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“If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). |
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Now I find, one of the hardest places to do judgment (which is true love) is in the midst of our immediate and extended families who are often outraged over the seeming hatred we have for them (Lk. 14:26). All they see is relentless and UNNECESSARY division and they blame us. On the contrary, we blame Christ because the scripture speaketh expressly, “So there was a division among the people because of HIM” (John 7:43). “And there was a division among them” (John 9:16). “There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings” (John 10:19). Are we relentless? Yes, and of necessity I must be with endurance, but not for unnecessary matters but the “sayings” of Jesus! There is a discrepancy of the gospel at hand in these divisions, and thus there is a discrepancy in every area of life. The gospel is fused with the living Lord walking in resurrected men. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free” (Rom. 8:2).
The divisions incited above which were in Jesus’ earthly ministry, were because the REAL and ONLY Jesus was confronting, exposing, and denouncing the religiously popular “messiah” which was a figment of their imagination. Their love for this imposter, a false jesus, divided them from the true Jesus. Can it be any different today? “As then -” whether Abraham’s day or the first century, it will always be today - “As then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now” (Gal. 4:29). Today it must be said again as it was then, “do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). Shall we shrink back from being “followers” of them who were in “much affliction” (1 Thess. 1:6)? The good gospel must go forth into the lives of the gospel-less even if it is through the barking of the Devil and “much contention” (1 Thess. 2:2). “Even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts” (2 Thess. 2:4). I do solemnly resolve to FIGHT with beasts of men, even to my daily jeopardy. And, “if after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus [or my “country-men” (1 Thess. 2:14)], what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not” (1 Cor. 15:32)? To all who are “awake”, this course is “righteousness” (1 Cor. 15:34), and yet, how prevailing is worldly wisdom in carnal Christians inspiring them to reject this course? Oh God, make me willing to drink Your cup always and all times be bound with them who are “baptized for the dead” (1 Cor. 15:29).
The christ the Jews knew and worshipped then, is as the jesus christ the christians know and worship today (generally speaking). He who they know and worship is not the true Jesus (2 Cor. 11:3-4), and they bear well the plethora of doctrines from this false prophet jesus, and therefore when the True Jesus brings division and a sword it appears to them that their child has become hateful, bitter, divisive, and destructive. Which Jesus are you obeying? "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division" (Luke 12:51). Following another morality and creed which unites that which Christ came to divide, bringing peace where there should be contention, this is a denial of the true Jesus for the false one, and if done in the family, it is none other than Familial Idolatry.
It is alarming to see the multitudes in oblivion to these doctrines! Woe to these dreadful seminaries! We are a world of expertise, and now, organized education proliferates us with doctors of “Divinity.” The professionals of each branch of society are deemed trustworthy because of their rigorous hours of schooling. Education is their high platform of authority, and in subjection with no objection the lowly laymen become loyal learners. Nevertheless, God is not like the world. God educates the poor to prudence by faith. God has set his face against the wise, saying, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent” (1 Cor. 1:19). What could be more alarming to today's trusting laymen than this declaration of God: that He is intent on making higher learning (wisdom) utterly vain? “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God,” and what will it profit a man if he learns the whole world and forfeits the knowledge of God (1 Cor. 1:21)?
The road to follow the True Jesus is costly, lonely, but exceedingly worth it. Oh reader! don’t be apathetic toward seeking the truth. Avoid the sin of self-government, and resist relativism, which is the revelry of moral atheism. We are not dealing with mere wrong, normal humanistic mistakes, or perhaps something to work on. Wake up America! Upon the corridor walls on the highway to hell there is a graven saying that is the devil’s spell, it is the bewitching and self-justifying excuse, “I am only human.” Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13). It is true! I speak executively by the written word of God - sin dangerously provokes the eyes of His glory! The words and deeds of men are under the observance of a Thrice Holy Creator and Judge of all; and, think of it: the concentrated shadow of impending justice may presently compass you about. As it is written, “their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory” (Isaiah 3:8). O let the sleeping conscience awake! Scripture will magnify our habits to sin, multiply the enormity of crimes times ten, giving wisdom to fear in the end, finally showing that personal opinion is often a decree of satanic dominion. We must reconcile ourselves to the God of the Bible!
Don't think positively about the Adamic man. Don't think this world is morally ok when God says it is intimately ruled by the Devil and Demons (2 Cor. 4:4, Eph. 2:2-3). Would you trust the devil as your pilot when traveling by plane? Could you have peace knowing the Devil’s hands do steer? What of the Devil’s intimate involvement in all carnal men? Carnal men are a hell-spring of iniquity, a haunting devil’s den of rottenness with ambiguous, false righteousness, all these criminals of sin will be daunted by the Lord's righteous judgment of men. As it is written in Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Christ will return with eternal life to bring, electrifying everlasting hymns to sing, but many with shamefaced disappointment will undergo condemnation thinking they were innocent because they followed their congregation. The late Leonard Ravenhill once said something near to this, “The fastest way to hell is down the center isle of the average church.” Therefore it is necessary that, in defining morality, “the heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things” (Prov. 15:28). What about you?
Trace with me the biblical background of God's love as a divisive sword which inevitably comes to the family unit unless all are born again and walking spiritually, not carnally. It is necessary to look at the OT types of this difficult, and humanly impossible, call. This call is most explicitly given by Christ in two passages, Matthew 10:32-40 & Luke 12:49-56:
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (Matthew 10:32-40).
"I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time" (Luke 12:49-56)?
First, a true confession (Matt. 10:32-33) of Christ to your religious, yet unconverted, or carnal family is declared to be as sharp, hurtful, and peaceless as war with an unsheathed "sword" (Matt. 10:34). My reader, do not dismiss it to be the devil if it hurts or brings turmoil - soul and spirit “wounds” may be the faithful love of a friend (Prov. 27:6, Heb. 4:12)! In the passages cited above, which were spoken by Christ, when a man denies Christ (Matt. 10:32-33) he is damned for eternity because of it, but during his lifetime before eternity he reaps his reward of swordless peace in his carnal family. Laying down the sword is casting away Christ. Jesus Christ is “The Word” (John 1:1) which is “the sword” (Eph. 6:17). Also, “His name is called The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13). If the gospel is preached, the true Jesus is preached, and the word of God; thus, “Phillip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:25), the “quick, and powerful,” He that is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12).
The sword of division (Luke 12:51) is part of salvation’s call. So destructive, alarming, and vibrant is this sword wielding war, most carnal men are left in perplexity and horror over it. It is emotionally inconceivable that THIS house-dividing chaos is the blessed work of the Savior working through a member of your immediate family who is confessing Christ. In the account of Luke it is called a "fire on the earth" which Christ longs to kindle (Lk. 12:49). Satan seeks to make men rich, altogether unsavable camels (Mk. 10:25); but God seeks to kindle a spiritual fire on earth. Worldly wisdom cries the alarm, “FIRE, FIRE!” Crowds of companions rush and rage to stamp it out, and finally, the doctors of seminarian law conspire a case of religious “justice” against the innocent to crucify the Jesus-following, fire-starting, “pyromaniacs”.
Fan this fire with a heavenly flame for Christ longeth to see the same,
He was the foulest criminal in the Devil’s Jerusalem and they thought to put out His Name,
But resurrected with Him are 7,000 in His Name and they live to bear the reproach of His blame;
Earthly infamy for His heavenly fame, and "how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”
(Lk. 12:50)
Christ calls men out on what they "think" (Matt. 10:34) and "suppose" (Lk. 12:51), because He knows that men do not believe that this painful division is the goodness of a loving God. Jesus states that this confession saves the confessor (Matt. 10:40). Conversion and confession are a life change, a death and resurrection, and as men are called to lose their lives (Matt. 10:39) to save them, the family is an inevitable cost therein. The unconverted man is a child of the devil, a practitioner of his lusts, an instrument of his will (Eph. 2:2-3), and therefore, conversion is a birth into another family which is at enmity to the former (John 3:3). Your household formerly could have been friendly, but at your conversion there must be immediate spiritual enmity. Jesus says, at the gain of Him and His family, your carnal family becomes your "foes" (Matt. 10:36). You must be divided from your family for your own salvation, because your family is united in the worldwide divide against God. We are born into a world at war against God, into a family energized by the Devil’s perverse hatred of God. Jesus said you are not a child of your family name but rather of the Devil (John 8:31-51). A war begun by the Devil and allied by man, the sword of gospel power is God’s battle plan to set the captives free. At the scene of war, division is “supposed.” The violent point of a sword pierces through the fighting lines and no one “thinks” it strange, but if these are the spiritual circumstances surrounding a sinner’s conversion to Christ, what shall we “suppose” and “think?” In this way, one may understand the spiritual circumstances surrounding true Christianity and conversion, and so, Christ reproves the astonishment that men have of these truths. He calls it blind hypocrisy, for such a one cannot see the spiritual climate of his own time. This is what Jesus meant in His reproofs in Luke 12:54-56. He is calling men to awaken to spiritual realities, and this is to "discern this time" which they are in (Lk. 12:56).
In a time of overwhelming righteousness, the circumstantial consequences of conversion would be the opposite of theirs and our time. Consider the climate and spiritual laws inherent in a wicked time. Yea, in this hour, because of prevailing wickedness, it is evil for a man to be full of laughter and glee, with no sorrow. Such men like this have blind eyes of ease, calloused hearts of careless, cold immorality; they are comfortable with the devil’s spiritual brutality, they agree to his decrees and follow him in actuality. On these terms Jesus separated the saved and the unsaved: The Lord said, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,” and “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh” (Matthew 5:4, Luke 6:21). “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). Blessed are the saints, the forerunning messengers that proclaim a new world without end; they are the body of Christ. They walk the steps of their salvation in a Person, and “he is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isa. 53:3). The Lord calls out the contrary with woes because they are reveling in Satan’s jubilee and power. They are partakers of Satan’s commission - he has made them fat and full with the pleasures of unrighteousness, and they do “laugh now!”
The world is Satan’s Egypt that afflicts God’s people. The world is drunk to a stupor of laughing in lawlessness. It is a kingdom of criminal perversion deserving Sodom’s fiery fate. Sobriety and sufferings mark the messengers of the Lord. Grave matters grip the mind of godly men, for they bear tidings of a fiery death or everlasting life. They are uninvited, unwelcome, uncalled by men, but sent by God.
An "understanding of the times" is "to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chron. 12:32). When a man does not understand "his time", he is as dumb as a fish under a sinking net - "so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them" (Ecc. 9:12). "Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him" (Ecclesiastes 8:5-6). Please read these verses carefully and note from what book they were taken.
In a time of overwhelming righteousness, the circumstantial consequences of conversion would be the opposite of theirs and our time. Consider the climate and spiritual laws inherent in a wicked time. Yea, in this hour, because of prevailing wickedness, it is evil for a man to be full of laughter and glee, with no sorrow. Such men like this have blind eyes of ease, calloused hearts of careless, cold immorality; they are comfortable with the devil’s spiritual brutality, they agree to his decrees and follow him in actuality. On these terms Jesus separated the saved and the unsaved: The Lord said, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted,” and “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh” (Matthew 5:4, Luke 6:21). “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep” (Luke 6:25). Blessed are the saints, the forerunning messengers that proclaim a new world without end; they are the body of Christ. They walk the steps of their salvation in a Person, and “he is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isa. 53:3). The Lord calls out the contrary with woes because they are reveling in Satan’s jubilee and power. They are partakers of Satan’s commission - he has made them fat and full with the pleasures of unrighteousness, and they do “laugh now!”
The world is Satan’s Egypt that afflicts God’s people. The world is drunk to a stupor of laughing in lawlessness. It is a kingdom of criminal perversion deserving Sodom’s fiery fate. Sobriety and sufferings mark the messengers of the Lord. Grave matters grip the mind of godly men, for they bear tidings of a fiery death or everlasting life. They are uninvited, unwelcome, uncalled by men, but sent by God.
An "understanding of the times" is "to know what Israel ought to do" (1 Chron. 12:32). When a man does not understand "his time", he is as dumb as a fish under a sinking net - "so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them" (Ecc. 9:12). "Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him" (Ecclesiastes 8:5-6). Please read these verses carefully and note from what book they were taken.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. 10:35-36).
"For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law" (Luke 12:52-53).
"For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Micah 7:6).
"For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law" (Luke 12:52-53).
"For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Micah 7:6).
In these verses, Jesus Christ is depicting the consequences of conversion in such a wicked time. Yet, what is even more amazing is that He is quoting directly from Micah 7:6! The time in which this was first spoken in Micah 7:6 was a time of prevailing wickedness in Israel. All of them were called "a brier" and "a thorn.” A farmer cares not for a field of thorns but to burn it clear, and so God declares that the field of Israel is ripe for wrath. God commanded Israel to be united, obedient, lawful, faithful, and true, but this generation of Israel was utterly corrupted. You could neither trust your friends nor your wife, your son nor your daughter, for all men were enemies one to another. This is the point of what was spoken in Micah 7:5-6. Micah 7:5 is speaking to the friend, guide, and wife, "Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom." Micah 7:6 you can take note of above. This was a woeful condition in Israel, and in this immediate context, those who rose in enmity against their father and mother were creating sword-like division for sin and against God. In this time, it was not the will of God that the children rise against their parents.
Yet, in the NT, when Christ quotes the passage from Micah 7:6, it is altogether in a different application than that of the immediate context of Micah chapter 7. The circumstances of widespread wickedness, or “the good man… perished out of the earth" (Mic. 7:2), is the current scene in the 1st century; notwithstanding, when Jesus Christ preached Micah 7:6, it was depicting those who rise in enmity against their father and mother because they are fulfilling the will of Christ. They, by this rising, are being saved, not condemned, and this was the declarative purpose for Christ's coming. What is being said by Christ? The widespread wickedness is so great, like as the time of Micah 7, yet those who rise in enmity against a confederacy and unity with the Devil are doing the good work of God to advance the cause of salvation. The enmity is speaking the words of the Savior, Christ Jesus - “The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17). The rising is the indwelling of the love of God, and its fervent, self sacrificing purpose to save those who hate God, the very ones who end up hating you because they are a people who altogether don't want to be saved.
Yet, in the NT, when Christ quotes the passage from Micah 7:6, it is altogether in a different application than that of the immediate context of Micah chapter 7. The circumstances of widespread wickedness, or “the good man… perished out of the earth" (Mic. 7:2), is the current scene in the 1st century; notwithstanding, when Jesus Christ preached Micah 7:6, it was depicting those who rise in enmity against their father and mother because they are fulfilling the will of Christ. They, by this rising, are being saved, not condemned, and this was the declarative purpose for Christ's coming. What is being said by Christ? The widespread wickedness is so great, like as the time of Micah 7, yet those who rise in enmity against a confederacy and unity with the Devil are doing the good work of God to advance the cause of salvation. The enmity is speaking the words of the Savior, Christ Jesus - “The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:17). The rising is the indwelling of the love of God, and its fervent, self sacrificing purpose to save those who hate God, the very ones who end up hating you because they are a people who altogether don't want to be saved.
"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee" (Ex. 20:12).
We know that Christ purposed to bring the sword and division, but in the terms of Micah 7:6 it is said to be a salvation through the dishonoring of your father rather than the submissive honoring of him. The most prominent argument in opposition to the doctrine of righteous division heretofore argued is from the Ten Commandments, saying, "honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee" (Ex. 20:12). Those who did dishonor their father were committing grievous sin in the Old Testament. “Impossible,” says the family, “this can't be God and must be sin! God says to ‘honour your father and mother.’” Yet, to say that honour to our fathers can be properly kept in the OT sense even while the NT call for a sword and disunity is maintained, this is declared by Christ to be impossible. Jesus Christ interprets “dishonour” in Micah 7:6 to mean a “sword” and “division” in the gospel accounts. Therefore, the Lord is saying that it is righteousness compelling the saints to rise in enmity against the Satanic tyranny of their unconverted parents, and thus they fulfill the saying, "the son dishonoureth the father" (Micah 7:6). Christ is calling for a sword and division, which is a dishonoring of our fathers.
Unconverted parents, who believe themselves to be righteous, think it is outrageous and insulting to have boldness, reproof, and contention with them, even if it is for the sake of mercy and salvation, or to show the true Jesus Christ in distinction from the false. They view it as such an insulting and rotten disrespect. They wonder where all the appreciation and honour due to them is in their children, the honour that they once had for all the carnal wisdom and ways they were raised up in.
Fathers and mothers, please listen to what God says. No matter the person, if a man's mouth speaks a false gospel, it must be stopped from leading others astray (see Titus 1:11). Therefore, God the Father takes preeminent honour to Himself in commissioning his blood-bought, spirit-born, son-servants to dishonour those who seek their own honour by the dishonoring of God. If, in honoring our earthly father we dishonour God by allowing an atmosphere of spiritual submission to a fallen head, this is spiritual murder and the defamation of God. This is no time to be silent. If your father forbids you to speak the true gospel and contends with you against Christ, even if it is out of an honest misunderstanding of how hurtful and dishonoring you are being to him, you must call him out and expose his sin through the word of God because his actions and honour, if followed, will damn those who follow him. This must not be tolerated in the name of the Father God, the Father of fathers. He cares more about your family’s spiritual life than the fading peace of emotional satisfaction men love to maintain. Though fathers and mothers rage in anger to forbid you from speaking the true gospel, you must expose their false Jesus!
This True Jesus confirms or condemns them. The triumph of Christ (read carefully 2 Cor. 2:14-17) ought not to be forfeited by obedience to your family who holds the line of the gate of hell (1 Thess. 2:16). “I will build My Church,” Jesus said, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). Your parents may say, “Trust me,” but you must trust God. Would you commit your eternity to the trust of insane men? What about dead men? What about devilish men? Once-born men are the living dead who slam the door of eternity and angrily leap into hell for the pleasure of eternal suicide. All once-born men are, to God, “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). God demands Christians to speak (Acts 4:19), even if it is to your suffering and sorrow (Luke. 6:21, Rom. 9:2-3). It is to the inheritance of a spiritual family and Father which far exceeds carnal familial bonds (Mark. 10:30, Matt. 12: 48-50). Christian, your eternity is not safe if you decide to go on silently before any man in your witness-sphere, which boundary is a God-judged responsibility and mark - for you would be guilty of eternal soul murder (Acts 20:26-27).
Jesus Christ never compromised the truth and integrity of God's spiritual work and gospel for His earthly half-family. He did not put his carnal mother and brethren on the same plane of honour and respect as God and His family. He dishonored the earthly to esteem the heavenly. His time, investment, and duties were supremely to His spiritual family and Father, and in the right place His carnal family was to be neglected but not in all senses and times. You can see such a time in Matthew 12:46-50. He showed dishonour to his seeking mother and brethren when He ignored them and caused them to wait, when honour would demand an immediate attention and response to their earnest pursuit and outside-call. Jesus Christ makes His mind plain on the matter of his family. He did it in truth, in sinless wisdom, because he ever beholds the spiritual climate at hand so as to never honour the dead above the living. Read the passages below side by side and see this clear practice of understanding in Christ, and so know the dangers of carnal, familial idolatry.
“While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Matt. 12:46-50).
“And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:57-62).
“And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:57-62).
Are you offended at Jesus Christ? In all necessary circumstances, and especially after Mary was born again, the Lord did not neglect the responsibility to care for her (John 19:25-27). At another time Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for carnal wisdom resulting in their negligence and unrighteous dishonour to their family (Matt. 15:3-6), and so it was regarding the passage in John 19:25-27. Yet, at another time, leaving without saying goodbye to your family, and the forbiddance of their burial, these are likewise very dishonoring in another sense. Therefore, it is needful to walk in the Spirit of God in circumstantial wisdom from heaven. "Wisdom is justified of her children" (Matt. 11:19, Lk. 7:35). Look closely at the words of Jesus Christ in these instances, and how distinctly He is drawing a line between those in the Kingdom of God and those outside of it, between those who are alive and those who are dead. Men always seek to honor the flesh, and Christ sought ever to hold in preeminence the Spiritual family of God, thus we have the instance below:
“And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:27-28).
In regards to judgment and the gospel, circumstances where eternity is at stake, or the commission of servitude to God pressing upon you, the message of Christ toward family relations is clear. So many are oblivious to the good God of judgment! When judgment is executed, there is room and hope for salvific mercy. When judgment is neglected, there is sweeping damnation and peaceful haste into hell-fire. Merciless judgment must be accomplished upon those found worthy of it, and then God will have mercy!
The false prophets have made their jesus out to be one who does not burn in zeal to burn the earth in judgment. They say that jesus is dislocated from the OT God, that this is in a new age, and that jesus has a new mind on things because it is the New Covenant, thus the OT God is an ancient and evil god – I speak foolishly. They are the same God! One popular misrepresentation of Christ is preached from John 8:3-11:
"And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (John 8:3-11).
Is Jesus Christ against stoning the guilty? Is He opposed to justice and judgment in this way while the NT covenant is not yet enacted by the death of the Testator (Heb. 9:16)? He wrote the OT out of the righteous goodness of His own heart! How then can He be against it? First, you must understand something about the biblical command of stoning. It was used as the most common OT form of public execution (Deut. 21:21). When a crime which lawfully demanded death for the sinner was committed, and you witnessed it, even if this person was your wife, mother, son, or daughter, God commands merciless judgment against them no matter how dear and near they are to you carnally. As it is written:
“If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you" (Deut. 13:6-11).
No familial idolatry is allowed! No pity, sparing, or hiding of the criminal. If you were the witness, you must expose him to public execution. If you were the only witness, your hand laden with a stone must be first to stone him, and after you then all the people (Deut. 13:9). This is what is meant by the saying, "thine hand shall be first upon him." Can you imagine the eyes of your guilty family member - your dearest one –looking into his or her eyes that cry out for the slight of judgment, for just a one-time pitiful pardon, and yet all those who wished to live must walk out the mercilessness of God's good judgment. The principle that this judgment by stoning hinges upon is the first-hand witnesses of the crime. Those who caught the crime in action must be first to stone them, or in other words, to "first cast a stone" – says Jesus Christ. The others will not follow except by the surety of the witness himself striking the confident blow which initiates the execution.
Now what happened in John 8:5-11 with the stoning of this adulterer? Why was it withheld? Now listen. The Pharisees brought a woman who was said to be caught in adultery, "in the very act." In such a circumstance of catching adultery "in the very act," it is required by law that both the man and woman engaging in this act must be brought to die. So, since you caught them in the very act both of them were there on the scene – the man and the woman. "If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then THEY SHALL BOTH OF THEM DIE, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel" (Deut. 22:22). The Pharisees broke the law. They caught a man with the woman in the very act, yet, they only brought the woman to be executed. They let the man go probably because he was of esteem or honour, or, there was some negative repercussion which they were not willing to bear that would come by his lawful execution. As hirelings this is a natural compromise, and all those men which do love their lives will follow in their footsteps (Rev. 12:11).
Jesus knew the law and understood that the man’s absence disqualified the justice of stoning, and therefore the sifting, heart searching, and disbanding question the Lord rebuked them with, was, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7). He was not disagreeing with stoning! He was calling out the witness who caught the adulterers in the act of adultery and boldly declaring that he is in sin for not bringing the male as the law states for terms of stoning, and the first stone thrower is the witness, so with him lies the sin! "The eldest" among them knew the scripture the best, therefore beginning with them was the disbanding of the group. All were disheartened and convicted because their sin was found out. None had the boldness to go through with the execution knowing the male was unlawfully left out. If there had been a sinless witness, Jesus' agreement with the law would have exacted it and they both would have been executed by the first stone and all others following it. Jesus called out the first stone thrower because with him lay the sin, but He did not deny the sinless and lawful throwing of stones while the NT was yet to be enacted. The woman’s faith left her worshipping at the feet of Jesus Christ, thus Christ gave her mercy.
Now what happened in John 8:5-11 with the stoning of this adulterer? Why was it withheld? Now listen. The Pharisees brought a woman who was said to be caught in adultery, "in the very act." In such a circumstance of catching adultery "in the very act," it is required by law that both the man and woman engaging in this act must be brought to die. So, since you caught them in the very act both of them were there on the scene – the man and the woman. "If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then THEY SHALL BOTH OF THEM DIE, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel" (Deut. 22:22). The Pharisees broke the law. They caught a man with the woman in the very act, yet, they only brought the woman to be executed. They let the man go probably because he was of esteem or honour, or, there was some negative repercussion which they were not willing to bear that would come by his lawful execution. As hirelings this is a natural compromise, and all those men which do love their lives will follow in their footsteps (Rev. 12:11).
Jesus knew the law and understood that the man’s absence disqualified the justice of stoning, and therefore the sifting, heart searching, and disbanding question the Lord rebuked them with, was, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (John 8:7). He was not disagreeing with stoning! He was calling out the witness who caught the adulterers in the act of adultery and boldly declaring that he is in sin for not bringing the male as the law states for terms of stoning, and the first stone thrower is the witness, so with him lies the sin! "The eldest" among them knew the scripture the best, therefore beginning with them was the disbanding of the group. All were disheartened and convicted because their sin was found out. None had the boldness to go through with the execution knowing the male was unlawfully left out. If there had been a sinless witness, Jesus' agreement with the law would have exacted it and they both would have been executed by the first stone and all others following it. Jesus called out the first stone thrower because with him lay the sin, but He did not deny the sinless and lawful throwing of stones while the NT was yet to be enacted. The woman’s faith left her worshipping at the feet of Jesus Christ, thus Christ gave her mercy.
