{"id":5852,"date":"2026-11-06T19:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T19:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=5852"},"modified":"2026-11-06T19:53:54","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T19:53:54","slug":"god-destroys-your-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/god-destroys-your-enemies\/","title":{"rendered":"God Destroys Your Enemies"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is an elaboration on a point in my sermon\u00a0\u201cThe Consolations of God in the Gospel\u201d from Acts 13:13\u201352<\/a>. You can also see the distillation of that sermon in this\u00a0post<\/a>].<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Acts 13:19
\nAnd after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan…<\/em><\/p>\n

God destroys your enemies<\/em>. David once wrote of having no fear<\/em> because of who his God is. Namely, God is his salvation<\/em> (Psalm 27:1). What was David thinking when he wrote that? Surely he was thinking about how God had delivered him from his enemies throughout his life. Think, Goliath and Saul. But I think he also looked back in history at God’s track record. God always<\/em> faithfully delivered his people from their enemies. Paul reflects on something similar here. As he builds up to declaring the gospel in Acts 13, Paul rehearses God’s historic faithfulness to always work salvation for his people and make good on his promises. Once God led Israel to the Promised Land, there was still the small matter of the wicked people in the land of Canaan who would like nothing more than to destroy Israel. No less than seven nations more powerful and numerous stood against Israel daring them to come and take possession of the land. But God promised to give them victory,<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them\u201d (Deuteronomy 7:1\u20132).<\/p>\n

And that is just what God did,<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day\u201d (Joshua 23:9),<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God\u201d (Joshua 24:18).<\/p>\n

Like with Israel, an enemy also stands against you on your way to eternity. An enemy mightier than you hunts you, seeking to thwart your future possession of the true<\/em> Promised Land\u2014eternity in the new heavens and new earth with your King,<\/p>\n

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).<\/p>\n

And, like he did with Israel, God has cleared away your enemies. How? Through the cross of Jesus<\/em>,<\/p>\n

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him<\/em> (Colossians 2:15).<\/p>\n

When you were dead in your sin, Satan with his accusations and his demonic rulers held over you the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). But through the cross, your sins have been canceled. Thus, Satan’s accusations to condemn you of sin unto death no longer have any sticking power. Jesus has effectively disarmed\u2014or, defanged\u2014<\/em>Satan and his minions. They no longer wield the power of death over you. Jesus, your champion, triumphs over them,<\/p>\n

…he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…(Hebrews 2:14).<\/p>\n

Jesus crushed the serpent’s head at the cross. Jesus triumphed; therefore, you triumph,<\/p>\n

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you (Luke 10:19).<\/p>\n

By Christ’s victory, God hands your enemies over to you. <\/em>Therefore, defeat them. Devote them to complete destruction. Make no covenant with them. Show no mercy<\/em> (Deuteronomy 7:2).<\/em> For your King has defeated them. He has devoted them to destruction. He held no parley with them. He showed no mercy. And he, the Lord himself, \u201cis your light and salvation, whom shall you fear? The Lord is the stronghold of your life, of who shall you be afraid. When evildoers assail you, to eat up your flesh, your adversaries and foes it is they who stumble and fall\u201d <\/em>(Psalm 27:1\u20132). Jesus has defeated your enemies, and he will throw them in the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10, 14).<\/p>\n

God destroys your enemies.<\/em> This is a gospel consolation for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is an elaboration on a point in my sermon\u00a0\u201cThe Consolations of God in the Gospel\u201d from Acts 13:13\u201352. You can also see the distillation of that sermon in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[381,3253,3426,1396,1456,3427],"class_list":["post-5852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-devotions","tag-death","tag-destroy","tag-enemies","tag-satan","tag-sin","tag-victory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5852"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5854,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5852\/revisions\/5854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}