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 Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.
In your mind's eye, probably one of the most splendid aspects of the warrior you've been imagining is what his sword looks like. The sword is possibly the consumate example of what every boy dreams of as an elegant and most fearsome weapon. Even in today's world, even with today's awesome weaponry, the heart of the warrior still beats for a sword. Be it Aragorn's Andรบril from The Lord of the Rings, or King Arthur's Excalibur, or even Luke's lightsaber from Star Wars, the sword will always captivate the attention.
But as captivating as these weapons are, there is nothing so powerfully wielded as the Word of God. This word was spoken, "Be light," and there was light. Light did not exist except in the mind of an all-knowing and all-seeing God, who simply speaks it forth, and it was. It was the same with everything else created. It was not, then it was, because God spoke it into existence. We cannot fathom that kind of power. While we may wish that we could just speak the word, and whatever we wanted just appeared, as in a magic act; yet, we cannot imagine anything that has never existed. Our minds are finite in that capacity, whereas God's is infinite.
This power of the spoken word was never more effective than when the prophets spoke what God commanded. In fact, when a man's word was not enough, God even caused a donkey to speak. (Num 22:22-34) But Jesus wielded His own word more powerfully than all others put together. When He was tempted in the wilderness by satan, it was the word of God Jesus used in order to confound him. (Mt 4:1-11) When He healed the lame man, He spoke the words. (Lk 5:17-26) When He healed the Centurion's servant, He did not even have to see the paralyzed man, but just spoke the words. (Mt 8:5-13) When He was nailed to the cross, it was His words, "It is finished," that signaled the defeat of our soul's enemy. (Joh 19:29-30) And on top of all of this, Jesus commanded His disciples to teach and preach all the things He taught them. In other words, He taught them how to handle this powerful sword.
Additionally, this sword of the Spirit is the only weapon Paul lists here that is offensive in nature. This means that wielding this sword will strike blows on our enemy, but will also be a weapon our enemy will defend against. Our enemy is as close as our breath. We fight ourselves, that is, our flesh. We also face the enemy of the world, and of course, there is our main adversary, the devil. These three entities will defend themselves against the word of God. They will try to make it of no effect, and ridicule it, and pervert it, and twist it. They will attempt to take it out of our hands. So, that means we must keep a firm grip of it, and keep it always near.
But this sword has been used on us, as well. The writer of Hebrews also says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb 4:12) That means this sword has been used to slay us. The word of God shows us how rebellious we have been towards a thrice holy God and cuts us to the quick. It lays bare all of our most inmost thoughts and intentions.
And finally, John describes the Lord Jesus as He appeared to John on his island of exile. "In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength." (Rev 1:16) When John saw Jesus, He saw the same powerful weapon coming from His mouth that Paul speaks of here. If Jesus needs the sword of the Spirit to conquer His enemies and ours, then we need it even more desperately if we are to fend off our foes. They are already conquered by Him. And all we have to do to remind them they are conquered, and more importantly, to remind ourselves that we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:31-39), is to have our swords at the ready, fully trained on how to use them, to His glory.
Assignment:
1. Memorize Hebrews 4:12. Continue working on all your other memory verses.
2. Read John's description of Jesus in Revelation 1. Write down your thoughts about this description.
3. Read Rom 8:31-39. Write down some of the worst things that can happen to you as a human being. Compare these to what Paul describes as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. Pray specifically about these asking God to help you in your fight to remember that you are more than a conqueror.
But as captivating as these weapons are, there is nothing so powerfully wielded as the Word of God. This word was spoken, "Be light," and there was light. Light did not exist except in the mind of an all-knowing and all-seeing God, who simply speaks it forth, and it was. It was the same with everything else created. It was not, then it was, because God spoke it into existence. We cannot fathom that kind of power. While we may wish that we could just speak the word, and whatever we wanted just appeared, as in a magic act; yet, we cannot imagine anything that has never existed. Our minds are finite in that capacity, whereas God's is infinite.
This power of the spoken word was never more effective than when the prophets spoke what God commanded. In fact, when a man's word was not enough, God even caused a donkey to speak. (Num 22:22-34) But Jesus wielded His own word more powerfully than all others put together. When He was tempted in the wilderness by satan, it was the word of God Jesus used in order to confound him. (Mt 4:1-11) When He healed the lame man, He spoke the words. (Lk 5:17-26) When He healed the Centurion's servant, He did not even have to see the paralyzed man, but just spoke the words. (Mt 8:5-13) When He was nailed to the cross, it was His words, "It is finished," that signaled the defeat of our soul's enemy. (Joh 19:29-30) And on top of all of this, Jesus commanded His disciples to teach and preach all the things He taught them. In other words, He taught them how to handle this powerful sword.
Additionally, this sword of the Spirit is the only weapon Paul lists here that is offensive in nature. This means that wielding this sword will strike blows on our enemy, but will also be a weapon our enemy will defend against. Our enemy is as close as our breath. We fight ourselves, that is, our flesh. We also face the enemy of the world, and of course, there is our main adversary, the devil. These three entities will defend themselves against the word of God. They will try to make it of no effect, and ridicule it, and pervert it, and twist it. They will attempt to take it out of our hands. So, that means we must keep a firm grip of it, and keep it always near.
But this sword has been used on us, as well. The writer of Hebrews also says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Heb 4:12) That means this sword has been used to slay us. The word of God shows us how rebellious we have been towards a thrice holy God and cuts us to the quick. It lays bare all of our most inmost thoughts and intentions.
And finally, John describes the Lord Jesus as He appeared to John on his island of exile. "In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength." (Rev 1:16) When John saw Jesus, He saw the same powerful weapon coming from His mouth that Paul speaks of here. If Jesus needs the sword of the Spirit to conquer His enemies and ours, then we need it even more desperately if we are to fend off our foes. They are already conquered by Him. And all we have to do to remind them they are conquered, and more importantly, to remind ourselves that we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:31-39), is to have our swords at the ready, fully trained on how to use them, to His glory.
Assignment:
1. Memorize Hebrews 4:12. Continue working on all your other memory verses.
2. Read John's description of Jesus in Revelation 1. Write down your thoughts about this description.
3. Read Rom 8:31-39. Write down some of the worst things that can happen to you as a human being. Compare these to what Paul describes as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. Pray specifically about these asking God to help you in your fight to remember that you are more than a conqueror.
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