The Battle Begins

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place . . . Ephesians 6:14

Again, the instruction to stand.  It reminds me of a movie I referenced the other day - The Patriot.  There's a battle scene towards the end of the movie where the line of the militia soldiers begins to fall.  The men begin to panic, and start to run.  Mel Gibson grabs the American flag, and runs in front of them, shouting, "hold! Hold the line!"

I envision Paul doing the same thing.  "Stand!  Stand firm"

How wonderful that he doesn't stop there.  He gives us more instruction.  First, to buckle the belt of truth.  What is the belt of truth?

I need to look at this two ways:  First, what is the purpose of a belt?  Ok, ok, we all know a belt keeps our pants from falling down.  But in a military uniform in the time of Paul, a belt was more than that.  The belt was the way the soldier carried his weapon.  Matthew Henry said that the belt secures all the other pieces of armor. 

Second, what is truth?  Well, Jesus said that HE is the Way, the Truth, the Life.  If we read the passage just before this verse, in John 14, we can see why Jesus made such a statement:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”  (vv 1 - 4)

This was a bold statement!  In order for the disciples to believe the things that Jesus was teaching, He had to teach them that He - His character, His essence, His Self - He himself is truth, in an absolute form.  He could not, would not, lie or mislead them.


Therefore - He is truth.  Our first weapon is truth - not as an abstract concept, but as a Person.  We must know Christ, we must know Him as Truth.  


If He says it's so, it's so.  If He said He'll do it, He'll do it.  If He said it's sin, it's sin.  


It's really that simple.  All truth is found in Him, because He IS truth.  


We wrap truth securely around us, holstering all our other weapons close to our us, living and breathing truth.  We therefore begin with Christ.  We must know Him, know His word and accept that He is truth.


That is where we start, and that is where we end for today.  Tomorrow we'll discuss the breastplate of righteousness.