In this Superbowl and Oscar season, a certain phrase in the Bible, that not many people notice, becomes more important. In fact it becomes vital to everyone’s spiritual welfare. The phrase “dwell on the earth” means more than to have a place to “crash.” It means to invest emotional energy, even loyalty, to the earth and the things in it, apart from and against God. That will soon become a dangerous spot to defend.

Where do we find “dwell on the earth”?

The phrase “dwell on the earth” shows up most prominently in the Revelation to St. John of Jerusalem. It shows up four times. Revelation 3:10 mentions it first:

Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

A Geneva Bible, translated 1560, printed 1612. Photo: Mike Quinn, CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic License

The word that translates as “world” actually means “inhabited world” or “civilized world.” More important than that, John originally used the word katoikountas, a Greek accusative meaning “those who dwell.” The root verb is katoikeo, which means “I dwell.” But that word “dwell” means more than “hang one’s hat” or get one’s mail at a place. It means not only to have a home in a place, but to make that home. The root word katoik- reminds one of another word, toichos, meaning: a wall.

Jesus Christ talked about this concept before. Furthermore, the same John who wrote the Revelation, told of that occasion. In the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus (John chapter 17), Jesus says plainly of His disciples:

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

How could that be? Peter of Galilee and the others all had homes on earth, didn’t they? Yet Jesus says they don’t belong to this world any more than He does.

John came back to that theme in Revelation. Jesus says, to a small, struggling church in ancient Philadelphia (in the Roman Province of Asia), that a time will come when God will put certain people to the test. Who? Those who bought into everything the world has to offer. If anyone truly follows Jesus, he doesn’t belong to the world either. He is a resident alien, almost an enemy alien. Whereas they who “dwell on the earth” do more than have a residence. They made one. They made themselves citizens of the world, not mere resident aliens.

Why does this matter today?

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Have a look at what the world has to offer. Can it still hold the same attraction? Next week (February 1) a Superbowl will play out in which one of the contenting teams cheated to get into it. (So certain officials have alleged. The head coach and quarterback deny cheating but have convinced no one who didn’t want to convince himself.) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made themselves a political football long ago. Not for decades has any Oscar-nominated film, or anyone else working on one, come up to the artistic standards we saw during the Motion Picture Production Code (“Hays Code”, “Hays Office”) era. In this and many other contexts, especially politics, any pretense of lofty standards has now failed.

And in this era, when the world loses more of its attractiveness every day, still some people would rather “dwell on the earth” in the sense of vesting all their emotional energy in the earth.

Maybe such people like it this way. Maybe they desperately want a diversion. For whatever reason, people still keep the “dwell on the earth” habit.

But those reasons will soon not be good enough. Go back to Revelation 3:10. And Revelation 6:10:

they [martyrs of the faith] cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

God tells those martyrs to take it easy, that a few more will join them. And then God will act.

The time to decide has come. What decision will you make?

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