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The Bible isn’t as passive-aggressive as we are. God doesn’t Jesus, His one and only son, to live in a world where He would
pretend to get along with everyone. When He created the be hated and reviled. Jesus willingly entered enemy territory.
world, it was meant to be filled with perfection, relationships
included. It didn’t take but three chapters before sin entered The world Jesus entered was truly hostile. As a baby, He was
the world through Adam and Eve’s actions. Because of their almost killed by a nation-wide edict to kill all boys under the age
disobedience, they destroyed the perfect relationship they had of two. After teaching in church, an angry mob tried to throw
with God and to this day we feel the effects of it: “When Adam Him off of a cliff. The religious elite of the day constantly circled
sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so like vultures around Him trying to exploit any fault in His
death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”2 Therefore, we theology. Even His loyal disciples denied Him publicly. None of
are enemies of God two times over—once for being born with a these experiences compared to Jesus’ own death, however.
sinful nature and again for the sin we choose to commit. We While Jesus was hanging on the cross, taking the punishment
can’t just blame Adam for sin. It’s our fault, too. for our sin, God Himself turned His back on His own Son. The
entire world hated Jesus.
"We do anything and everything to
Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t a failed mission, but rather it
put distance between us and those was the purpose of God. Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed his
great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were
we don’t like. In relation to His still sinners.” God knows that we can’t clean up our act on our
own since there is no amount of good deeds or moral behavior
enemies, God did something we can do that will make us acceptable to Him. That’s why we
needed a Mediator to step in on our behalf. Through faith in
radically different. He sent Jesus, Jesus, we become part of His family and our relationship with
God can be restored.
His one and only son, to live in a
Jesus didn’t shy away from conflict, and neither should we. We
world where He would be hated should expect to encounter as much hostility as He did. In fact,
Jesus prayed to His Father about us, “And the world hates them
and reviled. Jesus willingly entered because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong
to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of this world
enemy territory." but to keep them safe from the evil one.”4 The hostility in our

Regardless of what culture says, sin is a big deal because it
makes us filthy in the sight of God. Isaiah 59:2 exhorts, “It’s your
sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he
has turned away and will not listen anymore.” In light of this
blunt truth, it’s foolish to insist that God will look past the
offenses made against Him. Rather, God says He will “punish
the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. [He] will crush
the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the
mighty.”3 It’s easy to get caught up in the disagreements and
tensions of this world since many of them seem worthy of our
attention. However, any enemy we have in this life pales in
comparison to the fact that we are God’s enemy first.

ENTERING ENEMY TERRITORY

Thankfully, God doesn’t treat his enemies like we treat
ours. Our instinct is to build emotional barricades and
cover ourselves in calloused armor to keep the
enemy from invading any further. We do
anything and everything to put distance
between us and those we don’t like. In
relation to His enemies, God did
something radically different. He sent