Shield and sword

Let's have a look at the reference:

"10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Ephesians 6:10-17.

When I was a new Christian I was a definite "Wordist!" an evangelical, without even knowing it. The way I'm wired the first thing that wanted was to "know" what I had got myself into. Therefore my first impression of the faith was the word. Therefore, when I read this list I had this vision of having a small shield and a large sword. The way I would go into spiritual battle would be buy making sure my sword was sharp! And that I could wield it with ease.

One of the best examples of this was Jesus in the wilderness with satan. He cut him down at every attack with a swift hack!!

I have been told and told, but it never sunk in!! That isn't how it is! I am hoping that this time it will sink in once and for all! Let me outline how it is supposed to be:

The armour, I have been told and told is the armour of a standing formation. It is a defensive armour! "But, we know the best defence is the best offence?!" No, that's taking the armour out of context. we will see that defence was the best offence in the Roman days!!!

Picture the scene. You have a very disciplined Roman army. It marches in formation and holds rank under battle. One command from the commander and the whole regiment quickly and efficiently moves with precision into the correct formation.

Now picture the standard enemy of the Romans. Although they were far more sophisticated than we give them credit for, their method of confrontation is very similar to the kind of scene we see on a film about mob violence. A mass of people swarming toward the enemy, no rank, no order, just a full on charge. They were used to meeting a mob charging at them from the other direction. Running through each other and hacking as they go until they engage in combat with an individual. Strangely this is the standard swashbuckler scene and even in films like Star Wars. No wonder we are so programmed.

Anyway. The Roman shield in Ephesians 6 was not small but big enough for the soldier to hide behind. It was a rectangular shape. Something like the riot Shields we see the police using today. The sword for this formation was not big for slashing but small for stabbing. Now picture the scene of the defeat of Boadicea's army. The Romans were far fewer in number. They were in a gully. The general had deliberately placed them there. Today this would be suicide. Like the beginning of the film "Cold Mountain." However, the Romans stood in a triangular formation so that instead of being a straight line across the gully, they were a row of points, like running into a row of Vs - VVVVVVV, Where each side of the V was made up of about five men. They formed a tight formation and placed their shields in front of them. As the Britons stood at the end of the gully looking down, all they could see was a wall of shields.

The Britons rushed down the gully. There were thousands and thousands of them. As the front men hit the wall they were stuck. Worse still the men rushing down behind them pressed them against the wall. This is where the sword comes in. All the Romans had to do was poke there swords through between the shields to stab whoever was there. The attacking Britons had no room to swing a sword or raise a spear. They were continually being pressed by the hoard coming down from behind.

It is a gruesome scene and a small number of Romans defeated the Britons that day with hardly any losses to themselves. If a Roman soldier fell there was another behind ready to take his place and complete the wall.

Now, let's go back to Jesus in the wilderness! Was his greatest weapon "The Word" as we have been led to believe? Or was His greatest weapon the Shield of faith? Although satan tempted Jesus, Jesus was not tempted! There was no weakness in His knowledge or faith. Satan was pressed against His shield and was squashed there. Jesus took a few stabs at him but His greatest weapon was that satan couldn't touch Him. Jesus never had to think, "Now there's an offer, I wonder if I should?!" Isn't that what we would think? "I wonder if this is the Lord speaking to me?!!" Our faith may be based on the word, but it is that faith that is our greatest protection. It says more than once that we should not even prepare what we are going to say! Jesus resisted satan that day with His unshakable faith. The words He spoke were the sings of that faith. Satan had no less power over Him than if He just said, "No!"

"Turn these rocks into food!" - "No!"
"Jump from this high point!" - "No!"
"Bow down and worship me!" - "No!"

Would that have been any less effective?! (Provided He was still speaking from faith and not just human stubbornness!! I am not saying anything against Jesus' show of strength. Just that we don't know the whole Bible by heart and shouldn't feel condemned if the best defence we can come up with is "No!" When I was a young Christian that was the only defence I knew! But I knew I was protected as if by a shield)

I think that if Paul were writing in the light of today's culture he would probably call it a force field of faith and the cattle prod of the word! I believe that the reason the church on the whole is so shut away is because they believe that one word from them would sleigh everyone in their way. But it doesn't happen. Every now and then we hear a testimony of some great Bible teacher being interviewed on TV and coming up with a great and silencing last word. But that isn't our role model. Our role model is the unsquashable faith of knowing that God is in control, God has all the answers and God is not shaken! Our faith has nothing to do with us and everything to do with trusting Him!

I am not trying to diminish our view of the power of the word. I am simply adjusting the ratio between the shield and the sword! We think that because the word is heap big powerful, it must therefore be heap big! But the picture that Paul gives is not a three foot sword but an 18 inch sword. The power of the word that we know it has is represented in this picture by a smallish stabbing sword. In contrast to our image of the sword, the shield is about three to four times bigger than we (at least I) imagined! It is about six feet tall and about three feet wide! Big enough for a man to stand behind and not be visible for attack.