I tackled this topic because many un-believers mention that the God in the bible is not as we say full of love. They read the old testament and see the violence and judgement of God and assume that is all he is. On the other side young believers get hung up on scriptures that depict Christ as a savior, full of love and favor for us all. Then are unable to reconcile some scriptures that say he has come to bring division among families. There are two scripture sets in particular that I want to address in the blog because I think they express the point I am making in the topic of this blog.

John 10 Ver 10:11 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Luke 12 Ver 49:53” I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

When you read these two verses, both spoken by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they appear to be saying different things. In one verse Christ states he is not here to cause harm in the form of death or destruction, but he came to give life in abundance. The other verse speaks of a Christ that appears to be eager to bring fire on earth, which appears to be in the form of judgement. He clearly states in the latter verses that he was here to cause division in the most sacred of places, the family unit. This does not seem particularly nice or something a caring Lord would say. You can see the confusion and contradiction right? Some religious Christians even live this contradiction, they believe in a merciful God that sent his son to die for their sins, but count every bad thing that happens to them as God’s punishment even though their sins have been forgiven. They always look at God as a punisher, not as a God that loves, is full of grace and mercy.

As always I focus on context. Who was Christ talking to in these two separate chapters? In John 10 Christ was talking to a crowd of Jews including the Pharisees and Scribes etc. They had just excommunicated a man who was healed of blindness from the synagogue, because of his testimony. He testified that Christ healed him with the power of God, they denied it and threw the man out the synagogue. Christ found the man, revealed himself to him as the Son of God and began speaking to the crowd on why he had come, leading to his words in John 10.

In Luke 12 Christ was responding to a question Peter asked, speaking not only to Peter, but the other disciples as well. He was explaining the difference between a good and bad servant waiting for their master and the consequences attached to both. This speech is where he mentioned his intentions for division and his desire to bring fire on earth. The truth is there is no contradiction if you step back and look at it from a bird’s-eye point of view.

POINTS TO CONSIDER:

• Christ was sent by God as an act of love.
• His beloved creation was stolen from him by sin, which represents rebellion to God’s will. He is a jealous God.
• This rebellion (sin) caused the spiritual life of man to die, no longer connected to its source God himself.
• God is all Holy and unable to commune with anything that embodies sin. He is perfect and his very Glory acts a a consuming fire destroying anything sinful that attempts to enter his presence.
• Longing to reconnect to his creation God sent his Son, un-corrupted, to earth as a second Adam.
• Christ was crucified sinless, as a representative second Adam, bearing the judgement for the sins of all men. He paid the price for the first Adam’s disobedience(sin) that led mankind to lose their connection to God, their source to spiritual life.
• Christ’s sacrifice as the second Adam, restored man’s connection to God through him.
• Now any man who is born again in Christ, and believes on the Son of God, now can share in the access to the life spoken of in John 10.
• Christians can now reconnect with God through Christ, with their sins being covered by his blood and adorned with the righteousness of their savior.
• Jesus says if you accept me as the Son of God your savior, I will grant you my access to God and his Kingdom forever.
• God’s very Glory welcomes us as it sees the blood of Christ and not our sins. We can now truly be close with God and develop a relationship with him akin to what Adam had with God in the garden of Eden.
• As Christians we are so redeemed that the bible says God sends his Holy Spirit to live in us as we have become temples for God to live with and within.
• The problem is the gift of salvation runs contradictory to a life of sin. In order to have one you have to give up the other.
• Therefore the division Christ refers to in Luke 12, is a result of the choice posed to humanity after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
• Mankind now has the choice to choose to live by the rules and principles of sin or be born again in Christ, set free to serve God in spirit and truth.
• The choice salvation through Christ offers is what causes the division.  It is not a religious ritual but a more personal experience that can happen to some in a family and not to others.
• In the life of a Christian, God comes first then his family. God gets the best of them then their family is second. That is what many family members fail to comprehend especially if they are un-believers.
• Jesus says himself in Matthew 10:37 ” Anyone who love his father or mother more than Me is not worth of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

In conclusion the contradiction we perceive to be there is just an illusion, because of our lack of knowledge and understanding. When you study the word as a whole it comes apparent that the Old testament and New testament are manuals on how a loving, Holy God intends to reconcile himself to his beloved. He longs to commune with us his creation as he did with Adam in the garden of Eden. He is aware he will lose some of us to sin, but is desperate to plead his case to all those who will listen and choose to be saved. Since Abraham and Issac in the old testament, God said he would provide a sacrifice. He did not want men to sacrifice their son’s, because without the power to forgive sin they would be offering up their son’s as sacrifices all the time. Instead in the new testament he provided his own son as a sacrifice to redeem man from sin. Abraham showed God that men were capable through faith to be obedient and put him first over their own. This is the opposite to what Adam did when he chose to eat of the apple Eve gave him, over God’s command not to eat. This is why I believe God blessed the nations through the seed of Abraham. He is the father of faith in God, so much so that God likened his faith to righteousness.

Christ’s salvation is a double-edged sword and is a stumbling block to the proud and prideful. The fire Christ spoke of is God’s holiness that purifies those who accept Christ, but holds those that don’t in judgement. It is our will in the end that separates us from God and the life he promised. If we choose to reject the Kingdom of God and his Son then our sins will be judged and the consequences for such laid on our shoulders. Can you pay the price for your sin as Christ did for humanity? God will restore order to his creation in the end by bringing judgement and destroying sin and its consequences which is death of the spirit and flesh. Those who have chosen Christ have chosen life and life more abundantly. No contradictions here, just a view from two sides of the coin, Salvation verses Rebellion.

I thought of this analogy to help un-believers understand I hope if helps. Fire can be good and bad at the same time. It can illuminate the darkness, bring warmth to cold places, help cook food etc, if it is contained. If it is not handled properly when exposed to wild-fire you can be burnt, maimed or killed. In Christ we are shielded from the fire of judgement, outside of him we are responsible to shield ourselves.