The Armour of Righteousness
This is what the Apostle Paul calls the armour we were talking of last week, that the Captain of our salvation provides for each one of the soldiers in His army. It is not our own righteousness—or rightdoing—that is a protection to us, “for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” But Jesus clothes His warriors with the robe of His own perfect, spotless character, and in this they are more than a match for all the hosts of Satan.
If some of the world’s great warriors, such so Alexander or Napoleon, could put their own spirit and hope and fearlessness into each one of the soldiers in their army, what a strong and almost invincible host they would have, would they not?
This is what the Captain of the Lord’s host does for us; He puts His own armour upon us, so that nothing can harm us, and He puts His Spirit within us to make us fearless and strong.
His Spirit, the Spirit of power, is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of holiness or righteousness and purity. So if you would be strong to fight in His army, it can only be by letting Him make you holy and pure as He is.
Wherever there is sin, there is weakness and cowardice. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion,” which will not flee, even when it is pursued and attacked.
When our Captain puts His own armour of righteousness upon us, He says, “I give unto you power over all the power of the enemy.” Then if we believe His word, we shall be “strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”
In the sixth chapter of Ephesians we are told about the different parts of this wonderful armour. There is
THE HELMET
of salvation, to cover the head. David know something about this, for he had proved it and found that it fitted and protected him a great deal better than the armour of King Saul. He said: “Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.” It was this that made him so fearless when he fought the great Giant Goliath, and other of the enemies of the Lord.
We are told of Jesus Himself that He puts “an helmet of salvation upon His head” when He goes forth to finally destroy all the hosts of evil. So you see that the armour He gives us is just the same as His own. This is shown also by
THE BREASTPLATE
of righteousness; for He is “clothed with righteousness as a cloak.”
The breastplate covers the heart, and so we are to let His righteousness guard our hearts from all evil. He says to us through His Word: “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” And of those who trust in Him the Psalmist says: “His truth [which is His righteousness] shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.” These are some of the devil’s weapons of destruction, but the strong breastplate of righteousness can protect us from them every one.
THE GIRDLE
You all know what a girdle is for. It is to bind the garment, and keep it from flowing loosely everywhere. So all our thoughts are to be kept within the girdle of truth, and not allowed to run loose upon that which is not true, nor upon our own or anyone else’s imaginations. “Whatsoever things are true. . . pure. . . lovely, think on these things.”
Then the mind will be kept pure and become strong and always ready for immediate service wherever the Captain needs us. We shall be able to say like David: “Thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle.”
“Imaginations” are one of the things that we are told exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. They are enemies that should not be given any place or quarter, but they are to be “cast down” by the weapons of our warfare.
THE SHOES
The shoes that Christ’s soldiers wear, like all the rest of their armour, have wonderful power in them. Would you not like to have a pair of shoes that would keep you from ever getting weary? that would put such strength into your feet that you would never grow tired.
This is what these shoes do for those who wear them. Our feet are to be “shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.” The Gospel of peace is “the power of God unto salvation,” and so our feet are to be shod with the power of God, that we may be strong to carry the glad tidings of the Gospel to others.
Of those to whom this work is given the prophet says: “They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
Solomon knew something about these shoes. In his Song of Songs he says to the church of Christ, which is His army, “How beautiful are thy feet with shoes.”
“Beautiful feet are those that go
On kindly ministries to and fro,
Down lowliest ways if God wills it so.”
David also wore these strong shoes, and he said: “He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places.” Did you ever see a hind bound lightly from rock to rock, stepping without fear upon the narrowest ledges, seeking the “high places” among the rocks, hills, or mountains? How swift their feet, how light, how sure, how strong! And so may yours be if they are shod with His wonderful preparation of the Gospel of peace.
THE SWORD
Notice that the sword is not ours, it is “the sword of the Spirit.” And the first place where the Spirit will use it will be in our own hearts. He will have to cut away from it everything that is evil, for this would make us weak and useless in His army. His sharp sword, the Word of God, will pierce even to our most secret thoughts and take away all that is not good. Then the Holy Spirit will abide in our hearts, and “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall put Him to flight.”
This is the only sword that the followers of Jesus are to have anything to do with. Of every other sword Jesus says: “Put up thy sword into its sheath, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”
THE SHIELD
To protect our whole bodies from the fiery darts of “the old serpent,” we are to take “the shield of faith,”—faith in Jesus and in the free gift of His righteousness to us. Even this is not something that we are to provide for ourselves, but it is the gift of Jesus. It is “the faith of Jesus,”—that faith which endured every kind of conflict with Satan and won the victory every time,—that He gives us for our shield. “For this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.”
The Present Truth – July 12, 1900
E. J. Waggoner