Luke 9:51-56 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,… You can't make Eliases. You may do just the very thing Elias did, and so make the greater fools of yourselves. Elias is sent when the world needs him — son of thunder, son of consolation, each will be sent from heaven at the right time, and be furnished with the right credentials. But how delightful it is to set fire to somebody else! The dynamitard is a character in ancient history. Would it not be convenient for the Church always to have in its pocket just one little torpedo that it could throw in the way of somebody who differed in not what manner of spirit ye are of." The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of love, a spirit of sympathy, a spirit of felicity, a spirit that can weep over cities that have rejected the Son of Man. Then said He, or said the historian — the words might be His, for they are part of His very soul — "For the opinion from somebody else! The Lord Jesus will not have this; He said, "Ye know Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (ver. 56). Tell this everywhere. Go ye into all the world and say to every creature, "The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." The strongest man amongst us might devote his life to that sweet, high task. The brightest genius that ever revelled in poem or picture might devote all its energies to the revelation of that sacred truth. There are destroyers enough. Nature itself is often a vehement and unsparing destroyer. We are our own destroyers. There needs to be somewhere a saviour, a loving heart, a redeeming spirit, a yearning soul, a mother-father that will not let us die. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, |
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