A MAN S ENEMIES ARE THOSE OF HIS OWN HOUSE Published by Sowing the Word of God April 16, 2018 Luke 12:51-53 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Messiah tells a parable of a divided household, a household that is divided three against two. Let s break this down so we can see who is divided against whom. The father is divided against his son, and the mother is divided against her daughter, which reveals that the two are the mother and the father. The mother-in-law is divided against her daughter-in-law, so what does this imply? This is implying that the mother is divided against her son s wife. Now we see more clearly the division of the household. There are two parents and three children, their daughter, their son, and the son s wife. Therefore, it would appear that the division is taking place between father and mother verses the three children. Three against two, and two against three. Before telling this parable, Messiah said He came to set fire on the earth. In fact, He tells us that it is He who brings this division. 1
Luke 12:49-53 I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. 52 For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Matthew 10:34-40 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law ; 36 and a man s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. 40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. Messiah said He came to bring a fire and a sword. What do these two things represent? Jeremiah 5:14b Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, And this people wood, And it shall devour them. Jeremiah 23:28b-29 And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the Lord. 29 Is not My word like a fire? says the Lord, And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Ephesians 6:17b the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God Hebrews 4:11-12 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 2
Revelation 2:16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. God s Word has the power to divide, but it also has the power to heal. John 1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Psalm 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. Our Messiah came to bring the Word of God to the earth, and it is this Word which causes this division, and it is this same word which brings healing and deliverance. Luke 4:43 but He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent. John 18:37-38a Pilate therefore said to Him, Are You a king then? Jesus answered, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. 38 Pilate said to Him, What is truth? He came to bear witness to the truth. John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. Psalm 119:142, 160 142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law (Torah) is truth. 160 The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. 3
So why are the father and the mother divided against their three children? It seems clear that the division is because of the Messiah and because of the Word of God. The literal application is clear, the Messiah (The Word of God) will indeed divide households, especially when some are on fire for God and follow the truth of His Word, while others do not, but is there still more to see here? In this scenario, who do you suppose is right, the children or the parents? Micah 7:5-8 Do not trust in a friend; Do not put your confidence in a companion; Guard the doors of your mouth From her who lies in your bosom. 6 For son dishonors father, Daughter rises against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man s enemies are the men of his own household. 7 Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. 8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me. It is the children who have dishonored and risen up against their Father and their mother, the children have risen up against the head; against the man of the house and His wife. Exodus 20:11 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; The children of God the Father have rebelled against Him, and against His Torah by joining themselves with the ways of the nations. Deuteronomy 7:1-5 When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, 4
and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. In the parable of the prodigal son, what did the lost son do? He left his father s house and joined himself with the nations. Luke 15:15a Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country The children of God have left Him, they have rebelled against Him and against His Law (Torah.) Isaiah 30:8-13 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law (Torah) of the Lord; 10 Who say to the seers, Do not see, And to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. 11 Get out of the way, Turn aside from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us. 12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them, 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. Proverbs 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law (Torah) of your mother; Galatians 4:22, 26 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. Abraham is a shadow of God the Father, and his wife Sarah is a representation of the Heavenly Jerusalem, and is called mother of us all. The Torah, the Word of God, goes forth from her. Isaiah 2:2-3 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. 3 Many people shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; 5
He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law (Torah), And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Proverbs 6:20 My son, keep your father s command, And do not forsake the law (Torah) of your mother 21 Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck. 22 When you roam, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep you; And when you awake, they will speak with you. 23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, Isaiah 51:1-4 Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him. 3 For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness will be found in it, Thanksgiving and the voice of melody. 4 Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation: For law (Torah) will proceed from Me, And I will make My justice rest As a light of the peoples. Genesis 24:36a And Sarah my master s wife bore a son to my master when she was old Proverbs 23:22-28 Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, And he who begets a wise child will delight in him. 25 Let your father and your mother be glad, And let her who bore you rejoice. 26 My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways. 27 For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well. 28 She also lies in wait as for a victim, And increases the unfaithful among men. Return to the Father. Return to His Torah. Be rebellious no longer. Repent and return to the Father through His Word, oh you children, and be healed... Matthew 10:34-40 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. Matthew 5:17 6
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Luke 12:49-50 I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Matthew 3:8-12 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire....and be born again through the Word of God which lives and abide forever. John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 1 Peter 1:22-25 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, 25 But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. Malachi 3:1-7 Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, Says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner s fire And like launderers soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, As in former years. 5 And I will come near you for judgment; I will 7
be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien Because they do not fear Me, Says the Lord of hosts. 6 For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. 7 Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you, Says the Lord of hosts. But you said, In what way shall we return? In what way shall we return? Luke 15:20-24 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Joel 2:11-13 The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it? 12 Now, therefore, says the Lord, Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Zechariah 1:2-6 The Lord has been very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to Me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not hear nor heed Me, says the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? So they returned and said: Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us. 8
Hosea 6:1-3 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. Malachi 4:4-6 Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. 9