#DailyDevotion Jesus Knows What It Is To Have Enemies
Psalm 3 O LORD, how my enemies have increased! Many are attacking me; 2many are saying of me, “God will not save him.” 3But You, O LORD, are a Shield around me; You give me glory and lift up my head. 4I call aloud to the LORD, and He answers me from His holy hill. (Music)
There may be days where you feel like this. Every so often, as best we know, through no fault of our own, we develop enemies. They are people who are jealous of us. There is something about us that they hate, mostly because they don’t have it in their own lives. They attack you at work, at school, or in the neighborhood in which you live. They seek to turn people against you.
There is someone who knows just what you are going through. The person is our LORD Jesus Christ. The Pharisees, the Scribes and the Sadducees were all out to get Jesus. They were jealous of the people following him. They were frightened the people would quit following them and look only to Jesus. They were also frightened that the people might turn to Jesus in such numbers and he might get so much power the Romans would come and take the power and authority given to them. So they conspired to have Jesus say something blasphemous which the Mosaic Law demanded the death penalty or something against the Romans so the Romans would take Jesus out. Well they eventually said Jesus committed blasphemy because he claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, which he is. Because the Messiah is King, they used this to get the Romans to crucify Jesus.
We see Jesus then surrounded by his enemies both Jews and Romans, at the cross. The psalmist predicts his enemies would say, “God will not save him.” So it is fulfilled in Matthew 27:
39Those who passed by ridiculed Him, shaking their heads 40and saying, “You tear down the temple and build it in three days — save yourself, if you are God’s Son, and come down from the cross.” 41The ruling priests, with the Bible scholars and elders, mocked Him in the same way, saying, 42“He saved others, but he cannot save himself. He’s King of Israel. He should come down from the cross now, and we’ll believe him. 43He trusts God — God deliver him now, seeing He delights in him. He said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” 44In the same way also the robbers crucified with Him insulted Him.
Jesus though does not lose heart. He looks to the Father and trusts he is a Shield around him. In this moment of utter humiliation, the Father gives Jesus glory and lifts up his head. Jesus cries out Psalm 22 which ends in Jesus’ vindication. The Father answers him from His holy hill as the curtain in the temple is torn in two. Mankind’s redemption is complete. The ransom from death is paid by his death. Our sins are atoned for. Our iniquities are wiped clean by his blood. Our debt of sins and trespasses is wiped out. We have a clear conscience before God our Father and his judgment throne.
So do not fear when enemies are stirred up against you when you are innocent. Yes, they may do their worst to you. You commit yourself to your heavenly Father, trust him to vindicate you on the day of judgment and stand firm in your faith. “Vengeance is mine, “ says the LORD. You pray for these people just as Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them. They know not what they do.” You are not alone in this. Jesus is with you always. He never leaves you or forsakes you.
Heavenly Father, you have your Son into the hands of his enemies to glorify him through his redemptive death for all the world. Hear us when we pray for his sake, when we too are surrounded by enemies without cause and give us the strength to wait for you to deliver us until the time that you do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.