In Matthew 10:34 Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send PEACE on earth: I came not to send peace, but a SWORD” (KJV). The words PEACE and SWORD have opposite meanings. The word “peace” speaks of “unity, harmony and the absence of conflict.” The word “sword” speaks of “division and conflict.”  In this verse the Lord isn’t speaking of a “literal sword’ that would be used in conflict; it is used symbolically of the conflict there would be between believers and unbelievers. In Luke 12:51 Jesus said, “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather DIVISION.” This means there is a real “division between those who are saved and those who are not saved.”

This is made clear in verses 35-37, “For I am come to set a man AGAINST his father, a daughter AGAINST her mother, and a daughter-in-law AGAINST her mother-in-law. And a man’s ENEMIES will be those of his own household. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (NKJV). The Lord knew that there would be people who would believe on Him as their Lord and Savior and others who would not believe on Him. The result would be CONFLICT between the two, even if they were in the same family. Once one believes in Christ, they want to follow Him and obey His teachings (see John 10:11, 14, 25-27). The unbeliever has no desire whatsoever to follow Christ; in fact, they HATE CHRIST, and they naturally HATE THOSE WHO FOLLOW CHRIST. The Lord spoke of this HATRED in John 15:18-19, “If the world HATES YOU, you that it HATED ME before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore THE WORLD HATES YOU.” And because unbelievers hate those who follow Christ, they show their hatred by persecuting them. Jesus went on in John 15:20 to say, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master,’ if they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

It is clear from the passage for today that we (believers) can expect OPPOSITION from our unsaved family members. The Lord calls them our ENEMIES, which is a very strong word. The moment we are saved we enter this “spiritual conflict” where our unsaved family members may use persecution to intimidate us in order to keep us from following Christ. But the Lord Jesus demands loyalty to Himself and thus He tells us that if we give in to them, we are guilty of “loving them more than we love Him.” In that case Jesus says we are “not worthy of Him.” He surely deserves our faithful obedience to Him and to compromise His truth in any way makes us “unworthy of Him.” This is why Jesus went on to say, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” We should be willing, in love for our Savior, to confess Him before men with absolute obedience to His commands no matter how much this may cost us in the form of suffering from those who hate us.

In closing, it should be said that when Christ comes again (in power and glory…Matthew 24:30), He will indeed “send peace on earth.” He will subdue all His enemies and establish His Millennium Kingdom on earth and there will be PERFECT PEACE. We read in Isaiah 9:6-7, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder and His name will be called…Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and PEACE there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever.” Until that glorious day, there is “no peace on earth,” yet there is “PEACE with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1) because Christ has “MADE PEACE through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).  (DO)  (596.1)