Fire!!!!

I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what would I but that it be kindled! (Luke 12:49).

 

Fire!  What is Jesus talking about here?  Have we seen the fire He came to cast on the earth?

 

Jesus followed the statement above by saying that first he had a baptism to undergo -- before the fire could be released -- and He was impatient to complete the baptism, terrible as it was to be.  Before men could catch fire, the old man, the Adam-man, had to die.  Sin lives in our DNA, at the cellular level, and it is passed from one generation to the next.  Our natural tendency is always and everywhere to pull away from the Spirit of God and to go our own way.  There is no remedy, no "patching up" of human nature.  We can put a nice façade on our evil inclinations, but we cannot cure them forever. 

 

Part of the problem 40-50 years ago with clergy who were pedophiles was that psychologists assured the bishops that these men had been "cured" after undergoing treatment.  And the bishops believed them.  Now it is said that the bishops were covering up for the sins of the priests -- and in some cases, I'm sure that was true.  For many bishops, however, they were deluded by psychology and victims themselves of modern science.  An alcoholic is never cured; he is always in recovery.  A pedophile is likewise not "cured;" he can only be removed from danger to others.  Now we know.

 

Even in children, we see the "natural" tendency to be cruel to others, to make fun of those who are different, to try to be superior to others.  Education helps, but what we really need is a new nature, one created in the image of God, one that wants to be like God.  We will all, presumably, be perfected in heaven, after death --- but the kingdom of God on earth requires that perfection to begin now, despite our natural inclinations to do evil.  Jesus took human nature onto Himself, bringing it to the cross in order that those who are in Him would die with Him.  Then He rose again with a new nature created in the spirit and image of God, a nature no longer subject to the DNA of our fathers -- as Scripture says, "the empty way of life handed down to us by our fathers."  Now, we are free from evil inclinations and disobedience; we are free to be responsive to the Spirit of our Heavenly Father dwelling in us.

 

This is the "fire" Jesus came to cast on the earth.  Jesus did tell the Apostles to "go into the whole world, teaching them all these things....," but He also told them not to depart Jerusalem until they had received "the Gift of the Father."  He knew they would need more than human nature, human effort, to spread the Gospel.  They would need the "fire" of the Holy Spirit working with them.  When we read the Acts of the Apostles, we see the explosion of power that accompanied their preaching -- some have said the book should be called "The Acts of the Holy Spirit in the early church."

 

Across the centuries, whenever the church has grown weak and ineffective, whenever evil has become rampant, whenever people have been in bondage to Satan or oppressed by evil, when the fires of faith have been almost extinguished, the Spirit of God has seen a rekindling on the earth.

 

There are certain universal characteristics of the renewed fire cast upon the earth.  Tomorrow, I will list these characteristics.