Love Your Enemy by Hating Your Neighbor?

Barack Obama once gave a speech that resonated with many people called the “Call to Renewal.”

While I don’t want to take the man out of context, he said something that makes sense. I think he took Scripture out of context in what he said, but one point stuck out to me.

“And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is an abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So, before we get carried away, let’s read our Bibles. Folks haven’t been reading their Bibles.”

As a believer in Yeshua, these words hurt me deeply because they are out-of-context strawman depictions of what the passages require.

Slavery was never okay. It was servanthood in ancient Israel, and most people, by that definition, were slaves to their employer at one point or currently. When do you get home? When the master says you can go home. When do you get up? When the master says to get up. Doesn’t sound so free, then. That’s what servanthood was in the ancient borders of Israel.

Shellfish is described as an abomination, meaning it is unclean to eat. The creature itself isn’t evil, but why eat the vacuum cleaners of the Earth?

Deuteronomy doesn’t say you can just stone your child to death. It was a legal process, and whenever the Torah says to take someone to the gates of the city, that was the council area of governance. The elders sat at the gates and decided upon justice.

It was said if even one person was stoned; they were a bloodthirsty bunch.

But Mr. Obama had an excellent point regarding the Sermon on the Mount.

He’s right.

If we applied that set of verses to the Department of War, we might all be dead or speaking Chinese right now.

The fact remains: we cannot love our neighbor if we don’t sometimes kill our enemies.

That service requires the level of our Messiah.

He offered His own life in our place. The King of Kings gave up His life so that we may live forever in the Kingdom of God on a new Earth.

That’s the type of living the Sermon on the Mount requires.

But God follows His own law. Meaning—He doesn’t sin.

I’m going somewhere with this.

If God follows His own laws, that means when He returns as a righteous, warrior-king Messiah, His destruction of His enemies is completely justified.

The same Jesus who gave the Sermon on the Mount is the same Jesus who does this:

“Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah? He is splendid in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? ‘It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.’ Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? ‘I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me; I trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; their lifeblood spattered on My garments and stained all My apparel. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption had come. I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so, My own arm brought Me salvation, and My wrath upheld me. I trampled down the peoples in My anger; I made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth’” (Isaiah 63:1-6 [ESV]).

Jesus returns and destroys His enemies, trampling on them like grapes.

If Jesus follows His own law, that means war is necessary sometimes.

We can’t be too soft when it comes to evil in this world.

And while vengeance belongs to God, that doesn’t mean He doesn’t use nations and their militaries to exact this vengeance.

Terrorists and the like should be killed because that is the only thing that will stop them.

If a burglar were entering your home and trying to kill your kids, you’d be right to defend yourself.

Being a Christian does not mean always being a cute little kitty.

Jesus has two natures—one being the sacrificed Lamb, the other being the conquering Lion of Judah.

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Isaiah 53:7 [ESV]).

“The LORD roars from Zion, and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge to His people, a stronghold to the people of Israel” (Joel 3:16 [ESV]).

We often forget the conquering king version of Jesus that is returning to rule this world. He isn’t coming as a gentle hippie with love and peace.
He’s coming to defend Israel from the surrounding nations and punish evil before the Millennium.

Think of it like this.

Jesus the first time was the EMT or firefighter, offering His life on behalf of others. This is a noble profession and worthy of respect.

The second time, Jesus comes as the special forces operative who vanquishes the enemy on the front lines of war. This also is a noble profession worthy of respect, even if war can be ugly.

Let’s remember Jesus wants us to love others, but also comes as a warrior when He returns. You can’t have one without the other.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean rejecting either way of life.

Shalom and blessings to you.