The Armor of God, Part Two

Strength in the Lord Jesus Christ

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Part One, Ephesians 6:10-15

If you haven’t yet read Part One of this topic, you’ll want to read it by clicking here.

The Shield of Faith, Ephesians 6:16

The Lord Jesus is our Shield of Faith. Although we have been saved by God’s grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Messiah for salvation, our faith is not impeccable. Your faith and mine has had and will have moments of faltering, failing, falling away. We will occasionally doubt our Lord, doubt His truth, and doubt the salvation He has blessed us with. Yet when the Lord Jesus walked upon this planet as the perfect, sinless Man, he never faltered. He never failed. He never fell away. The integrity of His faith never wavered a single degree, even unto the death of the cross. Therefore, we take up the truth of His faith as our shield. When Satan’s flaming darts accuse you and me of faithlessness, of lacking trust, of unrighteous thoughts, words, or deeds, we need only to lift up Christ’s imputed righteousness. Believing that Christ’s righteousness is placed upon our account will quench the hottest missile the evil one can hurl.

The Helmet of Salvation, Ephesians 6:17a

This does not mean for us to think on our salvation as a mere religious truth, doctrine, or concept. It means considering, thinking about, and meditating upon the truth that Jesus Christ is salvation. Salvation not only comes from the Lord Jesus by His amazing and abounding grace (Jonah 2:9), He is salvation itself. There is no salvation apart from Him (John 14:6). That is a not only a blessed thought to consider, that truth protects our thoughts and fortifies our decision-making processes. As far as our spiritual warfare goes, it is written:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, KJV

The ESV renders 2 Corinthians 10:5 in this way:

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Now, both translations are acceptable from the original Greek. And as with the ESV, we should take every thought captive so that we may obey the Lord Jesus Christ. The only problem is that you and I have no power to take those thoughts captive unless we are strong in the Lord and go forth in the strength of His might (Eph 6:10). How are we strong by His strength in this area? We bring our thoughts captive to Christ’s obedience, or as the KJV renders it, “ bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (emphasis added). Christ Jesus was ever and always obedient to the heavenly Father. Our obedience, like our faith, sometimes wavers, wanders, or is weak. We fail, falter, or faint more than we often care to admit. But when we consider His obedience is imputed to us, placed on our eternal account, it empowers us with strength from on high to obey Christ.

The Sword of the Spirit, Ephesians 6:17b

It is true that the written Word, the holy Scripture, is our powerful resource in combating the schemes of Satan. With every temptation Jesus faced in the wilderness (Matt 4:1-11), He responded by quoting Scripture. You and I should quote Scripture to combat every temptation, but in wielding that Sword, we must recognize that the reason it is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12), is that the Word it speaks of is Jesus Messiah. The reason why this living and active Word can discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart is because it is the Lord Jesus Himself. When we take up the Sword of the Spirit, battle is truly the Lord’s (1 Sam 17:47). This battle using the Sword of the Spirit must be wielded in the power of the Spirit of Christ (John 14:12, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:8-11, 13-14), otherwise we become no different than the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-16).

Praying, Ephesians 6:18

Now, having been outfitted with Christ as our armor, we pray with the full knowledge of Christ’s imputed righteousness and His perfect prayers. We pray knowing that Christ Jesus has gone before us as perfect, sinless Man, and has Himself prayed the perfect, unhindered prayers before God the Father (John 8:29; 11:42; Heb 5:7); and that every perfect prayer of Scripture is placed upon our account because, in Christ, the Father hears our weak and pathetic prayers as if we were praying exactly like Jesus. This does not remove our responsibility to pray the best prayers we can utter, as much as a sinner saved by grace is able; but our prayers still carry enough corruption from the mortal flesh that still remains, for we still need the intercessions of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:26-27), as well as those of our Lord Jesus Messiah (Heb 7:25).

Hallelujah! What a Savior!