Shield Of Faith

HoHum:

(Opening illustration from here: https://www.sagebrush.church/next-steps-week-2/next-steps-week-2-day-4/). A woman went into her kitchen to find a robber loaded down with a bunch of stuff he was stealing from her. Not having any kind of weapon to scare him off, she raised her hand and said, "Acts 2:38," and proceeded to quote Scripture. The robber froze in place and didn't move. The woman called 911. The police arrived and were amazed to find the robber still frozen where he stood. The officer asked her, "What did you say to him that kept him from moving?" She told them that she had simply said Acts 2:38 and quoted Scripture. The police escorted the robber out to the patrol car. They asked the robber, "Why did the woman quoting scripture scare you so much?" The robber said, "Scripture!? I thought she said she had an ax and two 38’s!"

WBTU:

Series is called Standing Firm in Spiritual Battles. Looking at each piece of spiritual armor of which Paul makes mention in Ephesians 6:10-20- Read this- come back and read Vs. 16

I love the Roman legionnaire. Imagine Paul in his imprisonment looking at the soldier assigned to guard him and compares each piece of that soldier’s equipment to a spiritual truth. The Roman military had taken over the known world and their genius was the Roman legionnaire, the foot soldier, infantrymen. Oh, they had special units but the force that took over the known world was the Roman legionnaire.

Look at this picture of Roman soldier (Last picture of Reenactor on this web page https://www.romanobritain.org/8-military/mil_roman_soldier_shield.php)- we can locate the belt (of truth), the breastplate (of righteousness) is prominent here, find the sandals (gospel of peace), and now come to the shield (of faith). Other armies had little shields but one of the geniuses of the Roman army is that they had large shields that covered a large portion of their body. Next slide

(Go to picture of graphic of Roman and enemy soldier in middle of web page at: https://www.romanobritian.org/8-military/mil_roman_soldier_shield.php)- notice this talks about the sword being a stabbing weapon- this was used behind the shield- notice that enemy soldier, he is half naked and without the equipment of the Roman legionnaire- very open to stabbing because he has about half the shield of the Roman. At the bottom of the figure of the Roman legionnaire, it says, “With its metal boss and reinforced edges, the scutum (shield) could be wielded offensively if necessary.” If without sword, can do damage with shield. All of this equipment is defensive except for one and that is the sword (sure Tim will talk about this in 2 weeks). Interesting, but the 2 pictures on the left are the most important for our discussion. The top picture is of a Roman formation at the front of a battle. The Roman legionnaire would have their shield in front of them. As soldiers were stabbed or getting tired, they would move to the back of the formation. Always in a tight formation, never leaving the formation unless they were dead, always close together. This also discouraged retreat, remember our series, “Standing firm in spiritual battles.” Notice the bottom left picture- this is of a Roman formation that is a distance from the battle lines. I know the description is talking about storming fortifications but this also applies to arrows. In that day there were no airplanes that would drop bombs. In that day there also were no cannons or artillery. The only long range weapon was the arrow. The enemies of the Romans loved arrows. This is how the Romans defended themselves against arrows. (Go to tortoise formation picture of reenactors, next picture after Trajan's column at: https//www.romanobritian.org/8-military/mil_roman_soldier_shield.php). They would have their shields overhead and the arrows would bounce off or stick in their shields, doing little damage to the Roman legionnaire. The shield overlaid with leather. This was called the testudo (Latin for “tortoise”). Often these arrows would be dipped in tar and on fire because it was more dramatic, caused more fear and panic. Before the battle, the Romans would soak their shields in water so that if the flaming arrow did stick it would cause minimal damage. The majority of the shield was wood, the middle was metal where the handle was on the inside. When this formation of soldiers got to the battle line the arrows would stop. No shooting arrows to the front of the battle because will hit all of the soldiers, friend and foe alike, so that was not done. Arrows were used to pick off soldiers who were a distance away. Oh, my, lots of spiritual parallels here.

Thesis: Let’s talk about arrows and then go back to shields of faith

For instances:

I. Flaming arrows of the evil one

This is talking about Satan and his forces, kingdom of darkness. Proverbs 26:10 says, “Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.” Like an archer who wounds at random- this is what Satan and his forces are doing- just shooting in the general direction and hoping to hit something to cause damage. No long range rifles at this point. It says of King Ahab in 1 Kings 22:34- someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armor- see what can penetrate and cause damage. Notice question on bulletin- What might some of those things be in my life that cause damage? (Portions of this section come from Sermon Central sermon id # 275011 by Roger Hasselquist)