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November 2015 SR
Last month we looked at the need to put on God’s armor
to stand firm against the wicked schemes that the evil
one has planned against us. You can’t use worldly
weapons to fight a spiritual battle. The Bible says,
“The
weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish
strongholds.”
(2 Cor. 10:4) The reason they are powerful
is because they are, in fact, God’s nature and character.
When we reflect the image of God it is because we are
becoming more like Him in our nature and character.
What is the armor that we have been commanded to
wear? It is Christ Jesus Himself. When we put on Christ,
we truly can stand against every strategy of the devil.
It has been taught that the apostle Paul was using the
equipment of a Roman soldier as his model to talk about
God’s armor. However, Isaiah the prophet, who wrote
hundreds of years before the Roman empire was born,
uses almost all of the same words for the full armor when
talking about God.
“He put on righteousness like a
breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head...and
wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. (full armor)”
(Isaiah 59:17)
There are many parts to the armor of God. This month
we take a look at the first three — truth, righteousness,
and the good news of peace. The only way to be able to
stand firm entirely is to have been fully equipped with
God’s armor in place. Without these firmly in place, the
evil one has options available to push us off our devotion
to God and dedication to His will being done in our lives.
Truth, Righteousness, and Peace. Where do these
come from? They come from God.
All truth comes from God because God is truth. That
doesn’t mean that a person who does not know God is
incapable of understanding things that are true as
opposed to false. What it does mean is that truth is not
an abstract concept. Truth is a person. We know what is
true because Jesus Christ is truth. He said that He is
“the
way, the truth and the life.”
(John 14:6)
Righteousness comes from God because God is righteous.
“He is holy.”
We know what is right because God is right.
He is the standard by which we understand righteousness.
Peace comes from God because God is peace. Peace is
not the absence of war. Peace is in the presence of God.
“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you
will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done
everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having
tightly wrapped your waist with truth, and having put on
the breastplate of righteousness, and having perfectly
fitted your feet with the preparedness of the good news
of peace;”
(Ephesians 6:13-15, NCAV)
Truth
The waist area which especially needs strength is the
lumbar area up until the 5th vertebrae. A belt was
wrapped tightly around the lower waist in order to give
the ability to exert maximum pressure. When lifters are
moving heavy furniture they have a belt that they wrap
tightly around themselves in order to keep safe and to
do the heavy lifting. The lumbar region is especially
vulnerable to injury when a large force is exerted.
Figuratively, this phrase means “to be ready for any-
thing.” To be ready for the attacks of the evil one, we
must have truth firmly wrapped around our areas of
vulnerability. We cannot have a casual approach to the
study and application of God’s word and still be prepared
for the evil assaults which come our way. We must
tightly wrap the word of truth around us.
The phrase “having tightly wrapped your waist with
truth” is actually an imperative command. Too often
we treat the learning and application of God’s word
passively. In order to be ready we cannot be passive.
There are two ways in which we can be actively pre-
pared. The first is to be an active listener during Sabbath
morning messages. An active listener recognizes this
truth — that the Lord has something that He wants us to
apply to our lives through His word. As it says in James,
“Do not merely listen to the word; do what it says.”
We
should be asking the Lord each Sabbath morning for at
least one action step that He wants us to put into practice.
The Lord is our shepherd. He has a plan to lead us to
green pastures and still waters. We should anticipate His
leadership and be ready to apply what He gives us.
The second way we can be actively prepared is to talk
with others about God’s word. There is a large difference
between the listening that goes on during a sermon and
the conversation about the Bible that takes place in a
small group study. We cannot expect to be prepared
STAND FIRM
