Taking Up the Sword

Ephesian 6:16-17 “Above all, take ye 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.”

Although the Lord fights our battles for us by His Spirit and The Word, it is still our responsibility to “put on” the armor that protects us in the midst of battle, armor that He has provided for our use. The armor of God is a subject that requires a full and complete study. In addition to all the scriptures to be found on this subject in the Word of God there is the Puritan classic “The Christian in Complete Armour” written by William Gurnall, first published in 1655, that, while extremely lengthy, is a must-read in that study as well. In fact, I believe almost all of the studies on this subject today have some part-origin in Gurnall’s work.

But for the purposes of continuing along the lines of the fasting prayer, and specifically regarding the wilderness fast of Jesus from the prior posting, my focus here is only on the “sword of the Spirit.”

Even in his weakened state, Jesus wielded the sword against the enemy with an expertise that is to the point, and dead-on target, reminding us that, at the tender age of 12, He was found expounding the scriptures in the temple, astounding all who heard Him. He is after all THE Word of God.

But what does His wilderness example teach us about the use of that sword?

There are two things that come to mind:

The first is that while He (and we) speak the Word of God against the enemy, it is called the “sword of the Spirit” for a very specific reason. While we are taught that the sword is a weapon we are to pick up, whose arm actually raises that weapon? It is the arm of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. We grasp the weapon in our hands and prepare to use it, but He actually does the swinging of it, and we know this to be the case, because of the accuracy of the sword’s cut. It never misses. But this is not us cutting down the enemy, it is the “sword of the Spirit”, the Word of God that is taking down the enemy.

We merely “put on” the weapon. Or take it in our hand. The image is of taking the sword in one hand and holding the shield of faith in the other. [The two actually belong very much together because it is the foundation of faith upon which the sword relies.] But it is the Spirit of God that guides our hands, both right hand and left, whether it is:

- “cutting” our own hearts to reveal hidden sin [Heb. 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (NKJ)]

- or whether it is drowning out the voice of the enemy that wants to accuse us, discourage us, and then tempt us to sin [Eph 6:16 “… wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” ]

And this is a good thing. Especially if we find ourselves in vulnerable positions or weakness after fasting prayer. It is a good thing that the Spirit is the One doing the lifting, not us. We have prepared ourselves for battle by putting on the armor, by picking up the weapon, but I thank God that He is the One whose strength swings it!

Jesus was fully equipped with all the armor, but what we see in action (because it is an offensive weapon, in fact, the only offensive weapon in our armory) is His skilled use of the sword against the enemy.

Which brings me to the second lesson to be gained from His example.

Each scripture used against the enemy was directly related to the temptation that the enemy used against Him, was it not? This is important to take note of. Some have called this many “swords”, a specific sword used in different attacks by the enemy. I don’t think it is that because the Word doesn’t speak of many swords, it only speaks of one sword, “the sword of the Spirit.”

But I do believe there is a necessity for the Word spoken to be the RIGHT Word suited to the temptation. And there, again, comes the role of the Spirit when we wield this sword.

We read the Word, we study the Word, we abide in the Word, and when the time comes, we speak the Word, but the Holy Spirit is the One who reminds us of the proper Word for the occasion, and then He carries that Word (the sword) with utmost precision to the target. But again it takes a “surrendering” to the Spirit to allow Him to do His job through us. And part of that surrender is to be in the Word in the first place, so that we have many, many scriptures that He can bring back to our remembrance when they are needed.

Luke 21:14-15 “Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”

That scripture should not make us wary or fearful, but should make us rejoice knowing that our defense is in His hands! But this requires faith on our part, to trust Him to do so, knowing that He is more than able.

The sword of the Spirit came against the enemy in the wilderness in ways that were specific to each taunt of the enemy. Just the right Word needed at just the right time to keep Jesus faithfully on his course as God has planned; to keep Jesus from sinning and thereby conquering the enemy instead of the enemy conquering Him.

And I believe He will do the same for us, if we allow Him to.

2 Cor. 6-7 “…by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.”