"Stand Therefore" Part 1

ONE of the marked characteristics of the apostle Paul was his virility of expres­sion, whether he was declaring doctrine or exhorting the faithful. His conception of Christianity was that it was a stern fight against a merciless, unrelenting foe, and he rallied the little army of harassed be­lievers with battle cries that were success­fully stirring to those who heard them, and which have taken their place high among the epic literature of all time.

In Ephesians 6:10-18 we have one of the most profound presentations of the Chris­tian attitude to life:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against pow­ers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Where­fore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and hav­ing done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

A Noteworthy Passage

This passage is also noteworthy to us on account of two references in Ellen G. White's writings. At a time when her vi­sions were attributed by some to mesmer­ism, fanaticism, and demon possession, she had the well-known vision recorded in Early Writings, pages 23-26, in which she saw some fifty passages of Scripture in let­ters of gold emblazoned on a large card. She afterward called for the large Bible and easily turned to these many passages, including Ephesians 6:10-18. The second point of importance here is that Mrs. White, in The Desire of Ages, page 352, gives this passage a specific application to the last-day disciples:

Their warfare is not to be waged against flesh and blood, but "against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Eph. 6:12, R.V. They are to con­tend with supernatural forces, but they are assured of supernatural help. All the intelligences of heaven are in this army.

Paul's Assessment of the Enemy's Strength

The apostle Paul was never ignorant of the identity and strength of the real enemy of Christ and His people:

We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heav­enly places. (Eph. 6:12, R.S.V.)

He calls Satan "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph. 2:2), an expression com­mentators have found difficult and unique. It probably signifies the abode of the de­mons rather than their absolute dominion of the air. In another place Paul calls Satan "the god of this world" who "hath blinded the minds of them which believe not" (2 Cor. 4:4). He is not ashamed to record with conviction that when he was suddenly arrested on the Damascus road the divine Christ commissioned him to go to the Gen­tiles "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts 26:18; cf. chs. 22:6; 9:3). In Ephesians 6:12 he tells us plainly we are contending with supernatu­ral foes—"the rulers of the darkness . . . , against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Paul's Assurance of Christ's Greater Power

It was a dark picture painted by this war­rior of the cross—demon hosts of the air in relentless warfare against the saints, all the malignant forces of evil in this world and the nether regions ceaselessly working against Christ and Christ's church. But when Paul looked at the immediate darkness, he also saw beyond with saintly vision to the ultimate light. Hence it is that he comforts the church with a clarion call to look not at the present forbidding gloom, but at the final glory:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16, 17).

The wisdom of correctly assessing the enemy's power, but stressing far more the greater power of Christ, is seen in Mrs. White's counsel in Testimonies, vol­ume 5, page 741:

Many fix their eyes upon the terrible wickedness existing around them, the apostasy and weakness on every side. . . . We must talk of the mightiness of Christ. . . . The Son of the Highest has strength to fight the battle for us, and "through Him that loved us" we may come off "more than conquerors."

"In the air" comes from a phrase which may be rendered literally, "We . . . shall be seized in the clouds to a meeting of the Lord in the air." The word rendered "shall be seized" (harpazo) means "to seize hast­ily," "to take with force," "to gather to oneself by sudden, quick movement."

It surely is not without significance that "the prince of the power of the air" will yet see the great victory of Christ, his mor­tal enemy, as He returns to take to Himself, suddenly and forcibly, the redeemed of all the ages—in the air, the abode of Satan and his minions; with power and glory, as op­posed to the power of darkness. What a mortifying defeat awaits "the prince of the power of the air" when he shall be com­pelled helplessly to witness his own head­quarters invaded by Christ and the armies of heaven, to have God's saints snatched from his grasp by a stronger hand, and to see them transfigured, immortalized, glori­fied—all this "in the air."

This is the blessed hope on which we stand today! This is the real "rapture" of the ages—public, universal, superlatively glorious! This is the climactic parousia— the personal presence of our Redeemer, now no longer "meek and lowly" and "sit­ting upon an ass" as when He came to old Jerusalem (Matt. 11:29; 21:5). This is the "King of kings, and Lord of lords," riding on the angel clouds of glory!

Salvation With Power

In 1 Thessalonians 1:10 Paul says we are "to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which de­livered us from the wrath to come," and in speaking of this salvation from coming wrath he uses a word (rhuomai) meaning strictly "a rescue with power."

It is the word used in 2 Timothy 4:17, where he speaks of his preservation from Nero's judgment: "I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." The same word is used in Acts 23:10, where the chief captain res­cued Paul from the pandemonium by com­manding the soldiers "to take him by force from among them."

Yes, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of evil. Yet the power of Christ is greater than the forces of Satan, and He will come with battle cry and trumpet sound, and the Royal Conqueror will take His church universal by force from death and hell. And then will begin that majestic ascent to heaven, not of a lone Elijah with God's chariot and horse­men but of millions of ransomed saints in the glory and power of all heaven.

"Be Strong in the Lord"

When an apostle can write from a prison cell in the heart of the enemy's land, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might," it is because he has an overwhelming sense of the Divine Presence. Such an experience must be ours, as God's servant has told us in Testimonies, volume 7, page 71:

We may be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Receiving Christ, we are clothed with power. An indwelling Saviour makes His power our property. The truth becomes our stock in trade. No unrighteousness is seen in the life. . . . Christ's presence in the heart is a vitalizing power, strength­ening the entire being.

When an apostle can say, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil," it is because he has girded himself with all the accouterments offered by God to His war­riors in the fight against evil—truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salva­tion, the Word of God, prayer.

This description of the Christian armor is more than a beautiful allegory. It is the sevenfold power available to God's church in every age, and especially in these latter days.

Truth

The word translated "truth" in the phrase "having your loins girt about with truth" means more than honesty. It is used (a) objectively, to signify the reality be­hind an appearance, or what has been called by Cremer "the veritable essence of a matter." In Galatians 2:5. Paul says, "to whom [false brethren] we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." The false teachings were but an ap­pearance, the truth of the gospel was the reality; (b) subjectively, to signify not merely verbal truth but sincerity and in­tegrity of character. Thus we read in 3 John 3, R.S.V., "I greatly rejoiced when some of the brethren arrived and testified to the truth of your life, as indeed you do follow the truth." We can possess truth as a theory, but it can become powerful and productive only as it dominates the life. God's truth affects both doctrine and life.

"The knowledge of the truth is not the­oretical, but 'existential,' a living reality rooted in the self-committal of the whole man."—J. J. Von Allmen, Vocabulary of the Bible, p. 433. Above the dissensions of the centuries as to what is truth, we have the sure word, "I am . . . the truth." Total surrender to Jesus makes us men of truth. In Hebraic thought a man of truth was solid, secure, faithful, dependable, stead­fast. A man of truth can be depended upon never to lower principles or to belittle his fellow Christians. You can count on him wherever he is and whatever he is doing.

The word "Amen," which passed into New Testament usage and into the liturgi­cal language of all Christendom, comes from a root implying firmness, reality, and thence came to mean solidity, truth, faith­fulness, certainty. In some texts (2 Cor. 1: 20, for example) it means Yes—"For all the promises of Cod in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

What did Paul mean in 2 Corinthians 1: 18, R.S.V., when he said: "As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No." I once heard it said of a Chris­tian leader, "That man can say Yes and mean No better than any man I ever met!" I can only add that being girded with truth will save us from any kind of diplomacy or duplicity which prevents us from straight­forwardness of speech, from positive reality and certainty in our representation of Him who was the "Amen," the truth of God personified.

"Truth," we have been told, "deeply rooted in the hearts of believers, will spring up and bear fruit unto righteousness. Their words and works are the channels through which the pure principles of truth and holiness are conveyed to the world.— Testimonies, vol. 3, p. 59.

These are lax days in which supposedly Strong men become weak, days in which more than ever we need to exemplify all the truths of the Advent message in word and life, and "to stand" courageously not only for the eternal verities but for God's people who embody truth and holy princi­ples in daily life.

When I read in a non-Seventh-day Adventist religious journal some months ago that Seventh-day Adventist leaders are, or were, willing to surrender vital points of doctrine in order to gain some unspecified recognition in certain evangelical circles, I knew that the writer was voicing ideas based on misapprehension of the facts. I have been near enough to Seventh-day Ad­ventist leaders for forty-five years to know that they are not prepared to surrender Bible doctrine for anything. If I repeat such untrue charges, I am not a worthy, truth-girded Christian, clad in "all the ar­mor of God."