Loving our Enemies and Making Them Our Footstools
“When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.”
37 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked.
An enemy is a person. He or she is an adversary and does not have our best interests at heart. They do not keep the first or second great commandments. While some enemies are worse than others, the ultimate enemy is the “wicked one” described above. The ultimate enemy’s ultimate goal is to destroy us, both body and soul, to make us miserable like him. If the wicked one, the destroyer, can keep us from believing in and believing on the Son, then we are more likely to be subject to the wicked one. Jesus had many enemies. The lovers of darkness were offended by His light. That is why John said, when introducing Jesus in the first chapter, that,
“In him was life: and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Comprehend means to “grab hold of”, literally, “to hang with”. So, when Jesus said that on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets, he could have said that on these two commandments are comprehended all the law and the prophets.
It is a choice. If we choose to grab hold of it, we can. Other than disabled people, the vast majority of mankind can choose to comprehend the light of Christ. Most choose not to. In the case of Christ’s enemies, not only do they choose not to comprehend his light, they choose to fight against it, with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their souls and with all their strength.
Matt 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that adarkness!
The wicked one and his followers know exactly what they are doing in opposing Christ. They love darkness and hate light because darkness has rewarded them throughout the ages. But, ironically, they think darkness is light and light darkness. In some cases, they have been tricked and deceived, but in most cases, they have chosen darkness over light.
Isa 5:20 ¶Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
During the ministry of Jesus, He told us to love our enemies and to do good to them that hate us and to pray for those who despitefully (maliciously) use us. He also made the famous statement, “when smote upon the right cheek, turn the other cheek.”
But, he also taught us how to avoid our enemies, so that they had no power over us. In the Lord’s prayer He prayed to the Father and said, “Deliver us from evil” or in some versions “the evil one”. Since all evil has its root in the wicked one, the devil, we are being delivered from our enemies. How are we delivered from evil and from our enemies?
Here are some examples,
Luke 4:28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,29And rose up , and thrusthim out of the city, and ledhim unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built , that they might cast him down headlong . 30But he passing through the midst of them went his way
John 8: 58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was , I am .59Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself , and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by .
He passed through the midst of them? What does that mean? I propose that Jesus did the same thing with the crowd of enemies, that he did after He was resurrected. In order to go into a room with locked doors, He had to pass through the midst (middle) of it and then suddenly rematerialize, or appear in the midst of His disciples.
John 19:20 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Likewise, He “hid himself” or through some kind of cloaking or stealth power, he was able to disappear and simply escaped an angry, murderous crowd. These enemies, the lovers of darkness, would not have allowed Him to escape, if they had their way. This is another evidence that His enemies had no power over Him. Not even the devil, with all of his power, could do anything to Jesus except tempt Him. When it was time to submit to His enemies, He did. As He said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
The important thing to remember here is, JESUS HAS TOLD US WE CAN HAVE THE SAME POWER AND DO THE SAME THINGS IN THIS LIFE!
Here are some of the promises of Jesus that apply to this mortal life, do we believe in and on Him?
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
John 6:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
John 8:52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death.
John 23:22 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
1John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Most of the scriptures dealing with love and not dying come from John the Beloved. He should know. He was the disciple that should not die but would tarry “till I come”. John’s two main themes were love and not dying. So, it was John who was showing us the relationship between the first and second great commandments, and the power of not dying.
What greater way to overcome the world, and our enemies than to overcome death? If we cannot die and if we have the power, like Jesus, to lay it down and to take it up again, then no power on earth can make us suffer. Like Jesus, we have the power to “pass through the midst of them”. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo,
“And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellers, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.”
The enemies were destroyed by fire, the righteous were saved by fire. What saved these young men? The combination of belief and faith in the One like unto the Son of God.
Jesus referred to what would eventually happen to his enemies,
Matt 22:44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Luke 20: 42 And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Three of the gospels mention this incident. It must have been important. It’s importance lies in the fact that Christ was declaring his Divinity, that He was the Lord of David. But, nestled in these three scriptures was another important statement, “till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
A footstool is a small chair that is used to rest ones feet. It is also used by children and others to sit, in a lowly and subservient position, and learn at their parent’s or master’s feet. Christ has said to the wicked regarding rest,
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
Wrath comes from the same root as writhe, as in writhe with pain. Jesus Christ wept at the hard hearts of the wicked who prefer darkness over light. If they do not repent, they will not enter into his rest but will become a footstool upon which he will rest and from which he will invite them to learn, if they so choose. The footstool does not mean that he will stomp on them or grind them into the ground. To the contrary, the Son of God, the life and light of the world, continuously invites them to learn of him. Until they do, they remain his footstool. The main point is that Christ rests, because of his enemies. Whereas, he was a voluntary victim of their evil and wickedness, submitting to unspeakable cruelties, his enemies are now his footstool upon which he will derive rest. It is the great principle of opposites manifested in paradoxes,
“He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth;”
“The first shall be last and the last shall be first”
“He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it”
The same God who said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness fordlight, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” appears to be doing the very same thing! God is able to turn atrocities into blessings. It is not perversion of reality such as the wicked do, it is reality!
I was watching a documentary on David Copperfield, the great magician and illusionist. He explained how his magic was based on illusion and how an understanding of the human brain made his magic possible. Through “misdirection” and other illusionist techniques, he was able to deceive large audiences. He proved it several times and then went back and showed what “reality” was.
Satan is a master illusionist. Through illusion, he would have us believe that he is powerful and that we are subject to his power. He has mastered an understanding of the human brain and can strike fear into the hearts of men. Satan and his followers have mastered the art of making good evil and evil good, deceiving the majority of mankind. He feeds on the fear, suffering and other destructive emotions of man. He derives his power to perform illusions from these negative energies.
And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind. Wherefore, he said unto Eve, yea, even that old serpent, who is the devil, who is the father of all lies, wherefore he said: Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
It may be from this that the saying “Misery likes company” sprang. Satan does not seek our misery simply because he needs to have company. He has plenty of company already. He seeks our misery because he derives power from it. Through suffering, terror, horror, bloodshed, violence, hate, revenge, contention and all other destructive emotions he gains power. His derives power from darkness. Darkness is not the absence of energy, darkness is a form of energy in its own right. God separated the darkness from the light. At one time they were united. The separation took place so that we could choose. One leads to the strait gate and narrow way, the other leads to the wide gate and broad path of destruction. The Star Wars analogy of the “dark side of the force” is based on fact, not fiction.
In the case of the Savior, he has transmuted or transformed the evil of his enemies into his footstool, his rest, but not only for himself, but for all those who believe in and on his name and who live the two great commandments. He has made evil to serve a good purpose, for his children. He has made the wicked to be his footstool because of his love for his enemies. There is no illusion, it is based on truth and reality.
Many people suffer terrible afflictions, chronic pain of body and emotion, horrible losses from accidents and natural disasters and may wonder what this has to do with enemies.
However, the author of all evil is the devil.
The notion that the “Devil made me do it” may cause people to reject this idea that the devil, the wicked one, is the source of all evil. Many people like to quote the scripture…
Matt 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
…as proof that we come unto this world to suffer and to be tested along with the wicked, it is just part of life to be burned by the sun and to be flooded and swept away by the rain. It doesn’t matter if one is good or evil, all must be subject to the random events of life. “Life happens”. A very good person is just as likely to have a car accident as a very bad person. In fact, drunk drivers are famous for not being hurt as bad as their victims. Life simply is not fair, we knew it when we chose to come here…OR, so we are taught.
But to believe that the calamities of life happen to both the righteous and the evil equally is false doctrine. Christ would be contradicting himself if he was trying to teach that rain is equally destructive to the righteous as it is to the wicked, for he said,
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
The righteous or the wise, receive favored, privileged and special treatment. That is Jesus’ true doctrine. Those who build their house upon a rock will have no need to fear, the calamities, disasters, accidents and atrocities of this life will not happen to them IF they are built upon a rock. What is the rock? The hearing and doing of his sayings. What are his sayings? Everything is summed up and circumscribed in the First and Second Great commandments.
In the above scriptures, the Lord is telling us that we are children of our Father in heaven and that he blesses all with the life giving sun and waters from rain. As noted earlier, the Lord sheds forth his light and his love, his seed, on all, the wicked and the righteous. One chooses to comprehend, and another chooses not to comprehend it.
But the evil that happens in this world, even the so called random events, are products of the evil one.
Hel 6:30 And behold, it is he who is the aauthor of all sin. And behold, he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oaths, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of men.
From generation to generation. Over time these generations of the wicked have developed technology to control the elements. Both at a physical and a supernatural level, they have perfected ways of bringing misery and darkness in the world. Not only do they promote wars and crime around the world, they also promote the worst of nature through natural disasters, through floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, etc.
Mark 13: 6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 7And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. 22For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
Notice that in the same breath that he is talking about wars between nations and kingdoms, he says there are natural disasters also occurring at the same time. Is that just a coincidence? The false Christs and false prophets will show signs and wonders, through the use of technology and supernatural means. These wicked generations are responsible for most, if not all, of the misery and unnecessary pain in the world. Therefore, by overcoming these enemies, and the world, the righteous who believe in and on Jesus Christ and keep the first two great commandments, need not fear for perfect love casteth out fear.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
I Nephi 22:17 Wherefore, he will apreserve the brighteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath (twisted in torment, writhe in pain) must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire.
Who are the righteous and how will they be preserved?
D&C 42: 46 And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not ataste of bdeath, for it shall be csweet unto them;
How do they die in me and at the same time not taste of death? The righteous, those who die in Christ, lose their life in him shall find it in him. To lose one’s life in Christ is not to be placed in a grave. To lose one’s life is to obey the first great commandment, by giving one’s all. One loses his life by experiencing his nothingness and then finds it again in loving the Lord God with all their beings. If a person loses their life by serving God with all of their being, they find their life and cannot die, for after life is found, it is impossible to taste death and go back into corruption.
How is it sweet unto them? Because there is no death process. Consider the death of John the Beloved, who was told he would not die but would tarry on the earth. There was a change but there was no laying down of his body in a grave. He had been transformed from corruption to incorruption.
John 11 25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Notice that Jesus is talking about two kinds of people, those who have already died a mortal death and will be resurrected, and those of us who “tliveth and believeth in me, shall never die”. Those who are reading this book while in this mortality, belong to the second group, “believest thou this”?
In conclusion, the righteous need not fear their enemies nor what their enemies can do because:
1. They have been promised that they will be delivered from their enemies. Only those who have accepted a special mission, like the disciples, to be beaten and abused for Christ’s sake will undergo the pain of mistreatment. However, the vast majority of the righteous are exempt from this.
2. They have control over the elements through righteous dominion. Adam and Eve were given righteous dominion over the earth as was their descendent, even Jesus Christ. When they commanded the elements, “Peace, Be Still” the elements obeyed out of love. The elements recognize the true followers of Christ and will obey their commands when done with love.
3. Those who believe on his name and have partaken of the living bread and the living water, will never die. If they can never die, then they are not subject to the power of the adversary because the power of the adversary (enemy) is dependent on their victim being corruptible.
4. John 12: 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
What is his commandment?
Wherefore, I give unto them a commandment, saying thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him (How do we serve him? By loving our neighbor). Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things. Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart (receptive for his word) and a contrite (polished and free from burdens) spirit. And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer (anywhere that is dedicated for prayer) and offer up thy sacraments (the living bread and the living water) upon my holy day;
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