I Am Your Enemy
Backslider or backsliding is a term we use today when we talk about someone who has committed apostasy. This term apostasy means to renounce or abandon a religious belief. Backsliding came around to soften the blow of the term apostasy. Afterall, it’s better to say you are sliding backwards than it is to admit you have completely turned your back and walked the other way. All sin is a choice and if we have come to know the Truth but then returned to our old ways of sin, it’s a deliberate choice and it’s a choice the Bible has a lot to say about.
“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.” (Hebrews 10:26-29)
“And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: ‘A dog returns to its vomit.’ And another says, ‘A washed pig returns to the mud.’” (2 Peter 2:20-22)
The fact of the matter is, once we know the Truth, it is very dangerous to turn away from it. It would be as safe to return to a sinful lifestyle after receiving the truth as it would be to jump back into shark-infested waters after being saved from them. Backsliding really isn’t an option and it shouldn’t be treated as a commonplace thing. It is very dangerous and any brothers or sisters who are returning to sin after knowing the truth need to be woken up before it’s too late. Peter referenced some proverbs as warnings of this behavior and in the book of Nahum we see the affects of an entire city exercising this aspostasy, backsliding behavior.
“Your enemy is coming to crush you, Nineveh. Man the ramparts! Watch the roads! Prepare your defenses! Call out your forces! (2:2) The river gates have been torn open! The palace is about to collapse! Nineveh’s exile has been decreed, and all the servant girls mourn its capture. (2:6-7) Loot the silver! Plunder the gold! There’s no end to Nineveh’s treasures—its vast, uncounted wealth. Soon the city is plundered, empty, and ruined. Hearts melt and knees shake. The people stand aghast, their faces pale and trembling. Where now is that great Nineveh, (2:9-11a) ‘I am your enemy!’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ‘Your chariots will soon go up in smoke. Your young men will be killed in battle. Never again will you plunder conquered nations. The voices of your proud messengers will be heard no more.’” (2:13)
The prophet Nahum is delivering this message about Nineveh approximately 150 years after Jonah’s visit and warning. Then, the entire city followed the King’s example of repentance, but somewhere along the way, they returned to their old ways, to their vomit, they backslid and the result? The Lord of Heaven’s Armies declared, “I am your enemy.” It was true of them and it will be true of us if we return to a sinful lifestyle after knowing the truth. No wonder Peter said it would be better to never have known the way to righteousness than to know it and reject the command to live a holy life. Don’t let anyone deceive you, we have been called to live holy lives, to reject that call is to potentially make God your enemy!