It is good to be here this evening. I count it a privilege to speak on behalf of the Bible Spreading Union and to be identified with its good work. May the Lord give to B.S.U. many more years of usefulness in freely distributing Bibles at home and abroad.

We turn to Luke 12:49, “1 am come to send fire on the earth.” When we think about the coming of God’s Son into the world, we think cheerfully. Scripture conditions our minds that way. His coming drew down the blessings of heaven for us: light and hope, grace and salvation, God as our Father and heaven as our home. Paul sums it up in those well-known words of 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

While all this is blessedly true, we find another side to our Lord and to following Him. What the Puritans used to call “The stormy, north side of Christ.” Our text illustrates this: “I am come to send fire on the earth.” He means this: if you cleave to Him, it will excite opposition from those who reject Him. Your discipleship will ignite the enmity of others. What you stand for will be hotly contested, the flames of opposition and even persecution will be stirred up, and you will feel the heat.

That this is the main meaning is clear from verses 51-53 of this chapter, where our Saviour said: “Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division,” etc. He did come to send peace on earth concerning our reconciliation to God (Luke 2:14). Nevertheless, in our relationship with the unsaved it will usually be the opposite. In the parallel passage of Matthew 10:34-36 the picture is not “fire” but “a sword.” It means the same thing. Both come between people and alienate them from each other.

Whether fire or sword, this is something very painful. Look at verse 53 of our passage: “and the son against the father.” There are families where unconverted sons are against Christian fathers. I saw such a father’s Bible, a man who has an unconverted, alienated son, and at this verse he had written in the margin the son’s initial, the date, and the words “How long, Lord?”

However, we can understand this verse 49, “1 am come to send fire on the earth,” another way. The “fire” stands for the Gospel or the Word of God. We know that our Lord came to send His Word upon earth, because after His baptism “He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all” (Luke 4:15). This is related to the fire of division, because it is the Word that causes the opposition and persecution. If we stood for nothing we would suffer nothing. For our Lord, it would result in the ultimate fiery persecution, the baptism of suffering upon the cross, verse 50. Certainly, our Lord’s Word was like fire in His hand, and He cast it upon the earth. How it enlightened and warmed Judea and Galilee! How it caught hold and spread everywhere! It burned up much rubbish, but for others it proved the word of salvation and eternal life. Truly, it was “already kindled” when He spoke these words. Moreover, it was as if, in His omniscience, He could see its entire future course, for this “fire” was destined to spread throughout the earth.

So, I want us to think about God’s Word in this way, as a fire sent upon the earth. In particular, its spreading power, and its blessed effects wherever it goes. Let us think about,

Verse 49, “fire.” We have warrant for seeing the Bible like this. In Jeremiah 23:29 we read, “Is not My Word like as a fire? saith the LORD.”

1) Fire is an emblem of God. When God signified His acceptance of the sacrifices, He sent fire on them (1 Kings 18:38). Fire symbolizes His protecting presence: “For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her” (Zech. 2:5). Fire also came in judgment upon guilty Nadab and Abihu, “And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them” (Lev. 10:2). God expressed His holiness on Mount Sinai in the form of fire (Heb. 12:18).

2) Yet here, our Lord says the Word is like fire. So, this equates God with His Word. Both are fire. We find in Scripture that what is predicated of God is predicated of His Word also. For example, in Hebrews 12:29, “Our God is a consuming fire” and Deuteronomy 33:2, “From His right hand went a fiery law for them.” Psalm 119:89, “For ever, O LORD, Thy Word is settled in heaven”—and that is true of God on His throne above. In 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Paul wants the Word to “be glorified,”—something that we can only say of God, Who will not give His glory to another. “The Word of God” in 1 Peter 1:23, “liveth and abideth for ever”—just like the everlasting God.

a) We cannot separate God and His Word. The Bible is of God, it emanates from Him. Everything that is true of God is true of the Scriptures. The Word of God and the God of the Word are one. For a professing Christian to say “I love my Bible, but I love my God more” is to drive a wedge between what God says and Who God is. It is not the high view of the Bible we find in the Bible itself.

b) This must settle the question of the Bible’s integrity. The distance between the original manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments and our own day is very great. Moses, the prophets, and the apostles were inspired to write these autographs, but they have perished long ago. Centuries of copies and translations separate these originals and us. The question is: What about this distance”? Do we have God’s authentic Word now?

We could answer this question satisfactorily in terms of textual scholarship, and the historical transmission of the text. Abundant evidence exists to support our belief that we have the same Word today that the Church has always had. Under God, we are indebted to godly and erudite men for their researches in this area, men like Dean Burgon, Edward F. Hills, Dr. D.A. Waite and others.

However, the simple and believing answer is this: God and His Word are one. Therefore, He is not going to overlook this question of the transmission of it. It belongs too much to His honour and glory for that. We believe He has providentially preserved His Word in the Massoretic Text of the Old Testament and the Received Text of the New Testament. He has ensured that a pure stream of copies have come down to us, and are faithfully translated in our Authorised Version. Here is the fire!

This is why, when God calls a man to preach, the Word is like a fire in his bones (Jer. 20:9). It inflames the preacher today just as it always has. This “fire” often seems missing in preachers who use modern translations of Scripture. Sermons tend to be like damp squibs. Sadly too, where hearers use a variety of Bible translations, the preacher tends to quote less Scripture (it would be unrecognizable for some), thus depriving the message of its light and heat.

c) However, we must treat this Book as we would treat God. The poor and contrite heart that trembles before God is the same that must tremble at His Word (Isa. 66:2). Someone once said, “We should almost worship the Bible.” I think we know what he meant. When any believer is heard to say, “I know it is in the Bible, but . . .” the implications of this are staggering, are they not? May we ever esteem the Word as we esteem God Himself.

Verse 49, “I am come to send fire.” If the Scriptures are likened to fire, it suggests certain things about their effect. We must take notice of this metaphor.

1) The Bible warms and quickens. Just like fire. This is true when God gives converting grace. We can instance John Wesley, not because we agree with his theology, but because his experience is authentic. Brought up in Anglicanism, he was ordained deacon, then went to America to convert the Indians, only to discover that he was not converted himself. A conversation with the Moravian, Peter Boehler, led him to be “clearly convinced of unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved.” Then, on 24th May 1738, as God would have it, “I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death ... Then it pleased God to kindle a fire which I trust shall never be extinguished.”

For us as Christians, also, the Scriptures deal with a cold, dead heart. David’s testimony in Psalm 39:3 is: “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned.” How did his heart grow hot? It was while he was “musing,” meditating upon the Word, that “the fire burned.” The Lord applied it in heart-warming blessing. It was like the two on the Emmaus road, for Jesus caused them to ponder the Scriptures in His presence, and their testimony was, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:32).

2) Fire tests and proves. Genuinely precious metal will not be harmed by fire. It has been used for smelting gold and silver since ancient times. This refines them. Fire will prove the difference between say, gold and gold-painted plastic. In the same way, the Word proves real believers. Although we find an all-round, pastoral ministry challenging and convicting at times, we will willingly put ourselves under it. Why do we still come back for more? Because it is having a sanctifying effect. It is purifying the gold of our graces and the Master’s face is being reflected more in us. Unregenerate “Christians” will be found out just here. They will draw back and seek a ministry that is not serious or searching (John 6:66). Pure gold believers, however, will stand the refining because they love the Refiner (Mal. 3:3, 4).

3) Fire destroys things. It is very destructive. Whatever is combustible, fire will consume. The Word of God is like this concerning everything that is contrary to God: religious error, hypocrisy, and sins of all kinds.

A history of this stretches behind us. In the time of Israel, the oracles of God were held within the nation, but think of Rahab and Ruth, and other proselytes. Prostitution, idolatry, heathenish practices all burned up by the Word of His grace! When our Lord came, He scorched the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the liberalism of the Sadducees (Mal. 3:1, 2). Then as He went about and preached, Mary Magdalene’s slavery to the powers of darkness went; Saul of Tarsus” self-righteousness lay in ashes.

Think of the ministry of the apostles. As the Gospel spread into all the world the pagan religions and philosophical systems were burned up. Where are emperor worship, Roman gods and the Greek philosophies now? Druidism also yielded to the fire of the Gospel.

Then, how popery was seared and melted at the Reformation! Ignorance and vice during the 18th Century. The missionary expansion, particularly in the 19th Century, saw servants of God going to various lands aflame with God’s Word: John Eliot to the North American Indians, Adoniram Judson to Burma, William Carey to India, John Paton to the New Hebrides, Hudson Taylor to China, David Livingstone to Africa, and a greater host of lesser-known missionaries. Wherever they went grotesque religions, barbaric practices, moral evil were burned up and replaced by civilised and sober Christian living.

The story is told of a visit to Fiji by a sceptical academic. He critically remarked to an elderly chief, “You are a great leader, but it is a pity you have been taken in by those foreign missionaries. They only want to get rich through you. No one believes the Bible any more. People are tired of the threadbare story of Christ dying on a cross for the sins of mankind. They know better now. I am sorry you have been so foolish as to accept their story.” The old chief’s eyes flashed as he answered, “See that great rock over there? On it we smashed the heads of our victims. Notice the furnace next to it? In that oven we formerly roasted the bodies of our enemies. If it had not been for those good missionaries and the love of Jesus that changed us from cannibals into Christians, you would never leave this place alive! You had better thank the Lord for the Gospel; otherwise we would already be feasting on you. If it were not for the Bible, you would now be our supper!”

As we remember what God has done in the past, through His mighty Word, it makes us want to pray in the words of the prophet: “Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make Thy Name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!” (Isa. 64:1-2).

And in our personal lives. No secret sin or error can exist while we are in the Scriptures. They burn up the dross and purify our hearts: we are sanctified by the truth (John 17:17). Someone once gave a Bible away, and on the flyleaf were written these words: “This Book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this Book.” How true this is!

Verse 49, “1 am come to send fire on the earth.” One great property of fire is that it radiates outwards, it spreads. It can end up affecting an enormous area. Think of a prairie fire or a forest blaze. The Word of God is like that.

1) Here is encouragement for the work we are supporting. The Bible Spreading Union is no multi-million pound Bible Society, with a lavish headquarters, an army of staff and contacts around the globe. Since its inception in 1894 it has worked quietly, giving away complete copies of the Word. This has been to numbers of people or just individuals. Where there is a need, the B.S.U. will provide it, as the Lord enables. This might seem small and inconspicuous. Yet think of the fire of the Word. It has energy and power. From just a small beginning it can result in a blaze. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (James 3:5). Only a spark is needed. It can be a Bible given away here, a few there, a consignment going off to some country - and who knows what will come of it! What an encouragement for the B.S.U.!

2) The Word spreads with divine energy. When the Lord sends His Spirit along with it, it is the wind fanning the flame, “the gospel ... with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven” (1 Peter 1:12). On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was the “rushing mighty wind,” and how the Word spread then (Acts 2:2). The Lord Who sends the Word also sends the Spirit. This is why all our endeavours at spreading the Word must not only be with zeal but with prayer - prayer for the Spirit of God.

May much prayer accompany the faithful work of B.S.U. and may that prayer be abundantly answered in the words of Wesley:

See how great a flame aspires, Kindled by a spark of grace!
Jesus’ love the nation fires, Sets the kingdoms on a blaze.
Fire to bring on earth He came; Kindled in some hearts it is;
O, that all might catch the flame, All partake the glorious bliss!

When He first the work begun, Small and feeble was His day:
Now the work doth swiftly run, Now it wins its widening way;
More and more it spreads and grows, Ever mighty to prevail;
Sin’s strongholds it now o’erthrows, Shakes the trembling gates of hell.

Sons of God, your Saviour praise; He the door hath opened wide,
He hath given the Word of grace, Jesus’ word is glorified;
Jesus, mighty to redeem, He alone the work hath wrought;
“Worthy is the work of Him, Him Who spake a world from naught.

(This message was recorded and cassettes maw be obtained from the B.S.U. secretary).

Providence Baptist Ministries © copyright_date PBM Desktop Publications © copyright_date All rights reserved Revised: February 14, 2005