Friday 5th April 2019 Prayer Devotion
Scripture Reading:- Luke 6:27-38
Topic:- The Statement Of Jesus On Enemies
Text:- Luke 6:27
There are vengeful Psalms in the Bible. In fact, some of them are absolutely ghoulish. For example, David prays that his enemies would be buried alive (Psalm. 55:15) and celebrates the prospect of watching people smash the heads of his enemies’ babies against rocks (Psalm. 137:9).
And does this mean we’re required to pray like that? I believe we are not required to pray like that, we are even forbidden to do so. For these prayers completely contradict the way Jesus instructed us to treat our enemies.
Note A:
1. David and others in the Old Testament often expressed hatred toward their enemies, Jesus commands us to love [agape] our enemies. See Luke 6:27.
2. David wanted God to smite his enemies, but Jesus commands us to pray that God would bless our enemies. See Luke 6:28.
3. David prayed for God to help him vanquish his enemies, but Jesus commands us to seek to do good to them. See Luke 6:27.
4. David prayed that God would not forgive his enemies, but Jesus illustrates with His last breath upon the cross that we are to ask God to forgive them. See Luke 23:24.
5. And while David often prayed for his enemies to die, Jesus dies for His enemies and commands us to adopt the same attitude. See John 13:15; Luke 6:27-35.
Note B:
1. The whole Bible is Divinely inspired, but we can’t regard every verse as carrying equal authority for us today. To the contrary, the New Testament makes it very clear that the authority of Jesus trumps all others. Jesus Himself declares at one point, “I have testimony weightier than that of John.” See John 5:36.
Interestingly enough, Jesus regarded John to be the greatest of all the Old Testament Prophets. See Matthew 11:7-14.
2. If Jesus’ testimony is to be given more weight than John’s, then it should certainly be given more weight than the other voices in the Old Testament, including David’s. This is why we should not be surprised when we occasionally find Jesus replacing Old Testament commands with teachings of His own.
3. Most famously, the Old Testament several times commanded, “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,” but Jesus teaches us to “not resist an evil person” but to instead, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” See Matthew 5:38-39, 44-45.
4. That while retaliating against enemies was allowed and sometimes even commanded in the Old Testament, acting this way after the advent of Christ disqualifies one from being considered a child of God.
Something has clearly changed! We have moved from an old way of treating enemies under the Old Covenant to a new way of treating enemies under the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.
5. The change was clearly displayed as Jesus was traveling through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem. Several Samarian towns didn’t welcome the Disciples, so James and John asked Jesus, “Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” See Luke 9:54.
6. As vengeful as their request was, it had a precedent in the Ministry of Elijah, who twice called down fire on people in that very location. (2 Kings 1:7-17).
7. One could argue that James and John were simply “believing the whole Bible.” Yet Jesus strongly rebuked them and, according to many of the oldest manuscripts, accused his disciples’ request of manifesting a different “spirit” than his own (Luke 9:55).
8. Think about it. Elijah calls down fire and is held up as a hero in the Old Testament, but had he done the same thing as a disciple of Jesus he would have been rebuked and possibly accused of operating under a demonic influence!
Theologians and scholars have opinions about why there is this remarkable shift between the two Testaments. But no matter how it’s explained, it is perfectly clear that followers of Jesus are never permitted to appeal to the precedent of David, Elijah or anyone else in the Old Testament, to justify treating enemies in ways that contradict the example and teachings of Jesus.
9. All of us have people we disagree with, even people we may call our “enemies”. But as Christ followers we’re called to bless them no matter who they are or what they’ve done.
If any of us is tempted to pray otherwise, we should be prepared for a serious rebuke from our Lord Jesus!
C. UNDERSTANDING 7 ENEMIES:
● Known enemies are enemies that can change. See Luke 23:34.
1. Enemies you be at peace with. See Proverb 16:7.
2. Household enemies. See Matthew 10:36.
3. Ungodly enemies. See Exodus 23:22; Romans 12:20.
● Enemies that can’t changed i.e. those who knows what they are doing. See Matthew 26:24; 18:6.
4. Unfriendly enemies. See Psalm 55:12-17
5. Those who have sold their soul to the devil. See Revelation 20:15
6. Those who are devil incarnate. See Revelation 20:14
7. Devil itself. See Revelation 20:10.
Prayer Points:-
1. Oh Lord God, I refuse to go to hell, IJN
Happy Weekend!
