“…in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.”
There is significance to Paul’s usage of the phrase, ‘…in addition to all’. Looking at various translations will help to make it clearer. The NIV says “In addition to all this…” The Amplified reads, “Lift up over all…” The Darby translation says “Besides all these…”
The things Paul has been talking about, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the footwear of the gospel message; these parts of the soldier’s uniform were worn on the body and would be on him most of the time when in any public place or performing mundane duty. Now the breastplate might come off and on more than the others, nevertheless, they were not only put on in times of battle.
But now Paul is moving on to the parts of the armor that would only be used for battle. The commander says it’s time to march, or there is a sudden cry to battle, and the soldier grabs his helmet and puts it on, then picks up his spear or sword and his shield, and he’s ready.
So in the first three pieces what we have is an analogy of the soldier’s personal preparation. His training, his fitness, his military discipline. Fundamentally, his readiness to be a soldier.
In 1969 I went through Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. After graduating Basic I was sent to Law Enforcement Technical School for twelve more weeks of training. When that was done, although I had no experience, I had the basics I needed for going out into the field and doing the work. I began with OJT (on-the-job training with an experienced Airman), but that was where I got my equipment for actual service in the capacity of Law Enforcement Officer. A revolver, a nightstick, a patrol car, handcuffs, etcetera.
In 1971 when I got my orders for Viet Nam, I was sent back to Lackland for six weeks of Combat Preparedness training. There I learned to use larger caliber weapons and more aggressive fighting techniques.
The Christian, having heard and responded to the gospel message, then begins to learn the truth of God’s Word pertaining to his salvation and the fundamental doctrines of the faith.
Once he is established and able to give an account for the hope that is in him by recounting the gospel to others, then he is ready to stand. Then it is time to use the tools of battle.
The first part is both armor and weapon. The shield of faith.
This is how the Romans in Britain website describes the shield of the Roman Soldier:
“These were semi cylindrical in shape, large enough to reach from the chin to the knees and protected half of the body. They were light enough to be carried in a long battle and made of layers of wood glued together. Each layer was at an angle to the previous one for strength. The edge was bound with light sheet bronze and the central boss was heavy bronze. As no intact shields have been found so far, we can only assume that the shield had a hand grip and an inner strap enabled the soldier to hold the shield close to his body and also leave his other arm free for other weapons.” www.romans-in-britain.org.uk/mil_roman_soldiers_weapons.htm
BUT WAIT!
Before I go farther in, let’s stop here for a moment and observe something about the church as we know it and have seen it operate.
We’ve all discussed, not with glee or unkindness, but with some degree of sadness, the many people we have known to come in and out of the church and never seem to take root. We’ve talked about the condition of many who stay in the church, but there never seems to be growth or fruit evident in them.
And I think what we’re studying here, at least in part, is a process that many new Christians coming into the church today are not being put through. Now in some cases this is a failure of church leadership.
Pastors get in a rut, or they get lazy, or they get tired, and they stop thinking about the basic needs of new believers; they forget that all Christians need to be reminded often, of the fundamentals. What brought them to the faith, what happened spiritually when they were saved that makes them born again believers, the difference between them now and what they were when still in the world, and so on.
These are all topics that come under the umbrella of the basic doctrines of Christianity. The teaching of which is often neglected and even avoided.
Just because a person has been a Christian for 30 or 40 or 50 years, does not mean that he no longer needs reminding of these things.
But certainly, the new believer!
Now it’s not always the leadership’s fault. I know that, because I have been in situations where I knew I was dealing with babes, and even though I hammered away at the basic doctrines of the faith for more than a year, at the end of that time they still could not give an organized and biblical account of what the gospel is, and what makes them right with God.
As time went by, through discussions with the pastor who came after me, I learned several years down the road that despite his efforts they still had not moved on.
Spiritual truth must be spiritually discerned. If it is not, the mind of flesh will never comprehend it; and you cannot intelligently reiterate what you do not understand.
We cannot expect those to take up the shield of faith and do battle, who have never girded their loins, put on the breastplate of righteousness, nor prepared their ‘feet’ with the gospel of peace.
If I had been sent straight to Viet Nam without so much as basic training, it would have been dangerous to my companions and disastrous for me. I’ve seen this in the church, many times. So have most of you.
So I’ll say this just once more, and we’ll go on. Christian, be sure that you have studied and understood, with the Holy Spirit’s enlightening power, the fundamental beliefs that make up Christianity. The facts of what Christ has accomplished for you, and then provided to you in the whole salvation process. Be sure and confident that you know and can tell the gospel, and be certain you have understood that your salvation is not by any merit of your own, but by God’s grace alone.
Be sure in your heart you have understood that it was not that the sin nature was taken from you, and not that your flesh was made better, but that the Divine Nature was imparted to you, and communicating with the Divine Nature in you the Holy Spirit now continues the work of conforming you to the image of Christ.
Be certain in your heart that you have been made an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ, and that when you close your eyes to this world you will open them to the face of Jesus, and the transforming work that began with salvation will be immediately completed as you see Him, for you will then be like He is, according to I John 3:2. Be sure you know these things, because it is understanding of these basics that will give you courage to stand in the evil day. It is knowing these things that enables you to take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. It is confidence in these things that gives you both desire and diligence to have the process of Sanctification continue in you. It says so in the next verse; I Jn 3:3
“And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
FIRE INSURANCE
Ok, we can go on now to talk about the shield of faith.
First of all, remember how the soldier’s shield was described in the website I quoted.
It was made of several layers of wood, the grains of each at an angle with the others for strength. Then it was overlaid with bronze.
I’m sure you’ve all seen movie scenes of ancient battles, where one army stood on a fortress wall or the top of a hill and rained down arrows on the approaching enemy.
They would tightly wrap material dipped in some kind of oily, flammable substance round the tip of the arrow, light it, then fire it at the enemy. If the projectile hit the enemy soldier, even if it didn’t hit a vital organ or penetrate very deeply, the flame would burn him up, or at least burn him badly and put him out of commission.
In the Roman’s shield the strength of the wood and the crossing grains served to stop arrows, and the bronze plating served to put out the flame, if the arrow was able to pierce the bronze at all.
So now let’s make application of this information.
First, remember that it is called the shield of faith, and we are told to ‘take it up’. Having put on these other items, ‘pick up’ the shield.
You see, the others are worn, but the shield is picked up and laid down.
We came to Christ in believing faith and received our salvation. And don’t misunderstand me, we are now to live a life of faith.
But without carrying the analogy too far, I think we can agree that there are times in our life when we are called upon to exercise extraordinary faith. By that I mean, during a trial, for the accomplishment of a God-given task that by its nature has time boundaries, to believe God and exercise patience for an answer to specific prayer, and so forth.
We can go for a very long time not finding ourselves in immediate need of exercising specific faith, but only walking by faith in a general sense. But Christians, when the enemy starts shooting his fiery darts, your everyday ‘passive’ faith won’t do. That’s when it’s time for very active and deliberate “taking up” of faith for the hour.
Now I want to point out here that the fiery darts that come our way are not just general testing and trials. Paul says they are fired our way by the evil one. That would be Satan.
The King James Version gives an unfortunate translation, when it says “the fiery darts of the wicked”. It leaves us thinking that it is a reference to attacks we may come under from wicked people. But they are not our real enemy, and they are very limited in what they can do to us.
But the ‘evil one’, the enemy of our souls, has many fiery darts he can assault us with, Believer, and we must be ready to exercise faith when those arrows come flying.
He attacks first the mind. We’ll talk in detail about this next week. But he fires arrows of doubt, of guilt, of vain and sinful imaginings, temptations, all of these things must be met with faith.
When caught off guard we tend to meet them with feeling. It’s the first thing that pops up when the mind is attacked; emotion.
When we are not prepared to snatch up the shield of faith, that is like sticking our chest out and trying to stop the arrows with our breastplate. We get hurt that way.
Someone came up with a poem I only heard a few weeks ago. Some of you may have heard it many times; I got the impression that it is not new.
“Three men were walking on a wall,
Feeling, Faith and Fact,
When Feeling got an awful Fall, and Faith was taken back,
So close was Faith to Feeling, he stumbled and fell too,
But Fact remained and pulled Faith back,
And Faith brought Feeling too.”
-Author unknown
WHAT TO HAVE FAITH IN
When the enemy’s fiery darts come at us, Christians, we must snatch up the shield of faith. But it does you no good for me to say that unless I tell you what to have faith in.
The poem I just read to you says it. Fact. You must have faith in the facts you know about Christ and His provision for you and the resources available to you in Him.
That’s why we started with the truth and application of the truth, and learning the truth well enough to reiterate it to others. The facts.
“Oh, you silly fool. What makes you think you’re saved? How could you be saved and think the thought you just had: Or commit the deed you committed yesterday? God can’t accept that kind of person”
Snatch up the shield of faith. “No, serpent. The scriptures say that I am saved by grace through faith, and that not of myself. It is a gift of God, not of works, that no one may boast.”
“Everything is going wrong. You’re the only one in the home capable of working, and you just got laid off. You’re going to lose everything.”
Snatch up the shield of faith. “Liar, and father of lies! My God has promised to supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus!”
“You’re a lousy disciple. He gave you a task and you’re failing in it.”
Snatch up the shield of faith. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world; and that’s you, slew foot, now get lost!”
I want you to look back down at the text for a moment and read it again.
“…in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.”
Hear that? YOU will be able to extinguish. By the exercise of faith, applying the spiritual facts you have learned to the circumstances and taking your firm stand there, you, Believer, will extinguish all the enemy’s flaming arrows.
Just remember not to be fooled into thinking that because you are right with God you are impervious to those missiles. Like I said, that’s like taking them in the breastplate.
No, it is just the opposite. The arrows will come BECAUSE you are right with God. Satan doesn’t fire his flaming arrows at the unsaved. Those are for you. He already has them, and he can’t have you. He can only attack and try to knock you down; burn you out; send you fleeing.
Now if you’re a Christian who never goes to battle… if you just sit around the barracks all day, sandals under your cot, using “Brasso” to shine your breastplate, you don’t have to worry about darts. Your shield just lays there getting dusty, and you will be out of practice and unready to lift it up if any trouble does come to you.
Satan doesn’t need to waste his fiery darts on the guy in the barracks.
But if you have determined you are going to be useful for the Kingdom of God, if you have prayed and said from a sincere heart “Lord, here am I, use me”, and if you’re praying and seeking His will, and interceding for others and pleading with Him for awakening and revival, then trust me, keep your shield close at hand. You’re going to need it.
WHO TO HAVE FAITH IN
So you have to know what facts to have faith in. Secondly, you need to know who to have faith in.
Well, faith in God, of course! It’s why we’re here! That’s a given.
But I don’t mean just that general faith in God that believes that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. That’s saving faith. But it takes more to make up ‘shield faith’.
The kind of faith that quenches Satan’s flaming missiles, is the kind that knows things about God’s character and His nature.
For instance, knowing that God cannot change can extinguish many missiles of doubt or fear. If He does not change, then He will not change toward you, and He will not change His mind about you. He has called you His child. He has declared you to be holy and righteous before Him in Christ. That cannot change.
He has made promises that cannot change and He will not take them back. He has said that if you believe in Him you have already passed out of death into life and will never come into condemnation.
That should quench all the missiles of guilt and shame and give you confidence that your place in Him is secure forever.
Think about who it is you have faith in, and your shield with never fail you. Not faith in yourself, not faith in any of the mechanisms of man for the supply of need and happiness, but faith in the God of the scriptures.
Just a few weeks ago we looked at Genesis 15, where Abram was in a time of doubt and weariness and fear, and we saw at the beginning of that chapter that God encouraged him with these words. “I will be a shield to you” He is a shield to you!
The world puts its faith in a lot of things, Christian, and all of those things eventually fail. They even know they will fail; but they go from one to the next just trying to get through.
I’ve only seen it a couple of times, I promise, but I have watched a program called “Extreme Elimination”. If you haven’t seen it, it is a game program from Japan where young people do all these very physical stunts to try and win the contest.
One of the things they had to do was to run across this body of water, stepping on these sort of stepping stones that were stretched across the pond. The trick was, if they paused too long on one of those stones it would sink from under them. So they had to try to run fast and lightly, just touching on each one and being balanced and aimed and ready to leap to the next. Otherwise they sank.
That is how it is when we live by faith in the passing things of this world. If we trust them too much or too long, they always sink out from under us. So people go through life, leaping from one support to the next, just hoping they can keep their balance and find the next thing before their present support disappears.
But the kind of faith Paul is talking about is much simpler than that. It is only one Rock, but it is firm and sure and it will never fail. It is the Rock of our salvation. It is Jesus Christ Himself.
If you know the facts about Him, you can stand firm there, with your faith as a shield, and quench the angry flaming missiles of the evil one all day long and never get tired and never get burned.
God became Man. They named Him Jesus. He went about doing good and healing those who were oppressed of the devil. In the fulness of time He went to Jerusalem and let Himself be delivered into the hands of sinful men, who, according to His plan and not theirs, tortured Him, crucified Him, and buried Him in the ground.
He rose from the dead according to His own plan and no one else’s; not even death itself having the power to keep Him there, and then after showing Himself to many people over the period of about 40 days He bodily ascended back to Heaven while His disciples watched.
Then He sent His Holy Spirit to indwell all who would believe in Him, giving them power to live the Christ-life, and as a promise of the glory that is to come when they go home to be with Him.
All these things are attested to by the written word of God, by the signs and wonders He has performed, first through His Apostles, and since then through the faith and prayer of many believers, and also through the witness of the Holy Spirit to the individual believer’s heart.
These are the facts your faith is built on, Believer. This is the God you have placed your faith in; indeed, who gives you that faith.
Don’t be afraid to stand firm and move out for Him. He leads in battle and in building, not in rest and ease. That will come later. For now there is work to be done and others to be snatched from the enemy’s grasp, and you need these pieces of armor to do these things successfully.
Got truth? Got the Gospel? Got your shield? If you’re standing, you’re going to need it!
