When we grasp the true nature of the battle between good and evil it will inform us how we are to go about the battle. As Francis Schaeffer explained at the end of his life, “The real battle is not fought by Christians just against forces in this world, whether theological, cultural or moral. The real battle is in the heavenlies.”

Jesus, the night of his betrayal, prayed for those who had believed and those who would believe on Him (Jn 17). He prayed to the Father, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (14). Christians, the name given to those who have confessed Jesus Christ as Savior (Acts 11:26), are in the world, but not of the world.

We are not of the world in that as Christians we have been born again by the Spirit of God. It is the new birth that gives us our true identity as children of God. As Paul puts it “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Phil 3:20). God has “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:13).

Here is the real reason for the hatred of the world (the spirit of the age) towards Christians. It is because we no longer belong to the domain of darkness. We have been delivered from the clutches of the cosmic powers over this present darkness (Eph 4:12). This is the meaning of the phrase “they (believers) are not of this world, just as I (Jesus) am not of this world.” This is the reality of our true identity for we are “now children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness” (1Thes 5:5). This is true whether we live in light of that truth or not.

When we confessed Christ as Savior, we changed domains so to speak, but through no effort of our part. At that moment we believed, we were delivered from the realm of spiritual darkness and death and placed into God’s family, the family of light and truth.

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