We have met the Enemy
By Richard P. Joseph
9/2/2025
As you read the history of the Israelites in the Old Testament it seems that the main enemies of the Jews were the surrounding pagan nations in Cannan and then also in Assyria and then Babylon. While the people of Israel were in constant warfare over land they were also their own enemy because of sin. In fact the prophets made it very clear that the more they sinned the more problems they had with their neighbors. For example, Ezekiel warned the people of Israel that God was about to send the Babylonians to lay siege to them soon just as they already did to Judah.
Ezekiel 4
“You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. 2 Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around.
Over and over again Ezekiel warns the people of Israel that they will be overrun because of their idolatry. The book is so redundant, it is hard to keep reading. In the end, however, Jeremiah and Ezekiel also told the people that God would once again have mercy on them and bring them back to the land that they possessed. This same scenario also took place in the New Testament except the lessons would end and a permanent state of change was about to occur.
During the first century AD the Romans occupied the land of Israel, and just about everywhere else for that matter. Therefore, if you asked a Jew “who is your enemy” you would get a quick decisive answer “the Romans”. They still, after all of those prophets said, could not come to grips that they were causing their own problems with their idolatry.
The message of the prophets is summed up in the 1970 Pogo cartoon by Walt Kelly where he proclaims “We have met the enemy, and it is us”. Well, Jesus must have read that cartoon because that is exactly what he said as well!
While the Jews were awaiting a messiah that would loose the shackles of the Romans, Jesus never saw the Romans as their problem, he saw sin as their problem. In fact Jesus healed Romans, said to pay taxes to Rome, and told them if a Roman auxiliary asked them to carry their weight one mile to go two miles. Then Jesus told them that anyone who sins becomes a slave to sin. Consistent with the prophets, Jesus blamed sin for their problems, not other nations. And also consistent with the prophets, God was about to use other nations to punish Israel. The only thing missing this time was the thing about the land. It appears that the land Jesus talks about is a spiritual land, not a physical land anymore. Not only was the land going to be a spiritual land, the gentiles would live in it too.
In Matthew chapter 5 Jesus gives his famous sermon on the mount. If you pay attention, you will notice that Jesus is attempting to explain that the letter of the law will become the spirit of the law. The letter will transform our hearts to live the law, not just obey it. Our very souls will be transformed so that goodness would simply be the way of life. He never talked about taking back any physical land, he talked about taking back, or redeeming, our souls from sin. Those that were looking for the kingdom of God found it, and those who were looking for a physical land were repulsed by what he said. Jesus finally gives the Jews notice in Matthew 5 25-26;
Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.
This was an invitation for the Jews to reconcile with God before the great judgment that was about to come. They were about to put Jesus on trial but the fact is, they were on their way to court and they were sure to be found guilty. Jesus is begging them to reconcile with God before they get to court but their arrogance got the best of them.
We need to learn from their mistakes. First of all, it is not necessarily the land or the other people, we are our worst enemy. Our sin and idolatry will ruin us just like it ruined the ancient Israelites. In AD70 the sons of the promise of Abraham succumbed to their arrogance and lost the land, their lives and the blessing. In the sermon on the mount the land and the blessing was given over to the humble and the meek, the real sons of Abraham. Our land is in the heavenly realm and that realm is active right here on earth. We have met the enemy and it is us but we have also met the messiah and he can save us from ourselves.
