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.
Military metaphors
St. Paul lay in prison at Rome, as he himself says, bound with a chain, “for the hope of Israel,” to the Roman trooper who watched him day and night. He employed his prison hours by writing--first to the Asiatic Churches of Ephesus and Colosse, to the Christian slaveholder, Philemon, and, at a somewhat later date, to the Macedonian Church at Philippi. It was very natural that his language, like his thoughts, should be coloured, here and there, by the objects around him; and we find that whilst writing this circular epistle to the Ephesians, his eye had actually been resting on the soldier to whom he was chained. In the outfit of the Roman legionary, he saw the symbol of the supernatural dress which befits the Christian. The ornamented girdle or balteus bound around the loins to which the sword was commonly attached, seemed to the apostle to recall the inward practical acknowledgment of truth which is the first necessity in the Christian character. The metal breastplate suggested the moral rectitude or righteousness which enables a man to confront the world. The strong military sandals spoke of that readiness to march in the cause of that gospel whose sum and substance was not war but spiritual, even more than social peace. And then the large, oblong, oval wooden shield, clothed with hides, covered well nigh the whole body of the bearer, reminding him of Christian faith, upon which the temptations of the Evil One, like the ancient arrows, tipped, as they often were, with inflammable substances, would light harmlessly and lose their deadly point; and then the soldier’s helmet, pointing upward to the skies, was a natural figure of Christian hope directed towards a higher and a better world; and then the sword at his side, by which he won safety and victory in the day of battle, and which, you will observe, is the one aggressive weapon mentioned in this whole catalogue--what was it but the emblem of that Word of God which wins such victories on the battlefields of conscience, because it pierces, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Thus girded, thus clad, thus shod, thus guarded, thus covered, thus armed, the Christian might well meet his foes. He was, indeed, more than a match for them, and might calmly await their onset. (Canon Liddon.)
The chivalry of the Christian life
At that age military effort was the most successful form of human activity. Rome had made herself, not quite a century before, the mistress of the civilized world, and this not by her commerce, not by her diplomacy, but by her arms. In such an age, therefore, such a metaphor would quickly win its way to the popular ear; but it also would have attractions for the characteristic thought and temper of the apostle who employed it. The constant exposure to danger, the constant necessity for exertion, the generous indifference to personal suffering, the large-hearted sympathy with the experiences of every comrade, and the sense of being only a unit, only one in the vast organization of a serried host moving steadily forward towards its object--the instinct of discipline, in complete harmony with the instinct of personal sincerity and courage--all these features of a soldier’s life made it welcome to the apostle’s conception of the Christian career and character--“Thou, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”; “Quit ye like men; be strong”; “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.” The higher precepts of the army constantly occur in the apostolic Epistles. St. Paul does not discuss the theory of war, its antagonism to the real mind of a holy God, to the true interests, the true ideal of human life. He only takes it as a matter of fact in the world, as it was nineteen centuries ago, as it is at this moment, alas! and he consecrates it thus; he consecrates its higher and its loftier side by making it a shadow, not of Christian chivalry, but of the chivalry of the Christian life. The soldier differs from the merchant or the farmer, in that he has to deal with an antagonist. He differs from the racer at the games, in that his antagonist is not merely a competitor, but an enemy in good earnest. It was this which made the metaphor in the apostle’s conception so exactly correspond to the actual facts, to the real case of the Christian life. The Christian is not merely making the best of his materials, he is not merely engaged in a struggle for spiritual successes, he is, before everything else, engaged in a stern and terrible contest with implacable enemies; the forces arrayed against him are such as to oblige him to spare no exertion, and to neglect no precaution whatever if he is to escape defeat. (Canon Liddon.)
The Christian armour
The military code of the Christian soldier. A spiritual contest, hence spiritual weapons; whole armour to resist wiles of devil.
I. Active arming. Take--
1. Truth: not mere information.
(1) Truth is inward--to one’s self. No self-deception, nor vanity, nor conceit.
(2) Outward--to others. Candour, frankness, truth of word and life, Most sublime sights are these:
(a) Simple truthfulness of character at home.
(b) A powerful mind vindicating truth in the presence of foes.
(c) The martyr calmly sealing truth with his blood.
2. Righteousness. This means truth towards God, justness, fairness, honesty, faithfulness (Mic_6:8). It is a breastplate, in forefront, to be borne bright and high, and seen by all.
3. Readiness--like that of Israel leaving Egypt, or a soldier in camp.
4. Faith--a shield, therefore a protection. Like God, our refuge, strength, help. It quenches all the fiery darts, etc. Not easy to have such faith; try, however.
II. Passive arming. The following are outward, external, not in the soul.
1. Salvation is the helmet.
2. Word of God is the sword. (W. M. Johnston, M. A.)
Soldiers of Christ must stand
In the armies of our great nations, while desertion is punished with heavy penalties, retirement is allowed under certain conditions. There is an army, however, in which retirement is never sanctioned--not even in the case of the oldest veteran; and, addressing the soldiers of that army, the apostle writes, “Having done all, to stand. Stand therefore.”
I. The prohibition involved in the precept. The conflict may neither be forsaken nor suspended. The following are forbidden:
1. Indolent or even weary sleep.
2. Cowardly or even politic flight.
3. A treacherous, or even a desponding surrender. Treachery is apostasy; despondency is sinful distrust.
4. The declaration of a truce, or even an application for it. There is a termination to the war, but no truce. No favour will ever be shown to the foe by our Commander-in-Chief, and the soldier of Christ does not really need the cessation of the conflict.
5. The giving up of a military position until the war is fairly over. The orders to the individual soldier run thus--“Unto death”; and until death the warfare is not accomplished. Death is in fact the last enemy.
II. What do these words demand?
1. They require a distinct and solemn recognition of the fact that the time of our life on earth is a time of war--“an evil day.” There are periods during which the sharpness of the conflict is greatly increased, and such seasons are peculiarly “the evil day”--but every day is a day of battle.
2. They require us to be always possessed by the conviction that we are personally called to this good fight. The true vocation of every believer is conflict; and to this rule there is not a single exception.
3. They demand the honest and manly facing of our foes. Some professed Christians turn their backs upon their spiritual enemies in contempt. They have speculated and theorized upon Satanic agency, until they have expunged God’s doctrines concerning devils from their creed. They have flirted and compromised with the world, until they and the evil that is in the world are placed on the same side. They have modified and shaped their language concerning human depravity, until there dwells in their flesh, according to their opinion, no evil thing. And thus denying the existence of foes, they have turned their backs upon them. Other professing Christians look at our spiritual enemies more as spectators than as warriors. They are seen as objects of spiritual interest, and as subjects for religious inquiry, rather than as foes with which they personally have to do. To stand, in the sense of the text, requires that we face our foes--not to contemplate them; far less to despise them; but to fight them.
4. The text requires that having taken the field we keep it. We may not retire to the ranks of those who refuse to fight: we must stand. The militant position must be maintained throughout life. We may be weak; but must stand. We may be weary; but must stand. We may be fearful; but must stand. We may be defeated in some single fight; but must stand. We may See others fall about us; but must stand. Many may desert our cause; but we must stand. Consternation may spread through the army of the Lord of Hosts; but we must stand. It may seem as though all things were against us; but we must stand. The day of final triumph may seem long delayed, and with weak, and weary, and aching hearts, we may cry, “How long, Lord? how long?”--but we must stand. The measure of conflict and of service allotted to us may seem excessive, but having done all, we must stand. “Stand therefore.” Thisrequires,
5. that we be ready for attack or defence. To stand unarmed, is not to stand. To stand unclothed with armour, is not to stand. To stand in any sense unready, is not to stand. Having done all, your foes stand. Satan has done much; yet he stands. The world--the temporal, the sensual, and the social--has done much; yet it stands. The flesh has done much; yet it stands. Antichrist and error, and sin in every shape, have done much; yet they stand. No foe is as yet really slain. New foes are continually led to the field, and old foes show themselves in new forms. I read; “Gethsemane!” “Calvary!” Calvary? Who fought there? Your Captain--alone; for all His soldiers forsook Him and fled. With “Calvary” and “Gethsemane” on your banner, to be consistent, you must stand. Stand therefore! Now your orders are, Stand. Yet a little, and the command shall be, Retire. Come, ye faithful soldiers, inherit the kingdom prepared for you; and receive the crown of glory which fadeth not away. (S. Martin, D. D.)
The handbook of a Christian knight
1. What kind of heart and courage such an one must have, to appear in the place of review.
2. Who is his chief Captain, to whom he must have regard.
3. What kind of equipment he must have, and what is the best armoury, the best arsenal.
4. Who are his worst enemies.
5. How he ought and must accustom himself to his armour.
6. What a severe regimen he must carry out.
7. Finally, what he has to expect, if he conduct himself in a knightly manner. (Herberger.)
How the equipment with the whole armour of God is--
1. So indispensable.
2. So accessible.
3. So glorious. (Rautenberg.)
The reason why we must be well armed
1.The more danger we are in, the more watchful we must be.
2. Our spiritual war is a sore, fierce, and dangerous war.
3. All must fight this spiritual combat.
4. Our enemies are more than flesh and blood.
(1) Spiritual enemies are terrible.
(2) No outward prowess can daunt them.
5. The devil is our principal enemy, in all our conflicts, whether with flesh and blood, or with spiritual foes.
6. They who are quailed with what flesh and blood can do, will never be able to stand against principalities.
7. Our spiritual enemies have a dominion.
(1) God permits this.
(2) Yet is it usurpation on the part of Satan.
8. As our spiritual enemies have a dominion, so they have power to exercise the same. The Lord suffers this for the following reasons.
(1) That His own Divine power might be the more manifested.
(2) That there might be a greater trial of the courage of His saints and children.
(3) That He might execute the sorer vengeance upon the wicked.
9. Satan’s rule is only in this world.
10. Ignorant and evil men are Satan’s vassals.
(1) They resist him not, but yield to him.
(2) They are not subject to Christ.
11. The enemies of our souls are of a spiritual substance.
(1) Invisible.
(2) Privy to what we do or speak.
12. The devils are extremely evil.
13. The devils are many in number.
14. The main things for which the devils fight against us, are heavenly matters. (William Gouge.)
The whole armour
I. The day referred to--“The evil day.” “Day” a fit emblem, mixture of light and darkness, sunshine and storm, joy and sadness. Certain evils in this day to which we are all liable.
1. Evil day of affliction. Our bodies have the seeds of innumerable diseases in them.
2. Evil day of temptation.
3. Evil day of persecution.
4. Evil day of death.
II. The advice given.
1. We have recommended to us Divine armour. The Lord’s warfare must be carried on by the Lord’s weapons.
2. We must have the whole armour of God. Every part is vulnerable, and every part, therefore, must be defended.
3. The whole armour must be taken unto us.
III. The motives urged. “That ye may be able,” etc.
1. That we may not be destroyed by the evils of this life. “Withstand.”
2. That we appear victorious in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Having done all, stand.” Great comprehensiveness in the words, “Done all.”
Application:
1. Let believers rightly remember their present state. This is your evil day, expect and prepare for trouble.
2. Examine your armour; is it Divine armour? whole, and entire?
3. Let grace sustain you, depend entirely on it.
4. Let glory animate you. Think of the day when, having done all, you will stand. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The whole armour of God
1.It is very characteristic of Paul that he should give the first place to “truth.” He is thinking of the truth concerning God and the will of God which comes to us from God Himself through His revelation in Christ and through the teaching of the Spirit; for all the elements of Christian strength are represented in this passage as Divine gifts. Truth appropriated and made our own gives energy, firmness, and decision to Christian life and action, relieves us from the entanglement and distraction which come from uncertainty and doubt, gives us a complete command of all our vigour. It is like the strong belt of the ancient soldier which braced him up, made him conscious of his force, kept his armour in its place, and prevented it from interfering with the freedom of his action.
2. He gives the second place to “righteousness.” In the conflicts of the Christian life we are safe, only while we practise every personal and private virtue, and discharge with fidelity every duty both to man and to God. “Righteousness” is the defence and guarantee of righteousness. The honest man is not touched by temptations to dishonesty; the truthful man is not touched by temptations to falsehood; habits of industry are a firm defence against temptations to indolence; a pure heart resents with disgust and scorn the first approaches of temptation to impurity.
3. Paul gives the third place to what he describes as “the preparation of the gospel of peace.” When we have received with hearty faith the great assurance by the remission of sins through Christ, we are released from the gravest anxieties and fears. We have escaped from care about the past, and are free to give our whole strength to the duties of the present and of the future. The discovery that God is at peace with us gives us confidence and inspires us with alertness and elasticity of spirit. We are not merely ready, we are eager for every good work.
4. The fourth place is given to “faith.” There are a thousand perils against which faith in the righteousness and love and power of God is our only protection. When the misery of the world oppresses us, or we are crushed by the misery of our personal life, terrible thoughts about God pierce through every defence and fasten themselves in our very flesh, torturing us, and filling our veins with burning fever. We writhe in our agony. If by any chance we hear about “the unsearchable riches” of God’s grace, we listen, not only uncomforted, but sometimes with a passion of unbelief. “Grace!” we exclaim, “where is the proof of it? Is there any pity in Him, any justice, any truth?” In these hours of anguish we are like soldiers wounded by the “darts” with burning tow fastened to them, or with their iron points made red hot, which were used in ancient warfare. We should have been safe if, when “the evil day” came it had found us with a strong and invincible faith in God; this would have been a perfect defence; and apart from this we can have no secure protection.
5. The fifth place is given to “salvation.” We are insecure unless we make completely our own the great redemption which God has achieved for us in Christ. If we have mean and narrow conceptions of the Divine redemption, or if we think that it lies mainly with ourselves whether we shall secure “glory, honour, and immortality,” we shall be like a soldier without a “helmet,” unprotected against blows which may be mortal. But if we have a vivid apprehension of the greatness of the Christian redemption, and if our hope of achieving a glorious future is rooted in our consciousness of the infinite power and grace of God, we shall be safe.
6. But all these are arms of defence. Have we no weapons for attacking and destroying the enemy? Are the same temptations and the same doubts to return incessantly and to return with their force undiminished? The helmet, the shield, the breastplate, the belt, may be a protection for ourselves; but we belong to an army, and are fighting for the victory of the Divine kingdom and for the complete destruction of the authority and power of the “spiritual hosts of wickedness” over other men; it is not enough that our personal safety is provided for. We are to fight the enemy with “the Word of God.” Divine promises are not only to repel doubts, but to destroy them. Divine precepts are not only to be a protection against temptations, but to inflict on them a mortal wound, and so to prevent them from troubling us again. The revelation of God’s infinite pity for human sorrow, and of His infinite mercy for human sin, of the infinite blessings conferred upon men by Christ in this world, and of the endless righteousness and glory which He confers in the world to come--the Divine “Word” to the human race--is the solitary power by which we can hope to win any real and enduring victory over the sins and miseries of mankind. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Standing safely
The coat of arms of the Isle of Man is the figure of three legs armed and spurred, with the motto, “Quocunque jeceris, stabit.” Daring several centuries the island, standing alone in the mid-ocean, was a battlefield for contending nations. English and Irish, Saxon and Dane, here strove for the mastery. The coat of arms seems to refer to one result of this in the brave character of the islanders. Swift and strong, they were ready to attack, courageous in the fight, and prepared to follow quickly the retreating foe. The motto gives the same idea: “Throw him where you will, he will stand.” (From “Strong and Free. ”)
A coat of mail
The Rev. J. Thain Davidson said to an audience of young men: “There is no courage so noble as that which resists the devil, and is valiant for Christ. ‘Put ye on the panoply of God.’ Cromwell wore under his garment a coat of mail; wore it whether he was in camp, or in court, or in chambers. He never could know when the dagger would be thrust at him, so he was always ready. Be you similarly provided. The fiery darts of the wicked may fly at you where you least suspect danger; therefore, be ever on your guard. And may the Lord deliver you from evil, and preserve you safe unto His heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory now and forever. Amen.”
No saint free from danger
Do you know, I have noticed that young people who are often exposed to severe temptations are very generally preserved from falling into sin; but I have noticed that others, both old and young, whose temptations were not remarkably severe, have been generally those who have been the first to fall. In fact, it is a lamentable thing to have to say, but lamentably true it is, that at the period of life when you would reckon, from the failure of the passions, the temptation would be less vigorous, that very period is marked more than any other by the most solemn transgressions amongst God’s people. I think I have heard that many horses fall at the bottom of a hill because the driver thinks the danger past and the need to hold the reins with firm grip less pressing as they are just about to renew their progress and begin to ascend again. So it is often with us when we are not tempted through imminent danger we are the more tempted through slothful ease. I think it was Ralph Erskine who said, “There is no devil so bad as no devil.” The worst temptation that ever overtakes us, is, in some respects, preferable to our being left alone altogether without any sense of caution or stimulus to watch and pray. Be always on your watchtower, and you shall be always secure. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
We must fight to the end
A man may be wrecked within a ship’s length of the lighthouse. Lot’s wife was not far from Zoar, yet she miserably perished. Near the summit of Mount Washington is a rude cairn of stones that marks the spot where a young lady, who was overtaken by the darkness (without a guide), died of exposure and nervous fright! The poor girl was within pistol shot of the cabin of the “tiptop”; its cheering light was just behind the rocks; yet that short distance cost her her life! So, my dear friend, you may be at last picked up dead, just outside the gateway of your Father’s house. While its hospitable door of love stands open, hasten in! You are losing the very best part of this life, and the whole of the life to come, while you so recklessly linger away from Jesus. (Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D.)
The soldier’s duty
Ourwarfare is against powers and dominions. This line of thought is that of the text, and it is of this that I shall speak. Everyone who grows to man’s estate is called to incessant warfare with himself. We are made up, not of irreconcilable materials, but of materials that are not reconcilable except as the result of great training and discipline. We are born first to the flesh; and our predominant strength lies in the direction of our animal appetites and passions. But we come, after a little, to a higher realm--that of the affections; and every child needs to be taught how to make conflict against selfishness, against avaricious snatching, against combativeness, and against injurious usage from those around him. And while there is an apparent conflict outside of the child in society, the real conflict of the child is that which is within him--namely, that which is to determine the question whether reason or passion shall predominate in him; the question whether generosity or selfishness shall inspire his conduct; the question whether greediness or benevolence towards others shall rule in him. Each one of us is conscious that at every step of our way within ourselves and within our own sphere the necessity is laid upon us of perpetual watchfulness. We are overcome by our inferior nature, by reason of carelessness, or indolence, or indulgence, or undue enthusiasm, or over-eager desire; and we find ourselves perpetually recalling, with shame and contrition, the victory of the flesh over the spirit, of the animal man over the spiritual man, and of selfishness over generosity. Not only is there this individual conflict in every man, but at every step of ambition, in every line of aspiration, there comes to us precisely the same element of conflict. No man grows easily into manhood. No man stands in approved and vindicated virtue, in any direction, which he has not been obliged to hew out with personal endeavour. Every man who is built up of skill, and experience, and integrity, and accomplishing power, has built himself up by repeated blow upon blow, training upon training, endeavour upon endeavour, with many surprises, and overthrows, and intermediate defeats, and all the time with a varied experience of warfare within. As soon as in some degree we have trained ourselves within ourselves, we enter upon a corresponding struggle with all the conditions of life around us. And in a larger sphere we are called to a conflict as citizens and members of the great body politic. Now, in waging this multiform conflict, all the methods known to actual gladiation and to real external military proceedings are reproduced in the invisible conflict which goes on in men. Nothing is more frequent in war than the attempt of one side to deceive the other, and so overcome, as it were by sleight of hand, or by the craftiness of a better understanding, those that are opposed to them--saving force, or economising it; and surely nothing is more certain than that the great enemy that wages war against us spiritually overthrows us by deceit, as it were breathing it upon us, blowing it through us, half blinding our eyes, and taking us at unawares. Nothing is more common in warfare than surprises; for in many instances a fort is taken by an onward and unexpected rush which could not be taken by a prolonged, gradual approach. So in spiritual warfare; how many of us are unaware of danger until it has sprung upon us! How many times has that burning adversary of ours, an uncontrolled temper, broken out upon us, and carried us away before we were aware of its presence! How often have we been lured by insidious pleasures till we waked up in the midst of captivities! How often have our best feelings been overthrown by the assaults of our evil inclinations! So, too, it is a part of military warfare to draw the enemy into ambush, giving him the hope of victory while he is being overtaken by defeat. And how often are we led into ambush by our spiritual adversaries! How often are we enticed from the path of virtue by some seeming good! We flatter ourselves that we occupy an advantageous position, and that we are going on to success, until, in the midst of the intoxication of our vaunted triumph, we find the toils closing about us, and we are captives instead of victors. (H. W. Beecher.)
Steadfastness in trouble
If you divide men into two classes, there is one that wants to be stimulated. The danger of these is from lassitude, or, to use a more Saxon phrase, laziness. The other class, being aroused and nervously developed, are intense, energetic, and active. Now, to undertake to apply to both of these classes the same passages of Scripture would be a fatal mistake. To say to one large portion of men, “Stand,” would be just the thing that they would like. Standing suits them exactly. On the other hand, to stir up and stimulate some men is like putting fuel on a fire that is already too hot. In the case of men who are wrought up into a state of intense activity, whose errors lie in a lack of peace and of rest, stimulation or excitement is just what is not needed. Paul puts them both together here, and gives only one kind of men leave to stand--those who have done all. The figure is a military one. It refers to men who have made preparation for a campaign, who have gone as far as circumstances will permit, who have provided themselves with armament, and who have armed themselves at every point. There comes a crisis where they can do no more; and the apostle says, “When you have your armour on from head to foot, and are energetic, and ready for the conflict, then stand and wait”; for waiting is as productive even as working--especially where working is not productive at all. Now, it is not to those who are indolent, it is not to the self-indulgent, that I speak this morning, but to the large class of willing workers who are caught in the exigencies of life, and whose very trouble is that they cannot work; that they cannot go forward; that they cannot succeed in executing useful and honourable purposes. I speak this morning to those who are forced to stand. Ye that are living in earnest, with immense scope, with fruitfulness, and with rightly directed energy! I desire to call your attention to the fact that, morally considered, there is a vast harvest to be reaped by non-energy; that energetic men, doing nothing, may be more useful to themselves and to society them they otherwise could be; and that the greatest misfortune which can befall a man is not necessarily his being brought into conditions where he cannot stir: for when a man is willing, yea, anxious, burning to go forward, but cannot, then he is in a position where he may attain to certain virtues and certain fruits of goodness which he scarcely could be expected to attain to at any other time. There are rare treasures for men who, in the providence of God, whether with or without their thought, are brought to a pass in which the only thing that is left for them is to stand, girt about in full armour, ready and willing to do, but unable. The withholding of a man’s force may be even as noble, in the sight of God, as the most illustrious exhibitions of energy. When you have had success, and prosperity, and social consideration, if your success is turned into defeat, and your prosperity departs, and your social relationships are broken off, learn how to stand sufficient in yourself without these things. Learn first how to be a man by sympathy; and then learn how to be a man without sympathy. Learn first how to be a man by bold, executive, and effective troubles; and then learn how to be a man without the ability to strike, or without the ability, if you strike, to accomplish anything. Learn, with Moses, to smite the rock, and see the water flow out; then learn to smite the rock and see no water flow out; and then learn one thing further--to have the rock smite you, and to have no tears flow from your eyes. Let there be this double-edgedness in your power of using yourselves. Learn how to go, and how to stop; how to achieve, and how to fail; how to enterprise, and how to remain inactive. Learn how to have, and be a man, and how to be equally manful when you have not. Learn, like the apostle, how to abound and how to suffer lack. He said he could do all things, Christ strengthening him. He rounded up his manhood so that he was at home in the palace, or in the prison; so that he was at home in the city as much as among barbarians in the wilderness; so that he was at home when he spoke his own language in Judaea, as well as when he preached on Mars’ Hill and in the palaces of the Caesars in Rome. In this large spirit of Christ Jesus he felt that he could do all things, whether they were pleasant or unpleasant--going and withholding; accomplishing and defeating--neither feeling himself lowered, nor in any sense discouraged, nor made unhappy, but taking all things in that largest disposition of true manhood. This is the New Testament conception, and is it not a doctrine that we need to have preached? A man should live on earth so as to hear the waves beat on the other shore. A man should live here, so that, although he cannot understand the words, he shall hear the murmur of the voices of the just made perfect. A man should so live in this world, that, although he cannot now enter the kingdom, yet when it is open he sees through, and has a sense of the power of the unseen and eternal which makes him the monarch and master of the visible and present. In the first place, then, as to the uses of this, let me say, briefly, that there is nothing which ripens a man’s nature so much as long continued self-restraint; and that there is nothing that deteriorates a man more and sooner than self-indulgence. Now, a man who can stand up in poverty with great sweetness and content; who does not think it needful to say to everybody, “I was once in better circumstances”; who assumes that he is what he is by reason of what there is in himself; who offers no apology for poverty, and who stands, after the loss of all things, poised, large, free, with radiant faith, saying, “Lord, I stand today and tomorrow, and to the end, by the faith that is in me”--that man is a living gospel in the community, though he may think to himself, “I am plucked, and hedged in on every side; and no man cares any more for me.” I have passed by walled gardens; I have passed by gardens surrounded by hedges that were so thick that I could not see through them; but I knew what was growing on the other side by the fragrance that was in the air, though I could not see it. A man may be cramped, confined, and obscure; and yet he may fill the air with the sweetest and divinest fragrance of a noble manhood. Men that are in trouble, women that are in exquisite sorrow, ye of a divided affection, ye of a crucified heart, ye whom time and the world have spoiled, ye on whom Christ has put His mark, and who feel your crowned heads pierced with thorns--having done all, stand. Can you not watch with Him one hour? Since the Sufferer is your lover, will you not be His by suffering as well as by joy? Stand, therefore, and to the end. (H. W. Beecher.)
Waking and waiting
There is a world of Christian life in simple patient waiting--in simple Christian endurance; and if I were to call your attention, with various enumeration, to those within the range of your own observation and knowledge; and if you were to go about and take an inventory of them, family by family, I think you would be surprised, and that the surprise would grow upon you, to see how large a number there are in every community who need, not the gospel of activity, but the gospel of patient waiting--who need to look upon their religious sphere, not as a sphere of enterprise and accomplishment, but simply as a sphere of endurance and conquering by standing. First, there are a great many who are called, in the providence of God, to bear things which are irremediable for physical reasons. There are troubles that never get into the newspapers (and therefore they are peculiar!); as when one is born with a mark upon the face, being otherwise comely. That mark is to be carried all through life. No surgeon’s knife, nothing, can remove it. Wherever he goes, man, woman, and child, looking upon him, look to pity. You that are comely, you that are plain, you that can pass, attracting only admiration, or attracting no notice (which is still better)--you know nothing of what it is to be obliged to say to yourself, at the beginning: “Well, I am to stand apart from all my fellows. I am a marked man. No person shall come near me, and not stop and look, and say, ‘Who is that? What is that?’ All my life long it is to be so.” Byron was born clubfooted, or was early made so; and it wrought through his whole life upon his disposition. It made his pride bitter; it made him envious; it made him angry; but his bitterness, his envy, his anger, did no good; he had to carry that querled ankle all his life long. It worked on him. I know not how I should take it, now that I am old--they say; but I know that if, in the beginning, I had had that to deal with, it would have been no small matter. To be sure, if a man comes home from the war with only a shoulder, there is honour in that--such as it is. Everybody respects you, and permits you to go to poverty; and yet there may be a sense of honour that will be some sort of equivalent even for this misfortune. But, to have it congenital; to have it a mere accident, without any patriotism; to be lopped of one leg or arm; to be marked in any way that sets you aside from your fellows, and makes you a hermit in the world--an individual without cohesion in those respects which unite you to others--this is a matter for which there is no remedy. What can you do? Nothing. Bear it--bear it. And you shall find how easy it is to bear it, because everybody will say to you, “My dear friend, you must be patient, and bear it.” Nevertheless, here is a gospel for such--Stand! Stand! Why? Because it is the will of God. And every man who looks upon you, seeing that you have this great affliction which no striving against can remove, shall say, “Behold how he stands, Christ-like!” Look at another very large class of men--larger than that of which I have been speaking--who come into life, with a laudable ambition, willing and meaning to spend and be spent for the good of their country, of their kind, of their age, and, it may be, of their God. It is for them through scholarship to acquit themselves, and with great attainments and constantly augmenting progress they are already noted, and their unfolding powers show them to be no insignificant heirs of the future; but some feebleness or gradual disease of the eye not only closes to them all books, but shuts out nature, and they grow blind. And now in the hour when the word is spoken, “You must content yourself, my young friend; no surgeon can help you; you are blind; you must be blind”--in that hour, what an instantaneous revolution there is of life! What a change there is in every expectation! What a waste! And yet it is irremediable. And shall this man now go kicking against the pricks and repining? Shall he yield to despondency? This is a case where the gospel of standing comes in; and in all the plenitude of Divine authority Christ says to every such one, “My son, I that wore the crown, and yielded life itself for thee, have need of someone in the very flush of youth and expectancy, to show the world how Christian character evolves under such circumstances. Having done all, having acquired the power to use your sight with great efficiency, now that it is gone from you, stand and be contented.” Sickness comes in afterlife. Men enter upon their professions. The plough is put into the furrow, and the strong will, like well-broken oxen, draws their purpose bravely on; and, just as they have come to that opening where honour and universally acknowledged success is about to crown their legitimate endeavour, they break down in health. They become invalids. Learn how, having done all, to stand still, and be patient and wait to the end. It is a noble thing for a man, with a chastened ambition, restrained within due bounds by a wise reason, to aspire to achievements; and, when the potency to achieve is demonstrated, it is still more heroic for such a man, if it be the will of God, to fold his wings and stand still, and let those achievements go by. When you think how many, by commercial revulsions and infelicities of business, have been stopped in mid-career, and forbidden to go forward, not only, but thrown back to the bottom, is it a matter of no sorrow? And yet, I think that, under such circumstances as these, some of the noblest manifestations of Christianity have been exhibited and beheld. Men have contentedly taken poverty and obscurity, that they might inherit themselves; and if they were to speak their innermost thoughts, what a revelation it would be! And there are many men who, lying low in human notice--failures, as the world looks upon them--are nevertheless the highest in the wisdom of God, having learned the gospel, first of activity, and then of passivity. Having done all, they have learned how to stand. As in the outward, so in the multitudes of the inward, relations of life. It is often the case that children are obliged to patiently wait for their parents. I do not mean that the father is a drunkard, and that the child waits long and patiently for him--though that is noble; but the boys are all gone, and the old Vermont farm is hard of soil and full of rocks; and the youngest son at home is evidently a child of genius, more than any of them. One has grown rich in Illinois; another rules in a county in Missouri; another has gone to India, and is reaping a fortune there; and the last son, although in him are the movements of genius, says, “I cannot leave the old people. My father and mother have no one else to lean on.” And so, without words, without inscription, in the silence of his own heroic soul, he says, “I will stand here. Whatever is in me that I can use here, I will use for my father’s sake, and for my mother’s sake.” Yet how many silent waiters there are! How many there are that have cried in the closet, night and day, “How long? O Lord, how long?” And yet there came no cheer, and no command, except, “Having done all, stand,” and they stand till God calls them. What,. then, are those considerations or motives that help us to do these things which are so hard in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ? We are His servants, not by a profession, but because we do, and bear, and suffer, as He did that bore and suffered. Listen then--“Be obedient.” To whom was this said? To slaves, the most accursed class of men on earth; subordinated, made the mere pleasure of their masters, denied at every single outlet the full expression of growing manhood. Whatsoever you do, do it heartily. Be glorious men, if you are slaves. But what is the motive? Says the servant, “My master will not understand it. It will not put me forward in the world. Whatever I gain, he will reap.” But the apostle says that you are servants of God. “With goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, he shall receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” Take the fulness of that thought of God with you, that you are consecrated to the Lord Jesus Christ, following in His providence, following in His personal knowledge of and love for yourself, believing that from your childhood you have been an object of the paternal thought and care of Christ, in comparison with which ordinary parental care is poor and pale. (H. W. Beecher.)
The Christian’s conflict
I. Men fight with that which opposes their real or fancied interests. We can ill brook anything which interferes with what we believe to be our advantage or our good. There is ever a disposition to contend with such a thing, and subdue it or remove it. This is seen in daily life. How varied are the supposed interests of men; some of them noble, and some of them ignoble; some of them meritorious, and some of them worthless. One seems to believe that his chief good consists in the acquisition of worldly riches; and what efforts he makes--what conflicts he goes through with external difficulties, trials, and disappointments in order to secure them. He fights with circumstances, struggles with hindrances, until, perhaps, he conquers and gains his end. Another has his soul bent on pleasure, the mere sensual or sensuous enjoyment of his being, and thinks the interest of his manhood lies there. What shifts he will make, what measures he will adopt, what sacrifices he will endure to reach his desires, and to steep his soul in his delights. He contends with the barriers of time and place, until he overcomes. Another is fired with the nobler enthusiasm for knowledge, and how often have we heard of its pursuit under difficulty, so that he who finds his enjoyment or interest lie in that direction, will contend with outward hindrances and obstacles, and even fight with the laws which should rule his own physical system, that he may climb the steeps of literature, or repose in the bowers of science. Another still bends his mind to business, and prostrates his manhood at the shrine of commerce. And if health is lost, what efforts and means are used to regain this highest temporal blessing. There will be a fight with climate, locality, and all the circumstances of abode, in order to subdue disease, and reach convalescence. It is, then, natural for men thus to fight with whatever appears to interfere with their advantage, or to stand in the way of their interests; and in proportion to the estimated value and importance of the interest or advantage involved, will be the keenness of the conflict, the eagerness of resistance or aggression, and the strength of the desire to overcome the difficulty of the position. It is not in human nature for a man to be stoical and passive when his prospect is darkened, his interest assailed, or his happiness at stake. This general truth will aid us in advancing to consider the highest conflict in which we can engage.
II. Man’s highest interests are assailed and endangered and therefore he ought to fight. These highest interests do not lie in the acquisition of worldly wealth, nor in the attainment of human wisdom. They consist in his relation to God, to moral law, and to a future state. And these interests are constantly assailed. Our relation to the Divine Being is assailed by the devil. Such is his hostility to God, that his highest aim is to secure our disobedience, disloyalty, and rebellion, in order that Jehovah may be dishonoured and defied, and that we may be spiritually destroyed. Our relation to moral law is assailed by the flesh--exciting us to transgression, moral disorder, and slavish obedience--thus deadening our spiritual sensibility, debasing our spiritual affections, and degrading our moral nature. Our relation to the future state is assailed by the world--blinding us by its fashions and its follies, its pomps and its pageantry, to the glories of the heavenly and the grand realities of the life to come. Its tendency is to lead us to forget the future in the present, to forget the eternal in the temporal and the transient, to forget the spiritual in the carnal and the material. Thus, I say, we are beset, thus our true interests are endangered, and our safety demands a conflict. It is true that Satan is our chief foe, and that he’ uses the world and the flesh in his assaults upon our manhood; but it is well to look at them separately that we may see our danger, and gird ourselves to fight. Yet, alas! how many are on the devil’s side--on the side of the world and of the flesh--carried away by the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. They do not see where their true interests lie, and they do not fight. Anxious, it may he, to overcome hindrances to material success and temporal prosperity, yet they mistake the true “battle of life.”
III. The Christian alone realizes the true interests of manhood and hence he only fights. This, in fact, my brethren, is the great distinction between him and the unbeliever, or the mere man of the world. He cannot be a Christian who does not fight. He cannot be safe who does not fight. He cannot yet have realized or apprehended the highest interests of his being who does not see his danger and fight. He cannot be on the Lord’s side who does not resist the devil and fight against sin.
IV. This conflict is spiritual and must be fought in the soul. It is manifestly spiritual, for it arises from the nature and necessities of our spiritual and moral being. It is not a struggle with mere outward difficulties and physical circumstances, but with that which has introduced all suffering and wretchedness into the world, which makes man’s life a pilgrimage of sorrow to the grave. The conflict is with sin, whether it comes in the shape of satanic temptation, worldly influence, or fleshly lust. Hence the soul is the arena, and the battle must be fought within.
V. The issue of this conflict is certain and will be glorious. Of its issue there is no doubt; victory is sure to all who persevere.
1. There is a glorious Commander and Captain. Christ is not only wise and skilful, able to cope with the cunning, and to meet the might of our fees; but He has Himself conquered, and in conquering them has destroyed their power. “The prince of this world is cast out.” “Be of good cheer,” says the Saviour, “I have overcome the world.”
2. There are sufficient spiritual weapons; armour which God has provided, adapted to the various aspects of the conflict, and the various stratagems of our foes.
3. And there is promised victory--“The God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet” (Rom_16:20). The flesh may be “crucified,” and the world may be “overcome.” Christ has conquered for all the soldiers of the Cross serving under Him, and thus through Him that loved us we shall be more than conquerors. (James Spence, M. A.)
Standing in the evil day
There are, however, seasons of special trial occurring all along the march of the pilgrim soldier which he may peculiarly regard as to him the “evil day.”
1. Amongst these you will doubtless recognize times of spiritual despondency. All believers are subject to more or less of fluctuation in their religious experience. Constitutional differences give tone to religious character.
2. A time of spiritual declension and worldliness in the Church may also be regarded as an “evil day.” The spirit of piety in the Church is always far below the proper standard, but there are times when it sinks even much lower than the ordinary level. How often did the God of Israel chide and chasten His ancient people for their rebellion, disobedience, idolatry, and ingratitude; and the Church now, unhappily, too much resembles that of the former and the darker dispensation. There is a winter season in Zion as well as in the natural world, and these winters are sometimes long and dreary. Few flowers and fruits are seen, few days of sunshine; a universal torpor prevails, and under the chilling blasts even the soldiers of the Cross are found sleeping at their posts; the army of salvation seems almost frozen in its onward march.
3. More evil still than this, however, is the day when the believer actually backslides, and falls into open sin,
4. A time of absence from your home, or of changing your place of abode, may also prove an “evil day.” We are much more the creatures of circumstances, even in our religion, than most of us are wont to believe.
5. Turn next to the survey of the “evil day” when false doctrine prevails.
6. We must not omit to turn our attention also to the evil day of rebuke and persecution.
7. Last of all, may we not regard the day of death as in some aspects an evil day? (J. Leyburn, D. D.)
Standing still
It is a noble thing for a man, with a chastened ambition, restrained within due bounds by a wise reason, to aspire to achievements, and, when the potency to achieve is demonstrated, it is still more heroic for such a man, if it be the will of God, to fold his wings and stand still, and let those achievements go by. I wonder that some of the old music has been suffered to die out. I have always wondered why that song, “The Captive Knight,” should have gone into disuse. A returning crusader, in crossing a hostile territory, was seized by some nobleman, and thrown into a castle prison. After a time, on some bright morning, he hears the sound of distant music, which comes nearer and nearer; and soon the flash of the spears is seen; and by and by the banners appear; and at last he sees men approaching whom he recognizes as his old companions, with whom he has breasted the war in a thousand battles. As they draw still nearer and nearer, he can distinguish their countenances; and he calls out from his tower to them, again and again; but the music covers the sound of his voice, and they pass on and on, and finally the last one disappears, the banners gleam no more, and the music dies in his ear, and he is left alone to perish in his prison! There are thousands of captive knights in this world who see their companions passing by with the glories and honours of life, while they are in prison and cannot stir; and to them comes the message of our text, “Having done all, stand.” Stand still, and be patient, and be as manly and as noble, in standing still, as you fain would have been in attainment and achievement. (J. Leyburn, D. D.)
The damager of reaction
For as long as we find it true that danger and defeat may be nearest just in the hour when victory seems completest, as long as we see it the ease that men who have conquered in the greatest temptations may live to fall a prey to the meanest--so long there is room for the message, “Having done all, brethren, take heed that ye stand.”
I. First, then, let us take the class of cases which the admonition suits.
1. I think, then, in the first p]ace, you may look at the text in connection with religious profession, that is, the public acknowledgment which a soul makes of Christ, its openly-expressed resolution to wear His name, to carry His Cross, and to support His cause. But everything is not won, though this be won, and “having done all,” in this matter, see that ye “stand.”
2. So again, we might apply the text to the case of religious attainment. It would be pleasant to believe that the Christian life is always a life of progress, ever unfolding, as the years go on, from good to what is better, and from what is better to what is best, till the Master says to each at the close of it, “Well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful unto death.” But there is no such necessary or infallible development as this. The mystery lies here, that even where sanctification has actually taken place, there are instances permitted in which the power and achievements of grace seem rather to diminish than increase with time. The life seems to taper off and deteriorate as it nears the close. Laden with the traditions of a good fight that has been foughten well, and won right valiantly, rich in the memories of service that has been bravely rendered and signally owned, such a life has after all been permitted to end in insignificance, selfishness, peevishness, or worse.
3. Or, again, take the case of religious privileges. And there is no better illustration at this point than the illustration afforded by Communion seasons; for the right use and enjoyment of these imply that temptations have been withstood, surrenders accomplished, and victories won. Thus, in preparing for the service contemplated, you settled down to examine yourselves and your life; and in so doing you won a victory over self. In taking part in the service itself, you found your perplexities removed, your faith confirmed, and your love elicited, till you felt you could clasp the truth, and lean on a truth-keeping Christ, and in so doing you won a victory over doubt. Life’s business was hushed, life’s cares were shut out, life’s temptation were withdrawn, as you cast your care on Him who careth for you; and, in the very experience, you won the victory over the world. I take such a season as this at its purest and highest, and suppose that the heart has fetched from it the very best its enjoyments and lessons can yield, in elevation of feeling, in sanctification of life. And here we may say, as before, the soul in a sense has “done all.” “Be it so,” is the message of the text to you, “now take heed to yourself, that having done all, you may stand.’’
II. And now let us pass from the cases which the admonition suits, to the reasons on which the admonition is based. And let us ask for a little why it is specially necessary that those who have thus done all, in the way of religious profession, religious attainment, and religious privilege, should be warned, “Take heed that ye stand.” Brethren, the hour of triumph has its dangers by the operation of a very natural law. There is the peril of reaction in grace, as there is the peril of reaction in most other spheres.
1. For one thing, it is so easy to presume on the extent of our victory, and hence the tendency to security.
2. It is also easy to presume on the permanency of what has been done, and hence the tendency to sloth.
III. And now, let us mark some of the practical counsels with which the admonition may be accompanied.
1. Watch; that is one safeguard--“Happy is he who feareth always!” Fear, lest in the thrill of success the head begins to reel and the feet begin to slip, and it prove true of a spiritual victory, as it continually holds true of temporal successes, that the prosperity of the unwary shall slay them. And fear, not only in the day when a past conflict has elated you, but in the day when, as is sometimes the case, a past conflict has depressed you.
2. And work, as well as watch. Because you have engaged in one kind of Christian activity, and completed it with success, earning the thanks of your fellows in the Church, the approval of your conscience, the “well done” of your God--do not consider yourself absolved, but straightway set your face to another--whatsoever is nearest you in Providence; and if nothing is near, then go in diligent search for it.
3. And, lastly, pray. Let no task be done, let no temptation be vanquished, let no grace be attained, without their result in an increase of prayer. (W. A. Gray.)
The Christian warrior
I. First, we are to consider the Christian resisting--“That ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.” “In the evil day.” This expression may be understood of the whole course of our life militant here upon earth; as if the entire term of our continuance here might be described as one long and cloudy day. Such an estimate of life we find the patriarch Jacob formed, when he says--“Few and evil have the days of my life been.” In the present passage, however, it is better, perhaps, to take the apostle’s meaning in a more restricted sense. He lived in troublous times. This very letter was dated from a prison; and in the fifth chapter we find him exhorting his Ephesian converts to walk circumspectly, assigning as a reason, that they must redeem the time, “because the days are evil.”
1. But let us note more particularly some of those passages of our life which, unless we be well fortified with our Christian armour, will prove an evil day to us. Thus there is the day of sickness. In one sense this is always an evil day. It may not be so ultimately, but it must be so in our first experience of it.
2. Again, the day of adversity is an evil day. This, too, is a day which will try the temper of every part of our spiritual armour.
3. So also the day of temptation is an evil day. Temptation is a sore evil in itself; but it is more so from the evil which it developes and brings to light. There are evils in the hearts of all of us which we know not of until temptation discovers them to us.
4. Once more: among the evil days against which we should provide this spiritual armour, we may well suppose the apostle to mean the day of our death.
II. But we come to the second part of our text, which sets before us the Christian conquering--“Having done all, to stand.” This shows us, first, that religion is not a thing of speculation, not a mere matter of creeds and doctrines, but a system of principles to be acted upon, a set work to be done. “To stand.” This expression may be interpreted in two or three ways. First, it may be taken, that by this armour we shall be enabled to stand fast in our Christian profession to the end of our days; that as soldiers of the Cross we shall stand by our colours to the last, resisting Christians, conquering Christians, even on the last field of temptation, and on the bed of death itself. In this attitude we find Paul representing himself to Timothy, when seeing the hour of his departure was at hand. Again, by the expression, “stand,” the apostle no doubt means that the conquering Christian shall be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man. In this sense he writes to the Colossians: “That ye stand perfect and complete in the will of God.” Now, without having endured the hardness, and done the work, and put on the armour of the Christian soldier, it is certain that in the great judgment we never can stand. Once more: the apostle’s expression may be interpreted of our standing as glorified spirits in the presence of God. He who stands fast in the conflict, and stands acquitted in the judgment, shall have, as the recompense of his toils, and as the reward of victory, to stand eternally in glory. “Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” (D. Moore, M. A.)
