Be Strong in the Power of His Might
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10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Paul begins verse 10 with “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord” However, if we break this paragraph down and follow the logic of Paul’s thought we find this command given before the reason is given. We don’t get to the reason until vs 11 and 12.
This whole section which continues until vs. 20 is a warning to prepare us for battle. The image is a militant church with a great and power enemy.
If we miss this enemy, if we ignore it or write this off as superstition then we would miss to whole point of this warning and instruction.
Who is Our Enemy?
Who is Our Enemy?
Ephesians 6:11–12 (NKJV)
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
The Devil
9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Here the Devil is identified as
“the great dragon”
Which is what he is called in Revelation
“that serpent of old”
a reference which ties him with the serpent that deceived Eve
“Satan”
A name which in Hebrew means adversary. He is God’s adversary but he is also our adversary.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Paul also identifies other enemies…
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Two things in this verse clarify who these enemies are and give strong evidence against a popular theory which is being excepted by many evangelical Christians today. That theory is that these principalities and powers are political leaders, ideologies and traditions including religious traditions. The two things here that counter that theory are…
That they are not flesh and blood and that they are in heavenly places which basically means in the spiritual realm.
Paul wants us to know that our true enemies are not human, however, that is not to say that they don’t have human agents working for them.
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
There are certainly a lot of people that are of their father the devil and they are doing his desires.
But Paul wants us to be sure to understand that the real enemy is the one behind the flesh and blood that we see doing the evil deed of Satan.
Satan and his demons have power and principalities.
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
literally power or controlling influence.
However, Christ has won the victory and in fact the Bible says in
20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
We need to know that we have an enemy and we are at war at his very moment.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones said…
Dr. Lloyd-Jones Quote
‘I am certain that one of the main causes of the ill state of the Church today is the fact that the devil is being forgotten. All is attributed to us; we have all become so psychological in our attitude and thinking. We are ignorant of this great objective fact, the being, the existence of the devil, the adversary, the accuser, and his “fiery darts”
If the Devil and his demons did not exist then neither would vs 10-20 of Eph 6.
But Paul wants us to know that we have a adversary and enemy who is influencing and controlling this world and desires to destroy Christians. Make no mistake he wants to bring you down. But Paul not only warns us but he given us the battle plan that will cause us to withstand and having done all to stand.
Be Empowered in the Lord
Be Empowered in the Lord
Ephesians 6:10 (NKJV)
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Some have commented that Paul got his thesaurus out when writing this verse. But is that all that is going on here. Is Paul just trying to emphasise this power? Or is there a logical progression?
His might
that is Christ’s might. The word used here speaks of Christ’s attribute of being mighty or able. The almighty characteristic of Christ.
The power
The word here means dominion, power, or strength. So this speaks more of the expression of the Almighty nature of Christ. His authority and dominion as the King of kings and ruler of all.
Be Strong
Means be Empowered. It’s passive. We receive this power.
So what Paul is saying seems to be something like…
Be empowered, in Christ or receive the authority and dominion in Christ of His almighty power.
This kind of echos back to
22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
So if we are to have any chance of survival against our enemy we must receive the fullness of Christ in us who has all things under His feet.
So this empowerment, what is it meant to enable us to do?
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
It is not the power to work miracles or to bring a great attack on Satan. No it’s power to endure, to persevere to resist.
13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
It is the power to endure all things. It’s the power to resist the devil to resist temptation.
Even though we have a powerful adversary who is like a roaring lion we can stand, we can endure because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
So be strong in the power of His might and stand.
How do we be empowered?
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.