The one who divides
If you were to approach ten random strangers on the streets of Durban and ask them what they believe about God, odds are that at least 9 of the 10 will respond positively. This is because a vast majority of South Africans believe in the existence of a higher power. A survey published by IPSOS Game Changers in 2023 shows that an estimated 83% of South Africans hold to some form of religious identity. Statista shows that 89% believe in some form of a higher power. While those who believe in a higher power might debate the revelation, nature, and characteristics of that power, Anselm’s definition of God seems to identify what those who believe mean when they say “God”. Anselm defines God as “…that than which no greater can be conceived.” (Philosophy of Religion - UK)
Now, if you were to instead ask those same people what they believe about Jesus, you are likely to hear ten different answers. Why the difference? Why are most people in agreement about God but not about Jesus? Jesus is revealing something important about mankind and about who God is. We find an abstract concept – God as a higher power – far more agreeable. That concept of God does not confront us or require us to decide. Jesus, on the other hand, says that his very existence requires a decision – to believe in him is salvation and to reject him is condemnation. He explains clearly – his purpose is to divide: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Lk 12:51) Similarly, he says: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Mt 12:30)
How do we make sense of this? It requires us to go back to creation and the Garden of Eden. There, no division existed. Adam and Eve walked with God and enjoyed fellowship with him. They knew nothing of sin, evil, or separation. But that soon changed – with one decision, Adam and Eve chose to disbelieve God and their sin separated them from God. As a result, they were driven out of God’s presence, a curse was placed on creation, and the whole world was now under the power of the evil one. (Gen 3:14-19; 1 John 5:19) Does this mean that God is no longer in control? Not at all! But it did mean that mankind no longer enjoyed relationship and fellowship with God. Instead, they were slaves to the ever-increasing wickedness and evil desires of their hearts (Gen 6:5) and were under the influence of the evil one. (Eph 2:2-3) God reveals himself as the righteous judge of all mankind – first with Adam and Eve, then Cain, then the flood, then the Tower of Babel. In that judgment, God also reveals the severity of submitting to our sinful nature. He then begins to reveal the plan for restoration of mankind’s relationship with God – first calling Abram, then redeeming the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, then through the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, then through the prophets. The common thread running through all of this was the promise of a Messiah, a Savior – one who would bring freedom and peace with God. And at just the right time, Jesus steps onto the scene of history. (Gal 4:4-5) This was no accidental event – rather it was one that was anticipated from the very beginning. Here, finally, was the full revelation of God – in the flesh. (Heb 1:2-4) Here was the promised offspring of Eve, the one who would crush the head of the serpent. (Gen 3:15) Here was the one who brings restoration of relationship with God. Here was the one would divide and unite. The light had come into the world (John 8:12) and revealed the shadowy and deceptive depths of our hearts (Jer 17:9-10).
Why is this divisive? First, Jesus made claims that were blasphemous if they were untrue. He claimed to have power to forgive sins (Matt 9:6; Mark 2:10; Luke 5:20), claimed to be lord of the Sabbath (Matt 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5), the Son of Man (used at least 84 times e.g., Dan 7:13; Matt 12:40; Mark 2:28; Luke 12:8; John 12:23), one with the Father (John 10:30, 14:7), the fulfillment of the Old Testament (Luke 24:44-47), the Son of God (John 10:36), and the I AM (John 8:58). This created division between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders of the day. Second, Jesus did not fit the concept of Messiah that the Jewish people had come to believe in over the centuries – they expected a Messiah who would free them from physical oppression through the forceful destruction of their enemies and restore the physical kingdom of Israel. They only focused on a partial image of the Messiah and were blinded to the fullness of God’s redemptive plan. This created division between Jesus and many of the Jewish people, evident even today. Finally, Jesus made the exclusive claim that he was the only way to restored relationship with the Father – “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). This created division between Jesus and every other way people attempt to attain relationship with God. So, we can see in the literal person of Jesus, we are brought face to face with the revelation of God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14, 18; 1 John 1:1-4).
Why did Jesus seek to create division? Relationship between a finite creature (mankind) and an infinite being (God) requires trust from the finite to the infinite. This leads to the choice that was present from the moment God instructed Adam – believe what God has revealed about himself and us and trust him completely or disbelieve God’s revelation and trust in something else. So, Jesus creates division through revelation – he completely reveals God to us and, in doing so, he also reveals our actual belief or disbelief in God. In Genesis 2, God institutes the marriage covenant. He says that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Without the division from his parents, a man can never be truly united with his wife. Paul says this is actually a picture of Jesus and the Church (Eph 5:23-32). For a person to be united with Jesus and become part of his body – the Church – they must be separated from the world, from their sinful nature, and from the evil one. When that occurs, they are no longer friends of the world and hostile towards God (James 4:4), they no longer practice sinning (1 John 3:8), and they are no longer under the dominion of darkness and evil (Col 1:13). This is only made possible by the perfect life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus.
This, then, is why Jesus divides and division will always happen along these three lines. Every person and religion that rejects his claim to be God or the only way to God denies the perfect life Jesus lived because they make him a liar. Those who reject his death on the cross deny the necessary sacrifice of Jesus to atone for the sin of all mankind and they are left with no payment for their sin. And those who deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus reject his defeat of death and the grave, ultimately denying hope in God as the giver of eternal life after death. Thus, to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the only possible way for mankind to have restoration of his relationship with God. This revelation forces us to a necessary choice – belief and salvation or disbelief and condemnation.
So, where does that leave us? There are only two kingdoms – the kingdom of darkness in which the devil rules this present world and the kingdom of light in which Jesus rules the world to come. Ultimately, the only choice that truly matters in light of eternity is which kingdom you are in when you die. The truth, as revealed in Jesus, is this: what you believe about God must account for the revelation of Jesus as the fully-God, fully-human, necessary sacrifice for all of mankind. He leaves us no other option. Anything less than complete trust in the person and work of Jesus leaves you in darkness. Jesus is more than a good, moral teacher, more than a revolutionary Jewish rabbi. He is not a myth, legend, or fairy-tale. He is the Son of Man, the one who has authority to judge all the earth (John 5:22, 27; 2 Tim 4:1). He is God made known to us in the flesh. He is the one who divides.
