Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 ⁵³  But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.

 ⁵⁴  When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

 ⁵⁵  But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

 ⁵⁶  for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”]  And they went on to another village.”  Luke 9:51-56.

This Scripture for today reminds me of John 3:17:  “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

However, we do know that not everyone in the world is saved.  The very next verse states:  “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  John 3:18.  And, there are so many more Scriptures that show that there will be those who will not be saved, such that no more Scriptures are needed for the reader to agree.

But, I think the need for this Scripture today is to remember that Jesus does not need our help to either literally or figuratively “command fire to come down from heaven and consume” unbelievers.

We must have more compassion and remember that “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”  Ephesians 2:3. 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”  Ephesians 2:4-5. 

As an example for us to have compassion and that ” the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”, let the following phrase in today’s Scripture send shivers down your spine:  “He was determined to go to Jerusalem“.  Jerusalem represented the cross to Jesus, excruciating pain, death, and separation from God the Father.  Yet, Jesus was determined to go.  It was His work of salvation, His compassion to save.

In conclusion, for us, this example and lesson is clear.  “But go and learn what this means: ‘ I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Matthew 9:13