How God Uses His Enemies To Further His Own Agenda -By Joe Dauda

In Matthew 24:14, Jesus Christ prophesied that, before He returns to the earth (after His resurrection and ascension to heaven) the gospel will be preached in “all the world for a witness unto all nations”. But how was this stunning prophecy going to be fulfilled? 

To understand just how stunning this prophecy was, consider the state of the world around the time Jesus Christ spoke those words. The world was so basic at that time and social interaction was so limited that people were known by the languages they spoke. 

Luke 22:59
“And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean.”

How could this fellow “confidently affirm” that Peter was a Galilean?

Here is a clue: 

Mark 14:70
“And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.”

As you can clearly see from these accounts, it was the language/accent/speech that was the yardstick of identification in those days. 

What this means is that, if you spoke any language, you were invariably a native of that land because nations kept to themselves and the meaning of an ambassador in those days was more or less that single person that could (if Russian) speak Spanish and thereby facilitate trade between Russia and Spain. And so on and so forth.

To resolve this problem of languages for the disciples (100% Israelites and saddled with the Galilean vernacular) God planned the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. No matter what else the Holy Spirit imparts, you must remember that, on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was initially poured out on a group of 120 believers, they received a supernatural ability to communicate with several languages. The evidence is categorical, as stated in Acts 2:7-12.

But there was another problem. The day of Pentecost was celebrated only once every year and, although it attracted Jews in Diaspora (that is, Jews outside the land of Israel) back to Israel, the prophecy of Jesus Christ did not say the gospel was going to be preached to the Jews alone. So, even if the disciples of Jesus Christ decided to utilize the gathering of Jews from all over the world to preach the gospel every Pentecost day, that would still not have been sufficient to bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 24:14, which is so important especially because it must be fulfilled before His second coming. 

So how was this problem going to be fixed? God knows that human beings were naturally obedient to the law of inertia. It took a vision and an angelic visit (Acts chapter 10) just to connect Peter with Cornelius. How will the gospel spread like wildfire? What would make the believers (who were armed with the precious truth of the message of Jesus Christ fresh off the oven) leave the land of Israel in numbers that were consequential enough to fill the world with the precious knowledge of the truth?

Help From The Enemies Of God

Although under the domination of Rome, the average Israelite had some rights. We are sure that one of these rights was that an Israelite could not be killed without the express consent of the Governor of Judea, who was, as expected, a Roman. This was why the Jews sought the permission of Pontius Pilate in their desire to destroy Jesus Christ. 

Matthew 27:20-22
“But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.”

In spite of the absolute authority of the Romans, the Pharisees had a lot of influence. There is no evidence that the Supreme Roman Authority in the land of Judea (that is, Israel) had any issues with Jesus Christ and His preaching and teaching. Perhaps because the Romans worshipped pagan gods, they simply ignored the Jews and their religion, which was anchored on the fundamental doctrine of one God. The real enemies of Jesus Christ were the Pharisees: in other words, fellow Israelites like Himself who did not believe He was the Messiah. It was this people that wanted to destroy Jesus Christ. And they were the very ones God needed to uproot the disciples from the land of Israel so that, as they escaped to other places, although destitute and torn from their homes and familiar environments, they were going to carry the gospel along with them. That is how important the gospel is: it is important enough for God to get it to others, even at the cost of great inconvenience to His beloved children. Note that point well. 

According to the historical records of the Book of Acts, after warning, threatening, and then flogging the disciples of Jesus Christ, the Pharisees finally could not take it any longer. They then decided on a “final solution,” not knowing that they were only serving as tools in the hands of Him Whom I fondly refer to as The Engineer.

Acts 8:1
“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

Without this persecution, the gospel may have been landlocked in the Middle East. Interestingly, note that Acts 8:1 mentions Judea and Samaria — the same cities mentioned by Jesus Christ in Acts 1:8 as tokens of global evangelism. 

Acts 1:8
“. . . and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Acts 8:1 was the means of fulfilling Acts 1:8 — and it wasn’t bodily comfortable for the people of God. 1:8 requiring 8:1. Interesting.

So, dear child of God, it is not every calamity that befalls the children of God that is as shallow as it seems. Some are so important and so deeply significant that, without that calamity, the divine purpose of God (always 100% holy and always 100% good) will be jeopardized. 

Take courage in this fact. 

The Engineer has a plan — designed from the foundations of the world — and its complicated details ensures that you cannot understand it, even if He chose to explain it to you. So keep calm and remember what He has done in the past. As they say, no matter who is President, Jesus is King. The significance of this is to assure you that your Father in heaven is the real Boss. Worrying only means you do not understand this. 

2 Kings 6:17
“And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

May God have mercy on all of us.