The Belt of Truth
and the
Breastplate of
Righteousness
Ephesians 6:14-19, "Stand firm then, with the belt of
truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness
in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace. In addition to all this take up the shield of faith, with
which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray
also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I
will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an
ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I
should."
Of the two articles of our armor we'll look at today, the
belt of truth was an article used to secure the soldiers armor and weapons. To
have a lose belt would be to fight with your pants down, so to speak. There are
two interpretations for the belt, but since the word of God is the sword of the
Spirit, the second one seems to apply.
1 John 1:1-8, "That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands
have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life
appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal
life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what
we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our
fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to
make our [Some manuscripts your] joy complete.
This is the
message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there
is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in
darkness, we lie and do not live in the truth. But if we walk in the light, as
he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of
Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar
and his word has no place in our lives." 1 John 1:1-8 either gives you
confidence that you are in the Lord, or as hypocrite, with your pants down
around your ankles! Our heart should be to do the truth. God is not into
lip-service. He is into life-service.
1 Peter 2:11-12, "Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful
desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans
that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and
glorify God on the day he visits us." What Peter is saying is that obedience is
important in warfare, especially spiritual warfare. When the Church is girded
in disobedience it is broken down and weak.
Psalm 119:1-16, "Blessed are
they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord.
Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. They
do nothing wrong; they walk in his ways. You have laid down precepts that are
to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!
Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. I will
praise your righteous laws. I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake
me.
How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your
word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I
have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Praise be
to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that
come from your mouth. I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in
great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in
your decrees; I will not neglect your word."
For a Christian, Jesus
defined the law of God right down to it's spiritual intent in Matthew 5:17-48.
Read this section and meditate on it. This is the heart and core of God's law
that we are to live by and fashion our lives around. Living by this law girds
the belt of truth to us firmly. Meditating on it fastens it into our
minds if the Spirit of God dwells in us. Stop right here and turn to Matthew
5:17-48 and read it through meditatively. Do so for a week and see what
happens. You are fastening the mind of Christ in you. Follow what you read and
hypocrisy will flee you. The belt is tight now. Now gird on the sword of the
Spirit.
A Roman's belt also held the famous Roman short-sword. This
sword was a superior weapon in close combat situations. Let's see Jesus himself
in action with his spiritual Roman short-sword which he used against Satan. We
find Jesus led of the Spirit into the desert, where he fasted for forty days
and nights (Matthew 4:1-2). When you fast like this, you're hungry. For the
first two or three days you are hungry, and then that hunger goes away. Then
when you are about to die (some time after forty days if you're real strong or
have a lot of fat on your bones), the hunger comes back with a vengeance. Satan
hit at this time, trying to defocus Jesus and refocus his attention on the
physical. Jesus defense was this offensive statement. He took a particular part
of Scripture and used it to destroy Satan's plan and temptation. Verse 3-4,
"The tempter came to him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these
stones to become bread.' [Satan was also tempting Jesus with pride, with the
statement, "If you are the Son of God."] "Jesus answered, 'It is
written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from
the mouth of God.' [Deuteronomy 8:3]
Verses 5-7, "Then the devil took
him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If
you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down, for it is written:
'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your food against a stone.' [Psalm 91:11-12]
Jesus answered him, 'It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.' [Deuteronomy 6:16]
Verses 8-11, "Again the devil
took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world
and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' he said, 'If you will bow down
and worship me.' Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written:
'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" [Deuteronomy 6:13.] Satan is
not only the "accuser of the brethren" but the great tempter. The sword of the
Spirit can be used successfully against the temptations of both Satan, his
demons, and the world. We will cover this weapon in a later study with some
more Scriptural details.
The breastplate of righteousness—Jesus in
you is the breastplate of righteousness. It's not our own righteousness, but
his. Jesus is also the shield of faith which has the special ability to quench
the flaming arrows of Satan.
Ephesians 6:10, "Finally, be strong in the
Lord and in his mighty power."
II Chronicles 14:2-15, "Asa did what was
good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He removed the foreign altars
and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.
He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his
laws and commands. He removed the high places and incense altars in every town
in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. He built up the fortified
cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during
those years, for the Lord gave him rest.
'Let us build up these towns,'
he said to Judah, 'and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The
land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and
he has given us rest on every side.' So they built and prospered.
Asa
had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large
shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin,
armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting
men.
Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with a vast army [Hebrew
with an army of a thousand thousands (i.e. a million man army!)], and
three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. Asa went out to meet him,
and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near
Mareshah.
Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, 'Lord, there is
no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our
God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army.
O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you.'
The Lord
struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, and Asa and
his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell
that they could not recover; they were crushed before the Lord and his forces.
The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. They destroyed all the
villages around Gerar, for the terror of the Lord had fallen upon them. They
plundered all these villages, since there was much booty there. They also
attacked the camps of the herdsmen and carried off droves of sheep and goats
and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem." Then read II Chronicles 16:1-14.
Asa stopped relying on God but tried to rely on his own wit and schemes. God
was testing the heart of Asa. He knew previously that he couldn't stand against
that million-man army without a divine miracle, but this problem wasn't so bad,
so he reasoned that he could figure a way out on his own without relying on the
Lord. Verses 8-9 of II Chronicles holds the key. "Were not the Cushites and
Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you
relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the
Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully
committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will
be at war." As a church and as individuals, we have to "be strong in the
Lord."
Ephesians 6:15, and with your feet fitted with the readiness
that comes from the gospel of peace…" Shoes, or army boots, or in
Paul's case, Roman military sandals, were defensive, giving a sure foothold to
the soldier wearing them. If the enemy can knock you over or off balance,
you're an easy kill. The gospel of peace, if you rest in the gospel of peace,
the gospel of Christ, you can't be toppled over. [Romans 1-8 is the clearest
description of the gospel of Christ ever written.] Psalm 94:18, "When I said,
'My foot is slipping,' your love, O Lord, supported me."
Psalm
34:17-22, "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them
from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those
who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord
delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them will be
broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in
him."
Psalm 40:1-2, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me
and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand." Cry out to
God for his power.
Remember our primary objective? Matthew 28:18-20 if
anyone forgot. It is to evangelize. Ephesians 6:15 (new King James), "and
having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Isaiah 52:7
shows this gospel being offensively brought, and makes direct reference to the
feet of those who bring it. "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of
those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who
proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"
Romans
10:14-15, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And
how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they
hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are
sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good
news!'"
The Shield of Faith: The Roman shields could be interconnected
so they could march right into and through the hostile fire of the enemy, until
they broke through the enemy lines. It was a defensive weapon used for
offensive fighting. When flaming arrows were being shot, they locked shields
and marched forward into the hostile fire, not away from it.
Hebrews
11:30-39, "By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched
around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed
the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. And what more shall
I say? I do not have the time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms,
administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of
lions, quenched the fury of flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose
weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed
foreign armies. Women who received back their dead, raised to life again.
Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a
better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were
chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were
put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins,
destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them.
They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the
ground.
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