Ephesians 6

Ephesians 6:10-24

Division 6. (Ephesians 6:10-24.)Conflict and the way of victory. We have now, in closing, a look at the hindrances that there will surely be to the filling just such a position as the epistle gives us. The highest position is that which will be most strongly contested. That in which we are most distinctly Christian, the enemy will oppose with all his power. The conflict in Ephesians is not conflict with the flesh. There is no question that Satan must work upon the flesh if he is to succeed in it. That is true, but we are never exactly called to conflict with the flesh.

The lusts of the flesh war against the soul. We are not to war with them, but to abstain from them. If we are “dead to sin” and to reckon ourselves dead, that is not fighting. If there be conflict, it is the result of not having reckoned ourselves dead. Here, however, it is an enemy who is contemplated, and we must not think that the height of our position and the blessedness of the things which are set before us here will bring us upon ground unassailable to the enemy. When Israel got to Canaan, it was just there that they had to fight, and fight for the possession of that which God made their own.

We have to remember what is the great point of the conflict here therefore, a conflict which we shall little feel if we are not bent upon possessing ourselves of what is our own. On the other hand, if to lay hold of these heavenly things is the earnest desire of our souls, we shall find, nevertheless, that we need all the strength which is ours and all the resources of God for us, in order to prevail in the conflict. The very first point here is that strength is to be “in the Lord.” We are to fight “in the power of His might.” How comforting is that title which is given to Christ here! He is, in fact, the Lord of all, and though Satan may seem to have things here entirely under his sway, yet after all, he is a beaten foe, and only part of the “all things” that “work together for good to those that love God.” That does not mean that we can afford to be careless in the least with regard to it. On the contrary, we must “put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand.” It will not do to have part of it firmly on and some other part wanting. Satan will be keen to observe the deficiency, and we cannot be rightly for God if we are not for Him in every way. It is, in fact, -as we shall see directly, -this being for Him in every respect, that is our armor to withstand the enemy. Let us notice that it is “against the wiles of the devil” that we have to stand, not against his power, for he has none in the presence of God, but his “wiles” are things that test us. We must have the wisdom of God to meet them with.

We must be able to discern “things that differ;” error in its nicest shades and its closest approximation to the truth. It is the devil we are meeting, and that gives character to his assaults. He is the accuser, the accuser of the brethren, the accuser of God, surely, to the brethren. His whole aim is to put distance between the soul and God. If he cannot do that, we are safe. But the struggle then is not against flesh and blood; it is not such a struggle, after all, as Israel under Joshua had.

Kings seemed to swarm in Canaan. There were abundance of principalities with which they had to deal, all of which have a correspondence in our case. Against us are principalities and powers, “the rulers of the darkness of this world.” Here is a hint, -more than that, -of the method of attack. The darkness is the “darkness of this world.” It is the world which Satan knows how to use and which he will bring in to cloud our perception as Christians, our realization of the things that are our own. Thus, in the book of Joshua, we find that while the Canaanite leaders answer to these evil spirits in the heavenly places, yet, in fact, as soon as ever Israel got into the land, Jericho had to fall, and Jericho is the world itself. Yet, that same world judged in the mass, may in detail spring up again, and thus Ai, in opposition against which they failed, reminds us at once of Jericho, even in its ashes. Then follows the deceit of Gibeon, and all through, it is the power of the world in some shape that is pictured in what they have to meet. In fact, Satan’s aim will be surely, with the heavenly man, to bring in the things of earth through which he has of necessity to pass, to cloud the brightness of that heavenly blessing. Here, of necessity, is a strife for us from which we cannot escape, for one’s sphere of duty is in the world, in which we have to serve God. Our occupation is in it, and thus we are brought face to face with that in which the power of Satan easily displays itself. Sight and sense will seek to prevail against faith, not so much by what is open attack as by simply the crowding out of that which is the joy and power of the soul. We need, therefore, to take “the whole armor of God,” in order to be “able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” There are special evil days, that we shall all recognize.

There are times when the power of the enemy is gathered against us in a very unmistakable way, -after all, perhaps, not the times in which we are in the greatest danger. After success has been obtained in some sore strife, and we are in the joy of victory, then there may be, on the other hand, a carelessness brought in by the very victory itself, which may allow us to fall, as it might seem, without a battle.

Gideon defeats the hosts of the Midianites and Amalekites, a host without number. When he has gained the victory, he falls without a battle at all, as we realize in the ephod which he makes, which is, in fact, a thing bred of the very place which God has given him. He has offered sacrifices before at God’s command. This entitles him, as it seems to him, to intrude upon the functions of the regular priesthood, and this connects, no doubt, with the further and worse failure in his family afterwards. When he has refused the kingship in Israel for himself, his son Abimelech grasps it in a more open manner. Thus, when we have done all, we have to stand. Nothing but humility, the constant sense of our dependence upon Another, the watchfulness which comes from this consciousness of inherent weakness, will enable us to find constant success. The details of the armor are now presented to us. First of all, our loins are to be “girt about with truth.” “Truth,” notice, comes here first, -the action of the Word; and what does it do for us? It girds the loins. It prevents our garments, our habits, as we may interpret it, hindering us. The power of heavenly truth upon our souls will make us, in our whole character here, simply as those who are passing through and not settling down. Our garments in that way will never be loose about us. The strife is constant. As far as it goes, we must not expect rest.

We have a rest, indeed, in Christ at all times, but that is another thing. The time of rest has not come. We are to be as soldiers of Christ, who, as the apostle says, are not to entangle themselves with the things of this world. When the enemy is meeting us with the darkness of this world, how important for us, first of all, this girdle about the loins! Next comes the “breastplate of righteousness.” The breastplate covers a vital part. If indeed there is not righteousness with us, the accuser has a fair means of attack. He is Adonizedek, the lord of righteousness. Righteousness is his constant plea before God when he would sift us, as he sifted Job or as he sifted.

Peter. If we are God’s wheat, we must expect such sifting, which accomplishes, after all, as we know already, both in Job’s case and in Peter’s, that which is blessing for us; but at the same time it puts us to the test. Righteousness, let us remember, is practical consistency with our position and relationships, and thus if we are indeed heavenly men, this righteousness will be a very different thing from what the world would call such. The only righteous thing for us is to be practically what we are professedly in every thing, and even the showing of mercy is only righteousness for those who have had mercy shown them, nor can righteousness exist apart from the love which we owe men at all times. Thus, the “breastplate of righteousness” is indeed important, and we see how the truth must have gone before it, to put us in the place which defines for us what practical righteousness must be with us. Next, we have the feet shod for the way. We remember, as to Israel, how perfectly their feet were shod, how their shoes never wore out, spite of the flinty desert they were traversing all the forty years of their journey through. Our feet are shod differently, but, of course, in a higher way. Our “preparation” is that which is wrought by the effect of “the gospel of peace.” It is not a question of carrying the gospel to others. It is our feet that are shod with this “preparation;” it is a peace which God has preached to us in it, the peace with Himself, which gives peace, therefore, as to all things: “For, if God be for us, who can be against us?” It is this peace that arms the feet, then, for all the difficulties of the way. What circumstances are there which are not in His hand?

What difficulties can be too much for Him? The wilderness is still the wilderness. The trials and difficulties are there. They are best met in the consciousness of our being unable to meet them, but they must be met also with the faith that the God of peace Himself is with us and that He will give us peace always, by all means. That is the Lord’s word for His people. “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace.” Here are shoes that never wear out. How blessed the experience of the way in which God has furnished us thus! The body is thus perfectly provided for, but still we have need of the shield of faith “over all,” as we should read. This is that practical confidence in God which should never fail us at all times, even in the midst of the sense of failure and the need of self-judgment. Let the armor be fitted to us as it may, there is always room for some apprehension, if we simply think about ourselves, that after all, somewhere we may have left opportunity for the enemy; but the shield of faith covers all the armor. Whatever we may imagine with regard to this, and with the consciousness of our feebleness at all times, the confidence in God, which should never slacken with us, is our security and rest; only we must remember that the putting on of the armor comes first. There must be honest endeavor to have all right in this way. We must not try to shield a body evidently exposed, with a cover of this kind, but when we have all apparently right, we have need still of that practical confidence which, let us notice here, has for its object specially to “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” These “fiery darts” are indeed terrible weapons.

The fire speaks of the wrath of God, of judgment, at least, from Him, and it is with this that the enemy would assail us. He is, we must remember, the accuser.

His aim, as already said, is to bring distance in some sense between our souls and God. How great a necessity, therefore, to maintain this happy confidence in Him, which, while it does not excuse failure in the least, yet, in utter weakness, finds all its confidence in Him who has undertaken for us. “All the fiery darts of the wicked one” can thus be “quenched” by the “shield of faith.” Besides this, we are to have the “helmet of salvation,” not, as in Thessalonians, the “hope of salvation.” There it is the world with which we are in conflict. Here it is the consciousness of a salvation already attained, which sustains us against the enemy. This is not a hope. It is a realized certainty. This may well give us complete possession of ourselves in the peril of conflict.

The helmet covers the head. We are preserved by it from blows which would rob us of what we rightly call “presence of mind.” It is this presence of mind in the midst of perils which is the best kind of courage, and the salvation of God is that which may well secure it for us. Then we have one and only one offensive weapon, “the sword of the Spirit,” the word of God, as that which enables us to penetrate all the wiles of the enemy, to expose and baffle him. How impossible it will be to oppose that of which we are not positively sure whether it be his voice or the voice of God Himself! If there is any confusion as to this, -and the great work of the enemy is to promote this confusion, -of necessity we have no right to dismiss from our mind the very thing which may be, nevertheless, merely his temptation. How much we want to be armed, therefore, by “the sword of the Spirit”! How we must have God’s word furnishing us at all points if we are to be ready for every form of assault! But let us notice here that it is not exactly “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” It is “the saying” rather than the “Word;” that is to say, if we think of the Word of God, it is the whole book which He has put into our hands.

What we want, in fact, for the conflict, is the special word, the text which suits the occasion, and that is what “the sword of the Spirit” really is. It is the word of God as applied by the Spirit of God, used therefore, with the wisdom of God, as with our Lord in the wilderness, where always the special text is brought forward which decides what is before Him. So it must be for us; but for this, let us remind ourselves again, we must be in the energy of the Spirit. The use of the sword requires practice and to be on the alert and watchful. All this is closed with what John Bunyan numbers amongst the weapons. It is the weapon “all prayer,” and it is very striking as coming in here, after all the high and blessed truth into which the apostle has been leading us through all the epistle. There is no text, perhaps, which insists so fully upon the necessity of prayer as that which we have here. “Praying at all times, with all prayer,” and not mere prayer, but “supplication,” that is, earnest beseeching, the soul thoroughly conscious of its need and that in the Spirit, guided by the Spirit in that which we seek. How much prayer is there which is merely the contention of our own wills with God, which, however earnestly we may pour it out, leaves us rather exhausted with the contention than at rest in having made known our wants to Him! But this is not enough. We are to “watch unto prayer.” We are to watch with all perseverance" and not merely as burdened with our own individual needs. Our needs, surely, must remind us of the needs of others. Our needs are the needs of others, and God, in making us realize the one, would make us realize the other. Therefore the apostle adds: “And supplication for all saints.” If we think of Israel in the land, we can realize the common cause which united them, and for ourselves there is the same common cause that unites us, and how much the defeat of others by the power of the enemy, the entanglement of others with his wiles, must add to the strife for ourselves also; yet it will not do, of course, to pray for others as realizing simply our need of others. Others too, need us, and the heart of a saint, if he be a saint at all, must respond to such an appeal for others as the consciousness of his own need makes to him.

The apostle puts himself here along with the rest, as one who is in need of the prayers of the saints, and his cause is indeed the cause of all. It is Christ for whom he labors. It is the saints, therefore, whom he is serving, and the desire of his heart is that utterance may be given him to open his mouth that he may make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which he is an ambassador in bonds, that he may have that boldness with regard to it that he ought to have. How thoroughly he himself had the consciousness of his weakness, so that he not only seeks God for himself, but would unite others in seeking God for him. We think of such a man as the apostle as almost beyond the need of this; but, in fact, there is no one beyond it, and the success of that for which he stood is indeed the common concern of all. How our hearts should at all times be engaged with it! This ends in substance the epistle. A few words simply are added with regard to himself, his own affairs which he counts upon the saints being interested in. Tychicus therefore, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things of this sort known to them, while, on his part, he has sent him, not simply that they might know of his affairs, but that their own hearts might be encouraged. He concludes with the salutation: “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” and widens this according to the character of the epistle here, which is scarcely a local one; “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption.”