Truths from Ephesians Part 8
Armor and Spiritual Warfare
Pastor Eric J. Hanson
(Ephesians 6:10-24)
Read verse 10.
“Finally” This word rings out with authority. It carries within itself the weight of finality. As Paul wrote the last section of Ephesians, which starts with this weighty word, “Finally”, He was coming to the conclusion of a masterpiece.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the book of Ephesians begins with what God has done for us, because of His great love. In its first two chapters, it unfolds the mystery of the God of all eternity working to give eternal life to the likes of us. Chapter three continues with an explanation of the holy task that God has given to the apostles and prophets.
Next, Ephesians gets up close and personal with each of us, in expanding the explanation of that holy task to include the equipping of all believers, so that we can do the work of God’s kingdom, fully equipped for that task by the correct operation of not only apostles & prophets, but also evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
As we grow up into spiritual maturity, the characteristics of a life of love and servanthood are to be ours. This is made clear in the second half of chapter four. We put aside our old natural ways of living and put on the new self, which rose from the grave in Jesus Christ when he arose. Then we have power triumph over sin’s lures; power to forgive and be kind; power to share only wholesome and fitting words, and power to walk free of all bitterness and wrath. In Christ, we have been given the power of tender hearts.
Chapter five continues expanding the way of life we are called to. Such things as immorality, greed, and impurity are not even to be on the table of consideration. We are to personally avoid all such things, and also expose them to the light. The middle part of the chapter reminds us of the importance of staying filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking the word of God, and singing spiritual songs; all of this with an attitude of thanksgiving.
This great chapter continues on to personal relationships, starting with the need for all of us to submit to one another. Then come the Lord’s instructions for married life. As Chapter six begins, we receive wisdom for the raising of children, God’s instructions for children, and His expectations for both workers and employers.
Now, today, finally, we come to our warfare as believers in Jesus Christ!
Do you know that you are in the Lord’s Army? I’m not kidding here. If you have genuinely been born again, by trusting Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, you are in God’s army. You may not feel like a soldier. You may not like armies. You may choose to ignore this, but it is true nevertheless!
When you and I stand before God on the Day of Judgment, one of the areas we all will be examined in, as believers, is how each of us did as a soldier in God’s army.
With this in mind, let’s look at God’s plan for us in this dimension of life.
Read verse 11.
God’s armor is complete and effective. The reason that most of us do not achieve more with it, is that we sort of forget about it. Other things crowd it out of our thinking. The Devil would much rather have you think of yourself as a victim, or just see you unaware of this whole dimension of the godly life, rather than face you as an alert warrior of faith. He wants you to think that you are basically powerless. God has a totally different plan. Let’s look at it now.
Read verses 12 & 13.
This is quite a revelation. This passage makes reference to such spiritual enemies as the fallen angels mentioned by name in the book of Daniel. You may remember that Gabriel, God’s messenger angel, mentioned to Daniel, two enemies called the prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece. Before Gabriel could get through to Daniel, he had to fight at great length against the prince of Persia. He was then going to go fight next against the prince of Greece.
There are also many lesser spiritual enemy powers which dominate regions, cities, neighborhoods, households, political institutions, secret societies, clubs, etc. We, all of us, are literally called to war against these fallen angels and demons. The armor of God must be appropriated for this, or we become easy marks for the enemy to take out of the battle.
Read verse 14.
Truth, like the Roman soldier’s belt, holds it all together. If we are soaking in the truth of God’s word, then we can “Gird our minds for action.” (I Peter 1:13) If we are trying to be successful in the arena of spiritual battle without an ever increasing knowledge of and obedience to God’s word, forming a deep well of the “water of the Word” inside of us, we will fail. All soldiers are called to be disciplined. Daily quality time in God’s word is part of our discipline for success. The Roman soldier’s belt also provided a holster for his sword. More about that later…
The breastplate covers our whole torso. It guards the heart and all the other essential parts of our chest and abdomen. The Lord fashioned the breastplate of righteousness for us when he fulfilled the Law of God totally, and then died for our sin. We cannot create this piece of armor. We can only put it on and wear it. Then we understand that we have been declared righteous by the Lord’s gift. Then all spiritual enemy accusations and attempts to discourage us fall to the ground, and we do not become heavy hearted!
Having appropriated the Lord’s own righteousness, we can then live right, in Him!
Read verse 15.
The Roman soldier’s sandal was not ordinary. It had hobnails coming out of its soul to grip the ground, so that he would not slip in the mud. It had a solid leather sole a full half inch thick to protect his feet against caltraps (razor sharp spikes) planted in the ground by enemies. Notice that Paul referred to the spiritual version of this footwear as “shoes of the preparation of the Gospel of Peace”.
Putting on such shoes takes conscious effort. They must be carefully laced and strapped on before the time of battle; so that there is no way they can come off. We must do what earlier parts of Ephesians already stressed. We must stand in the place of peace with God, and peace with the Body of Christ. All that stuff we have already studied about forgiving, being tenderhearted, and such things as these, are essential. When we walk deliberately in peace, Romans 16:20 makes clear that God, as the God of Peace, will crush Satan under our feet.
We in the army of the Lord, also must wage our warfare from a position of peace. Real Christians do not have anything that corresponds to the Jihad of the Muslims. We do not murder in the name of God. We do not torture and kill fellow believers who mess up. We do not issue fatwahs placing a price on the heads of those who speak ill of the Lord. Jesus is the prince of Peace.
Read Verse 16.
As we get closer to storming the gates of Hell; as we receive more revelation of God’s ways; and as we determine to radically obey God; we (personally and as a church family) become threatening to the forces of evil. Then we are targeted by them more aggressively. This means that many more attacks come our way from the demons that walk around in dry places, and possibly even from fallen angels. Don’t fear this! God has the perfect antidote!
The shield of faith corresponds to the Roman soldier’s great shield that protected him from head to toe as he crouched behind it. These iron shields were covered with a layer of leather that had been soaked in water prior to the battle. Then, when blazing arrows hit these shields, their fire would be snuffed out. Having our shield soaked with water, refers yet again, to being filled with God’s word. Our Faith feeds on the Word of God! The shield of faith is strong when we are strong in the Word of God. That is how we take up our shield and quench temptations, deceptions, and lies of every kind.
Read verse 17.
The helmet is essential to any soldier. Here it is called the helmet of salvation. Why is that? It is because our mind, our ears, even our eyes, how we see things; are guarded by the assurance that we know for sure that we are saved! We know for sure that all of our sin was dealt with at the cross!
Armed with this knowledge at a deep and settled level, we are safe from attack with fiery arrows of rejection. We triumph over insecurity. We do not become snared by a wrong teaching.
With this level of armor on, we are able to get close to the enemy lines. Now we each need our sword. The Word of God in this passage, referring to the sword of the Spirit, is the Greek word “Rhema”. This word’s use tells us that the sword of the Spirit is the specific, exact part of God’s word that is perfect for the need at hand. We wield the scriptures in precise ways to counter religious error and cults of every kind. We counter temptations with precise use of scripture, just as Jesus did during his great temptations in the desert. We bring the precisely applied word of God to bear when we lay hands on the sick for their recovery. The sword is our weapon of destruction, to destroy the strongholds of Hell.
Read verse 18.
Every soldier needs to be in two way communication with his commander. We are to be people given to prayer. Notice that Paul referenced “pray in the spirit” here. We need to pray with our understanding for sure, but we also need to pray beyond our natural understanding, even beyond the very limitations of our minds. There are things that we could not grasp at present even if they were explained to us carefully. Yet, as we pray in the spirit beyond English and into praying in languages we have never learned, God can use us to pray about anything! If any person in Christ, is truly given over to prayer, he or she will occasionally find that they also groan in prayer. This agonizing prayer is dealt with in detail elsewhere in the Bible. I believe that engaging in such prayer is like launching missiles against enemy positions. We are to be alert prayers, and we are to pray for each other and all the saints.
Read verses 19 & 20.
Paul has gone on to his reward, but can you pray like this for your pastors? We need all the prayer covering we can get.
Now let’s close this book out.
Read verses 21-24.
Give closing challenge.
