Of Footstools and Pedestals (Part 2)

Tuesday, 20th January 2026

Beethoven on a pedestal

About 2 weeks ago, I blogged about how we as Christians tend to admire certain men (or even women) of God because of how anointed they come across, and may inadvertently end up placing them on a proverbial pedestal.

The danger of doing so is that should they happen to fall (which can happen to anyone and everyone because we human beings are not perfect), we get disillusioned and may even end up getting our faith affected or shattered.

The solution is to keep our eyes firmly on Jesus and Jesus alone, because He will never, ever let us down.

So why the title "of Footstools and Pedestals" you may ask?

In ancient times, the pedestal was used to prop up someone that people looked up to.  For example, shown above is the bust of the late, great classical music composer Ludwig van Beethoven being sculpted atop one.

Now contrast this to another ancient object that was used for propping, being a footstool.  In Biblical times, the victors of a hard-fought battle would typically rest their feet on the heads of those they had defeated.  Here is an illustration of a king using the heads of his vanquished enemies as a footstool.

We read further in Psalm 110:1 (NIV)

"The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."

an ancient footstool

Although this is an Old Testament passage written by King David, we know it is Messianic in nature and refers to Jesus because it says further in verse 4, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

In the Old Testament, the enemies of God's people were those who prevented them from fully-inheriting the land God had promised them, such as the Philistines, Moabites, Hittites, Amorites, etc.  They were actual human beings, but "types/shadows" as examples for us to learn from and apply.

Now that Jesus has established the New Covenant for us, the equivalent  "anti-types/substance" of enemies this side of the cross would be what prevents us from fully possessing our possessions and enjoying the more abundant zoe life that He has come to give us.

In other words, the enemies of the Christians of today are the opposite of what Jesus gives to us, viz

What Jesus gives versus What the enemy brings

Life versus Death

Provision and Prosperity versus Poverty and Lack

Health and Wholeness versus Sickness and Disease

Peace and Well-Being versus Worry and Anxiety

In 1 Corinthians 15:26, Paul tells us that, "The last enemy to be destroyed is death".  What this means is that we as New Covenant beneficiaries can already claim victory over all the abovementioned enemies.  Death, the final enemy, will also be defeated when Jesus comes to take us up to be with Him via the blessed hope of the Rapture and transforms our mortal and corruptible bodies to become like His, immortal and incorruptible.

The point I am trying to make is this.  While many of us are doing what we ought *NOT* to do with regards to pedestals, the same in reverse holds true in that many of us are also *NOT* doing what we ought to be doing with regards to footstools!

So let's begin already to put under our feet poverty and lack, sickness and diseases, fears, worries and anxieties.  All these enemies are now beneath us because we are much more than conquerors through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen?