Taking Unto Us the Sword of the Spirit (I)

“And take… the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” EPH 6:17

ZACK: You know Shiran there’s that line in the Bible just before the piece of scripture that we are onto in Ephesians that blesses me abundantly whenever I read or hear it said. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. (Eph. 6:10). I wonder whether folk have heard this scripture to where it has power in their lives, to where they can spiritually take hold of it, activate it in their lives. You know a car is no good to one unless they put in the ignition and turn the engine on, put it into gear and drive it away. That also means a car is no good to one if they can’t drive it. That is what God’s Word should be for us. Power in operation.

Perhaps you’ll find it a little odd Shiran that I started out this way but I meant to lay the plinth for verse 11 that says, Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. God warns us to put on the whole armour meaning that we have an enemy. One that doesn’t rest, doesn’t need sleep and never quits. He looks for every crinkle and crook in our armour. If he’s shooting bullets, he’s not going to shoot just to warn you. He’s going to try to kill you. Do you realise what that means Shiran? Let’s say you sloppily wear God’s armament today, say you decide to put on oddly the Helmet (of salvation) because it messes up your hair or perhaps because you don’t ‘look cool’ in it and as you get out, arrows are shot (by the enemy obviously) to your head. So as the arrow hits at your oddly-worn helmet, you get lucky and it ricochets off. It doesn’t kill you but it knocks you down. Do you realise how fatal that can be? I’m sure this is what God is warning us about. That we don’t just put on bits and pieces of this armour but rather, the whole armour. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6:12.)

SHIRAN: That's some serious food for thought! And yet so many take it for granted. Thank you for the reminder. It does get me thinking!

ZACK: Onto the Sword of the Spirit now Shiran…

SHIRAN: Alright! Like everyone knows, a sword is a weapon, used to inflict injury during war by cutting the enemy. It is like a long knife, sometimes with one edge, sometimes with two (double-edged). According to Wikipedia, swords were developed from daggers during the Bronze Age, when the construction of longer blades became possible.

A sword is

- a defensive weapon, used to protect oneself when attacked. In old movies (why does Zorro come to mind?) the first thing a man did when he met a stranger was to reach for his sword, which was probably kept in a sheath on his side,

and

- an offensive weapon, used to attack and catch the enemy by surprise, also used to “finish off” the enemy. for example, after David killed Goliath, he cut off his head with a sword. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. (1 Samuel 17:50-51)

ZACK: You know, it’s interesting you should whip out such a description. Also I thought I’d add that ‘a sword is only good once out of its sheath’.

SHIRAN: Like the car! Only makes sense when it’s driven!

ZACK: That said, I find it most amusing that the concept of the sword is still maintained even in our modern-day world. Have you ever noticed the remarkable resemblance of the bayonet on the AK-47 (the commonest gun in the world) to the sword? I’m told it’s used as a sword in close combat when all other options run out, to fight until the end. I guess as they say when the chickens come home to roost, there’s not a thing you can do about it. So the Sword will still be arguably the most prolific battling tool in any war. God in His infinite wisdom must have known this aspect of the armour would survive generations of extinction to maintain its use even in this our generation.

SHIRAN: Wow! I know nothing about guns but that right there is very interesting! Most people are right-handed, and so that means that they use their right hands to operate their swords, and their left hands to hold on to the shields that protect their bodies. There has to be significance to the fact that God inspired Paul to refer to the Word of God as “the Sword of the Spirit.”

ZACK: As I’m sure you already know Shiran, we are not to take any word of God’s words to us lightly. Everything, however big or small has such great significance.

SHIRAN: It just hit me, Zack, that Paul did not say, “the stone of the Spirit,” or “the Cannon of the Spirit” or “the Sling of the Spirit” or “the Arrow of the Spirit” or even “the Spear of the Spirit.”

Notice, all the above weapons are used from a distance. You throw stones… arrows… spears… cannon-balls. Slings, too, are used from a distance. To use a sword in combat, you must approach the enemy and attack from a short range. David “ran” – he was far away when he slew Goliath with the stone from his sling – “and stood upon the Philistine” Goliath. And then he “cut off the head therewith.” That, to me, sounds like David making sure that Goliath was 'completely dead' and not just injured by the stone from David's sling.

ZACK: I guess it’s called ‘hand-to-hand’ combat. Personally, when I think of swords, the word 'slice' comes to mind… I’d imagine ‘to slay’ and ‘slew’ are not very far from that. So with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, I reckon we are to slay our enemy too!

SHIRAN: We, too, as soldiers, should use the Sword to “cut off the head” of the enemy; of sin; of anything that tries to steal God’s glory. We should not just wound, we should extinguish completely, snuff out the life from these things. The reason that some sins come back to haunt people is because they have not cut off the heads, they have only used their slings to throw a stone, and then left the “injured” sin, or devil, or situation, lying down, able to get back up after a while.

ZACK: ‘cut off the heads’ = ‘slain’. There, again! Spot on Shiran.

SHIRAN: Reader, please don’t tire. Notice, Zack, that Paul did not say “the Knife of the Spirit” or “the Dagger of the Spirit.” Not even “the Panga/Jambia (slasher) of the Spirit”! Swords are superior to these two cutting instruments. Note that, soldiers!

ZACK: I’m thinking we should take another good look at that picture of the sword atop this post.

SHIRAN: We should! Now, the Bible emphasizes repeatedly the spiritual nature of God. Jesus told the woman at the well, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

ZACK: It’s important for us to get this picture right Shiran. The Sword of the Spirit is the (spoken) Word of God. I just collected these pieces of scripture that I’m sure once we’ve read again further clarify this issue:

John 6:63 - It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Isaiah 59:19 - So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

Rev 2:16 - Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

2Thess 2:8 - And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Hos 6:5 - Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

ZACK: Then the bigger question becomes, How do we take up this Sword? When we read further through verse 18 of the same (i.e. 6th) chapter of Ephesians, we see that we are told it’s by means of praying in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. This is mostly so because sometimes, in fact most times we do not know what and how we ought to pray as fallible humans. God Himself tells us this in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Rom. 8:26. So as the Spirit makes intercessions for us, He knows whatever prayer and supplication there needs to be offered, so we are assured as we pray in the Spirit of this.

I’m sure Shiran, some people might be all questions about this new aspect of prayer in the Spirit that we just hit on. Perhaps we should further elaborate on this (praying in the Spirit) in our subsequent conversations. But one thing we must all know, that this Sword of the Spirit, we use to wrestle with our spiritual enemies as well as to keep our flesh under and keep on glorifying God. It’s little wonder that in all victory monuments and pictures that I have ever seen, the soldier has always gotten their sword raised far high above their heads.

SHIRAN: As we wait on Part II of this series, think and pray on the above, soldiers! It seemed simple in the beginning, didn’t it? A sword… not just another weapon, now, is it?

ZACK: Ask me and I’ll tell you.