(The Divine Armor Part 3)

“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:11,12)

lthough I began this series with the Helmet of Salvation, this is not the first item that Paul listed in the Ephesians passage. The first object listed there pertains to truth, an eternal concept, and perhaps the most basic to Christian understanding. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) And Christ prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.” (John 17:17) The very Word of Yah is truth, for by His Word was all creation spoken into existence (Gen 1:3, Psalms 33:6, John 1:3). This is perhaps the first thing a Christian needs to know; Yah is truth, and His Word is truth.

But why? Why does this need to come first, and why is truth the first principle of the Divine Armor to be mentioned by Paul? The reason is because everything else, even Salvation's helmet, depends upon faith to be of use. We need to believe such things exist – that they are true – and we need to believe we can have them. How can anything else make sense without this? The Bible teaches that without faith, it is impossible to please God or serve Him, and this is also very clear: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Rom 10:17). Fear of the Lord may be the beginning of knowledge, so say the Proverbs, but unless we know the truth about Yah, and that He IS truth, we may as well say, with the hardhearted Pharaoh of Egypt, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2)

Truth is the key to our eternity, and is vital to standing confidently before the Throne. “And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.” (Psa 119:43) Did not the apostles teach us to approach the Father with boldness through Christ? Did they not declare that we were to have confidence in our salvation? Even more to the point, is not truth one of the major aspects of our “new nature” as a child of Yah? Of those who are ultimately redeemed from the earth, among the other passages describing them, we find this: “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” (Rev 14:5) The saints must live in an atmosphere of truth, for where truth is, there also is the Father.

Lies are part of the old nature, that which was crucified with Christ, as Paul explains in Galatians 2:20. In another letter, he writes to believers saying, “Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” (Col 3:9,10) How easy it is to understand! God is truth, and we who serve Him, therefore, will also be born of truth, and act upon truth, and speak truth. If we first acknowledge that Yah is true, we are only then able to trust Him, and to put on other parts of the armor. Truth must first convict us of our need to be saved from our sins; for it is indeed true that we all need Christ Yahshua if we wish to live and never die.

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.” (Eph 6:14)

Loins are perhaps not the primary target of an attacking enemy during a battle. However, any man will tell you it is probably his least favorite spot to be hit. A blow to the arm, or leg, or even the chest, will not necessarily end a fight. But if we have a certain area of our body take damage, we will quickly start waving a white flag. To leave this area exposed is to render every other protective object we are wearing useless against an enemy such as we have, who is able to tempt in all ways.

Loins are the part of the body concerned with reproduction, for both the male and female. A “child of one's loins” refers to direct offspring. In the spiritual sense, reproduction deals largely with gaining brethren for the Kingdom. “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord.” (Isa 54:1) This is echoed, in terms of witnessing, by Paul in Galatians 4:27. If we are to reproduce fruitfully in the spiritual sense, we must have “loins girt about with truth.” Our message of Christ must be without a hint of deception or self-seeking tendencies. What greater reward can there be than knowing we have been an instrument in the eternal salvation in someone as important as ourselves?

By witnessing, we bring ourselves life. As it was done unto us, so we must do unto others in every good thing. Every other part of the body is for the body's own sake: the chest, the legs, the arms... but the loins give life to others, and for this reason, Paul declares that truth, the most basic of the Heavenly principles, must cover this aspect of our beings. Nothing is arbitrary in the Word of Yah. Even when speaking of defending ourselves against Satan, the writer, under the inspiration of the Spirit, is calling us to be faithful witnesses to the glory and saving grace of Yahshua. What soldier is for his own benefit? What armed man stands alone on a battlefield? We must, even as we battle, remember our purpose, our true cause. We are here to serve others.

“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Mat 23:11) Naturally this takes humility. “And He said, 'Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'“ (Mat 18:3,4) Someone who is seeking the Kingdom of Heaven merely for his own glory, or to escape judgment for the salvation of himself alone will not be able to do this. The twin of one such as this is Judas, who will betray the brethren when tribulations are near. Read the record of the last supper to see this scenario acted out in dramatic fashion.

The remedy to this, the key to true humility, is to understand only the truth. “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” (Mat 18:11) We are all equally deserving of death, for as long as we hold onto the sinful nature that we inherited from Adam's “loins,” we are out of harmony with love, and out of harmony with all reality. But Christ bids us to take our burdens to Him, who will bear them for us, and pay the penalty for sin. Knowing this truth, and realizing our true selves, as fallen beings in need of a Savior; we will find that humility is a natural result of beholding ourselves through Yah's eyes. Only then will our offspring be numerous.

After Adam and Eve sinned (Gen 3:7), their first instinct was to cover their nakedness. Before this, “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.” (Gen 2:25) It was not until a lie entered into their lives by the words of the serpent in Genesis 3:3 that they felt the need to be shielded. A lie will uncover our nakedness, it will expose the natural, sinful man, no matter how good our motive may seem to be at the time. Adam's second recorded sentence after falling was already mixed with the poison of deception, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Not an outright falsehood, perhaps, but already he was seeking to justify his error by passing the blame. There was “guile found in his mouth.”

But unto the serpent this promise was made, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Gen 3:15) Yes, there will be trouble for the honest and righteous in this life, but it is as a bruise to the heel, they are “light afflictions,” as Paul calls it. But as for the liar, as for the followers of Satan, their wound will be to the head, and it will be a fatal blow. But see again references to reproduction. The woman's “seed” and Satan's offspring would be at war. The very last book of the Bible, Revelation, tells of this. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev 12:17)

Yah clothed the nakedness of the first couple after their fall with animal skins (Gen 3:21), and so it is for the lovers of truth in the last days, for we are clothed with Christ, the Word, for the Word is truth. Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit, and so will our lives be made perfect, and Christ-like, only in conjunction with this Spirit, which is called, in John chapter 16, “The Comforter, the Spirit of truth” who will “guide you into all truth.” (John 16:7,13) The Girding of Truth is a call to be faithful witnesses, having the honest testimony of Christ Yahshua for the salvation of souls, including our own.

As we look more closely at the girding:

We notice the mark upon the belt:

So far, we have seen an image of a man upon the helmet of salvation and a lion upon the breastplate of righteousness. Now, on the girding of truth, we see a bull. In many ancient cultures, the bull (or calf) was a symbol of fertility. Aside from the now obvious association with loins, there is also a deeper, Scriptural meaning. Though we haven't gotten to the Eagle yet, the four beings mentioned here are representations of the aspects of Yah. The four angels which stand around the throne in Revelation 4:7, Ezekiel 1:10 and Ezekiel 10:14.

Of the four, the Bull is the only creature that is offered as a sacrifice. When the prodigal son returns home, a calf is slain in celebration. For sin offerings in the atonements, a bullock (castrated bull) was used as a substitute for the transgressor, as was also the case during the dedication of a priest (Lev 8:14). Thus the bull is intimately associated with both reproduction and matters of life and death. As a lamb is the symbol of innocence slain in the death of Christ, so is the bull a representation of the life-giving vigor, which was similarly spilled for our sakes.

It was the consumption of a bull by heavenly flames on Elijah's altar (1 Kings 18:30-39) that demonstrated to the Israelites who the true God was, Yah or Baal. Before the sacrifice the prophet prayed, “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou are the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back again.” (1 Kings 18:37) So it will be with us, as we go to prepare the way for the coming of Christ, as we go forth to tell the truth about our holy and gracious God. But we must remember as we do so that we are humble and honest messengers of the King, doing all things without deception, undue secrecy or falsehoods of any kind, “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His works are done in truth.” (Psalms 33:4)

One may notice that “Lying” is not listed among the seven deadly sins, as they are called by some theologians. The principles of Pride, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, Lust and Gluttony do not seem to be directly connected with deception. Indeed, a lie can be used to justify any of these, and denial is the very language of the unrepentant. We find, however, that none of these sins ARE lies in themselves, except for one. Pride may be based upon actual merits; envy is the desire of things not our own; a lazy person may be quite honest about his sloth, and the wrathful, greedy and gluttonous may always find reasons to justify their actions without resorting to direct trickery.

But Lust begins in the mind. Indeed, it remains there until it acts itself out by some other sin. It is an aspect of both envy and greed that is inherently based upon a lie. By the word “lust,” the Scripture does not merely indicate sexual covetousness, and it is often a difficult concept to separate from envy, particularly in modern language. Lust is a mental addiction, a habitual fantasizing about things or people that are not our own. To “look upon a woman with lust,” is not merely to acknowledge that there is beauty in physical attributes, for “God created them male and female,” (and we need only read the Song of Solomon to realize we were intended to be appealing to each other within the proper context) but to look with lust is to willfully harbor desires which have no basis in righteousness.

As you see, the concepts of the armor build upon each other. The choice to claim salvation leads to a condition of righteousness, and upon taking that step, one becomes a witness to and vessel of the truth as it is in Christ (but that same truth must first draw us, which is why it is listed first by Paul). But if we cling to our lusts, the desires of the flesh, have we truly died to our former selves? To indulge our lust is to still be living as the “old man!” “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Gal 5:16) Lust is the lie behind every “work of the flesh” described in Galatians 5:19-21. It is a denial of the death of self to sin, which the Word declares that a Christian WILL have experienced. One who walks knowingly after his lusts denies Christ's sacrifice, and if he continues in it, he will have lied to the Spirit itself, the result of which is death. (see Acts 5:4)

If we are workers of truth and not falsehood, we will have nothing to be ashamed of – not before men, and not before Yah. The truth will cover our shame, just as Christ has covered our sinfulness in His own righteousness. The most vulnerable part of ourselves, our ability to speak the Word to others, will be girt, incorruptible, and to any who would stand against us, the truth will be like fire proceeding out of our mouths to devour them (Rev 11:5). Let the body of Christ have no unnecessary secrets among its members, but let us “confess our faults, one to another,” and thereby come into one accord. If we shall act in this manner, the return of the Son of man will not be far off. If the Spirit therefore convicts us of lust, or any sin of which we are formerly guilty, let us not despair, but “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;” (1 John 2:1) and if we honestly confess and repent, He will restore us and return us to our rightful place – as true heirs of His Kingdom.

David.

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