Spiritual warfare: "Resist the devil" (James 4:7)
James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
How does one resist the Devil? Apostle James tells us in this verse to resist the devil, and he will flee from us. Resist with what? Some may ask.
Psalms 120:7 "I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war."
This verse tells us that words are actually weapons of war for offence, but weapons of war against who or what? The context of Psalms 120:7 is established in the 2nd verse of the same psalm:
Psalms 120:2 "Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue."
The words here are “lying lips” and “deceitful tongue.”
Psalms 64:2-3 "Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:"
Verse 3 of this passage of scripture compares the tongue of the wicked (“deceitful tongue”) to a sword, a weapon of war for offence against the just (Psalms 37:12). The words that come out from the lying lips of the wicked are “bitter words.”
Referring to the strange woman of the book of Proverbs:
Proverbs 5:3-4 "¶ For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword."
The tongue of the strange woman is sharp as a twoedged sword, and the words that proceed from her lying lips are “bitter,” even though they may sound like sweet words i.e. “as an honeycomb.”
There are two woman figures in the book of Proverbs:
the virtuous woman representing the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27);
the strange woman representing the “body of sin” (Romans 6:6)
The “strange woman” is the body of the wicked as opposed to the virtuous woman, which is the body of born again believers. Paul tells us in this verse:
1 Corinthians 6:15 "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid."
Members of Christ are members of the body of Christ, and members of an harlot are members of the body of sin, as represented by the strange woman in the book of Proverbs. Referring to the “man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3:
2 Thessalonians 2:8 "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:"
Paul calls him “that Wicked” (capitalized ‘W‘) in this verse. He is the “head” of the body of sin (Romans 6:6) even as Christ is the head of the body of Christ, the church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18). While Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), the “man of sin” is the exact opposite, as in:
1 Corinthians 13:6 "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;"
The opposite of “the truth” is “iniquity.” Earlier, we had studied this passage of scripture:
Psalms 64:2-3 "Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: 3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:"
The word “insurrection” means “rebellion” (Ezra 4:19), and verse 2 tells us of a rebellion of the “workers of iniquity” against the LORD and against his anointed, as in:
Psalms 2:2-3 "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
This passage of scripture tells us that the “kings of the earth” and the “rulers” of this world that are conspiring against the LORD and against his anointed in an attempt to “break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” In this bible study, I have established from scripture that “bands” and “cords” in this verse are a reference to the 66 books of the Holy Bible (the truth).
Going back to:
Psalms 120:7 "I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war."
It is with “the truth” that we resist and make war with the devil. The Lord Jesus Christ gave us an example here on how we are to resist the Devil:
Matthew 4:10-11 “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
In this passage, Satan tempted Jesus with a lie, that the Lord might do his will. Immediately, Jesus resisted him with the word of God (the truth) "for it is written..."
As much as the truth is that which we use to resist a lie, the written word of God in the 66 books of the Holy Bible is that which we use to resist the Devil. If it is in the written of word of God, it is the will of God, and the Devil must obey and leave. Paul also tells us in:
Ephesians 6:11 "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Born again believers are called to "put on the whole armour of God." Why? So that we may be able to "stand against the wiles of the devil." What is "wiles?"
Numbers 25:18 "For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake."
A "wile" is a lie used to deceive or to beguile, as in:
2 Corinthians 11:3 "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
Colossians 2:4 "And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words."
Colossians 2:18 "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,"
“Wiles of the devil” are a weapon of war the body of sin used against the body of born again believers to hurt them, and only the “whole armour of God” can withstand them. Only with "the truth" (John 14:6) — the 66 books of the Holy Bible, born again believers can resist the Devil.
It is interesting to know that the book of Ephesians is the 10th book of the New Testament and Ephesians 6:11 talks about the "whole armour of God." Do you see the pattern of the number '1611' embedded in all these?
Ephesians is the 10th book of the New Testament;
Chapter 6;
Verse 11.
Indeed the 66 books of the Holy Bible is the "whole armour of God." What does the number '1611' points to? The 1611 King James Bible? Wow.. this is mind-blowing. Paul continues in the next verse:
Ephesians 6:12 "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."
Verse 11 tells us about "wiles of the devil." This verse tells us that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood" i.e. devils are not flesh and blood yet they operate through flesh and blood i.e. “body of sin” (Romans 6:6). Paul continues to tell us that these devils are classified into 4 groups: "principalities", "powers", rulers of the darkness of this world" and "spiritual wickedness in high places."
These are the devils which operate through flesh and blood, using "wiles" to deceive or beguile the simple. Unless we have put on the “whole armour of God” (every word of God in the 66 books of the Holy Bible), we cannot stand against the lethal weapons of war meant to destroy us from within.
The whole armour of God also consist of seven items, and these are the seven pieces of armory corresponding to the seven spirits of God which the Devil wants to remove from the churches.
Ephesians 6:13-18 "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. 14 Stand therefore, [1] having your loins girt about with truth, and [2] having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And [3] your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, [4] taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And [5] take the helmet of salvation, and [6] the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 [7] Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"
Not coincidentally, this compares with the seven pieces of armory that Goliath carried with him.
Goliath is a picture of the beast whose number is '666' (Revelation 13:18). There are actually seven pieces of armory with Goliath: [1] an helmet of brass; [2] a coat of mail of 5,000 shekels of brass; [3] greaves of brass upon his legs; [4] a target of brass between his shoulders; [5] a spear; [6] a shield; and he also had [7] a sword (1 Samuel 17:45). What are these seven items pointing to?
#1. An helmet of brass (false salvation)
Goliath had a helmet of brass over his head. Compare this to Ephesians 6:13-18 "... And take the helmet of salvation"
1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
Helmet is "the hope of salvation" according to this verse. Therefore a helmet of brass is false salvation.
#2. A coat of mail (falsehood)
Goliath was armed with a coat of mail of 5,000 shekels of brass. Compare this to Ephesians 6:13-18 "... having your loins girt about with truth". The opposite of truth is falsehood.
#3. Greaves of brass upon his legs (false gospels)
Goliath had greaves of brass upon his legs. Compare this to Ephesians 6:13-18 "... And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace". Greaves of brass is false gospel.
#4. A target of brass between his shoulders (false righteousness)
Goliath had a target of brass between his shoulders. Compare this with Ephesians 6:13-18 "... having on the breastplate of righteousness". Breastplates are what’s in-between the shoulders. The target of brass is false righteousness.
#5. A spear (prayers and supplications to false gods)
Goliath had a spear. The spear is one item that is apparently missing in the whole armour of God in Ephesians 6:13-18, but "prayer and supplication in the Spirit" is also one item which is missing in Goliath’s list. Prayer is a weapon, as much as a spear is a weapon for offence against our enemies.
#6. A shield (false faith)
Goliath had a shield. Compare this to Ephesians 6:13-18 "... taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked".
#7. A sword (false bibles, philosophies, theologies, etc)
Goliath also had a sword. Compare this to Ephesians 6:13-16 "...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God". Like prayer (spear), the word of God is also a weapon for offence.
2 Chronicles 12:9-10 "So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took all: he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 10 Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king’s house."
In the context of this passage, Shishak king of Egypt came and took away the "shields of gold" in the king's house which Solomon had made. In their place, king Rehoboam made "shields of brass" and commit them to the chief of the guard. Shield is a reference to faith i.e. the "shield of faith" in Ephesians 6:16. Faith is compared to gold in a born again believer in 1 Peter 1:7 "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth...". The same precept is also taught in Job 23:10: "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Every antichrist religious system will have these seven things about them:
an helmet of brass (false salvation);
a coat of mail of 5,000 shekels of brass (falsehood);
greaves of brass (false gospel / false peace);
a target of brass (false righteousness);
a spear (prayers and supplications to false gods);
a shield (false faith);
a sword (false bibles, philosophies, theologies, etc).
The things about Goliath: helmet of brass, coat of mail of 5,000 shekels of brass, greaves of brass, and target of brass were attached to things that are false. Brass has the appearance of gold i.e. false, not real gold, as we read in 2 Chronicles 12:9-10 when king Rehoboam installed the "shields of brass" in replacement of the "shields of gold" that were taken away by Shishak king of Egypt. It is by faith that we are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The "shields of gold" were contrary to the "shields of brass" as much as real faith is contrary to false faith. Apart from faith in every word of God, we are rendered helpless against the wiles of the Devil.