Armor of God

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Eph. 6:13-18).

This is fascinating, and might quite possibly be a little different from most encounters you've had with the armor of God! Before we get to the interesting stuff, though, let's see what exactly composes the "armor of God".

• 1. The belt of truth
  
• 2. The breastplate of righteousness
  
• 3. Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace...or shoes of readiness
  (note this readiness comes from the gospel of peace)
  
• 4. The shield of faith
  
• 5. The helmet of salvation
  
• 6. The sword of the Spirit...which as noted, is the word of God...or the Bible
  
• 7. This last one is often overlooked as being part of the armor...prayer
  
  

Why did the knights of old wear armor? To protect themselves! Why do our soldiers wear helmets and flak jackets? Why do policemen wear
bulletproof vests? Why do football players wear helmets and pads? To protect themselves, of course.

One might think this would be obvious, but there are a lot of folks out there that are wearing the armor of God, not for protection, but as a "status symbol" of sorts. There are others that seem to try to use the armor of God as an offensive weapon...attacking anyone they can...including other Christians...with it. Keep in mind that a breastplate can only be used as an offensive weapon if it's being used to whack someone over the head!

There are a good many Christians that aren't even wearing their armor. This one probably describes most of us. We have it shined up really
nice and stacked in the corner...right on top of our Bibles. That's why we've become so competent at having our (censored) kicked...we have no protection. Our protection is sitting over there in the corner looking pretty, while we're running around naked getting whupped up on!

As a good many of you have probably already know, the only offensive weapon mentioned is the sword of the Spirit. While it's true that the sword is an offensive weapon, we sometimes forget that it's also a defensive weapon...used to ward of the blows of the enemy. You have to be able to defend yourself successfully before you're in a position to attack anyone or anything! We all know Christians that are so busy trying to shove their sword down somebody's throat, they don't even
notice they've got the devil sitting on their own back using their head for a tom-tom! (See? You need to be wearing your helmet and using that sword for defense instead of offense! When you're ready...then you can use it for offense!)

Those who aren't wearing their armor are defenseless. Those who aren't wearing it properly have protection, but it's not very effective. And those who are wearing it for "status" or for offensive reasons have already had their defenses breached by the enemy...he's behind the lines and inside the city, bringing it down from within. So be sure to check your armor, will ya? Make sure it's on...make sure it's on right and make sure it's being used right. You might have to make a sweep of the perimeter and work on getting some of those infiltrators out of the city, though... otherwise you're going to be constantly harassed by the enemy from within your own lines!

Anyway, on to the good stuff...

Here's where it begins to get interesting! Things may seem to bounce around just a little in the beginning, but by the end, hopefully you'll see how it all ties together...with Jesus in the middle!

The first thing we're going to take a look at is the breastplate, because there is an order to this armor of God. And it happens to be that the breastplate is first in the order! But we're not going to be looking at the breastplate as far as examining it's function, or how it was made, or what it was trying to symbolize or whatever. What we're going to be looking at is the totally awe- inspiring use that God made of it through Jesus! You see, before there was a breastplate of righteousness, there was a breastplate of judgment.

Go back with me through the centuries, if you will, to a Levite named Aaron. The brother of Moses. Most of us know the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt with his brother, Aaron, by his side. Generally speaking, Moses, just by being Moses, overshadows Aaron for most of us most of the time. And, quite honestly, Moses was the one that did most of the "exciting" stuff. He's the one that got to talk to God...the one that did all the stuff with the staff...the one that parted the Red Sea. Aaron's the guy that let the Israelites build the golden calf
while Moses was out watching the burning bush that didn't burn and getting the Ten Commandments from God's own hand.

In the book of Exodus, there are an awful lot of rules and regulations, details and descriptions. It's easy to get to the point where you find yourself skimming over it to get to the next "good part". And at the same time, it's really hard, in some of these places to muddle through actually
reading it, as opposed to just skimming. But somewhere deep within the pages of all the relatively "boring" stuff that most of us either skip over or skim through, there is a very significant statement made about Aaron. It's one of those nuggets of gold...like the prayer of Jabez.

Hidden within all the other stuff is this...

"So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them in continual remembrance before the Lord. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be
upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually." (Ex. 28:29,30).

This breastplate had twelve stones set in it. Each stone had a name engraved on it. One stone, one name...one for each of the twelve sons of Israel (Ex. 28:17-21). These stones and these names, back in Aaron's time, represented what (today) we would call the church...or the body of Christ. The high priest, or Aaron, would go into the Holy Place wearing the breastplate of judgment...taking the "church" before God...representing the people to God, and God to the people.

Even the people of God were under judgment in those days, because there had been no redemption for sins...no atonement. That's why instead of going to heaven when they died, they went to Abraham's bosom. (It wasn't until Jesus came and was crucified that mankind received salvation.) Until then...

"... Aaron (or his successors) shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually."

And he did so by wearing their names...the names of the "church" at the time... into the Holy Place (or before God) engraved on the breastplate of judgment. When the Bible talks about Aaron bearing the judgment of the children of Israel, it doesn't mean he bore it in the same sense that
Jesus bore ours...but rather that he carried their judgment to God and before God. Jesus bore our judgment in the sense that He carried out our judgment on Himself. And like Aaron, our names were engraved on Jesus' heart...not on a breastplate, but on His very heart!

There are some other interesting differences, as well. For instance, the breastplate of judgment was made exclusively for the priest. People did not have their own individual breastplates...only the priest had one, as he was their appointed (by God) representative to God...and the priest
would carry the "church" before God by way of the breastplate of judgment. Once Jesus was crucified, we each got our own breastplate... not because of our holiness, but because of His.
 

We can now go before God ourselves, for ourselves (and others) because of the work Jesus did on the cross for us! The book of Exodus tells Aaron (the priest) to put on the breastplate of judgment. The book of Ephesians tells us (the body of Christ) to put on the breastplate of
righteousness. We are now priests of God (Rev. 1:6)! And we no longer bear the "church" before God in judgment, but in righteousness! All because of the cross!

Already, we have three points to ponder. First, the breastplate of judgment has been replaced by the breastplate of righteousness. Second, instead of only the high priest having a breastplate, we all (speaking of believers in Christ, of course) have our own breastplates... because we're all priests of God. Third, which we haven't yet discussed, is that now, instead of having to go to the temple to carry the "church" before God, we can do it anywhere, any time.

"Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." " (John 4:21-24).

We are now free to approach God anytime, anywhere because of what Jesus did for us on the cross!

Now...watch this! :0)

If you haven't already read it, we suggest you read the page titled "Grapes of Wrath" before continuing, as we'll be referring to that event here. Just as a little refresher: God, in His wrath, poured out His judgment on Jesus by trampling Him (Jesus) in the great winepress of God. This is the "heavenly" version of the "earthly" crucifixion.
While Jesus was hanging on the cross here on earth, He was being trampled in the winepress of God for our sins in heaven. During this time, (the time that Jesus was bearing our judgment), look at what God was wearing:

• 1. The breastplate of righteousness...for He is righteousness
  
• 2. The helmet of salvation...for He is our salvation
  
• 3. Garments of vengeance...for He was carrying out His judgment on the nations (whose place
  Jesus took), punishing them (and us) for their (and our) sins...He was avenging our evil
  
• 4. Zeal, as a cloak...for our wickedness, like His justice and judgment, was great.

Obviously missing are the other items listed in Ephesians 6...the belt of truth, the shield of faith, the shoes of peace, the sword of the Spirit and prayer. Where were they? This is one of the neat things about God. They were right there! Look again and see if you can see them. Need a hint? They were under God's feet...being trampled on. They were in Jesus, and they were Jesus. Like a blacksmith forges armor in the fire, God was forging our armor in His winepress...through Jesus.

When God finishes His work in the winepress, He discards His garments of vengeance, for His judgment has been completed and His wrath carried out.

His cloak of zeal has been discarded because His demands for justice have been met.

He has imparted to us, through Jesus, the breastplate of righteousness.

"Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." (Rom. 10:14).

He has given to us the helmet of salvation...again, through Jesus.

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12).

He has forged for us our own armor:

The belt of truth...Jesus is truth! He is the belt of truth!

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6).

The shield of faith...Jesus is faith. He is the fulfilled promise of God to His children.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1).

Jesus was the substance of the "hoped for" Savior that was promised centuries earlier...the physical manifestation, or evidence...of what had been, up to that point, unseen by man. He had existed before, but had not been seen by man before. Not until He was born of Mary. There is
almost nothing in the Old Testament (before Jesus) on faith. The New Testament (after Jesus) is full of faith. How come?

"It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him..." (Acts 3:16).

What did it say about faith? "...the faith that comes through him". Faith comes to mankind through Jesus!

The shoes of peace...would you believe it? Jesus is not only our truth...our faith...but He is also our peace with God!

"And he will be their peace." (Micah 5:5).

"You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all." (Acts 10:36).

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Rom. 5:1).

The sword of the Spirit...any idea who it was that gave the Holy Spirit to mankind? It was God, of course...through Jesus.

"By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." (John 7:39).

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name..." (John 14:26).

""When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me."" (John 15:26).

And prayer?

Once Jesus provided a way for us to approach God on our own, we can approach Him any time we like, from anywhere we like! We are priests ourselves now (Rev. 1:6) because of what Jesus did on the cross!

Because of Jesus, we have a belt of truth, a shield of faith, shoes of peace, a sword of the Spirit and prayer to put on as armor. Because of Jesus, we are allowed to wear the helmet of salvation.

"Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him..." (Heb. 7:25).

Because of Jesus, we are also allowed to wear the breastplate of righteousness.

"For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." (Rom. 5:19).

Our armor is Jesus! Any way you look at it...it's all Jesus!

Now think about this...if we have the sword of the Spirit...the word of God, and
                         if we have the shield of faith
                         if we have the belt of truth...which is Jesus
                         if we have prayer
                         if we have the shoes of peace
                         if we have the helmet of salvation
                         if we have the breastplate of righteousness ...and righteousness, by the Biblical definition, is believing God...

Then why are we so defeated so often? Because most of us don't take the time to arm ourselves. Or better said, to put on our armor. We don't read the Bible so we don't know what it says. Our sword is dull. The shield of faith we carry is near useless because we don't read the Bible...so we don't know what (or who) to put our faith in. We don't know what a lot of the truth is because...that's right...we don't read our Bible.

Prayer? Most of us use it only when we want something. The shoes of peace? Most of us are usually so bent out of shape over what we don't have or what we feel like we are missing, that there's no peace in our own lives...how can we share it with others if we don't have it ourselves? The breastplate of righteousness...again, we don't know what God
says because we don't read our Bible...so how can we believe it if  we don't know it's there?

The one constant is this...the helmet of salvation.

"...because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Heb. 10:14).

We have healing. But we allow the enemy to cast his sickness on us.
We have peace. But we allow the enemy to keep us in turmoil.
We have freedom. But we allow the enemy to keep us in bondage.
We have faith. But we allow the enemy to keep us in doubt.
We have victory. But we allow the enemy to keep is in defeat.

Why? Because we don't take the time to get to know the One who healed us...who brought us peace...who gave us freedom...who gives us faith...who gave us the victory. We don't take the time to get to know His promises...the gifts, the "weapons", the "armor", the authority, the victory.
 

Once we put on the helmet, we think we have enough. And it is enough for salvation. But is it enough, by itself, to help us through this life? That, my friend, depends on your expectations. It may well be enough for you. Myself? I want more. I want all that God has to give me. I suppose
that's a part of what these pages are about...sharing with you, what He has given to me. I want all that He has to give me!

If you happen to be carrying around a piece of God that I haven't yet received, I would invite you to share with me...and feel free to accept my meager offerings, as well. Together, maybe somehow, as the body of Christ comes together, we will become a whole.

Until then...

"...put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."