The Great Divide

When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him” (John 7:40-44).

Jesus continued to reveal the glory, grace, and truth of God wherever He went… “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 1:14). His presence was creating and drawing crowds of followers… “And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick” (John 6:2). But the Christ did not come to create crowds. He did not come to draw followers. He came to make disciples… “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples’” (John 8:31). With perseverance Jesus confronted the crowd with truth about Himself. He was compelling followers to step away from the crowd and toward Him to become a disciple. He was urging followers to embrace Him and His words as a true disciple would. Today, our Teacher, the Holy Spirit, shows us that many in the crowd were wrestling with the revelation of truth Jesus presented. Some believed He was the Prophet promised by Moses. Some believed He was the Christ promised by the prophets from Adam through Malachi. While many knew of His childhood in Nazareth in Galilee, many did not know the truth about His birth in Bethlehem or about His lineage to David, “So there was a division among the people over Him”. This did not surprise Jesus. He knew a confrontation with the Truth would always force a decision and create division among men… “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:51). Every time the world is confronted by Christ and His gospel the result is the great divide.

Since the time of Christ the world has been divided between believers and unbelievers. Since the time we personally accepted Christ we have become more aware of this great divide. As we mature in our walk with Christ, we are drawn by the Truth farther away from the deception of this world. We are drawn by the Hope of Heaven farther away from the hopelessness of the world. We are drawn by the Purposeful Planner farther away from the purposelessness of this temporal world. As we grow more intimate with Christ we are moved out of the darkness of this shadowy world and into the light of His brilliant glory… “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Evidence that we are His chosen people is an increase in our personal holiness, or an increasing distance between our spirit and the temptation and sin of this world. Evidence that we are growing in Christ is our increasing effectiveness in serving Him and bringing others to Him. Evidence that we’ve stepped out of the crowd and into discipleship is an increase in the great divide between us and this world.

We do not leave the world until the Father calls us home… “In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139:16). But every day since the day of our new birth we are on a journey toward the Lord and our eternal home in heaven. Our focus is on a very different destination than the hearts and minds of the unbelieving world around us… “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). And as we travel through this life with our hearts and minds set on Christ we will become more and more distant from this unbelieving world and we will provoke “a division among the people over him” as others in the crowd are compelled to either seek Him or to run away from Him.

As we grow up into Christ moving farther from the crowd of followers and maturing as His disciple, in our hearts and in the world around us we will encounter…

The Great Divide.