Dealing and Binding the Strongman Part 6 I am in Messiah/Christ youtu.be/UE7VmtpaZSI 18 minutes of your time. Before going on to a consideration of the remaining pieces of armor, I would like to suggest another perspective that may help to increase our understanding of the significance of the full armor of AHaYaH HauHaY (YHUH יהוה). We have seen that this idea of armor is an analogy or metaphor to explain in figurative terms the truth of who YashaYaH (יהושע) is in our lives and what He wants to accomplish in our lives. But the concept of armor is also an expansion of YashaYaH (יהושע) words to His followers, You are in me, and I am in you (John 14:20). That is the defense of the Believer against spiritual attack: YashaYaH (יהושע) within each of us, and each of us within YashaYaH (יהושע). You are in me, and I am in you. Those are some of the simplest words in the English language--so simple, any child can understand them. They are monosyllables, yet they encompass a truth so profound that I wonder if anyone can even remotely apprehend all that is involved in these simple words. The first three pieces of this armor that Paul describes--the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes of the gospel of peace--are a figurative way of explaining this concept MessiYaH Himself gave to us: The Believer in Messiah Messiah in the Believer. When we came to MessiYah YashaYaH (יהושע) and believed in him, we then were in Mashiach Yashayah. We had a new basis of living, because we had discovered MessiYah YashaYaH (יהושע) to be the ground of truth, the key to life. At conversion, we found that YashaYaH (יהושע) invites us to rest upon His righteousness, so that we no longer need to manufacture our own righteousness--an attempt that would be doomed to futility. Once we were in Messiah YashaYah some call Christ, the struggle to justify ourselves ended, because the righteousness of YashaYaH (יהושע) completely covered us. In the amazing experience of the cross, AHaYaH HauHaY (YHUH יהוה) transferred our sin to Christ/Messiah and transferred his righteousness to us. This is the ground of our acceptance before AHaYaH HauHaY (YHUH יהוה) and the answer to the problem of human sin, guilt, and shame from which we all suffer. It was then that we learned that MessiYaH/Christ is our peace, the source of our sense of security, wholeness, forgiveness, and well-being. So that is the theme of the first three pieces of armor: I am in MessiYaH/Christ YashaYah HauHay/Yahuah. That is why the first three pieces of armor are described by Paul not as something we need to lay hold of but something we have already received. We appropriated the first three pieces of armor at the moment of our conversion, the moment we entered a new realm-- in Mashiach. MessiYaH/Christ is in me Now the last three pieces of armor describe what it means for MessiYaH/Christ to be in the Believer/Christian--MessiYaH/Christ working in our everyday lives. These last three pieces are very practical and important to us because of the problems, trials, and difficult choices we face every day. We have already seen what it means to take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. The reason we so often experience weakness in our lives is that we do not actually take up the shield of faith! We continually try to muddle through without the protection of our faith. We do not intelligently do what AHaYaH HauHaY (YHUH יהוה) says and apply the shield of faith. In other words, we fail to draw practical conclusions from the ground of faith that we accepted at conversion. There are only two pieces of the armor left for us to explore--the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. These two pieces of armor go on to explain what YashaYaH (יהושע) meant when He said, I am in you. They help us to understand what it truly means for MessiYaH/Christ to live in the Believer/Christian.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 14:41:25 +0000
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