Do you think I came to bring peace?

Understanding a question like requires knowing who Jesus is. Because as inconvenient and uncomfortable as it is, there's only one way to define God.

Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! (Luke 12:51)

God just wants us all to get along.

That’s not a false statement exactly. For the most part, it’s true. We know throughout the New Testament, specifically in the Apostle Paul’s letters to the churches throughout the region, that God desires Unity between His people. The Church can’t function the way God intended if we are constantly divided against each other.

So when you look back at what Jesus says in Luke, how can this statement be true? If God wants us all unified, why did Jesus come to divide us?

So much of understanding a question like this goes into knowing who Jesus is, who God is. Because as inconvenient and uncomfortable as it is, there is only one answer when you’re looking to define God.

God, and by extension Jesus, is Truth. He is the Truth. The Only Truth. Truth, by its very nature, is exclusive. There can’t be more than one.

I know we live in a culture that loves to claim individual truths, and while there are some semantics we can get lost in, the facts remain that there is only one Truth. And that is God. It’s essential to His Identity, and it is the reason why Jesus makes people so angry.

There is no other Way. There is no other Explanation. There is no other Salvation. Only entirely exclusively Jesus. You can’t add to Him. You can’t subtract from Him. It’s Him or nothing. You can’t go your own way and His way at the same time.

Yes, God wants unity between and among His people, but people can’t be God’s People without Jesus. If you reject salvation by Christ alone, you are not one of God’s children. That doesn’t mean you can’t be. But you cannot claim to follow Jesus and reject Him and all He stands for.

But isn’t God Love too?

Of course, He is. God is Love, but God’s Love is perfect and pure and holy and TRUE. And so is His justice. So is His wrath. He is all of that wrapped up into one unknowable, incomprehensible, unstoppable Creator.

If you believe that Jesus came to unify people, think again. Jesus came to draw the line. That’s Who He Is. That doesn’t make Him unloving. That doesn’t make Him cruel. It makes Him the Only Way to be saved.

Questions for Reflection

• How would you explain the difference between being Loving and being Truthful?

• Why do you think people get upset when Christians declare that Jesus is the only way to heaven?

• How is it possible for Jesus to love everyone yet still insist on obedience to God’s Word?

Weekly Memory Verse

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