here is to come out.  One is not willing to go to a place unless he or she is first willing to come out.

In the early days of our nation, opportunity abounded.  It still does, but in different ways.  Back in the 1800s, Napoleon needed finances to fight his campaign.  To raise funds, Napoleon sold the middle of our nation to our government.  Now, the United States had a problem.  We had 875,000 square miles of property and no one to develop it.  So, the government sent surveyors out to the newly purchased territory and staked out property lines.  The day came to open the land for those brave enough to settle a wilderness.  There are paintings that depict this event.  People with their horses and wagons straddled the line.  At the designated time, they rushed off to the west.  When they came to a piece of property to their liking, they grabbed the stake and registered their plot with the government.  Without a nickel toward a purchase, the land became theirs.  What is interesting is the lack, or those who dared take the risk.  Free land was open to the public for private ownership.  Just a fraction ventured beyond their comfort zones.  As a result, there were many homesteads established in those few short years.  These families grew in wealth and prominence.  The opportunity of a lifetime, and few took it.

Why?  Why did few leave while others did not?  Because those who failed to go would not leave.  And that is the point.  To go to God’s call means we have to first leave.  Abraham is a great example.  To find the promised land, he must first be willing to leave Ur.  Abraham left a brother and father behind.  He had to leave what he was familiar with.  He had to leave a life to which he became accustomed.  Israel was no different.  To find the purpose and call of God, not to mention His presence in worship, they had to leave the life to which they had become accustomed.  They had to strike out and trust the LORD.  The thing is, the land rush of the 1800s was purely voluntary.  Israel’s exodus was not.  The settlers who established the Midwest did so because they had a choice one way or the other.  There was no moral obligation to take that risk.  The call above is mandatory.  Israel was not supposed to be comfortable in Babylon.  The same is true of the saints.  Leaving the world is a neutral choice.  God does not tell us to come apart because it is one option of many.  We are called to come out from among them.  We are commanded to live for the LORD, which includes separation.  The sad fact is that few do.