Think not that I am come to send peace.
I. Why it might naturally be supposed that Christ did come for the express purpose of sending peace on earth. Consider the way in which His kingdom was ushered into the world-”Glory to God,” &c. The tenor of much of His teaching, and the final result of the preaching of the gospel, would lead us to suppose it.
II. That notwithstanding our natural thinkings on the subject Christ came, not to send peace. But a sword Christ’s own life an illustration. Also, the entire history of the Church, and the life of every individual Christian. (R. Abercrombie, M. A.)
Christian conflict
These words represent the aggressive, combative side of Christianity.
1. Sin is a fixed, unyielding power.
2. There is an overpowering force which can and will conquer sin. It is Christianity.
3. What results from this conflict, heroically maintained?
1. Victory.
2. Moral beauty. (Bishop Hurst.)
Moral beauty derived from victory
What results from this conflict, heroically maintained? Victory. Moral beauty as well. More keenly, perhaps, than any other American writer, has Hawthorne seen into the human heart, and he somewhere remarks that the human face never is so beautiful as when the soul has passed through some great struggle; when it has triumphed in this unseen battlefield, and there is a divine irradiation of the countenance, such as Jacob’s face must have had, when, after that night of wrestling with the angel, the morning light, breaking over the mountains of Gilead, revealed in his features the celestial halo that crowned them. All moral beauty is secondary. It comes from conflict and victory. Thus was the shepherd David fitted to become the monarch of the nation, and the persecuting Saul the preacher Paul. Linnaeus and Humboldt have found, on icebergs, in far-off forests and on Alpine peaks, flowers that had no fragrance; but to which, when care, skill, and patience had been lavished on them a secondary nature was given, so that to-day, under wintry skies, we have them in our conservatories, sweet, as well as fair. (Bishop Hurst.)
Christ’s Mission
I. The strangeness of the fact. This appears when you remember-
1. The object of Christ’s coming.
2. The law of Christ’s kingdom.
3. The character of the King.
II. Explanation of the fact.
1. By the position Christ assumed towards sin.
2. By the character of the gospel.
3. By the natural character of man.
III. Practical lessons.
1. The greatness of Jesus Christ. He has set the world on fire.
2. The slowness of the progress of the gospel in the world, and of sanctification in the believer, is accounted for. (C. Lankester, B. A.)