The Armor of God

Hebrews 4:12

 

 ¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

 

The Armor of God: 
The Sword of the Spirit: 
The Word of God 

Ephesians 6:17 

 The Bible uses a great variety of metaphors to describe itself.

The Psalms refer to the Word of God as light, giving wisdom and understand, guiding the student of the Word on the path of virtue, and protecting him from wandering into self destruction.

Ps. 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

In Isaiah the Word of God is like water, rain which gives life to a parched earth.

Is. 55:10-11 
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, 
And do not return there, 
But water the earth, 
And make it bring forth and bud, 
That it may give seed to the sower 
And bread to the eater, 
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; 
It shall not return to Me void, 
But it shall accomplish what I please, 
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.Jeremiah referred to the Word of God as a fire, that burned in his soul until he could hold it in no longer (Jeremiah 20:9)

Jesus refers to the Word of God as seed planted in the human heart, which grows, bearing the fruit of faith - both the fruit of salvation for eternity, and the fruit of service on this side of heaven. (Matthew 13:3-8,18-23)

James, the brother of our Lord, says that the Word of God is like a mirror that shows us our true condition. (James 1:22-25)

Several texts compare the Word to food (Proverbs 9; Isaiah 55:1-3; Revelation 10:9-11). And it’s not an occasional snack food. God’s Word will genuinely impact our lives, if only we consume it with a passion, with the attitude that we can never can get enough of it.

And our lesson from Ephesians 6 calls the Word of God the Sword of the Spirit.

The writer of the Book of Hebrews describes in greater detail how the Scripture is like a sword:

Hebrews 4: 12-13 
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.If I were to take a peek into your Bible, and if I were to find there that you have underlined verses, and highlighted texts, and written notes in the margin, then I could predict rather accurately that you understand how God’s Word is like a sword, for you find that you are often stuck with it yourself. The Word has given you insight into the situations and problems you face. The Word has given you insight into the condition of your own soul.

But as our text reminds us, the Word is a tool, a weapon, in our hands as we do battle against the evil one.

The Word is a defensive weapon, that protects us from the assaults of Satan that come in the form of temptations and corrosive emotions. You may recall how Jesus used the Word to refute every single of the temptations Satan hurled at Him (Matthew 4:1-11). And as we mentioned in the introduction to this series, the time to commit that Scripture to memory to have on hand when you will really need it is not when the temptation hits, just as a soldier on the battle field doesn’t start reading the operations manual for gun when the bullet starts flying overhead.

The time to be in the Word and building your life on its foundations is now. And the way you do that is simply to read it, read it, and read it. It ain’t that hard. The Bible has been translated into English. There are a dozen easy English translations and paraphrases on the market. No, not all of them are good translations. But it would be far better to read a mediocre translation that not reading a good one. And as you read, begin memorizing those nuggets-of-gold verses that simply express profound foundational truths. And then start taking on memorizing whole chapters. Psalm 23 should only be the start.

The Word of God, as the Sword of the Spirit, is an offensive weapon as well. Our greatest battle against Satan is in joining with God to snatch the souls of men, women, and children from a certain eternity in hell. So the Word is our primary tool in personal evangelism. And I have found the most effective use of God’s Word in witnessing is to simply apply the Word to specific needs, to the problems that seem insurmountable, or to the ideas and attitudes which devoid of truth.

The enemy uses ropes of doubt, fear, and anger to keep the human race in bondage to hell, and the Holy Spirit uses the Sword of His Word to cut those ropes and set people free.

It is no surprise then, that one of Satan’s tactics is to disarm the Christian and his church of the Sword of the Spirit. The enemy does this by trying to get us to

• deny the authority of the Word
• deny the truthfulness of the Word
• filter the Word through a cult leader or cult organization (rather than letting the whole word speak to us on its own terms).

I have never found useful or even necessary to argue the merits of the Bible. The Bible does that well enough on it’s own. Let me illustrate:

A skeptic who says, "I don’t believe in the Bible," is like a thief who might choose to break into my house in the middle of the night. When I wake up and figure out what is happening, I quietly go to my locked gun case and pull out my shotgun and I load it. Then I call out the thief and notify him that there is a loaded shotgun pointing in his direction. But the thief responds, "Oh, that doesn’t matter. I don’t believe in guns."

Now I don’t need to waste my time and energy arguing with this thief issues related to the Second Amendment. I don’t need to argue the pros-and-cons of private gun ownership. I don’t even need to describe in detail the merits of this particular weapon that I have in hand. There is only one thing I can and should do which will instantly convince the fellow of the truth of my position. Pull the trigger.

So it is with the Word of God. Many a critic and skeptic has been convinced when brought nose to nose with Truth, and when the Holy Spirit has skillfully applied that Truth it the unmanageable needs of the unbeliever’s own life and heart.