Title of the Message: Put on the whole armor OF God.
Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus about the armor OF God. Although they are instructed to put it on, they are not instructed to make the armor. This armor is OF God. God is the armor maker, we the wearers. Therefore, in seeking understanding from God about this armor, we begin our quest by thinking about the word "OF" and of Him as our armor maker. As one commentator reminds us, the myths of the Grecian world was of armor made by the gods, a supernatural armor. But Paul writes about the real armor of God, armor made by God for us in the real war against the real arch-enemies of God, Satan and the demonic forces who hate God, hate us and who seek to destroy our joy, our peace, our sense of well-being in Christ, our confidence in Christ. We are confronted daily by real beings who though invisible can cause real anguish, real horror, real trauma, real despair and real hopelessness. These beings are not figments of the imagination but powerful wicked cruel hateful spiteful obnoxious vile filthy rebellious creatures intent on fomenting wars, inspiring depression and suicide, beings who were created to serve our God but now are intent on disturbing the peace and comfort especially of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the primary mission of the principalities of despair to snatch us out of the loving hands of our gracious God and pull us down to everlasting torment with themselves.
The Christians in Ephesus are not told to make a helmet of salvation nor to create a breast plate of righteousness nor to craft a belt of truth. They are not told to generate a shield of faith. They are not told to cobble together shoes of gospel peace. They are not told to think up words to use as swords in the battles that lay before for them. They are told to "put on" the armor OF God. They are told to "take" (cite) it, get into it.
Therefore the first point to consider together is what God has constructed for us to put on and to take up.
Secondly, we are told to 'put on" and "take up" - how to get inside this armor, how to appropriate this armor, so we will next consider how we put on and take up the armor and to insure that we are ready for the battle with Satan. The expression "in Christ" occurs well over eighty times in the New Testament. Thus, it is a central New Testament doctrine. As we examine this important doctrine it becomes apparent that it is one thing to have Christ in us and it is quite another thing for us to be "in Christ." He is our armor and we are to be IN Him. We will explore together the wonderful strength that comes from being IN Christ as our armor when we are attacked by Satan and fiery darts. Once we come to have faith in Him, we are IN Him. Hence we put on the armor when we first come to believe in Him and we are to imagine we are IN Him night and day. This is armor we do not take off but we sleep in Him, wake in Him, walk in Him, stand in Him.
Thirdly, we are told that the armor is designed not to protect us and do battle with flesh and blood enemies, but the devil and the demons who we are told rule the darkness of this world, who inhabit high places, who rule with spiritual wickedness. We are told that this armor is designed to protect us against the 'wiles' (cite) of the devil and against the "fiery darts" of Satan. So we need to consider what those schemes of the devil might be and how this armor is designed to protect us against these tricks of an evil genius, against this devilish plot to eternally harm us and bring in us into his hell where misery loves company.
Finally, we are to consider that the purpose of this armor is also to enable us to 'stand' against the onslaught of evil as knights on the front line of a spiritual battle. We will think together about that place we each occupy and the unique place where we each 'stand', the position we each occupy in this war against Satan.
First then what is this armor? The armor IS our Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul writes to them about being IN Christ. In Him. He concludes the letter by encouraging them to think of themselves as being IN Jesus Christ for their protection and their battle against the devil. Thus the whole letter leads up to this inspired notion of our Lord Jesus Christ being our armor.
Paul describes the armor throughout the earlier parts of this letter to the Ephesians as he therein describes what it means to be IN Jesus Christ. The armor of which he now writes, they understood for earlier in his letter to them he describes each piece of it. So we need to turn our attention to Paul's description of the armor and get our meaning as to what this armor is from him.
Regarding the belt of truth we read:
Regarding the breast plate of righteousness we read:
Regarding the shoes of the gospel of peace we read:
Regadring the helmet of salvation we read:
Regarding the shield of faith we read:
Regarding the sword of the Spirit we read:
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