A couple nights ago, as I was reading Desiring God by John Piper, God
gave me what I call an "obvious" revelation -- something that's so
plain as day, but we don't see it most of the time. It's impossible to
miss, but it's possible to not comprehend it. The revelation came when
Piper quoted the famous warfare passage of Ephesians 6:10-18: "Take ...
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." (v. 17)
When I read that, I finally understood. Finally,
after years of knowing that passage - and even having it on a special
coin by my bed - I comprehended what was really being said. If you go
back to the first few verses of John 1, you'll see that "the Word was God"
(emphasis added; v.1). In verse 2, John personifies "the Word" as a
"He". God finally gave me the connection between these two passages.
John 1:1-5 talks about Jesus, calling Him "the Word". Ephesians 6:10-18
talks about the spiritual armor and weaponry given to Christians by the
Father. One of the mentioned weapons is the sword of the Spirit. We all
know what swords are: extremely sharp weapons made to utterly destroy
the holder's enemy.
As Christians, Satan is quite
obviously our 'ultimate' enemy, and in order to defeat him and his
works, we are given a sword. And it may seem like I'm saying these
phrases repeatedly (which I kind of am), but it's because they're
important. Vital. The sword isn't just some cool toy that we have. The
sword is the Word of God. And Who is the Word? Jesus!
Christians
are given the name of Jesus (and the Bible, too; I'm not trying to
dismiss that as part of our sword) to fight. When we "heal the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, [and] cast out demons" (Matthew
10:8), we obviously will do so in Jesus' name. Sickness, death, leprosy,
and demons are all devices of Satan. They're all his works. But Satan's
biggest works of evil are nothing in comparison to even one facet of
God. Satan and God aren't even opposites! God is the Lord of the
Universe, and what is Satan? A jilted, selfish ex-servant of the Most
High God. There is infinite power to do good in the world and to destroy
evil in the name of Jesus. His name is our sword, and we need not be afraid of the devices of the enemy.
So
let us unsheathe our sword! Let us fight for beauty and truth and joy
and glory and goodness. Satan is nothing in comparison to even the name
by which our Savior is called. Remember that.
"There is
power in the name of Jesus to break every chain. ... There's an army
rising up to break every chain." - Jesus Culture, "Break Every Chain"
