Jesus came to save sinners. This much is true, as 1Tim testifies, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
As with everything God does, there are multiple viewpoints to His actions. To one it means this, to another it means that. Even the act of saving sinners can be seen as clearly uprooting the plans of the evil one. Saving sinners means decimating the customer base of drug pushers and pornographers. It means mass abandonment to the co-workers of thieves and gang leaders. It may even be seen as the threat of job insecurity to detectives and the judiciary! That much is also true, for when Jesus returns and sets up His Kingdom, there will be no more immorality, greed or vice. What even will be the need for pharmacists and doctors, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality[?]”
Multiple viewpoints are one thing, but multiple purposes are another. The Scripture records, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” So it is not only a salvation that Jesus comes to usher in. It is also a destructive work. Just as salvation has implications to our great benefit and the blessing of society as a whole, so also His destructive work has implications. Jesus said, “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.’”
Jesus quotes the prophet Micah. Micah lived and worked during a time of societal collapse. A time not unlike our times, when the compass of society is thrown away and people call wicked ‘good’ and the good, ‘wicked’. Any who dare to stand up for God’s standard are immediately labeled enemies of society. One commentator wrote, “Tragically many within our own society today have fractured, fragmented, and hostile families that seem bent on self-destruction.” Kenneth L. Barker wrote that in 1999, but the same could be said at any point in the timeline of the godless. The implication of Christ coming into a household through only part of the family (an individual or couple) in a spiritually divided family is that the household immediately has a divided loyalty. Some are for God. Some are not. A division occurs. The sword is doing its work. Enemies are made.
It is true that Jesus gives us peace. But “Jesus’ peace does not preclude wars between nations, conflicts among unbelievers, or the persecution of Christians which Jesus has already predicted. In fact, not only does Jesus not come to eradicate all human conflict but he actually promises hostility.”
This is the price of choosing to serve the King; the prince of this world immediately deploys his servants and the ignorant against you. Advances for His Kingdom inside of you and outside of you rarely come without spiritual attack. To this end the mature disciple arms themselves with the Word of God, “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
If you have not faith enough in the power of the gospel, if you have not faith enough in the promises of God, if you have not faith enough in the power of prayer, then be in earnest in asking for more faith—such faith as will stand firm in the day of temptation, of trial, of conflict, of opposition.
Henry D.M.S. Jones
APPLICATION: Intentionality
Are you able to stand in the day of testing? How are you preparing yourself for that day?