But he [Jesus] answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”… Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” … Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” [Matthew 4:4,7,10 (ESV)]
God’s armor includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation. No soldier, however, would go into battle without a weapon. While a soldier might go into battle without armor as did David when he met Goliath, he’d never go without a weapon. The young shepherd’s weapon was a handful of stones but the Christian’s weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The sword Paul describes wasn’t like the nearly six-foot heavy broad sword (rhomphaia) David used to decapitate Goliath or the sword of judgement of Revelation. The sword of the Spirit is a machaira, a small sword, knife, or dagger used in in hand-to-hand combat. While the Christian’s one offensive weapon is small, it is mighty because it can defeat Satan! When Jesus was in the wilderness, He used this powerful sword. The Lord answered each of Satan’s temptations with the words, “It is written…” He needed nothing more than the Word to send Satan packing.
Satan frequently uses his own machaira when tempting people—only his version of the Word is perverted. He’s more than willing to put his words in God’s mouth! When tempting Eve in the garden, the evil one emphasized God’s prohibition rather than His gifts when he asked if God really said she couldn’t eat any of the fruit in the garden. Although Eve corrected him that only one tree was prohibited, she was unsure of God’s words and added that it couldn’t even be touched! When Satan assured Eve that she wouldn’t die if she ate the fruit, the woman was bamboozled; not knowing and trusting God’s word is what brought death into the world!
Long before GPS and cell phones, toward the end of World War II, the allied forces conducted a military campaign to mop up the remaining Nazi resistance in Berlin. When a crucial mission was assigned to one unit, it was essential that each soldier memorize a detailed map of the enemy’s positions in the city. Because each soldier managed to commit the map to memory, the mission was a success. Several years later, the Army conducted an experiment to see if that original feat could be repeated. The participating soldiers were offered an extra week’s furlough as incentive if they could carry out a comparable mission without a glitch. Despite the promise of furlough, this second unit failed to match the success of the first. Could their failure have been because their lives never were in jeopardy? Perhaps one’s survival in battle serves as a greater motivation than a week’s vacation in peacetime.
While I’ve found this story in a variety of sources, I can’t verify its truth. Nevertheless, it makes a great sermon illustration and I found it in a commentary on Ephesians 6:17. As Christians, we are engaged in spiritual warfare. Rather than holding a map of Berlin and Nazi strongholds in our memory, we need the Bible in our hearts. Paul warned us that Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light.” [2 Cor. 11:14] The only way to spot his falsehoods and perversion of the gospel is to know the truth! The sword of the Spirit—the word of God—is the only offensive weapon in our arsenal. The more we read it, the more we memorize it, and the more thoroughly we know and understand it, the better prepared we are to march into battle. We must study God’s Word as if our lives depended on it—because they do.
The Bible is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhaustless wealth. It is a guidebook for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, and a balm for every wound. [Thomas Guthrie]
Devotions of the Heart 