Ephesians Chapter Six... The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Paul makes the point: You must be strong in the Lord and put on His full armor, so that you may stand firm against the enemy. (vs. 10,11)
He begins the verse with “Finally” which means, “for the rest,” and shows that these passages are built on preceding chapters. Paul is saying, “Based upon your glorious position in Christ (chapters 1-3) and in light of the worthy walk to which you are called (chapters 4-5, plus 6:1-9), I want to conclude my encourage to you by explaining the serious conflict in which your faith engages you.” Because you are fighting in the Lord’s army…
You must be strong in the Lord.
Paul piles up words for strength in verse 10, using three of the four words that he employed in 1:19-20. There he mentioned “the surpassing greatness of His power toward those who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places.”
Also, in 3:16 Paul prayed that God would grant you … “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” As in that verse, the verb in 6:10 is probably passive, meaning, “be strengthened in the Lord.”. In other words, we are not strong in ourselves, our strength comes from the Lord.
Yet, at the same time, I think that there is an active (Greek, middle voice) sense to the verb, in that we must take the initiative to be strong in the Lord. This is illustrated in the life of David. While he was on the run from Saul, David had wrongly allied himself with the Philistine king and was about to go into battle against Saul and the forces of Israel when God intervened. David and his men were sent home from the battle. But they arrived to find their city burned with fire and their wives, children, and possessions taken captive by the Amalekites. At that point, David’s men were so embittered that they were talking about stoning him.
Then, in the middle of the verse, there is a great hinge that turned things in a new direction (1 Sam. 30:6b): “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” What a dramatic turnaround! David was almost down for the count. God’s promise to make him king seemed null and void. “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” The Lord graciously directed David to pursue the raiders and recover all of their families and goods. He did, his men followed him and all turned out well.
That same strength is available to every Christian. You may be at your lowest point feeling God is far off from you. You may be discouraged by circumstances you cannot change. It may seem that God’s promises are not true. But no matter how much may seem to be against you, you can “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” You can strengthen yourself in the Lord your God.
More to come on this topic in next week’s installment.
