February 9, 2001
Why did Jesus tell His disciples that He came to bring division on earth? And why do we find passages like Luke 12 so challenging to understand? Alistair Begg helps us comprehend our environment’s hostility to exclusive truth, noting that when Jesus transforms our lives, it often appears upside down, even to those closest to us. While division is not Christianity’s goal, it can be a by-product as the Gospel radically alters our loyalty.
49a“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50bI have a baptism to be baptized with, and how cgreat is my distress until it is accomplished! 51dDo you think that I have come to give peace on earth? eNo, I tell you, but rather division. 52For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, ffather 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 mother-in-law.”
Copyright © 2024, Alistair Begg. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.