STANDING UNITED FULLY ARMED AND READY FOR BATTLE

The idea that “no man is an island” expresses that we cannot live in isolation. But can we?

We are continuing our study of the Book of Ephesians. This week, we are looking at Ephesians 6:10-20. Continuing the emphasis on unity, Paul makes a crucial point that affects not only the Ephesians but everyone who joins the Christian army. When we join forces with Jesus, our battle becomes spiritual. Thus, we need supernatural powers to fight this war. Here, we talk about how we can obtain it.

You may view our past and present videos at SabbathSchoolDaily.com.

You may obtain the study guide for this series at Sabbath.School or ssnet.org, all of which are at no cost to you. 

Let Us Inviting God’s Presence:

God Most High, we are no match for the enemy when we stand independently. Connect us with those who love you and desire nothing more than to serve you. Unite us through Jesus Christ. Help us move in unity as we fight in this cosmic battle against evil.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

God made us social beings. Whether we realize it or not, we are influenced and interdependent by the communities and relationships that we are a part of. We especially need the united support of those with the same mind and purpose in this battle against evil.

In a broader sense, people rely on each other for support, companionship, and understanding. The necessary social bonds and relationships in our lives highlight our need for interconnectedness through our emotions, experiences, or interactions with others. Our actions and choices can have an impact on those around us, and though many may refuse humbly to admit it, we are not entirely self-sufficient or independent.

We are in the battle for our eternal life. This battle is one that we cannot fight alone.

The Book This Day with God points out that in this battle for our eternal life, “The Lord will work with every sincere, devoted soldier of the cross. But no man can be a good soldier who thinks he must work independently of his fellow worker, who regards his own judgment as the best. God’s workers must blend together, one supplying what the other lacks—This Day With God, p. 125.

We must be prepared to stand united against Satan and his evil army.

This is the point Paul makes in Ephesians 6:10 -20 in his use of war as imagery to help us understand that we are in the middle of a fierce cosmic battle. The imagery of war helps us see that we cannot fight this battle alone.

 We need help. We need help from our fellow soldiers, and most of all, we need help from Jesus Christ, our commander and chief.

Paul makes this point over and over again.

Read what he says in the following verses on how critical it is not to attempt to fight this battle on your own: Romans 13:11–14; 1 Thessalonians 5:6–8; 2 Corinthians 10:3–6 and Read Ephesians 6:10–20.

Thus, we need help from our fellow soldiers and, most importantly, from God-Most High. We cannot fight this battle by ourselves!

As we have already seen, Paul uses the imagery of war and battles to explain the spiritual conflict between good and evil. Paul invites us to fight like good soldiers in this war against evil. He also uses imagery about war and battles to help us understand the Gospel Story, the Good News about Jesus, and what he did on the cross to win the battle against Satan and his evil angels. Colossians 2:15 tells us Jesus. 

15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:15)

Now, Jesus is fighting for us in heaven. When we accept him as our Lord and Savior, Jesus signs us up to join His huge army. He is the one who leads His army into battle to win the war against Satan. 

Notice what it says in I Corinthians 15:54-58 about what happens to the people of God in this cosmic battle between good and evil.

54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (I Corinthians 15:54-58)

And what happens to Satan and his evil army?

2 Thessalonians 2:8

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:8)

And Romans 16:20

20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. (Romans 16:20)

As we read Paul’s letters, we see that Paul recognizes that the cosmic battle between good and evil “has been going on for a long time. This war has been fought at different times and places in human history. God’s army fights against Satan’s army, and the earth is the battlefield. God and Satan will continue to fight this war until one army wins the final battle.”—Peter W. Macky, Saint Paul’s Cosmic War Myth: A Military Version of the Gospel (New York: Peter Lang, 1998), page 1, adapted.

In Paul’s “battle cry” in Ephesians 6:10–20, he talks about several ideas that we have discussed in our previous videos on Ephesians.

If you have not watched them, you can view them on SabbathSchoolDaily.com or on my YouTube channel, Sabbath School by Dr. Brenda Ware Davis.

In Ephesians, Paul presents the following ideas:

 (1) God makes Christians strong with His might (Ephesians 1:18–20 and Ephesians 3:16, 20).

(2) Jesus wins the fight against Satan and his evil angels (Ephesians 1:20–23). (3) In the past, we were dead in our sins. But now, Jesus gives us life and invites us to join His army. Furthermore, Jesus gives us the strength we need to fight against Satan, who was our old master (Ephesians 2:1–10).

(4) God gives us the job of showing Satan and His angels their coming doom (Ephesians 3:10).

(5) Paul uses Psalm 68:18 to show us that Jesus is a powerful Warrior who came from heaven to rescue us. ( Ephesians 4:7–11).

(6) Paul commands the people of God, Christians (the followers of Christ), to “put on clothes” that proclaim the Good News: Ephesians 4:24.

The Good News is the same as a battle suit. When we wear the battle suit, which is the full armor of God, we are saying we are ready and prepared to withstand the cosmic battle between God and Satan. Furthermore, we are secure in the hope that Jesus will share with us His ultimate victory against Satan.

Knowing this, what should our next move be? Read Ephesians 6:10-20 and proceed to Part 4: Standing on the Ancient Battlefield

Ephesians

(Lesson 12)

The Call to Stand

Part 5 Standing on the Ancient Battlefield

In every age since the fall of Adam, the opposition of evil agencies has made the lives of those who would be loyal and true to God’s commandments a continual and miserable warfare. 

Those who would at last be victorious must meet and conquer the forces of Satan, who, with fierce determination, oppose every step of advance. Therefore, we must meet a vigilant foe, a crafty enemy who never sleeps and who tries untiringly to undermine the faith of God’s servants. . . . —In Heavenly Places, p. 260 adapted.

This is why Paul in Ephesians 6:10–20 repeatedly tells us to stand.

What exactly does Paul mean in Ephesians 6:11, 13, 14 when he says that we must “stand”?

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (Ephesians 6:11,13-14)

“Stand” is a military term. It is a word picture that shows how ancient soldiers fought in battle. To help us understand how soldiers “stood” and fought in ancient Bible times, we read the battle speeches of Thucydides. Thucydides was a writer who lived during Bible times. He was one of the great classical authors of battle literature. In his writings, he said that an army must do three things to win a war:

(1) Soldiers must “close with the enemy.” Soldiers must march forward to meet their enemies.

(2) Soldiers must attack the enemy and stand “stand fast,” stand our ground,” to fight the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. In other words, the soldiers must not ever turn and run away.

(3) Soldiers must “beat back the enemy.” They must push back the enemy (Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War [New York: E.P. Dutton, 1910], 4.10.1–5).

The thing is the most important part of the battle happened when the two armies came face-to-face with one another. It is at this point that they crash into each other, making “a terrible noise.

If you were standing on the sideline, you could hear the “awful sound of brass armor and weapons, wooden shields, and bodies crashing together.”—Victor Davis Hanson, The Western Way of War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), pages 152, adapted. 

The point is, if an army wanted to win the fight, they had to stand firm and strong. They could not turn and run away when the other army came running toward them, trying to push them back. Standing firm, standing their ground at this strategic moment, was the great challenge of ancient battle, but it was crucial to winning the battle.

 The close hand-to-hand combat from both sides increased the intensity and momentum of the battle. Each soldier standing their ground in the fierce battle was crucial to victory.

So, when Paul tells Christians to “stand strong” in Ephesians 6:14, ERV), he wants them to see a picture of soldiers “fighting close together in hand-to-hand combat with their enemy.

Victor Davis Hanson, in his book on The Western Way of War, describes it as “soldier crunched together, giving and receiving hundreds of blows at close range. —, , page 152, adapted.

This helps us understand why Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that our war against Satan and his army of evil angels is like hand-to-hand combat.

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

So, what does Paul’s imagery of war teach us?

It teaches us that we have no time to relax in our fight against Satan and his evil angels. We must never throw up our hands, turn, and run away. Instead, we must vigorously and continuously be engaged in battle.  We must use every weapon that Jesus gives us to win this battle. 

This is the point Paul makes in Philippians 1:27 when he tells the Christians at Philippi to in unity “stand fast”

Philippians 1:27

27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel

And Hebrews 12:4 brings it home:

4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:4)

In other words, the battle against sin and evil is constant; there is no let-up. This battle will not end until Satan and all his evil angels are destroyed, and God gives us a new heaven and a new earth.

We, therefore, can never underestimate the forces against us. We must always be heavily armed. How can we stay fully armed and ready for battle? Continue to Part 6: Wrestling Against Evil Powers

Ephesians

(Lesson 12)

The Call to Stand

Part 6: Wrestling Against Evil Powers

Paul describes the evil spiritual powers we fight against in several ways.

For example:

In Ephesians 1:21, he describes them as principalities, powers, might, and dominions;

In Ephesians 3:10, they are called principalities and powers in the heavenly places, and

In Ephesians 6:10–20, they are described as principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Using the sport of wrestling as imagery, Paul describes our fight against evil spiritual powers in Ephesians 6:12 as a fight that is the same as wrestling.

Wrestling is a sport between two fighters or wrestlers in which one wrestler tries to pin or hold down the other wrestler so that he can’t move or get up.

The person who wins the wrestling match is the one who throws or forces the other person down to the ground and holds them there.

In Paul’s time, many soldiers actually practiced wrestling to get in shape and get ready for war. So, the sport of wrestling is a good illustration of the hand-to-hand combat that occurs when two armies come together for battle.

So, Paul uses wrestling as imagery to help us better understand the real fight that happens between us and evil angels. 

However, the comforting thing is

In Ephesians 1:21, Paul says that Jesus is above all evil powers. Jesus is more powerful than principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness.

But does that mean we can relax and take it easy in the spiritual war against evil? Absolutely not!

Listen to what it says in the Book Heavenly Places: “God expects His soldiers to be ever on duty. Never are they to yield to temptation, never to be unjust. They are neither to yield nor flee. Relying on the strength of God, they are to maintain their integrity. With a firmness that will not yield an inch, they are to hold fast to the word, “It is written.”—In Heavenly Places, p. 260.

Paul in Ephesians 6:12 warns us that we don’t fight only against flesh and blood, human enemies. We fight against evil angels.

In Ephesians 6:11, we see that Satan is their general. So, we must be ready at all times to fight. We must stay strong in faith. At the same time, we don’t need to be afraid because God is with us in this fight. That is what Ephesians 6:10 tells us. God gives us the best weapons to fight with. God gives us His own battle suit, his own body armor. It is described in Ephesians 6:11.

This description is borrowed from Isaiah 59:15–17:

15 So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.

17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak. (Isaiah 59:15-17)

We have this same promise (the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:13–17: (Split)

We stand therefore with our waisted girded with truth, putting on the breastplate of righteousness, shoeing our feet with the gospel of peace, and above all, having the shield of faith which has the power to block all the fiery bullets of the wicket one. And we place the helmet of salvation on our head and the sword of the Spirit in our hands. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God.

 Then, God goes ahead of us into the war. His battle suit covers us from head to toe. So, there’s no way we can fail. This we are assured of in the following scriptures:

Romans 16:20

20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. (Romans 16:20)

I Corinthians 15:23-24

23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. (I Corinthians 15:23-24)

2 Thessalonians 2:8

8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:8) (Split)

We can’t fight against the powers of evil on our own. We need help. Jesus is stronger than Satan and all his evil angels. Jesus won the fight against them at the cross. Therefore, as Christians, as the people of God, we stand united in Jesus Christ, holding on to Him, for he is our only hope if we expect to win the fight against evil. Therefore, we stand united, fully armed, and ready for battle.

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