"Finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His
might. Put on the whole armour 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, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil days, and having done all, to stand. Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and
having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints, and for me, that utterance may be given
unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known
the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador
in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to
speak." (Eph. 6:10-20).
I think it is well
known to you that the Letter to the Ephesians in
the New Testament corresponds to the Book of Joshua in
the Old. As to the Book of Joshua, the Lord told His
people, before ever they went into the land, that He had
given the land to them; that every place that the sole of
their foot should rest upon was already theirs by gift;
that already the land was their possession, and the
enemies were subdued. In Him it was already a concluded
matter. Yet when they actually came into the land, they
found that they had to fight for every inch of it.
There was no contradiction really in that, because they
were fighting in something that the Lord had already
done. We have often put it this way - they were fighting in
a victory rather than for a victory. It was a
case of faith's possessing rather than of faith's
receiving. Now there, of course, it was the matter of the
inheritance and the enlargement of their possessions; and
they did not come to possess any part, to extend and
spread themselves out over the land, except by meeting a
challenge all the way along and overcoming that
challenge.
That is exactly the
position here with the Church in the heavenlies. The
heavenlies in "Ephesians" corresponds to the
land in the Book of Joshua - that is, the heavenlies in
Christ Jesus. It is the Lord in all the fulness of His
ascended life and position, and that fulness is for the
Church. It is to be His fulness, but the possession by
the Church of any measure of Christ, the possession of
any fragment of spiritual fulness and enlargement, comes
along the line of spiritual conflict. The Lord left the
enemy in the land; even when He said that He had given it
to His people and would subdue their enemies under them,
He did not go ahead and drive the enemy out. He left them
to do that. Although in the Cross the enemy is defeated
and everything is secured to the Church, the Lord has
left the enemy in order that the Church may come, not to
a mechanical or theoretical position of fulness, but to
an actual, spiritual position. The enemy therefore is the
Lord's instrument of bringing the Church to its place
along the line of conflict.
The inheritance, of
course, has its two sides in this letter. The Lord has an
inheritance in the saints; that is, the Lord's people are
His inheritance. There is the other side, where the
inheritance of the saints is the Lord Himself; and these
two in realization - the Lord getting what He has set His
heart upon having, and our coming into that to which the
Lord has called us - is a matter of spiritual enlargement
day by day by means of spiritual conflict.
The
Need For Strength Of Spirit
What does this amount
to? In a word, it is a matter of strength of spirit. Our
spiritual measure is a matter of how strong we are
spiritually. Therefore this section begins with,
"Finally, be strong in the Lord (or, from henceforth
be made powerful in the Lord) and in the strength of His
might"; that is your measure, and spiritual strength
is decided in spiritual conflict. If we go down easily
under opposition and pressure, soon give up and fade out
because things begin to get difficult, that determines
just our measure of spiritual strength, our measure of
Christ. From one standpoint, you have to measure Christ
by His contact with the enemy. Go back to His life on the
earth, and see how far the enemy was able to gain
advantage, to bring Him down, and you discover that he
was not able at all, at any point, in any circumstances.
The Lord proved His spiritual measure against the whole
force of spiritual opposition. Satan and all his kingdom
is matched against the one Man - and the one Man
overcomes, casts out the prince of this world, subdues
his kingdom and takes his authority. The measure of
Christ is seen as over against the enemy; and our
spiritual measure is determined in this combat with the
enemy. Simply, then, our spiritual measure is a matter of
spiritual strength.
That is seen here in
these two ways. As the rest of the passage shows, there
are many forms in which the enemy comes to break in, to
get vantage ground. We cannot here pursue all the things
represented by the armour, but each of these parts of the
whole armour mentioned points to some form of enemy
assault. The helmet suggests a blow at the head, that is,
a spiritual assault upon the mind. How far is the mind
impregnable to assaults? We know the terrific assaults of
the enemy upon our minds, to capture them, to dominate
our thinking, our reasoning. Another time he will make a
terrific assault upon our hearts - our feelings,
emotions, affections, desires. The breastplate suggests
this form of spiritual attack. Another time the very
vitals, the loins, are assailed, as suggested by the
girdle of truth. The enemy will, as we say, 'hit us below
the belt' if he can. There is a suggestion here of a form
of spiritual assault at a place where we shall be
thoroughly wounded if we are not careful, if we have not
provision made. So you go through the whole armour in
each part, and you find every part signifies some form of
spiritual conflict, the point at which the conflict is
being concentrated at a given time. Today it will be at
one point, tomorrow at another. Am I able to meet the
enemy in strength? Can I spiritually meet him in the
mind? Can I spiritually meet him in the heart, where all
the feelings are centred? That determines what my
spiritual measure is. So, to begin with, it is strength
in that sense, which is our need.
The
Need For Intelligence
But then it is also a
matter of intelligence. The two things which mark
spiritual degree are strength and intelligence. You find
that all the way through the New Testament. It is a
matter of understanding as well as of being strong. There
is a sense in which we may be strong, but not accomplish
very much by our strength because it is not accompanied
by intelligence. On the other hand, we may have a sort of
intelligence and know all about things, and yet not stand
up to them. These two factors must go together. So the
word here is "the wiles of the devil." It is
not only his fierce onslaught in strength that has to be
reckoned with, but also his wiliness. He knows where to
attack at a given time, and just when it is the best time
to make a particular kind of assault; and very often he
works up a situation that is very suitable to his
purpose. He will get us moving very much in our minds,
thinking, scheming, reasoning, and then he will make a
terrific blow to bring us down through our minds.
Sometimes he is moving altogether in the realm of our
feelings, stirring these up, bringing about situations
that touch our hearts very deeply. At that moment it is
the emotional life that is the danger point, and then he
makes a terrific onslaught upon that. He is very wily,
very intelligent, very knowing.
To counter that, we
need to have spiritual intelligence to see his intention
and to be alive to his tactics. Spiritual intelligence is
a matter of spiritual measure. How often someone has gone
down under an assault of the enemy, completely knocked
out; and someone else comes along and says, 'Did you not
see so-and-so - how the enemy has been working up to
this, and getting you in the end in a position for which
he has been manoeuvering?' They reply, 'If only I had
seen that, I should not have given way!' If we have
intelligence to meet the wiles, we have spiritual
measure. The need is not only of being strong in the
sense of digging our heels in and clenching our fists,
but of having intelligent strength, A very strong
man can be, after all, thoroughly overcome by a little
cleverness; beaten, not because of counter-strength, but
by a wile.
Christ
An Adequate Defence In Every Assault
Paul himself was an
outstanding example of strength combined with
intelligence. Think of his position when he was writing
these very things. "I am an ambassador in
chains" (Eph. 6:20). What a contradiction! How
absurd! Paul, in that chain, in his imprisonment, had a
very great deal of reason to give up, to weaken, to take
the hopeless attitude; but in actual fact he was very
strong. He might also have despaired of coping with the
whole situation which confronted him, not only
personally, but in the churches - he could have been
completely defeated by the whole complex of the
situation. But he is displaying a wonderful wisdom. This
armour, as Paul picks it up and transfers it to the
spiritual life, indicates a great deal of wisdom on his
part. Think it through, piece by piece. For the assault
upon the mind - the helmet of salvation. How apt, how
suited to the situation it is! The assault upon the heart
- what is that? What is it that gets us down more than
anything else from the enemy? It is a spirit of
accusation, of condemnation, bringing home to our hearts
a sense of our own wickedness and unworthiness and
unprofitableness, to cause our hearts to sink in despair.
Paul so wisely says, 'The remedy for that is to put on
the breastplate of righteousness - but not your own
righteousness. Meet the enemy with the righteousness of
Another; it is the only way to meet this assault.' Go
through each part, and you find it is so wise a
provision, so understanding. At every point, Paul is
exhibiting this wonderful understanding, and showing his
measure: for Paul could have gone down under these things
as easily as any other man if he had taken another
attitude. He could have argued, 'All these churches have
turned against me, all these brethren have forsaken me;
here I am in prison, shut up: the Lord must have
something against me, there must be something very wrong
with me.' If he had taken that on, it would not have been
long before he would have been a prisoner in the inner
dungeon of the castle of Giant Despair. But he had taken
up the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of
righteousness and the rest of the armour, and he showed
his measure. We cannot stand as equals with him, but he
does indicate for us what spiritual enlargement really
means; it is being strong and wise in conflict. So
spiritual degree resolves itself into a matter of
spiritual strength and spiritual understanding in the
time of conflict.
Originally published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Sept-Oct 1949,
Vol. 27-5.