"I came to send fire" Keep in mind, that fire is an image associated with the judgment of the lord God:
Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Christ's coming judgment comes upon those who refuse to accept Him and divides the believers from the faithless. Though Jesus was ready for the judgment of mankind, other things had to occur first:
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 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.”
It is our choice:
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days...
Jeremiah 5:14 Jeremiah 23:29 Luke 12:49-53 Deuteronomy 30:19-20
~~W.R. Luchie
Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Christ's coming judgment comes upon those who refuse to accept Him and divides the believers from the faithless. Though Jesus was ready for the judgment of mankind, other things had to occur first:
“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. 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.”
It is our choice:
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days...
Jeremiah 5:14 Jeremiah 23:29 Luke 12:49-53 Deuteronomy 30:19-20
~~W.R. Luchie