Luke 9:51-56 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,… Renan tells us that in the pictures of the Greek Church Elijah is usually represented as surrounded by the decapitated heads of the Church's enemies. And Prescott tells us that in the sixteenth century the brutal inquisitors of Spain tried to justify their fiendish deeds by appealing to Elijah's act of calling down fire from heaven. They did not understand, or would not, that that act of Elijah's was for ever condemned by One who was at once Elijah's Master and Elijah's God. Elijah, and the old heroes, doubtless, had not learnt to distinguish between the sinner and the sin. It was reserved for after times — it required the teaching of the Son of God Himself to teach men that. The spirit of Elijah was a spirit of justice, of righteous retribution, of terrible vengeance; the spirit of Christ was a spirit of tenderness, of compassion, of love. But, because the religion of Christ is a religion of love, do not fancy that it is therefore a religion of sentimentalism, fit only for weak women and effeminate men. The spirit of Elijah is passed away, replaced by the spirit of Christ, which is a spirit of meekness, but of justice too, and a spirit of hatred against intolerable wrong. (J. Vaughan, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, |
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