Luke 12:49-53

THE FIERY BAPTISM

Luke 12:49-53. “I came to send fire on the earth, and what do I wish if it is already kindled?” This is none other than the fiery baptism of Pentecost, which Jesus came to send on the earth, thus inaugurating a new era in the kingdom of grace. “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it is perfected!” Here is an allusion to the baptism of blood which awaited Him on Calvary. “Do you think that I came to send peace on the earth? I tell you, Nay, but division; for there shall be five in one house divided; two against three, and three against two shall be divided; the father 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 the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law.” You see here, from the connection, that division follows, as a logical sequence, the baptism of fire. When people get sanctified wholly, they become out-and-out for God, who leads them in different ways, pursuant to His blessed will. Consequently, division will be the result. There is only one way to have harmony, and that is for all to get the fiery baptism. The grip of Satan is so tight that he is almost certain to hold some of the members of a family or a Church. In that case there will always be division, as holiness can not harmonize with carnality.