Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Whole Armor of God

Congratulations to my sweet daughter Asia for passing her driver's license test today. Today's topic for this post is the Armor of God. Maybe you've seen the Halloween costume with the different pieces of the Ephesians 6 armor. To start, here are the verses:

Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil 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 firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18, ESV).

I am writing today about the Ephesians chapter 6 the whole "Armor of God" which Christ-followers use to defend themselves against Satan's schemes. Here are a few quick points about this armor:

  • We are not to battle against other people. Instead, we are to fight the unseen enemies that are in the devil's camp (v. 12);
  • The shield of faith is foundational. The New King James version states in verse 16 "above all, taking the shield of faith…" While the ESV says that "in all circumstances take up the shield of faith";
  • A vital part of our armor is "praying in the Spirit" (v. 18) and keeping "alert" (v. 18). If you pray this prayer as a regular part of your daily petitions, remember to include these pieces of the armor as well.


 

Now, for the main reason why I am writing today about the armor of God. The Apostle Paul did not just pull this armor idea out of thin air. Instead, he pulled together a number of different Old Testament verses to show what we are to wear in fighting our true enemy. Here are the whole armor of God, Old Testament references:

  • belt of truth (v.14); Isa 11:5 (Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.)
  • breastplate of righteousness (v. 14); Isa. 59:17 (He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head)
  • shoes having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace (v.15); Isa. 52:7 (How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns.")

    also, Nahum 1:15 (Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace!)

  • shield of faith (v. 16); Genesis 15:1 (After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.)
  • helmet of salvation (v. 17); Isa. 59:17 (He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head)

    also, Psalm 140:7 (O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.)


     

  • sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v.17); Hosea 6:5 (Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.)


     

May God bless us all with His whole armor of protection against the enemy's attacks. In our Lord and Savior's name Jesus I pray, Amen. /s/Tom

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Who (or What) is the Restrainer?

Do you feel like the world is spinning out of control? Now I am not just talking about a horrible week on Wall Street, starving people in East Africa, the threatened impending doom of Global Warming (it's been a hot summer hasn't it), everyone fighting with each other (let's see, we have the Minnesota Government shut-down, the NFL lockout, the NBA lockout, and the furor and animosity on both sides over the debate with the raising the federal government debt ceiling). Everything seems really crazy to me, like things are falling apart.

Which leads me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, which teaches that at some point in our future a "restrainer" will be removed from the world. This connotes to me an even more lawless, uncontrolled world. Chaos will reign. In today's post, I want to review the identity of this "restrainer", and start by looking at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This chapter is fantastic reading because it has everything – it discusses the end-times, it talks about the Antichrist, and it talks about two mysteries – one of which is this "restrainer". Well, let's take a look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (ESV)

Wow, this is a great set of verses filled with important information. So, from these verses we see that Jesus is going to return to Earth (His Second Coming), and that this has not yet taken place. We also see that before Jesus' return, there will be a rebellion, and that the "man of lawlessness" is revealed, and that he will seat himself in the temple of God. This man of lawlessness does not violate the speeding and traffic laws. No, instead he will be a violator of God's Law: he will not honor God, he will have a life of idolatry, placing other things (rather than God) as preeminent in his life, he will take the Lord's name in vain, and he will not honor the Sabbath Day (these are the first table of the 10 Commandments). And he will also violate the second table of Commandments: he will not honor his parents, he will murder, he will be an adulterer, thief, liar, and also be covetous of other's belongings. This is also where the second mystery is discussed – the mystery of lawlessness (v. 7). This "man of lawlessness", the Antichrist sounds like a despicable character, right? But how far are we from following these Commandments?

But I find the most interesting insight from these verses being the discussion of the restrainer in verses 6 and 7. The restrainer is restraining the Antichrist (v. 6). And his restraining will continue until he is removed, or until he is "out of the way". This sounds almost like a mafia hit, doesn't it? Guido says let's remove the problem, and his hit man responds by saying that he will make sure that "he is out of the way". I think this wording could be lifted from one of the Godfather movies. A couple of quick notes about verses 6 and 7 – first, in verse 6, the restraining is placed as a neuter (the ESV properly uses "what" here), while in verse 7 the author uses the masculine to describe "he who now restrains". One commentator says that the switching from neuter to masculine means that what is being described is an influence capable of personification. And second, Paul is being purposely unclear about the identity of the restrainer, and this is another key clue to revealing the identity of this mystery person or institution. In addition, remember that the Thessalonians would have understood who Paul was talking about.

The traditional explanation of the identity of the "restrainer is as follows:

  • Tertullian taught that this was the governing authorities, or more specifically the Roman Empire – see, Romans 13;
  • Some explain that this is the removal of angelic authorities watching over the nations, similar to what is described in Daniel chapter 10;
  • And the most popular recent explanation is that these verses describe the secret rapture of believers from the world, which means that God the Holy Spirit is removed from Earth.

These explanations all have something going for it. But I came across a very good commentary by J H Smith in his New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (citing Vine), which adds a twist to the "restrainer" being the governing authorities, but also adds a complete refuting of the secret rapture explanation. Here is what J. H. Smith writes:

… This factor of obscurity immediately rules out the possibility that the reference is to God, the Holy Spirit, or the Church, for if any of these were what he meant, he could have unhesitatingly named any of them without risk. Grammatical considerations also remove God, the Church, or the Holy Spirit from consideration. In this passage two grammatical genders are used of the restrainer: neuter gender, and masculine gender. If the Holy Spirit were the intended reference, Paul would have consistently used the neuter gender. Since the Holy Spirit is omnipresent (Ps 139:7, 8), and does not merely indwell believers, the removal of the saints at the Rapture does not constitute his removal. His removal is not suggested here or elsewhere in Scripture. … If the Church were Paul's intended reference, Paul would have consistently used the feminine gender, for in Greek the word "church" is feminine in its grammatical gender. … But the masculine and neuter gender does fit the future government (neuter gender) and its king (masculine gender). This leaves human government as the only remaining choice of those given. But the reference is not to human government in general, for prophecy nowhere states that such government will cease just prior to the revelation of the Antichrist. Rather, Paul has a specific reference to biblical prophecy in mind, Daniel 7:8, 24, where Daniel speaks of the Antichrist defeating three kings which until that time restrained his power. That Paul's reference is to prophecy in the book of Daniel is confirmed by his reference to Daniel in ver. 4, and his statement in ver. 5, which indicates that when he was present with the Thessalonians he had been teaching them about Bible prophecy from the book of Daniel.

Wow, I like how this is explained. This means that because Paul uses the neuter and masculine gender descriptions for the "restrainer" in verses 6 and 7, that it cannot be either the church or God the Holy Spirit. The fact that Paul is intentionally not providing the identity of the "restrainer" means that it is likely that Paul was cautious in making sure that unnecessary persecution not result from his writing. Thus, Paul likely was referring to the Roman government as the identity of the "restrainer", which is why it is unnamed. But here is the twist, in the Old Testament book of Daniel there is a prophecy that the Antichrist will "put down" three kings on his rise to power (Daniel 7:24). Putting down rivals, eliminating the enemy? This sounds like my Godfather reference for 2 Thess. 2:7 that I started this post writing about. Taking out, or putting down enemy heads of state sounds like this is something the Antichrist will do. And so, the "restrainer" of 2 Thess. 2:6-7 might be three powerful country's leaders who are removed by the Antichrist. Think of how the world would look if this actually took place. Therefore, in thinking of the "restrainer", there is the possibility that it is more than just the world's governing authorities – it may be the heads of three powerful world countries or institutions (see, Daniel 7:8, :24).

Alright, that is enough thinking about the scary future for today. Remember for those who place their hope and trust in Jesus, He will be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). May God bless you this week. /s/Tom