The Line of Demarcation
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” I Peter 4:17-18
A line of demarcation is a line that separates two entities or defines a boundary. One of the most well-known lines of demarcation is the Mason-Dixon line which is the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, surveyed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon from 1763 to 1767, nearly 100 years before the Civil War, and was regarded as the boundary between the Northern and the Southern United States (Webster’s Dictionary). It is kind of funny if you think about the terms “boundary” and “united” being in the same sentence. I thought that the dividing line between the north and south was a little bit further south. I can’t remember everything that I learned in elementary school. We also have the “finishing line” at the end of a running marathon, a horse race, or a NASCAR race. Whoever gets across it first is the winner. There are property lines which separate the yards of neighbors, and lines between lanes on the roadways. It is always nerve-wracking to be driving on the interstate and see the car next to you start veering over into your lane. Some lines keep people in, and other lines keep people out.
One time I was thinking about the above verse and came up with an illustration in my mind’s eye to illustrate the difference in the sovereignty, holiness, and majesty of God, those who are saved, and those who are not. Picture a blank sheet of paper or poster board. A line is drawn across the page about two inches from the bottom. Another line is draw across about an inch below the top of the page. Above the top line is where God resides in heaven on His throne with His angels who minister to Him. Below the bottom line reside all the people who have rejected or will reject Christ during their lifetime. When Peter wrote that the righteous are “scarcely saved”, it makes me think that those of us who have repented of sin and placed our faith in Jesus Christ, because we are sinners, are just barely saved by the skin of our teeth. Don’t get me wrong. When God accepts us as His children, we are His children completely and forever. He will not turn us away if we have truly been born again and are committed to Him. Thus, the saved are the ones who reside just barely over the bottom line. We are saved 100 per cent, but we still live in this body of flesh which is prone to sin from time to time. The large space above us on the sheet of paper shows us how far we are from perfect and will never reach that state of perfection until we cross over the top line into God’s perfect paradise.
God was pretty adamant about His church being filled with folks who are righteous. I have been reading online about some churches who have strayed so far from Biblical truth that they are not recognizable as a Christian church. They have allowed ungodly things into their church, and they remind me of some of the seven churches in the book of Revelation that Jesus had to rebuke for their sin. I have a feeling that there are a lot of rebukes coming for many churches today because they have failed to uphold Biblical teaching, and some have become nothing more than social clubs. We Christians fret so over the sin of unbelievers, but sin is what they do. God is concerned about unbelievers and their sin, but He is much more concerned about His own children, just like any parent is concerned. That’s why Peter wrote that judgment would begin at the house of God. Those of us who are parents or grandparents are responsible for our own children, not our neighbors’ children. As believers, we should keep that principle in mind.
If we are called on the carpet, so to speak, because we have given our lives to Christ and been expected to represent Him to a lost and dying world, what about those who have openly rejected Christ and the plan of salvation? Every person that has ever been born is accountable to God. Those of us who are saved are responsible to live circumspectly in this world. As they say, the more you know, the more for which you are responsible. But what about those who are lost? They cannot say that they had no knowledge of God. Paul made that clear in Romans 1:20 by stating that there is enough evidence in nature to show that there is a Higher Being who created the world and everything in it. So there goes that excuse. Some might try to pawn off their good deeds in exchange for a ticket to heaven, but Jesus said that He was the way, truth, and life (John 14:6). So, bargaining won’t work. There will be some who will say that God doesn’t exist so how could they believe in Him? Let’s see how that flies when standing before the Judge of the universe. Thus, if those who have been born again are only admitted into heaven because of Christ’s sacrifice, where will that leave those who refused the gospel?