1. Jesus came to earth to cause family divisions:
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 his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Mat 10:34-38)
I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. (Luke 12:49-53)
Comment: That amazing truth has brought comfort to many Christians who have experienced serious family divisions and persecutions over the gospel. Such division is a test and the norm, not the exception. That is especially important to pass on to new Christians. To love Jesus more than our natural family members so we can be worthy of him means you will obey him and do his will rather than theirs if it is not the same. That is a very important early test, which we must face. Many buckle under that pressure, go back and become a backslider.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. (Luke 19:10)
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5:32)
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. (1 Tim 1:13-15)
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (1 John 4:9)
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14)
Comment: Though the Lord Jesus wants everyone saved, man has free will to repent or not. It is man's choice to follow Jesus or the devil. NOTE: Many in our day misuse 1 Tim. 1:15. That verse is not saying Paul, as a Christian, was the chief of sinners! To believe he was the worst of sinners, as a Christian, is both a shocking display of Scriptural ignorance and an attack on the holy image of a Christian at the same time. The eternal security crowd, who say he was, is guilty of both as they spread their poison and mere form of godliness.
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37)
Comment: God's truth is always exalted in the Bible. It is vital to know. For example, salvation begins with man knowing God's truth. Such reflects why false teachers are so dangerous and why the devil (our enemy) is always trying to deceive. To believe lies, as though they were truth, will damn SOULS.
He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. (1 John 3:8)
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Heb 2:14,15)
Comment: The humanity of Christ is taught there plus much more. Just because the devil's work has already been destroyed doesn't mean he is not a formidable foe anymore! If he wasn't so good at what he does, sin and false doctrine wouldn't be so prevalent as they are. The devil is still an excellent deceiver. Paul wrote that Christians need the full armor of God:
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. (Eph 6:11)
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Heb 2:9)
Comment: What Jesus is shown there to have done for us is an aspect of grace, which few in our day seem to have ever noticed. Like other truths, we don't have to understand how Jesus did that. All we need to do is just do what he says. Also, since Jesus tasted death for everyone, and not just for the elect as Calvinism says, them the Calvinism tulip is flawed!
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
Comment: To have life to the full doesn't mean anything beyond what is exemplified through the Christian lives as shown in the New Testament. For example, the Apostle Paul had life to the full, yet at times was dressed in rags (1 Cor. 4:11). Paul was a man of great faith and lived a holy life, but was hungry and thirsty sometimes as he faithfully served God—often risking his life to do that. If someone cites John 10:10 to mean material prosperity (as the gospel of greed people do) and since Paul didn't have that, then that teaching is obviously false. Do not be deceived.
Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” (Mark 1:38)
Comment: Jesus traveled about teaching and healing people. That was an important part of his mission too. He wanted to take himself and his message directly to the crippled, diseased, poor, aged, oppressed, etc. people of that day, as well as all others. If Jesus didn't go to some, they could never have come to him and therefore wouldn't have been blessed as they were.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Mat 5:17)
Comment: Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father and lived a sinless life. He was perfect in every way including fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mat 20:28)
Comment: Among many other things, the Lord Jesus was also a servant! When he washed the feet of the disciples we see the humble Lord, God in the flesh, doing something no earthly king would ever think about doing. Yet servant Jesus is also the king of kings (Rev. 17:14; 19:16). He died so we could live.
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. (John 12:46,47)
Comment: Jesus is the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). Mary, the mother of Jesus, is not a mediator, according to Scripture. Jesus didn't have to come to condemn the world, it was already condemned. He came to save it and was even willing to die in such a horrible way to do it and was successful. He did it for us.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Eph 2:13,14)
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col 1:20)
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. (Heb 9:12)
And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. (Heb 13:12)
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Pet 1:18,19)
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Rev 12:11)
The Lord Jesus did many important things before he ever got to the cross where he shed his holy cleansing blood. That blood is spiritually contacted at the point of a trusting and submitting faith in Jesus. It is then, that the repentant one is set free from his sin addictions and made into a new creation in Christ. Such a blessed person becomes the immediate recipient of eternal life. He will then have to sow to please the Spirit of God to reap eternal life and not destruction (Gal. 6:8,9), according to the real gospel. Furthermore, he must endure and hold firmly to the end to be saved (Mt 10:22; Heb 3:14; Rev 2:10,11). He must hold firmly to the gospel. Otherwise, he has believed in vain (1 Cor 15:2). If what he heard from the beginning remains in him, he too will remain in the Son and in the Father (1 John 2:24,25). Remember also Heb 12:4:
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
So if someone asks you, why did Jesus come to earth, you could answer with any of the above and be correct. Corporately, they will all help us better understand what the Lord Jesus did for us, the battle against sin, the defeated devil and our current intense spiritual war. Remember why Jesus came to earth.
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