Church, You May as Well Fight!

The Lord Jesus Christ had the exemplary perspective on death in that He saw it as the door to His Heavenly reward, but a portal that could only be opened by His Heavenly Father.  This is crucial a perspective to hold as the Christian's proper view of death; death is but a door that only God can open or close.  Jehovah alone, is a God who opens and no one can close, and He closes, and no one can open (Dan. 4:35; Rev. 3:7).  When we look at death in this manner, properly looking at God possessing all power and wisdom and perfect will, all fear of death evaporates.  We must understand that we cannot die without the Father's consent, even as we cannot even take our next breath apart from His will.  No matter how this world rages, and persecs, and threatens, it is completely devoid of power to end the life of any child of God.  Now, when we are armed with this thinking we are loosed of death's grip and free to pursue God's will wholeheartedly.  The fear of death holds back billions of people.  This should not be so for the saints of God for we can encourage ourselves from the records in Scripture of those who kept this state of mind, especially our Lord, John the Baptist, Apostles Peter, Paul, and James—they held nothing back in God's service, and the Father, at the appointed time, opened the door (of death) which led to His glorious Presence.

Now that death is appropriately perceived, we must properly look at the Christian walk as one of combat, and that to the death.  (Now, one might see the importance of the proper view of death in relation to fighting a war, for the soldier fearing death cannot be as effective as one not afraid of death.). The Church of Jesus Christ faces a foe devoid of love, mercy, or compassion.  Not only that, he also knows that he cannot win and that his doom is sure.  How many times have we heard that the most dangerous enemy is the one with nothing to lose?  A wounded animal, backed into a corner, will angrily and desperately fight to stave off its own end.  Well, Biblically speaking, Satan is that wounded animal, slithering about with a crushed and bleeding head (Gen. 3:15); he is a lion defanged, declawed, armed with but a loud, frightening roar (I Pet. 5:8).  Satan knows his brief time of rebellion is nearly done and that the fires of hell grow ever hungrier to consume him for all eternity (Is. 14:12-15; Jn. 16:11; Lk. 10:18; Rev. 20:10).  

Satan has formidable weapons which he uses to further his lost cause.  He also doesn't sleep, he doesn't tire, and he has an entire kingdom of evil spirits at his beck and call, furious at man for being able to inherit their former bright and glorious abode and probably equally as enraged at their dark lord for having led them down the path to everlasting destruction.

My basic premise is that we may as well fight as we are already in a fierce conflict with spiritual beings fueled by pure sin, hate, and rage, and actually, we have been in this fight from the second we drew our first breath.  Make no mistake about it—Jesus Christ is a Warrior and He takes no prisoners (Is. 63:1-6; Dan. 7:13-14; Jo. 3:14-17; Zec. 12:9-14; Rev. 19:11-16).  On the opposite end of the spectrum, Satan is also a warrior, albeit an inferior one, and wants to win (Rev. 12:7-12; 20:7-9).  He cannot win, therefore theft, murder, and destruction (Jn. 10:10) constitute his goals and objectives.  Christ fought with extremely effective weapons in His Humiliation, and He will also fight with spiritual weapons at the battle ground of Megiddo against Satan's "superman", Antichrist, and his vile ecumenical leader, the False Prophet.  The Scripture clearly says that in Israel's darkest of hour the King of Kings will fight with the great sword that proceeds out of His mouth, sharp enough, mighty enough to annihilate the last Caesar's army in one fiery instant.  Now obviously, that sword is not an actual blade of steel or brass, but one made of material far more substantial—the spiritual iron of the Word of the Living God.

The Apostle Paul spoke of the Christian walk frequently, and he did so at times using military terms.  And in one of the most often quoted and referenced passages in Scripture in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, Paul very deliberately and explicitly lists the armor and weaponry of the Christian soldier.  The Way (of Christ) is hotly contested and opposed by this world at every opportunity.  Christ said that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence; and He followed with "the violent take it by force" (Matt. 11:12).  There are babes in Christ as well as mature in Christ, yet regardless of maturity level we all share a common immutable faith—both also share a common war.  Entering the Kingdom of Heaven is done through conflict, through war, through being merciless against the principalities and powers of the darkness of this world using the weapons which have been dutifully forged in the searing heat of the foundries of God's armory.

 Upon salvation, each believer is given at least one gift by the Spirit of Truth for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). Unfortunately, too many Christians dwell far too long on the gifts of tongues, preaching and teaching, healing, and prophecy; so many want apostleship and pastorates, and the titles of "Evangelist" and "minister" and don't dwell nearly long enough on the Christian's armor and weapons of war.  Not every saint can teach; not every believer has been given to pastoral ministry, but every Christian has the exact same components of God's armor, and Paul urges the Ephesians and all saints to put the armor on!  We must know these artifacts well because every second of our lives we will be fighting—not speaking in tongues, and each day of our lives will be spent exchanging powerful blows with the army of darkness—not working daily miracles of healing.  Every year we live here will be spent fighting without quarter on the front line of the most ferocious combat imaginable. 

 Even while you read this, Satan and his army of demons are on the attack, and his weapons are ubiquitous in our society.  He uses the morally neutral medium of radio, television, and the web to pump into our ears, and subsequently, our minds, the sewage of vulgar music, pornography, and ungodly entertainers' mindless, foolish behavior.  He takes our ability to think critically and spiritually by the Pied Piper-like musings of entertainment which also feed the flames of sin and our innate appetites for debauchery.  These are just some of his more subtle, but shockingly, more effective weapons against us because he knows that if he can get our minds off of the things of God, he can make us ineffective on the battlefield.

As I conclude, God has constructed the specific elements of His armor for us to counter very deliberate, predictable volleys of Satan.  Satan isn't going to stop attacking until he finally begins his eternity-long prison sentence in the lake of fire, and if we interpret Scripture properly, he will only intensify his warfare against the Church on an almost unimaginable level.  Additionally, he will actually be given power to overcome the saints who are saved during the 70th Week (Dan. 7:21, 25; Rev. 12:17; 13:7) but we should understand that while Satan will certainly win battles here or there, his overall campaign is miserably lost, and those Brothers and Sisters he is allowed to kill finally and forever triumph by the blood of Jesus Christ and the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11).  

The weapons they will fight with will not be different from the weapons we currently fight with.  We read to the very end of Scripture that Christians are fighting one who constantly fights them but even more, the Church is on the offensive!  We are not to be in a defensive position!  Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church (Mt. 16:18; Acts 19:20).  What is interesting about that is that gates don't attack—gates only are used as defensive tools!  It is the Church that is on the attack as it advances the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The world attacked Jesus because He was on the attack and from the sinful nature the world reacted with envy, persecution, and murder (Mt. 27:18; Mk. 14:55-65; Jn. 10:31-39; 15:24-25; Acts 2:23).

The Lord Jesus could have prevented any assault on Him.  Christ could have silenced every scornful tongue with His almighty power.  He had Divine right to prohibit unbelief of His words.  Instead of a ministry of 33 years, He could have made it 33 days, or even 33 hours—He could have, by His irresistible authority forced all mankind to receive the Gospel.  However, in submission to the will of the Father (and, having no fear of death,) strapped on the armor and went out into the muck and mire of the battlefield's trenches, blocking endless flurries of fiery darts with His shield while pulling sinners from the No Man's Land of the fray.  Therein is our task.  As believers in Christ, we must armor up—we're already on the battlefield—and pull people who have been wounded and battered and enslaved by the devil to the safety of the fortress of Jesus Christ.  This is all about the souls of people.  We're already in the war—we may as well fight, and fight to win!

The Armor of God, head to feet, briefly (Eph. 6:10-18):

1.) The Helmet of Salvation
Upon salvation, the mind is renewed; the believer now is able to think God's thoughts; the knowledge of salvation helps to govern the believer's thinking.

2.) The Breastplate of Righteousness
Since Satan primarily uses guilt and accusation and condemnation against the saints, a righteous life protects the most vital organ—the heart—from the devil.

3.) The Belt of Truth
The belt of a soldier doesn't just hold up his pants, it also serves as an important instrument in holding all the elements of the armor together; the Roman soldier of Paul's day had his sword and dagger attached to the belt; the breastplate was often connected to the belt for stability; a water skin and food rations could be tied to it as well as writing tools and medicinal supplies; without Truth, the believer's armor cannot hold together.  God's Word is Truth.

4.) The Sandals
The feet of the Christian soldier are swift totake the Gospel to the lost; the Gospel is the good news of peace, peace between God and sinful man made possible by Jesus Christ alone, which is the Gospel. The steps of the believer are governed by this aim alone.

5.) The Shield of Faith
Roman soldiers' shields were large, able to almost cover the entire body; the larger a believer's faith, the larger his protection from Satanic deception and dupery; when on one accord, the collective faith of the Church is a powerful defence as Roman soldiers would connect their shields to fend off aerial attacks by arrows and spears.

6.) The Sword of the Spirit
The Word of God is the only offensive weapon for the believer; the Word alone is able to effect damage on the kingdom of darkness; the Word of God is the only weapon the believer needs and when properly used it cannot be defended against; Roman troops used spears more than swords to keep the enemy at a distance, therefore the use of the sword is for close combat, the Church must closely engage Satan in battle.

7.) Prayer (Not part of the Armor)
Prayer is communication with God, primarily used to hear from Him concerning His will, rather than a means to get desired things; prayer keeps the believer before the Presence of God, helps to keep the believer from sin; through prayer, the Christian soldier is renewed, refreshed, repaired.