The Great Divide

I’m a mountain man. No, not a Jeremiah Johnson type. I mean I love mountains. Some of you are probably familiar with the Continental Divide which runs through the United States from Montana through New Mexico. All the water that falls on the western side of the CD will flow towards the Pacific Ocean, and every drop that falls on the eastern side will flow toward the Atlantic. I’m blesssed to have lived in Colorado on the eastern side, and in Montana on the western side, but for the water, there is no crossing over the divide. It is absolute, inviolable.

The Bible tells us of a similar type of Great Divide in a spiritual sense. In Luke 16:26, Abraham tells the rich man (in hell) that there is a great chasm between him and Lazarus (in Heaven.) The word chasm is used metaphorically to mean a divide. Abraham goes on to say that no one can cross over the divide in either direction. Jesus gives this Great Divide a left/right orientation in Matthew 25:32-33, “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

It is impossible to overstate the significance of this Great Divide in the Bible story, in our lives, and in eternity. Unlike the Continental Divde, which is often referred to as the Great Divide and is a magnificent geographical feature, often of great prominence with majestic towering mountains, and a thing of great beauty, the spiritual Great Divide is a marker of tragedy and ruin for those on the (metaphorical) left side, while a thing to be avoided and kept a great distance from by those on the right side.

The difference in the two sides is stark, and it is important. Besides categorized as left and right, the divide is sometimes represented as “light” and “darkness”, 1 John 1:7-9, and sometimes as “Spirit” and “flesh/carnal,” Romans 8:4-8. Many don’t take it seriously, and that will lead to their downfall. It is not something to be trifled with. The left side is ruled by Satan, the right by God.

On the left side is Satan tempting Eve to bring about the downfall of humankind by introducing sin into the world. On the right side is Christ offering himself as a sacrifice through crucifixion to pay the price to take away the guilt of man’s sins.

On the left side we find Satan torturing Job to get him to blaspheme God and spend eternity in hell with Satan. On the right side we find God rewarding Job for overcoming Satan’s torturous ways and being true to God.

On the left side are the prophets of Baal screaming and cutting themselves and crying to a false god to whom they would sacrifice their children, a god who only exists in their imagination, and all to no avail. On the right side is Elijah, offering a simple prayer and being answered in a mighty way by an omnipotent God who heard him.

On the left side will be, “fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexsuals, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers,” 1 Cor. 6:9-10. On the left will be those who are guilty of, “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and such like,” Gal. 5:19-20. On the left side of the spiritual divide are “degrading passions . . . women [who] exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men [who abandoned] the natural function . . . and burned in their desire toward one another . . . unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, [and] unmerciful,” Romans 1:26-31.

On the right side will be people who have been “washed, sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God,” 1 Cor. 6:11. On the right side will be people who (as the fruit of the Spirit) have “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control,” Gal. 5:22-23. Because people on the right side of the divide strive for excellence and to be praiseworthy, we find those people meditating on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute,” Phil. 4:8.

On the right side are people who live in “[righteousness and holiness, who don’t lie but speak truth with their neighbors, who control their anger and don’t allow it to persist or lead them to sin, who don’t take what is not theirs, but instead work to be able to provide for others who have needs, who speak no unwholesome words, but only words that are profitable to edification, who do not grieve the Holy Spirit, who have put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamoring and slander, who are kind, tender-hearted, [and] forgiving,]” Eph. 4:25-32. (paraphrased.)

The characteristics noted in these passages will not, can not, ever cross from one side of the divide to the other. Whatever side a characteristic is on is where it will always be. Lying can never be a part of the right, spiritual, light, “God” side of the divide. Never. Righteousness will never, ever, fit anywhere on the left, carnal, dark, “Satan” side of the divide. Peace can not ever be on the left side either. Where each characteristic is, is the place in which it will always stay.

For us, while we are in the land of the living (physically,) we can travel back and forth at will. That is why you will observe some evil people having joy, or controlling their anger or other such “right side” characteristics. It is why you will also observe a godly person displaying arrogance, or maybe even lie.

Actually, everyone is stained by the guilt of filthy sin, Romans 3:23. We have all been involved in the characteristics of the left, carnal, dark, Satan side of the Great Divide. But some have “believed and been baptized,” Mark 16:15, “repented and been baptized,” Acts 2:37, “been baptized and wash[ed] away [their] sins,” Acts 22:16, and have “been baptized INTO Christ [and] have put on Christ,” (on the right, spiritual, light, God side of the divide,) Galatians 3:27. This is the only Biblical way available to us to get on the God side of the divide. Baptism is the way that God through His grace devised for us to connect with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is really the thing that saves us.

The only way specifically mentioned in the Bible for getting into, i.e. becoming a member, of Jesus’ church is by God adding someone to the number, and the only ones God added to the number were those who were being saved, (Acts 2:47.) In Acts 2:41 there is a direct connection to those who were being baptized and those who were being added to the number, “So those who received [Peter’s] word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

This is important because only when you have become a child of God by being added to the number of the saved by God, which is the same as being added to His church, have you been extricated from the left, carnal, dark, Satan side of the divide and placed on the right, Spirit, light, God side. Now you must strive, because of your love for God, to keep yourself pure from all the items on the left side; but now you have the blood of Christ shed on the cross cleansing you from the stain of sin of those things, 1 John 1:7-9. Now through God’s grace you have no condemnation for the stain of the sin of those things, Rom. 8:1.

There is an interesting dichotomy in the two sides of the spiritual divide. On the Satan side, every characteristic is all about self. Lying, thievery, fornication, arrogance, etc, are all about bringing glory or pleasure to self at the expense of the other person. When things go wrong, as they will, the other person is blamed while self’s failures are rationalized away. I have observed that this approach to life breeds hostility, anger, resentment and emptiness. There is no joy or peace here.

On the God side, the characteristics are such as “working to have your own goods so as to be able to provide for others wh are in need, speaking no unwholesome words but only what will edify others.” It is about a life of service to others and submission to God. Many don’t see it (sadly) but it is the true path to joy and peace and self fulfillment (when you are trying to help others - interesting.) This is reminiscent of Jesus’ words in Matt. 10:39, “Whosoever finds his life will lose it, and whosoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” I believe Jesus’ was talking about eternal life in this verse, but it certainly seems that the concept mentioned above is a byproduct of His words.

So, take a trip out west. Experience the Continental Divide from New Mexico through Colorado, Wyoming , and Montana, ending in Glacier National Park. Cross it on all those exciting mountain passes. See the beautiful scenery on the west side and the east side. You will not regret it.

But if you want to fully enjoy your life, pay attention to the Great Spiritual Divide. Get on the right side, the light side, the Spirit side, the God side and stay as far away from the Divide, and thus the left, dark, carnal, Satan side as you can. Don’t get near enough to be tempted to experience anything over there. Everything on that dark, Satan side will serve to ruin your present life, to breed resentment, anger and hostility.

But even worse, if you take part in it, if you make it part of you, you will have to stay on the side where those things are and where they take you. As a great man from the God side said to a suffering soul on the Satan side, “Between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.”