Excerpt

Throughout scripture we see a picture of mankind being dominated and held captive by sin’s ugly clutches. The apostle Paul goes into great detail describing this picture in his letter to the Christians in Rome. In the third chapter of Romans Paul quotes the psalmist saying: “As it is written, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Psalms 14:1-3; Psalms 53:1-3)

Because of sin’s control over mankind there wasn’t a single person who could stand righteous before the living God. No one understood nor did any seek after God. In fact we did the opposite, we turned away from God and followed our own pursuits. Because of this we became unprofitable and unproductive in all our ways. We may have done random acts of kindness now and then but not without an ulterior motive or hidden agenda. We spoke lies and uttered deceit and our mouths were full of cursing and bitterness. Destruction and misery marked our path yet we still continued on our way searching for the peace we so deeply longed for. Having no fear or respect for God we blamed Him for the havoc our choices created. Yet even at our worse, sinners hating and cursing God, God still loved us.

In the book of Isaiah God responds to this wayward condition of man by declaring to us that it wasn’t His ear that was deaf to our cries. On the contrary, it was man who had turned a deaf ear to God. It wasn’t that God’s arm was too short that He couldn’t reach out and rescue us. We were the ones who refused to take hold of His outstretched hand. Our guilt separated us from God and our sinful condition separated us from His presence. Isaiah continues to say that it was our own sin that testified against us declaring that we knowingly departed from God. (See Isaiah 59:1-5)

This is the scene laid out before God. As He views the state of mankind and sees the condition of His creation, God is grieved. He trembles with displeasure at the devastation sin has brought upon man. He looked for justice but there was no man who could pay the price. He searched for one who would intercede on behalf of His creation, but there was none.

Therefore scripture tells us that His own arm brought salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him. God clothed Himself with His armor coming to the defense of His greatest love. Armed with His own righteousness as a breastplate and His own salvation as a helmet, He donned on the garments of vengeance. Justice would be served and fury would be poured out upon His adversaries. (See Isaiah 59:16-17)

Indeed God did demonstrate His love for us even while we were yet sinners. (See Romans 5:8) “For at the proper time God sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, born of a woman and subject to the law, in order to redeem all who were under that law.” (See Galatians 4:4)

God didn’t send His son Jesus to this world to condemn you and I, He sent Jesus so that through Him we might be delivered from sins’ dominating hold upon us. (See John 3:17) Jesus came and through the cross He conquered Satan, totally disarming him and all his demons, stripping them of all power and authority over those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (See Colossians 2:15)

The book of Zechariah gives us a beautiful picture of removing the cloak of Satan’s power and dominion over us and the placement of God’s power and authority upon us. “And the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen {place your name here} rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?’ Now {place your name here} was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And to him He said, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” (Zechariah 3:2-4)

Isaiah defines those ‘rich robes’ in Isaiah chapter 61 verse 10: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

All power and authority has been given to Jesus who in turn has given us that same power and authority in His name. Through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we have been made God’s ambassadors on this earth. (See 2 Corinthians 5:20) We are Christ’s own personal representatives acting on His behalf. As an ambassador to a foreign land {for we are not of this world} we have been granted diplomatic immunity. Jesus told his disciples in the Gospel of Luke that He has given us {those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ} all authority. Therefore nothing shall by any means hurt us. (See Luke 10:19)

The purpose of this study is to help you understand who you are in Christ and who Christ is in you. God armed Himself to do battle with the enemy, and He has passed down His armor to us. This armor is given that we may successfully stand against the attacks of the enemy, walking a victorious productive life to the glory of God.