In order to stand against the attacks of our spiritual enemy, we must trust in God’s strength and take up His armor (Ephesians 6:10-20). There is one final piece of armor that we have not discussed yet that we must use in our battle against the enemy: “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). The other pieces of armor that we have considered over the last several weeks are usually only used defensively; this is the only piece of God’s armor that can be used both offensively and defensively. When Satan attacks, we must use the sword of the Spirit to both defend ourselves and fight him off.
The word of God is identified as the “sword of the Spirit” because it has been inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent through whom God has inspired the words of holy Scripture. As Paul says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit spoke through both the Old Testament prophets (1 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 1:21) and New Testament preachers (1 Peter 1:12). We have their Spirit-inspired words recorded for us in the Bible. In order to stand against our enemy, we must make use of them.
This is exactly what Jesus did when He “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1). After fasting for forty days and nights, the tempter approached Jesus, saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3). How did Jesus respond? How did Jesus defend Himself from Satan defensively and fight Satan off offensively? Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). When the devil tempted Jesus again by taking Him to Jerusalem, setting Him on the pinnacle of the temple, telling Him to throw Himself down, and misapplying a quotation of Psalm 91:11-12 (Matthew 4:5-6), Jesus answered again by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7). When Satan tempted Jesus a third time by taking Him up on a high mountain, showing Him the glory of all of the kingdoms of the world and promising to give all of it to Him if He fell down and worshipped him (Matthew 4:8-9), Jesus answered a third time by quoting Deuteronomy 6:13, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’” (Matthew 4:10). Jesus stood against Satan’s temptations three different times by using the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.
In order to fight against Satan with the word of God, we must first know the word of God. When Satan tempts us, we should know God’s word so well that we can respond to him by quoting what has been written. In order to use the sword of the Spirit against our spiritual enemy, we must be able to echo what the Psalmist said in Psalm 119:11: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” The only way that we can store up God’s word in our hearts is by diligent, daily study and reading. How much time we spend in God’s word could be a sign of how successful we are against the devil. Let’s take up the sword of the Spirit and spend time everyday reading and studying God’s word.
-Tyler Alverson
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