So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.
– Judges 5:31
Now, the context of this verse in the Book of Judges is God’s people experiencing physical battles and war with other nations. But the picture here in Judges 5:31 carries throughout the Bible all the way to the end.
Judges 5:31 teaches the contrast between God’s enemies and His friends.
The reality is that enemies of God, sinners against God who do not trust in him and his salvation will perish. But friends of God, which is only possible through Jesus. We are all naturally enemies of God. We’ve all rebelled against God. We are sinners against God. And the good news of the Bible is that God loves his enemies, you and me, so much that despite our rebellion against him as his enemies, we’ve set ourselves up as enemies against God. We’ve said, “God, we know better than you what’s best for our lives.”
But God loves us so much that he’s come to us in the person of Jesus to pay the price for our sins, for our rebellion. And love for his enemies. Jesus died on the cross for us. Rose from the dead so that anyone who trusts in him will be saved from our sin and become friends of God, no longer enemies. And the reality is, for all who trust in Jesus, you are a friend of God.
And the whole picture here in Judges 5:31, may your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might. Yes, this is the way to life now, and the way to life forever through Jesus. But apart from trust in Jesus, you remain, anyone remains, an enemy of God who will, if nothing changes, one day, perish.
Judges 5:31 urges us to live with a sense of gospel urgency.
So just let that soak in. The world is made up of two types of people right now. Enemies of God and friends of God. The only difference is not who’s better or smarter or anything else like that, it’s who has trusted in Jesus. And for anybody around you who has not trusted in Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives, they are an enemy of God right now headed to eternal perishing.
And as followers of Jesus and friends of God, we know this. So, let’s not stay silent with the gospel today. Let’s share it with somebody today who right now is an enemy of God so that they might be forgiven and restored, reconciled to God as his friends to have eternal life. Oh God, help us. We pray to live in light of this ultimate reality, to see the world around us in this way. To see people around us as you see them, as enemies of you who you love and you long to save, and restore or reconcile to yourself. So, God, help us to love them enough to share the gospel with them today.
This verse encourages us to trust God for the salvation of others.
God, I just pray over every single one of us, including myself and every other person listening to this, that you would grant us boldness to share the gospel with somebody today who right now is separated from you by their sin, is in a spiritual state as an enemy of you. God, we pray you help us to share your love with them, your salvation with them. And we pray that you would open their eyes to your love for them and that you would restore them to yourself.
God, bring about regeneration and salvation in their lives, that they might rise like the sun in its might. Oh God, please do that work through us. In family members’ lives, in friends’ lives, in co-workers’ lives today, and in classmates’ lives today.
Prayer for the Yerwa Kanuri People
And God, we pray that you would do this work through us around the world.
We pray for the Yerwa Kanuri people of Nigeria, and Cameroon, and Chad, and Niger and Sudan. God, we pray that the good news of your grace would spread to 9 million people. People who are, right now, enemies of yours in their sin. People who you love, who you’ve died, Lord Jesus, to purchase their salvation. God, please cause the gospel to spread to and among the Yerwa Kanuri people. We pray for our brothers and sisters among them, friends of yours among them. God, give them power and other followers of Jesus alongside them to go and spread the gospel with great success.
We pray for disciples, churches to be multiplied among the Yerwa Kanuri people of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Sudan, wherever they have spread, in Africa or other places in the world. God, we pray all of this in light of the eternal realities depicted in Judges 5:31. In Jesus’ name, in the name of the only one who can save us, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
