By: Elizabeth Haarberg

Jesus is a Sword

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Alpha and Omega; beginning and end. Sometimes when I think I know the Trinity, there’s something new that emerges from scripture that changes my thinking, expanding it beyond what I thought I knew. For example, the idea that Jesus was here to bring peace changes when I read this verse:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Matthew 10:34-35 ESV

Jesus never picked up a sword. He did not defeat the Romans who occupied Israel at the time. He was not a warrior in the way we envision conquerors. But He says he did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 ESV

The sword is the word of God, which is Jesus.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:4 ESV

Jesus came to bring the Word of God into substance so we could experience the true victory of what God intends for the human race and is available for everyone, if they believe. He came to live and die here so we could pick up the sword He left through the Holy Spirt to carry the movement He started. Jesus knew peace will never reign on Earth until he returns, but the sword through the Word will create opportunities to have eternal life.

Pray, meditate on The Word, and be full of the Holy Spirit so you can fan the flame that Jesus modeled and instructed.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado