April 27 – Armour of God – The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace
ARMOUR OF GOD – The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace
Welcome to the Lockdown Lookup series of video devotionals. We have been journeying through Ephesians 6, taking a closer look at the armour of God.
We have looked at the imperatives or commands to a. Strengthened in the Lord, to Put on, c. and to Stand. Pastor Richard, and Pastor Ndaba have already taken us through what the different garments are that make up the armour of God. Let’s read the passage one more time.
Last time, in looking at the first half of verse 14, we talked about the belt of the truth. We saw that the belt on the soldier’s armor, although a seemingly insignificant piece was actually one of the most important pieces. We could say that the belt was the foundational piece, or the unifying piece of armour. But, although the belt is so important, you cannot go into battle with nothing but your belt on. For although it is foundational, it doesn’t provide much protection. All it does is keep the rest of the armour in place. For protection, you need the other pieces of armour.
Today we are looking at verse 15:
“and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace,”
Ephesians 6:15
Other translations would say “and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
Paul is using metaphors for the spiritual resources that we have in Christ which are the truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. So what does it mean to have your feet shod or fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace? So what does that mean?
Well, the armour of God has its origins in the OT, where we are given a description of God’s armour that he wore to rescue his people. I believe this background and the fact that Paul is in prison guarded by Roman Soldiers inspired Paul to use this language of armour.
Isaiah 11, Isaiah 59 gives the language of the armour of God.
Is. 11:5
Is. 59:17
So the idea of armour comes from the OT.
Back our question: “What does it mean to have our feet shod with the stability of the gospel of peace?
Opinion is dived on the meaning of word “preparation”, which can refer to the readiness to preach the gospel;
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”,”
Isaiah 52:7
but the Greek version of Psalm 89:14 which has the sense of a ‘prepared foundation’,
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.”
Psalm 89:14
And this has the idea of standing unmoved against the enemy. So to have a firm footing for the fight, we must put on these heavily studded shoes of the gospel of peace. And then we will be prepared for the war with Satan by the realization of our peace with God. Our morale for the fight against the evil one must be sustained by this realization of our own peace with God. So this calls for us as believers to be assured of our own acceptance or standing with God before we can withstand the assaults of the enemy.
Our challenge today is to be grounded – to have a firm footing in the gospel and are challenged to be ready to proclaim that (the gospel). Paul says of the gospel in Rom 1:16:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
Romans 1:16
