Impending Judgment: Jesus' Baptism by Fire

In our passage from Luke 12:49-13:9, Jesus interprets in advance the significance and meaning of the death he will experience in Jerusalem. On the cross of Jesus we see the wrath and judgment of God revealed clearly as the eschatological wrath of God is manifested and intrudes on this earth in the death of God's Eternal Son. This baptism of fire redeems and unites, but it also divides. All people are called to repent in light of this fiery manifestation of God's just wrath revealed in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.