Bible Studies

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Eph 6:10-17 is a very familiar passage of scripture. Since repetition is a good teacher, let’s read it again:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery Darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints -- and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
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My children are very useful to the Lord to teach me many things. I’ve probably learned more about trust from watching how they live their days. They knew that I would tend to every need, put a Band-Aid on the smallest scratch, and listen intently as they tell me the invisible, orange dinosaur that lives in their closet is the one who ate all the cookies, the dinosaurs’ name is “Not Me.”

One other lesson, I’m sure there will be others, comes to mind when the topic “The armor of God” comes up in discussion.

When Abby was younger she had some “weapons” of her warfare that, in her mind, kept her safe from the big world. No matter where she went she had one that hung from her mouth, another that was draped over her shoulder and still another clutched tightly in her hand.

Her “bubby” (bottle) was seldom more than three feet or so out of her reach, she typically wore it like a beard, it was always hanging below her mouth. Her “binky” (blanket) was her toga; it was forever over a shoulder, or being dragged behind. Finally, she had as a sword; her “cat pencil”, it was a dark blue pencil that had many colored kitties stenciled all around; the eraser was a blue and white calico cat. Once all her armor was in place, she was ready for the day.

There were those days that one part of her “suit of armor” would turn up missing and her fretful tears and anxious fears would inspire the rest of us to demolish the house looking for them. She would be frantic until each piece was in place. Our VW van would not move one inch until her world was ordered in the manner to which she had become accustomed. We call it routine, tradition or normal.

Of course the contents of her “bubby” would not solve the problem of world hunger and I wouldn’t let her go hungry. Her “binky” would not shield a continent from nuclear missiles and I wouldn’t let any harm come near her. The “cat pencil” was not a magic wand one could wave and “vanish” the villains of the world; I would keep her safe from any predator.

But, in her mind, these were a necessary part of her life and to start any day without them would send her into a panic, literally; though we would smile knowing that without them life would go on, to her it was life or death.

In her young mind this armor, in all its power, was able to do for her all that she imagined. Though I love her dearly, I have to be honest in saying that what she believed about them was superstition; those items had no power in the real world. There would be no convincing her of that though. Years would have to pass before she realized how impotent they were to save her; all that remains now are amusing memories.

Weaning her of dependence on them was a struggle, a patient battle. She had to learn on her own that if her bottle went missing, she would still be fed. I had to first show her that I would protect her and once she realized that, she folded the blanket up and put it into retirement. We still talk about the pencil; to her dismay, instead of having it as a keepsake, she lost it years ago.

I hope to handle the topic of the armor of God in the same way; I realize that without this traditionally intact, some of you will feel vulnerable. But, like I had to do with Abby, I can’t take something you hold as vitally true out of your hand, until there has been a time of offering an alternative. As with her, I can’t make any one believe anything, it’s up to them what they choose to believe; but the reasons had better be good ones.

I have had my day of “praying on the whole armor of God” before I would leave the house. I had to guard my soul against the world and all its attendant evils; the roaring lion was running amok “out there” and I had to “suit up” for the battle. If the VW van of my world threatened to move a single inch before I had all my equipment; I would come apart.

Fear would pierce my soul, so much so that I changed my routine days; rising earlier than I had before to find each item and make sure they were in place. My day wasn’t about to start until this had been done and I sure wasn’t about to go out that door. Fear, searching, searing fear was the driving force behind putting on the armor of God; self preservation was my motive.

I put on the armor the same way Abby draped her blanket over herself, the protection I received was only in my imagination; blankets don’t stop bullets, but to her, they certainly did. It wasn’t until she learned that her father was her Protector that she put the blanket down. It wasn’t until I realized that my putting on the armor of God was a superstitious method of protecting myself rather than trusting Him to keep me safe that I put the armor, and the way I learned it, in the closet of my mind. It’s an amusing memory of my younger days in the Lord.

I could go on to draw several parallels between Abby’s’ equipping and the armor of God, I must and do, digress. Better by far to let your Father explain to you that your “binky” is not bullet proof. Your “bubby” is not the source of nutrition, only the vessel your Father uses to feed you. Your cat pencil is useful for drawing pictures, but not for drawing conclusions.

The Spirit tells us in Romans 13:14 to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ…” Notice the words of similarity; “put on”, just as we are told to “put on” in Ephesians. Also notice the order in which each command to “put on” is given; there’s good reason. First, Christ and then the armor. Are we to put on two things? It would seem so, but think about this.

To put on Christ and then the armor could be equated to calling Him a thing, first of all; secondly, it is the same as saying that He is not able to protect us, we need the armor too.

The same Paul that wrote Romans also wrote the letter to the Ephesians, why did he contradict himself? Or, if it is not a contradiction and the armor is as important as we believe it to be, then why didn’t he share this teaching with the Romans? Or, is there something we’ve missed in the interpretation, the understanding?

What the Spirit told the Roman disciples He also told the saints in Ephesus. To say otherwise is the same as saying that God withheld crucial information from one or the other. For us to separate one command “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” from the other, “put on the whole armor” is also a subtle way of implying that God is a respecter of persons. What He told some, He neglected to tell the others. This cannot be, of course.

Why then the apparent separation of the two? Our inborn tendency to protect self is one reason; we don’t trust easily and tend to doubt. The same way we doubt His Word and His promised protection. Which then leads us to believe that we are to defend ourselves against the devil, yet at the same time we’ll listen to teachings of how Jesus, by the inspiring and animating Spirit, used the Word to fend off the attack of the Evil one while we are left to fend for ourselves.

There are several other reasons, but I’ll let them be and allow you to consult with our Father and trust Him to reveal and apply them accordingly.

Let’s get right to the point. (You are getting to know me and you know full well that I could go on and on. One war I wage is thinking I have to spell it all out for you; which is a subtle way of saying that He can’t or He won’t; a strong temptation I resist when I see His love for you and caring of you, in His words to you and me.)

Jesus Himself IS the whole armor of God. He is to have the Preeminence and is not subject to anything or any one. The only armor He had in the wilderness temptation was what He knew of His Father.

Helmets protect the head, the brain; above all, the mind; the dwelling place of your souls. In a grander way the knowledge of Jesus and all that He did on Calvary keeps our minds. As the scriptures say: You shall keep him in perfect peace, whose MIND is stayed on you. When the world and the devil taunt and tempt us to question our salvation, what keeps our minds steadfast? Is it some imaginary helmet or the certainty of His finished sacrifice? It can’t be both. It is Jesus, and only Jesus.

The “girding our loins with truth” may have already been cast in new light for you to see. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” The belt of truth, as it is often called, was a particular piece of the soldiers’ equipment that held the other pieces of armor in place. Just as the truth of His Word telling of the Living Word, Jesus Christ, holds all the other pieces of scripture in place, intact, in our hearts and minds.

The belt goes around the waist, which would put it close to the bowels. Bowels in the scripture speak of the innermost being, the essence of man and his passions. The internal organs of the body, just as His Word telling us of the Living Word gives us “bowels of mercy” because we’ve seen Him to be merciful. The belt is Jesus.

Breastplates were worn to protect, above all, the heart. We are told to “trust in the Lord with all your heart” not in an imaginary love, but an eternally unfathomable Love. Jesus is God and God is love and only He can keep us in His love. It must be the work of the Spirit of Christ within that assures the heart of His love. Calvary expressed love.

The god of this world will stop at nothing but Jesus, our imaginary armor is one of his favorite ploys. He delights to use against us what we don’t understand; just as he did against Eve in the garden. All it took for him to sideswipe her was her misunderstanding of what God had said. Three words were all she added. The rest is history.

Jesus is the breastplate. Anything beside Him can be, and certainly is, an idol. Our inbred tendency to defend ourselves relegates Him to share His protection with an imaginary piece of armor.

Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The feet do nothing but carry the body. We are the Body of Christ. The gospel is the good news of all that He is and all that He has done, all that He will do. The feet are not independent of the brain, just as my feet move only when a message from my brain tell them to, this part of the Body will not move forward in evangelism until the Head, Jesus Christ, tells them to.

With few exceptions, Jesus walked everywhere. His feet carried His body. His feet carried the veiled heart of God. The mind of the Father was borne about by those nail scarred feet. Jesus is those feet, robed in light, prepared to tell the good news of peace with God. He came to seek and to save that which was lost and He has not changed.

Jesus Himself is the “shield of faith.” He is not only the Author of our faith. He is the sustainer of that faith. He said to Peter; I will pray the Father that your faith does not fail” Faith is authored by Him in our hearts, for nothing else will cause the devil to flee but Him, His person.

Satan will not yield to us, we are not lords and we certainly are not Lord. Submit to God, we are told and that carries with it the opportunity of trusting Him. We resist the devil when we confess that Jesus is Lord, both his and ours. If that doesn’t send him running, then nothing will. In the same way a neighborhood bully will run when Dad shows up.

Soldiers of Paul’s day would soak clothe that had been fastened to the tips of arrows in fuel, set them on fire and send those fiery darts into the camp of their enemies. The upraised shield would prevent penetration into the body of the soldier.

In the unseen realm of the spirit, there is the war of good vs. evil. The fiery darts of accusation sent into our minds by the Accuser of the brethren (as Satan is called) telling us, tempting us to doubt God’s word as revealed in the Living Word, Jesus Christ are effectively quenched. His all efficient sacrifice is the defense against the thoughts that assail us. The war is won, but the devil has to convince us that it is ongoing and we must protect ourselves. When the attack comes and we see that “it is finished”, the only one fighting against it is Satan. His arrows are useless. Jesus blood quenches every one.

If the shield is something other than Him, then why does the Psalmist say with confidence in chapter 119, looking at verse 114 “You are my hiding place and my shield;I hope in Your word.” There are other references that tell us He is the shield. Him and only Him.

The Sword of the Spirit, as we are told, is the word of God. That is what Jesus used. Not a book, but a heart of trust in His Father. All that the Father said was true and what Satan offered were lies. Jesus is the Sword, the word of God in human form, though now He is once again equal with God. His acts on Golgotha were the standard raised against the enemy who would come in like a flood, accusing man of sin.

Sin must not be forgiven; that forgiveness of mans’ sin meant that Satan had no one to rule and reign over. His diabolical desire is to be God, which has not yet changed, perhaps it never will.

The wielding of the Sword in the hands of the Spirit is life giving, which is what “quick” means and powerful as explained in Hebrews 4:12. That is, though our adversary, the fallen arch angel of heaven is powerful, he is no match for the Living Word, but he knows that when the King is enthroned on our hearts, he must bow to Him, not us. When he sees that we know who is who and that his attempts to deceive are not heeded, he will flee. Jesus Christ is the Sword. The “quickening Spirit” of Romans 8:11 is the powerful sword, the Mighty God of Isaiah 9:6. Quick and powerful, both used in Hebrews, each used to describe Him.

Put on Jesus Christ, was written first. The command was given again to the Ephesians, but with much more detail. Just as I’ll tell you some things about Abby, but later on I will give a detailed explanation. The latter must not contradict or diminish the former. To say that we need Jesus AND the armor would make our Father double-minded.

Notice that the admonition to put on Jesus Christ is followed by Paul requesting their prayers; they were to be about the Fathers’ business, discussing Paul’s evangelistic efforts with our God. The armor, Jesus, the Living Word was being heralded across the land by Paul and rather than tell the people to focus on themselves, he exhorts them to serve him by interceding.

The equipping was for the sake of the Gospel, not a means of self preservation. The god of this world is intent on taking that throne and when folks hear that Jesus is seated there, he loses slaves. That is one reason Paul coveted their prayers. But even if they had not prayed, the Gospel message would still echo throughout the land of the lost. Paul knew this; his reason for asking for prayer was not so the Gospel would go forth. It was his desire that they, like Jesus, walk with him and be a part of the victory in Jesus that would capture the hearts and minds of his listeners.

But, like I said, I couldn’t take those things from Abby until I had first given her good reasons to leave them behind. They did not offer the protection she had imagined; the protection and provision she craves and needs, she found in me. Like the first words in this Ephesians’ letter, “be strong in the Lord”; the strength she wanted to shield herself, she found in me. Her blanket was not as she first imagined, but she had to learn for herself that it was not bullet proof.

So, if you’ll prayerfully consider these words and perhaps accept them; then put your “binky”, your “bubby” and your cat pencil down and get in the van. We’re going to our Fathers house, in the armored car of His Grace.

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