Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
There is a day coming. It is a day that we would rather not see, because it is a day of evil. It is a day when the rulers, authorities, powers, and spiritual forces of hell do what they can to cause believers to fall. On the day of evil, they attack the church with afflictions, troubles, tests, and temptations. The Apostle Paul says that our struggles are not against “flesh and blood,” but against these evil spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:12). They may work their evil through people and things, but they are the real enemies.
The spiritual forces of hell hate believers who stand their ground, firmly rooted in the promises of God. They especially hate it when people stand their ground on the promise of salvation. They want to rob people of their salvation, or, since that is not possible (Romans 11:29, 1 John 2:19, Romans 8:38-39), to make them as ineffective as possible. The Kingdom of God is advancing all over the world (Acts 1:8), and the spiritual forces of hell want to roll back that conquest as much as they can.
To prevent them from succeeding in their evil endeavor the church must stand firm. Each individual Christian must stand on the promises of God and resist the onslaughts of the enemy. If we stand, no matter what they throw against us, then we will have done our part to thwart their efforts. We will have done our part to keep the Kingdom of God moving forward on the battlefield. Every individual stand counts. Every individual stand adds an element to the overall victory.
The day of evil finds us standing in Christ. It comes to make us fall. Paul says that we must do everything we can to keep that from happening. To wit, we must use the armor of God that we have at our disposal – the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, for example (Ephesians 6:16-17). When we put the armor to use, we repel the devil’s attacks, protecting ourselves and God’s holy church.
The day of evil will come, and it will go – but we will still be standing.
By John Huisman
