KOSMOS The underlying thought of kosmos, the word for "world," is adornment or ornamentation. It is almost always used to translate the Hebrew {adee} ornament (Ex.33:4,56; 2 Sam.1:24; Isa.49:18; Jer.2:32; 4:30; Ezek.7:20; 16:11; 23:40). It is twice used for "beauty" (Prov.20:29; Isa.3:18). It is given a special and dignified use when the "army" of heaven is mentioned. Then it was thought best to translate "the heavenly orders" kosmos. In the inspired Greek scriptures, it is used but once in the sense of ornament or adornment (1 Pet.3:3). Order or system seem to be the controlling idea in kosmos as the Spirit of God uses it. The deluge was sent not merely to drown the ungodly, but to put an end to the monstrous system of things which threatened the whole with a far worse fate. Therefore we read that He "spared not the ancient world" (2 Peter 2:5). Peter reminds those who are about to face the judgment of "this present evil age" what happened to crush the world as then constituted. But he reminds them also of still another world before this (2 Peter 3:5,6). The heavens were of old and the earth standing out of and through the water; through which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. This is the cataclysm of Gen. 1:2. The present world is often spoken of in a way which can hardly be true of the next world, or coming eon. The Lord was not of this world (John 8:23), neither is His Kingdom of this world (John 18:36) for then would his officers fight. When this world began, mankind was given the authority of life and death, the sword was placed in human hands. So all the kingdoms of this world obtain and sustain their authority. It was not so before the flood and it will not be so when He comes whose right it is to reign. The key to the division of the Divine calendar into its "worlds," lies in the otherwise enigmatic statement "the eon of the cosmos" (Eph.2:2). This clearly shows that eons and worlds are contemporaneous, they synchronize. We are thus enabled to give a chart of all the worlds, even when not specifically mentioned. Let us rejoice then that "the fashion of this world is transient" (1 Cor.7:31). The system which so often jars and unnerves us is but transient and will yield to the grand kingdom world and the still grander world when the new earth springs forth in response to His word. But even these grand worlds will not ornament His glory as that grand consummation when God will enjoy the ripened fruit which the worlds will win for Him. |
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