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Armour
Category:
- Weapon
«For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God»
(Eph. 6:12-17)
In these lines apostle Paul shows us on the example of a Roman warrior, what kind of armour we should have in order to be able to win a victory over devil. At the times of St. Apostle Paul, a Roman warrior was associated with the greatest military force; he had been a symbol of power and invincibility of the Roman Empire. If compared to our times, that should be a weapon of a well-trained soldier who is ready for the battle at every moment of day and night. And every Christian should be in the same alertness. We have to struggle for every centimeter of the battle-front. We are called to conquer the territory for God, our King, extending His Kingdom. It's not just a call; it's an order of the King of kings:
«Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.»
(Eph. 6:13)
From this line we see that God appeals to us through St.Paul in the imperative mood. I.e. we have to take up the whole armour of God, and for our struggle to be effective we have to handle it well, and we can obtain this only when we get well-familiar with the weapon itself, how to use it, as well as by constant active training. In other case, in the «evil day» we wouldn't be able to stand firm and what's more - to win. We have to mention that by words «evil day» apostle Paul means not the end of the world, but everyday attack of devil. We should under no condition treat this giddily.
Christ is our Commander-in-Chief, through St.Paul He explains to His army how important and urgent this order is. And we should accomplish it all now.
Let's imagine a battle field, where bullets fly, we are attacked, and our Commander, who knows well what should be done so as His warriors wouldn't die, by His order stimulates us to perform some specific action, and we skip this order. What then? Obviously, in such case, we stand only two chances - to be dead, or to be taken prisoners. The same thing is in spiritual world: when we do not listen to God's voice, we become an easy prey of the enemy, i.e. we become spiritually dead. There is only one way to remain alive in total war between Good and Evil - to be completely obedient to Supreme Commander-in-Chief - Jesus:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
(John 8:51)
It's very important to mention that Roman warriors performed common actions, especially in case of large in scale operations. They rushed to the attack and defended themselves with full detachments, supporting each other. This shows that common participation of whole Christ's Church is needed in the battle for the important victory. Romans knew well that one in the field is not a warrior.
We shouldn't forget that military armour may be «put on» only by a person who has living relationships with Jesus Christ. They are to be the basis of our way of life.
An interesting fact is that there is no spear and arows in the list of armour. At those times, spear had been considered to be a weapon of cowards. Roman warriour couldn't be considered a coward at all! Arrows also aren't mentioned, unless as enemy's weapon. They were used when a city had been in encirclement. Thus, knowing that we are warriors of Christ, we shouldn't be cowards and step back. If we use full armour in completeness, we will never find ourselves in encirclement. When the Holy Scriptures says that arrows are the weapon of devil, It says that it's actually not we, but devil who is in a defensive position. Devil does not assault the Kingdom of God - warriors of the Heavenly Kingdom have to suppress last cells of devil's resistance.
It's worth mentioning that the back of a Roman warrior was not protected and in case if he would like to run away from a battle field, the enemy's arrow would easily strike him. It means that the Christ's warrior doesn't have a right to run away from a battle field, because Jesus says that we have everything we need to win.
Farther on, we will consider each of the armour kinds in detail, and we will learn how to use it.
Before proceeding to consideration of every kind of armour which St.Paul describes, it's important to emphasize that St.Apostle gives us an order to take up the whole armour of God (see Еph. 6:13). Without this, we wouldn't even be able to protect ourselves effectively.
About this, read farther.
