Matthew 10

In the previous post, we saw that the prophecy of Simeon was a little scary, for it wasn’t all rosy when he warned of the coming of opposition and conflict in the land concerning the baby Jesus. To explain what Simeon was referring to, we turn to Matthew 10 in which Jesus is sending out the Twelve. In giving them their instructions, Jesus has many warnings; I hope you will take a few moments to use the link above to read the chapter before we continue…

Since I’ve been covering the incarnation of Jesus Christ in which we’ve discussed some of the why of his coming, I thought we might be wise to look at an aspect that most of us would prefer to ignore, for we must not overlook it. We love to say that Jesus came to bring peace to the earth, and it is true; but it isn’t the sort of peace that we might think, for there is another side to that coin: Not everyone wants there to be peace on the earth! Here’s what Jesus said on the subject from Matthew 10:

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
   a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:34-39

Yes, I know; Jesus isn’t sounding so warm and fuzzy in this passage as He quotes Micah 7, is He?

In the world as it existed before His coming, there was a great divide between Jew and Gentile; you were either a Jew or you weren’t: Period. After Jesus came and died and rose again, there was a whole new order of things, theologically speaking, for the old divide was done away with. Now, you were either in Christ or not. The reasons for this are two: First, because from God’s point of view, those in Christ are forgiven, have inherited eternal life and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and the rest are not.

Of course, God does not desire that any should perish, so He sent us to take the Good News to those who have not yet received it, but I don’t need to tell you that many, if not most of those who are not in Christ have no desire to hear any news that you have to share, and that is the second reason for the divide. If you think about it even briefly, this is what Jesus was telling the Twelve in Matthew 10, and it is what Simeon was talking about in Luke 2.

Up to this point, the issue is really quite simple, and most of you didn’t need me to tell you about it, for you have probably experienced it yourself to one degree or another, but from here on it gets a little bit dicey for some, for dear reader, we have stumbled into spiritual warfare. To make this easy for you, I think in our next visit later today, we need to have a look into the book of Revelation… see you there!