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Good Tuesday morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends!
I hope you are excited about our time in God’s Word today. . . we’ll only do one verse Ephesians 6:14, because it’s so powerful!
Like a platoon of army recruits, let’s gather with our commander in Chief, Jesus the Christ, as He equips us for the war that He understands all too well and has been battling since the garden of Eden. It’s a war of good and evil, holy and wicked, Satan verses God! This war has been waged both in the heavenly realms, when Satan rebelled against God and God expelled him out of heaven, and here on earth. Jesus was an eye witness to this event and He said “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18).
Most Bible scholars understand Ezekiel 28:11-17 and Isaiah 14:12-15 are descriptions of this cataclysmic event that changed all of history. Many Bible scholars also consider Revelation 12:3,4 as a description of Satan (the great dragon) taking up to 1/3 of all the angels of heaven with him, as he was thrust out of God’s presence. These angels are referred to as ‘fallen angels’ or ‘demons’, or ‘evil spirits’, or ‘spirits of darkness’ in various places in the Bible. We presume this rebellion took place before Genesis 1:1, when all that existed was God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the angels God had created. It was after this horrific event, that Genesis 1 and 2 take place. How long the unstained perfection of Genesis 2 existed before the Genesis 3 fall, we do not know. But it was at that moment, when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation, and believed a talking serpent rather than God, that the war on earth began.
The first prophecy made by God, about this war between Jesus and Satan, is found there, in the garden of Eden. Genesis 3:14 says “So the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head and you will strike His heel.”
Now that doesn’t simply mean women will always be afraid of snakes, although my dear Dawn is petrified of them! It means, as Eve was the first to succumb to the serpent’s temptation, and then she invited Adam to do the same, so the battle will rage between Satan and every living human being that is a descendant of them. It also means there would come a day, when a particular woman would give birth to a very special Son, and that Son would be the focus of this raging battle… Jesus, the incarnate Son of God.
“He will crush your head and you will strike His heel.” Means that one day Satan was going to strike that Son, Jesus, with a powerful ‘bite’, that would kill a normal person. That would be His crucifixion of course. But Jesus gave His life, as a sacrifice of atonement, which would ransom any who had fallen subject to Satan, but wanted to be rescued by Jesus! And through His resurrection Jesus would crush Satan! Hebrews 2:14,15 says “…by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hallelujah! Finally one day in the future, this great war will be over, as victorious Jesus will seal Satan and the rebellious evil angels in hell for all time in eternity future (Revelation 20:10).
Now let’s get back to Ephesians 6:14, as Paul begins to detail the spiritual armor God has designed and made available to us through Jesus Christ our Savior. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around you waist…” For the Roman soldier a large and sturdy belt was buckled securely around him, for to that belt would be fastened other armor. “The belt of truth” is the first piece of spiritual armor we are urged by Paul to “put on… buckle around our waist,” So here’s my question… why would TRUTH be the foundational, most important, first piece of armor?
Because Satan is first and foremost a LIAR! John 8 is a powerful chapter, in which Jesus contrasts His truth and Satan’s lies. That’s how the whole war started in the garden… Satan lied, Satan distorted something God had said to Adam and Eve, Satan planted seeds of doubt in their minds. And it didn’t take long and they doubted God, then they rejected God’s word and trusted Satan’s word! So my friends, let’s grasp this very tightly, let’s understand it with all our mind, soul, heart and strength. The battle is waged first and most powerfully in the arena of TRUTH.
Remember Isaiah 45:18,19 “I am the LORD, there is no other… I speak the TRUTH, I declare what is RIGHT.” There it is friends. ALL truth originates with God. Anytime you have a question about anything, anywhere… the only reliable answer is found in God & God’s Word! “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”(Hebrews 13:8) So God is the only reliable source of TRUTH, and He and His truth will never change.
I mentioned John 8. Listen to this: “I am the light of the world, whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness… If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:12, 31,32,36) And about Satan Jesus said “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
Jesus also said “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6) So my friends, this is why God’s Word, the written truth of God, is so important. Satan must submit to God’s Truth. Do you remember when Jesus was battling Satan in the desert after His baptism? Three times Satan attacked Jesus with temptation of distortions of truth, and all three times Jesus simply responded “It is written” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10) and Jesus quoted Scripture to Satan, and then it says “Then the devil left Jesus, and the angels came and attended him.” This is an extremely important lesson for us all. God’s truth is POWERFUL, it has authority over the dark kingdom. Satan and his demons must submit to God’s truth spoken to them. Followers of Jesus Christ, authentic, born again, redeemed Christians have the authority to speak the Word of God to the dark kingdom and they must submit to it’s truth!
Do you remember in the upper room, the night before His crucifixion, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the Holy Spirit and referred to Him as the Spirit of Truth! “I will ask the Father and He will send you another Counselor…the Spirit of TRUTH…” (John 14:16,17) So when the battle is raging for our mind and heart, the Holy Spirit has a responsibility to help us discern and defend God’s truth!!
Temptation and every scheme or tactic of the dark kingdom will ALWAYS use some form of truth distortion. Therefore Christians must learn to be very wise in filtering EVERYTHING we hear or read. Deception, distortion of truth, deceit is everywhere and is always the language of the dark kingdom. Whenever a falsehood is spoken, it is evidence of the influence of the dark kingdom. Now ponder the power of that statement in view of social media or news media or politics or school textbooks or even Sunday sermons! I’ll say it again, whenever anything is said or written that is untrue, there is the evidence of the influence of the dark kingdom.
So friends, it’s important we stop right here and think. How strongly do you work to be sure the information you believe is God’s truth? How much effort do you invest to be sure you speak ONLY truth and when possible you kill or correct untruth that has been spoken to you before it is passed on? What are your filters for determining truth? How much of God’s truth have you memorized? How often do you immerse yourself in God’s truth, His Word? How vulnerable are you to distortions of God’s truth?
The Belt of Truth…the first piece of our God designed Spiritual armor. God’s truth, through which we filter EVERYTHING we hear or read. God’s truth, by which we filter everything we are going to say before we say it. Let’s talk with God about this…
Lord Jesus, we are beginning to recognize how serious this war is and how vital God’s truth is in this war…
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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