On June 5, 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower issued the order for the Allied Expeditionary Forces to storm the beaches of Normandy and press the offensive against Hitler’s military. The order stated:
“Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen… You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.”
I think that’s something like the apostle Paul’s closing paragraphs in his letter to the Ephesians. He writes, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might (6:10).
This entire letter goes into great detail explaining the abundant life we have in Christ and how the Spirit of God is renewing us from the inside out, enabling us to be the people of God who can live by the ways of God’s Kingdom. And now we “embark upon the Great Crusade.” If we really get what God has done in us and believe who we are in Christ, we will move out into a lifestyle strengthened with the very might of the Eternal King. We will be able to bring about a change in our world that’s even more freeing, more lasting and more crucial than “the elimination of Nazi tyranny.”
General Eisenhower had more to say in his order. He told the men who were “about to embark on the Great Crusade”: “Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.”
Paul wrote something similar in verses 11-12: Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
As we move out to live as Jesus the Messiah’s new people and make a difference in the world, we’re going to meet an enemy in battle. The enemy is not “flesh and blood” – not human with human abilities. God made peace with all humanity (Ephesians 2:14-18), and his followers ought to do the same. It’s past time for Christians to jettison a nationalism that makes enemies out of anyone who is against “our country.” Our allegiance belongs to Christ’s Kingdom alone. We battle spiritual powers and forces. The enemy is Satan and his abilities. Supernatural forces of evil. “Your task will not be an easy one… He will fight savagely.”
But God provides the resources needed to defeat the enemy. Verses 13-18: Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints…
Here are the defensive protections and offensive weapons that it takes to defeat the spiritual forces of darkness: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer.
The armor and the weapons will enable you to “stand firm” against the enemy. These are not just ideas you have in your mind. They’re not just thoughts you have when you’re in a church service. They are ways to live each day. Truth and righteousness and peace become your characteristics. Faith and hearing God’s word and praying in the Spirit become qualities of the kind of person you are. They’re not things you put on when you need them and take off when you don’t. They are things that become part of your nature, your personality, your lifestyle.
The key component that makes the armor of God so effective is Jesus himself. 
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might (6:10, emphasis mine). You are strong for the battle when you are living in Christ. The “armor” won’t “work” on its own. These are not principles that just anyone can follow. You must be abiding in Christ (John 15). I like how someone else said it: “Apart from desperate dependence on the living Christ, we could no more put on this armor than a newborn could pilot an F-16 fighter jet.” (see https://www.fullofeyes.com/project/the-full-armor/). Jesus is our strength. Jesus is our armor. Put on Jesus. Live in him, deeply connected to him, and you will be ready for war. When the battle rages, you’ll have what it takes to stand firm.
The battle will rage. At least it will if you are following Jesus. 1 John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” The reason Jesus came into the world was to take down Satan and undo the rebellion and pain and death that the devil has caused. Jesus is all about defeating the “spiritual forces of wickedness.”
When God created the world he put humanity in charge of it – “have dominion…rule” – as his image, his representative. The first humans believed the enemy’s lies and turned away from God. They “bowed down to Satan’s hand” (sang Don Francisco) and he became the ruler of the world (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). Satan and his cohorts are “the rulers, the powers, the world forces” that Paul says we struggle against. They operate in “the heavenly places” – in the spiritual dimension. Satan took the world as his kingdom.
Jesus is taking it back. He has invaded enemy territory and set up his Kingdom and opened the way for any and every person to enter his Kingdom. Colossians 1:13 says that God “rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son.” Now Jesus is advancing and expanding his Kingdom by “destroying the works of the devil.” If you’re going to follow Christ, you’re going to be in the battle engaged in destroying the works of the devil.
So look how Paul finished his letter to the Ephesians. Verses 19-20: and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
It is the gospel that has to be proclaimed. The gospel – the good news that Christ has brought his Kingdom and anyone can enter it – has to be announced. The wonderful truth that God’s love can free anyone from the degrading and destroying that Satan has brought must be heralded. This is the message, the story, the narrative, the whole point that Christians must make sure is being communicated from us (individuals and churches) to the world.
Then verses 21-22: But that you also may know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts.
This points us to the fact that Christ has put us together in his Kingdom. We’re all brothers. We’re all ministers. We care for each other and we serve together to advance the Kingdom. Jesus prayed, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:21).
Then his final, parting words: verses 23-24: Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.
This sums up briefly what life in Christ’s Kingdom is like. We receive peace and love and grace from our Father and our King. We’re able to live with real faith in God. We’re able to live in an actual love relationship with the Lord who created us and rescued us. That relationship is incorruptible – it will last forever. That’s the life that replaces what we’ve got in Satan’s kingdom – looking for God on our own and assuming we’re okay, fear and insecurity and self-hatred and endeavors to make them go away, guilt and trying to somehow offset it, meaninglessness and boredom and shallow attempts to make happiness, giving in to impulses and compulsions – plus living in a world full of anger, aggression, violence and abuse – and death, always death.
Everyone can be rescued from that darkness and transferred to Christ’s Kingdom of peace, love, grace, and faith. We live that Kingdom in the world. We change the world with the ways of that Kingdom. We defeat the spiritual forces of darkness with the power of Christ’s Kingdom.
(I plan to post a couple of follow-up studies of this passage in the next few weeks. Please subscribe to receive new posts by email.)