The Helm of Salvation - Week 14

Ephesians 6:16-17

16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

The helm of salvation, as it has been called (helm being short for helmet), gives a true sense of where the center of our salvation is. The center of salvation is our head. But what do I mean? Is it our head knowledge or mental assent to the gospel that saves us? We talked before of the head being the seat of knowledge, and with it, we have our senses all in one place. We see, hear, taste, and smell, all with the parts of our head suited for those purposes. And all these senses are awakened as it comes to the gospel. Our head, that is, our knowledge and senses are important to salvation.  However, the Bible is clear that our heart is the center of the saving work of Christ; and it is there, along with the gospel, that salvation is made clear to the sinner. So, which of these is true? Is salvation connected to the heart or the head? The answer is both.  But which is central?

Perhaps we should look at this a bit differently. Who or what is our head? Paul speaks of Christ as "head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior," (Eph 5:23) He writes this just one chapter before placing that Head in his list of spiritual armor. Now, it would be perfectly fine to say that all of these elements of armor in Ephesians 6 are tied to Christ. But this piece of armor is especially so. It is in this connection that we are speaking of our Head being central to salvation; that Head being Christ.

Man was created under authority. He is by no means autonomous, meaning that he is his own authority and answers to no one. God created us to do whatsoever He commands. In the Garden, we disobeyed and a curse was placed upon us. This curse, which was caused by our own sin, has greatly multiplied our desire to overthrow any authority, but more especially, God's authority. It is, therefore, extremely important to salvation that our Head, that is, Christ, be the authority we listen to on the battlefield.

Generals and commanders were normally put central on the battlefield so that their orders could be clearly heard and disseminated throughout the ranks. They controlled the battle from the center. The helm of a ship is placed centrally as the seat of authority aboard the vessel. The captain gives orders to the helmsman to steer the ship where he wants it to go. The helm of salvation, the authority of Christ, is the crucial piece of armor we need in order be controlled by Christ, instead of relying on our own control.

Isaiah says, "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought Him salvation, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak." (Isa. 59:16-17). Is this not what Paul has in mind here? Christ, Himself, has put on a breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation.  He is fit for battle, just as He wants us to be. But as we said before, He has won the victory over these principalities and powers and evil rulers in the spiritual realm. Our faith in Him places Him as our helmet of salvation, the seat of power in our lives.

Assignment:

1.  Memorize Isaiah 59:16-17 and continue to work on all your other memory verses.

2.  Journal about the entities of authority you have in your life, i.e., parents, church, school, job. How do you operate under authority? Are there ways you try to overthrow authority?

3.  Look again at your warrior picture? How does this change your visual picture of his helmet?