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In Matthew 16:18, Jesus told Simon who he had just renamed Peter “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock^[a] I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (ESV) In this article, I will connect many theological dots from The Bible to make the case that evangelism is a form of conquest warfare in service of the King of Kings; Jesus the Christ. And this statement about the gates of Hell not prevailing is part of that web of ideas that would have been very familiar to the original audience of The New Testament documents, but which are lost on modern westerners today. First and foremost, Jesus is The King whom all Christians serve. Secondly, I think the Armor Of God passage, while certainly applicable to the individual Christian in his own personal struggles and temptations, when taken out of an individualistic context and applied to a collectivist setting, with the idea that The Great Comission is a form of spiritual warfare with a Divine Council Worldview in mind, what we actually should see ourselves doing when we do evangelism is a form of conquest warfare. This conquest, when it is complete, will be one of the neccesary conditions for Christ to return and put the spiritual forces of evil to death. And, with the Roman occupation very fresh in the mind of the Jewish Paul, he undoubtedly would’ve been thinking of the spread of the gospel clad in the armor as conquest warfare. The gods of nations are having to deal with Christian occupation. This is one of many things that can give the Christian a sense of purpose in the here and now, rather than just thinking that the gospel is all about believing in Jesus and waiting for death to come so you can experience Heaven. This view is the result of putting biblical teachings together like puzzle pieces which don’t fit together hap hazzardly, but perfectly, and reveal a much larger picture than any single one of them does in isolation. My thesis here, which isn’t entirely my own, will hopefully make my brothers so Kingdom-Of-God minded, that they are of immense Earthly good. ^[1]This is riffing on the jab non-Christians usually make at Christians that “You’re so heavenly minded that you’re of no earthly good.” which is, to be fair, often true as a … Continue reading

Piece 1: What Is The Gospel? Allegiance to King Jesus.

I recently read an excellent book called “Salvation By Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, And The Gospel Of Jesus The King” by a biblical scholar named Matthew Bates. I had heard about Bates’ thesis through second hand sources like the late Dr. Michael S. Heiser on The Naked Bible Podcast, as well as Ronn Johnson and Mike Chu on The Divine Council Worldview Podcast. I even heard Bates talk a little about it himself in an interview on the aforementioned podcast. So I was pretty sure I already would agree with him before reading the book. Bates’ argument is that words like “Faith” and phrases like “believe in” when used in the context of salvation in Christ are widely misunderstood and have been for some time. In the worst case, it can be interpreted to mean to give mere mental assent to the existence of something, such as when we ask questions like “Do you believe in angels?”, “Do you believe in the flat Earth?”, “Do you believe in the round Earth?”. What the questioner means is “Do you mentally assent to the proposition ‘angels exist’?” or “Do you mentally assent to the proposition ‘the earth is flat/round’?” This is just how this phrase is used in English. So when we get to the gospel and we read in John 3:16 that “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” We read this with a western mindset and think God is saying we’ll be saved eternally if we agree with a set of propositions. Do you believe Jesus said the things? Do you believe Jesus did the things? Do you think it’s true what The Bible says when it says Jesus said and did the things? Yes, I do. Well, then, in that case, I’m going to Heaven when I die. Problem solved. Maybe pray the so-called Sinner’s Prayer to make it official, though. This is a false gospel. And it is the gospel that I embraced at a very early age, but abandoned at age 17 when Yahweh finally got a hold of me. While I can’t remember a time when I didn’t think Christianity was true, ^[2]Although if you’ve followed this ministry long enough, or read the introductions to my books “The Case For The One True God: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Historical Case For The God … Continue reading, I nevertheless had not really been saved until the spring of 2009, shortly before my 17th birthday. Later, I would read James 2:19 which says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (ESV) And yet we know from Revelation 20 that the devil and all his legion will be cast into The Lake Of Fire. Yet the demons are theists! They believe God exists! In fact, they likely also believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead (cf. Matthew 4, Matthew 8:28-29). Despite believing “the things” about Jesus, Satan is not saved. So what’s the difference? What’s the difference between a Christian and a demon? What separates me from Satan? It’s hard to tell if we both “believe in” Jesus. But it’s very easy to tell if you just make an alternate translation choice.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever gives allegience to Him will not perish, but have eternal life.”

The Greek word often translated as “faith” is pistis. And while it sometimes does mean to believe something, or trust in someone, ^[3]One example that comes to mind is the famous walking on water episode where Jesus calls Peter out to walk on the water. Peter takes a few steps before the sight of the wind and the waves cause him to … Continue reading there are times when it means more than that, both in The Bible and elsewhere in contemporaneous Greek writings.

One of the sources that Matthew Bates pointed to was 1 Maccabees. Although not considered scripture by Protestants like myself, that doesn’t really matter when it comes to word studies and how people writing in Greek, especially approximating close in time to the New Testament authors, used a word. After all, scripture wasn’t written in a special Christian code language, but the language of the day. First Maccabees, says Bates, written about 150 years before Jesus’s death. It contains a letter from King Demetrius. He is concerned that his rival, Alexander, may have beat him to the punch in forging an alliance with the Jewish people. King Demetrius, in seeking to persuade the Jews to his cause, writes:

“King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greetings. Since you have kept your agreement with us and have continued your friendship with us, and have not sided with our enemies, we have heard of it and rejoiced. Now continue still to keep faith [pistis] with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us.” (1 Maccabees 10:25–27 NRSV)

On this passage, Bates writes “Here Demetrius is asking the Jews to continue showing pistis—that is, loyalty or allegiance—to him rather than to his rival, promising a reward for the allegiance. Just a few lines later King Demetrius further promises that some Jews will be put in positions demanding loyalty (pistis) as administrative leaders in the royal government. Could it be that when Paul and others talk about salvation by “faith,” not by works, they intend something close to what Demetrius means by pistis—so that we should translate, ‘It is by grace you have been saved through allegiance” (Eph. 2:8)?'” ^[4]Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 4.

To prompt a reassessment of the first-century meaning of ‘believe’ in the gospel message, N. T. Wright introduces an example from the Jewish-Roman war. Specifically, Wright cites the historian Josephus’s autobiography, where the general’s plea to a rebel leader to “repent and believe in me” closely mirrors Jesus’s proclamation in Mark 1:15, ‘The kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the good news.’ This linguistic parallel suggests that ‘believe’ conveyed a strong sense of trust and allegiance. ^[5]This text is from Josephus, The Life 110, cited in Wright, Challenge of Jesus, 44. The exact phrase in Josephus is metanoēsein kai pistos emoi genēsesthai, which Wright renders as “repent and … Continue reading

In addition to this brief word study, that faith when it comes to eternal salvation should be understood as allegience is made more probable in the light of the doctrine of Jesus’ kingship and what the word “gospel” really meant in Greek. Viritually no orthodox Christian will deny that Jesus is The King Of Kings and Lord of Lords. Although it is, as Bates notes, a grossly underemphasized doctrine, it isn’t one that goes unrecognized or denied. For Pete’s sake, this past year we had a animated movie about the life of Jesus called “The King Of Kings.” ^[6]Produced by Angel Studios. Biblical passages that assert or imply such are manifold, but here is a small sampling;

Revelation 19:15-16 (ESV) “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

John 1:49-51 (NIV) “Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, ‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, ‘Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.‘”

John 18:33-37 (NIV) “Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘Is that your own idea,’ Jesus asked, ‘or did others talk to you about me?’ ‘Am I a Jew?’ Pilate replied. ‘Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?’ Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”'”

In order to live in the kingdom of a king, you must swear loyalty to that king. Believing that the King exists is not enough for kingdom citizenship. Not even trusting that the King will do what he says he will do is enough. Loyalty is what is required. No monarch on earth would let their subjects, let alone their army, get away with treason! Technically you could have “belief that” and “Belief in” and be saved. I’m sure Satan trusts Jesus to do what he says he will do, in that he will damn him when the time comes. Satan believes God exists. Satan even knows God is trustworthy. Satan is not allegiant. Satan is in rebellion.

Pastor Brandon Robbins explains that “The word gospel comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Godspell’ which is a translation of the Greek word ‘euangelion,’ which means ‘good news.’ But ‘euangelion’ isn’t just any good news. At the time of Jesus, this was the word used when Rome would conquer a territory and impose their rule upon a city. It was a promise of the good news that everyone’s lives would be better now that Rome was in power. Mark then says that this is the good news of ‘iesous christos.’ ‘Iesous’ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word ‘yeshua,’ which means ‘God saves.’ And ‘christos’ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “mashiach,” which means ‘messiah.’

*In just one line, Mark is telling us who Jesus is and what this “gospel” is going to be about. This is a new type of “good news.” It is not good news about some Roman ruler. It is good news that the Messiah, the Savior of the world has arrived, a savior who will not destroy and control, but God in the flesh who will heal and save.” ^[7]Pastor Brandon Robbins, from a Facebook post posted on March 20th 2023. –> Click here.

Fundamentally, then, the “Good News” is not merely “Jesus died for your sins. Believe this so you won’t go to Hell.” The Good News is ultimately that Jesus is the King. Jesus is seated on the ultimate throne and reigns on high. This is truly good news because Jesus is the only king who is perfect in love, mercy, justice, and wisdom. He is God The Son, the second person of The Trinity. (John 1:1-3, 4, John 10:30, Philippians 2:5-9). The Evangelion, the herald that we His people should proclaim is “Jesus Christ is king! Swear your allegiance to King Jesus and you will have life abundantly and unending!”

Now, we’ve talked about our proper response to the gospel, but we’ve not talked about exactly what the gospel is. Is the gospel just about Jesus being the King? No, anymore than it’s just about Jesus dying for our sins, or just about Jesus rising from the dead. As Matthew Bates wrote “That Jesus died for our sins and, as a portion of that ‘our,’ that he also died for my sins is truly part of the gospel—emphatically so!—but it is imperative to realize that it is only a small but vital portion of the gospel as properly understood, not the whole gospel. It is also critical to recognize that ‘faith’ is not primarily aimed at trusting in the forgiveness-of-sins process. For Paul does not primarily call us to ‘faith’ (‘belief’ or ‘trust’) in some sort of atonement system in order to be saved (although mental affirmation that Jesus died for our sins is necessary), but rather to ‘faith’ (‘allegiance’) unto Jesus as Lord.” ^[8]Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 39. Later on, Bates wrote “Although Paul himself received the gospel from no human source but rather through divine revelation, as he is at pains to assert in his Letter to the Galatians (1:11–12), this is not to say that he received his entire gospel apart from the human-traditioning process. Paul was a witness to the resurrection and enthronement of Jesus, since the glorified Jesus had visually and audibly revealed himself to him (Acts 9:3–7; 22:6–10; 26:13–18; 1 Cor. 9:1; 2 Cor. 12:9; Gal. 1:16). Thus, Paul had received the cornerstone of the gospel, the reality of the resurrection and enthronement, from none other than the Christ himself. Yet he received other elements of the gospel, such as traditions about Jesus’s life, death, and burial, from others, as he makes clear in 1 Corinthians 15:1–2 and intimates in Galatians 1:18.” ^[9]Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017), 40.

So what is the full gospel? Bates provides a helpful outline that suspiciously sounds very similar to the famous Apostle’s Creed, not to mention 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

Jesus the king

1. preexisted with the Father,
2. took on human flesh, fulfilling God’s promises to David,
3. died for sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4. was buried,
5. was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
6. appeared to many,
7. is seated at the right hand of God as Lord, and
8. will come again as judge. ^[10]Ibid. Page 74.

Of course, mental assent to this list of biblical facts is crucial to salvation, but, to use philosophical language, it is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient condition. Trust and loyalty in reaction to these facts is what separates a Christian from a devil. Here are a quick list of biblical references corresponding to the 8 points above.

Here are quick biblical references corresponding to each statement about Jesus the King. The biblical references that are quoted below are primarily drawn from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation. Emphasis in bold.

1. Preexisted with the Father:
   • John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.“
   • Colossians 1:15-17: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.“
   • John 17:5: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
   • Philippians 2:5-6: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited.”
2. Took on human flesh, fulfilling God’s promises to David:
   • John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…”
   • Romans 1:3-4: “…concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
   • 2 Samuel 7:12-13: (The Davidic Covenant, which is fulfilled in Christ).
   • Philippians 2:7: “but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,”
3. Died for sins in accordance with the Scriptures:
   • 1 Corinthians 15:3: “…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures…”
   • Philippians 2:8: “he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”
   • Isaiah 53:5-6: (Prophetic passage): “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
4. Was buried:
   • 1 Corinthians 15:4a: “…that he was buried…”
   • Matthew 27:57-60: (The account of Jesus’s burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea).
5. Was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures:
   • 1 Corinthians 15:4b: “…and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
   • Luke 24:6-7: “He is not here, but has been raised. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
6. Appeared to many:
   • 1 Corinthians 15:5-8: “and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time… Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me [Paul].”
   • Luke 24: (Accounts of appearances to the disciples and others).
7. Is seated at the right hand of God as Lord:
   • Acts 2:33: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God…”
   • Mark 14:60-62: “Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, ‘Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?’ But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
   • Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
8. Will come again as judge:
   • Matthew 25:31-32: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
   • Acts 10:42: “And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.”
   • Revelation 22:12: “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to every person’s work.”

This is the full gospel. As you can see, the cross and resurrection are certainly a part of this gospel, but when we treat the simple gospel unto salvation or “The Romans Road” as the full gospel, we mislead people into thinking all Jesus came to do was to give us eternal fire insurance. Yes, Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins on our behalf. Yes, he rose from the dead. Yes, we are all sinners in need of Jesus’ blood to cleanse us from our sins. But this is simply part of a much wider, richer picture. Now, as you can see, what is mentioned above is the gospel, but this says nothing about our response to it, proper or improper. That’s because the gospel is not identical to our response to it. That is where identifying the why of Jesus’ death (see Romans 3:23, Psalm 14:2-4) and the definitions of pistis come into play. Jesus is Lord whether you like it or not. The real question is whether you’ll be loyal to the king or suffer the penalty of a traitor (Romans 6:23a, John 3:16b, Matthew 10:28).

If you’ve pledged allegiance to King Jesus, then The Holy Spirit will come to live in your heart (John 14:17, 1 Corinthians 6:12) and will empower you to engage in “enacted loyalty.” That is, you will be driven towards doing good works. Saving faith understood as believing loyalty/allegiance cannot be separated from good works. For although we do not work to earn our right standing before God (as Ephesians 2:8-9 so clearly teaches), nevertheless good works are the result of true loyalty. Jesus said “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). And as James, the brother of Jesus teaches in chapter 2 of his general epistle, “Faith without works is dead“. (See James 2:14-26). Allegiance that doesn’t result in obedience to the king is really no allegiance at all! This doesn’t mean we become perfect upon conversion, but it does mean we aren’t content to wallow in our old ways anymore. As pastor A.W Tozer once said, “The Holy Spirit will never enter a man and allow him to live like the world.” ^[11]A. W. Tozer, The Counselor: Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit from a Man Whose Life Was Guided by Him (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1996).

Piece 2: The Armor Of God Passage

In Ephesians 6:10-19 (ESV), the Apostle Paul wrote “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,”

I think most Christians today think of themselves as being clothed with the armor fighting individual battles against Satan and his forces. I certainly know I have over the past couple of years. And I don’t think that is an incorrect application. Nevertheless, when coupled with the idea that we enact our loyalty to King Jesus and that the Christian’s primary goal is to spread the gospel, I think we can see these pieces of armor in a different light. This is not to negate the armor’s use against spiritual enemies who personally want to tear us down as individuals. Two things can be true at once; the armor should be applied individually AND collectively. The Bible was written within collectivist cultures. This is well known to biblical scholars. Those of us in the Western world, especially in The United States Of America are an individualistic culture. We think in individualistic ways and this can even cause us to miss things in scripture, or misread passages entirely! Indeed, E. Randolph Richards and Richard James have written a whole book on this topic called “Misreading Scripture With Individualist Eyes” which is a follow up on Richards’ book “Misreading Scripture Through Western Eyes” that he co-wrote with Brandon J. Obrien. The difference between individualistic and collectivistic societies lies in their primary focus of allegiance and identity. In individualistic cultures (like the U.S. or Australia), the emphasis is on the ‘I’: individuals are expected to be self-reliant, prioritize personal freedom, and celebrate individual achievement. Conversely, in collectivistic cultures (such as those often found in Asia or Latin America), the focus is on the ‘We’: identity is deeply tied to the larger group (family, community, or company), and the highest values are placed on group harmony, loyalty, and acting in the collective interest, even at the expense of one’s personal desires.

The Belt Of Truth – The belt is the first thing that Paul mentions as a piece of the armor. You would think it would be something like the helmet, which is at the top of the body, and he’d simply move downward and finish with the shoes, but he starts with the belt. Why? I think it is because the belt is what holds all of the armor together, both in the literal armor he is likely imagining in his mind’s eye, as well as the metaphorical Armor of God. Francis Foulkes in his commentary on Ephesians explains that “Stand therefore, he says, in the armour provided, which alone will make you invincible. RSV ‘having girded your loins with truth’ accurately translates the Greek participial phrase, showing the tense used, and conveying the sense of a deliberate personal action. The order in which the pieces of armour are described is the order in which the soldier would put them on. Strictly the girdle is not part of the armour, but before the armour can be put on the garments underneath must be bound together. The metaphor of girding is often used in the Bible because it describes a preparatory action necessary for a person with the flowing garments of those days before work could be done, a race run, or a battle fought.” ^[12]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 179. It is appropriate to describe the belt first, therefore, because truth holds the whole thing together. If the gospel of Jesus Christ were not true, none of the other pieces would have any power. If Christianity is not true, none of us has any real armor. Rather, we are naked and vulnerable to the powers of darkness without or at least the evil within. This is why Christian Apologetics is so important. We need to know that Christianity is true! It will not due to simply think that it might be true and hope that it is. We must be completely convinced before we move onward. God has left us with no shortage of evidences in both creation and in scripture. If you, dear reader, aren’t sure whether the gospel (i.e those 8 points in the previous subheader) is true, I would recommend reading at least my book “The Case For The Reliability Of The Gospels: A Cerebral Faith Blog Book” which shows evidence that the canonical gospels that describe the life of Christ are extremely reliable eyewitness testimonies. You can also read William Lane Craig’s “Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics”, Frank Turek’s and Norman Geisler’s “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist”, and Lee Strobel’s “The Case For Christ”. All of which are great introductory level works into the arguments and evidence for the truth of the Christian Worldview. Ontologically, the gospel needs to be true in order for the armor to work. Think of the “sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” As Frank Turek has said, you can’t have a word from God if there is no God. But epistemologically, we need to know that the gospel is true. Think about the “Shield Of Faith” which, along with Matthew Bates, I do take to be “The Shield Of Allegiance”. Am I going to pledge my undying devotion to someone I’m not sure is there? Truth holds everything together.

The Breastplate Of Righteousness – To quote from Francis Foulkes’ commentary on Ephesians once again, “Secondly, there is the breastplate of righteousness which must be put on. This description comes from that of the heavenly warrior in Isaiah 59:17, and this fact, as well as the reference of 2 Corinthians 6:7 to ‘the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left’, seems to indicate that what was in the apostle’s mind at this point was not the righteousness of God which is imputed to us (Rom. 3:21–22), that means our justification and the forgiveness of our sins; but, as Calvin, Westcott, Moule and many others take it, uprightness of character, ‘loyalty in principle and action to the holy law of God’ (Moule, CB). To neglect what we know to be righteous action is to leave a gaping hole in our armour. We may compare this use of the word righteousness with that in 5:9 and in Romans 6:13 and 14:17.” ^[13]Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 179–180. So, in other words, the breastplate of “righteousness” according to Foulkes is not the imputed righteousness of Christ, that is, our innocent standing before God upon pledging our allegience to King Jesus, with the resulting transaction being our sinfulness imputed to Him on the cross, but rather, an upright character. I think this is right. And as the 17th century Anglican Bishop William Gurnall wrote “There is no such way to be even with the devil and his instruments, for all their spite against us, as by doing what good we can wherever we be come.” ^[14]Gurnall, William. The Christian in Complete Armour (p. 1). Unknown. Kindle Edition. Notice how Moule defined it in the quote-within-a-quote above. “loyalty in principle and action to the holy law of God’ (Moule, CB)” Loyalty. That’s a synonym for allegiance. What I take from this is that the breastplate of righteousness is our enacted loyalty to King Jesus. Of course, even this righteousness is still given to us by God. However, what Foulkes, Moule, Gurnall, and I are saying is that this refers more to the sanctificatory work of The Holy Spirit than the Justificatory work of Jesus Christ.

Shoes Of The Gospel Of Peace – What I take this to mean is the feet that are eager to run into battle, eager to spread and defend the gospel, eager to run into enemy territory and claim, “This territory belongs to King Jesus!” I am reminded of what Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-15 (ESV), “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!‘” (emphasis mine). Christian, are you walking around barefoot? Who have you shared the gospel with in the past week, the past month, dare I ask the past YEAR? Are you fitted with the shoes of the gospel of peace? How can you keep this good news all to yourself? Is it because you’re afraid of being embarrassed or made fun of? Jesus was mocked and humiliated and beaten so that YOU could be forgiven of your sins. Is it because you’re afraid those atheists are going to pelter you with hard questions and objections you might not be able to answer? Then heed the call of 2 Timothy 2:15 which says “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (KJV) Study Christian Apologetics and its detractors! That is what this website exists for. It’s why I’ve written the books that I had. Yes, I want to convince unbelievers who hopefully read them, but they are also written for your sake, my brothers and sisters in Christ. I especially urge you to study biblical apologetics. What I mean by this is learn how to defend the Christian worldview from The Bible. There is an offensive case and a defensive case to be made here. In an offensive case, you would run something like either a Minimal Facts Argument or Maximal Data Argument for the historical truth that Jesus claimed to be God, then he died and rose from the dead. Neither of these arguments involve “Quoting The Bible to prove The Bible” as skeptics often claim. When mounting one of these arguments, you are not presupposing that the New Testament documents are inspired scripture. Rather, you are treating them the way you would any set of ancient documents that claim to be reporting historical events. In a Minimal Facts Argument, you would use the so-called “Criteria Of Authenticity” to the gospels and the letters of Paul. And you would make arguments such as “Jesus’ crucifixion is a historical fact because it is multiply attested by Josephus, Tacitus, Mara Bar Sarapion, The Synoptic Gospels, John, and Paul. It is enormously unlikely that these 6 sources would all independently make up the same lie and treat it as a historical fact.” Or “We can be confident that Jesus’ empty tomb is a historcal fact because all four gospels claim that it was women who discovered the tomb empty, women were considered unreliable witnesses and were second-class citizens in this patriarchal society. So this is unlikely to be a Christian invention by the criterion of embarassment”. And you would make these arguments to establish the 5 facts (1) Jesus died by crucifixion, (2) Jesus’ tomb was found empty the following Sunday Morning. (3) His disciples claimed to see him alive after his crucifixion. (4) Saul of Tarsus converted on the basis of what he perceived to be an appearance of the risen Jesus, and (5) Jesus’ skeptical brother James converted on the basis of what he perceived to be an appearance of the risen Jesus. After using the criteria of authenticity to establish these facts, you would then argue that Jesus’ resurrection is the best explanation of these historical facts against the naturalistic explanations the skeptic would want to offer. A Maximal Data Approach is, in my opinion, much more powerful and persuasive because it does not restrict you to only using data that the skeptics will grant, and it uses the gospels as eyewitness testimonies. There is a short version of this argument and a long version, contrary to what Minimal Facts fan boys will tell you. A short version would be to offer some arguments for the traditional authorship of the gospels (As biblical scholar Wesley Huff does in this 2 Minute video) and then examine the written details concerning Jesus’ resurrection. Thirdly, you then run what I like to call The McGrewian Trilemma. Named after Lydia McGrew, it is a 3 step syllogism that goes like this; (1) The gospel eyewitnesses were either lying, mistaken, or telling the truth. (2) The gospel eyewitnesses were not lying or mistaken. (3) Therefore, the gospel eyewitnesses were telling the truth. This is a logically valid syllogism. The conclusion follows from the premises by the rule of logic known as dysjunctive syllogism. At that point, you would rule out the lying option by appealing to extra-biblical testimonies showing that Matthew, Peter, John, were all willing to be killed for saying that Jesus rose, and you’d rule out the mistaken option by just showing how the details of the gospel narratives blow naturalistic explanations to smithereens. This is what I do in my book “The Case For The Reliability Of The Gospels: A Cerebral Faith Blog Book”. Available for $0.99 on Kindle. A defensive case for Christianity would be things like building theodicies (i.e responses to The Problem Of Evil) from what The Bible has to say about evil and suffering. And trust me, there’s a lot it has to say about it in virtually every book! Or responding to objections to the goodness and justice of God based on the doctrine of Hell as I do in my book “Yahweh’s Inferno: Why Scripture’s Teaching On Hell Doesn’t Impugn The Goodness Of God”. Many objections to God’s goodness based on Hell stem from just not accurately interpreting what The Bible has to say about Hell (e.g saying that it teaches God will torture them forever rather than put them to a body-and-soul death sentence). One should also respond to those “Nasty Old Testament God” type arguments, and you can learn to do this through the writings of Paul Copan such as in his book “Is God A Moral Monster?: Making Sense Of The Old Testament God” and others.Natural Theology is good, but as I’ve meditated on 2 Timothy 3:16-17, I’ve become convinced that not only is all scripture God breathed, but it is, as the passage says, useful to equip the man of God for EVERY good work. Do I really believe it will equip me for EVERY good work? Even the work of giving a defense for the reason for the hope that I have (1 Peter 3:15)? And thus, I have resolved to specialize in apologetics that make the most use of scripture. This lengthy aside was just to say that if you aren’t sharing the gospel because you’re scared that the atheist or whoever is going to stump and make you look stupid at best, or cause you to doubt Jesus at worst, then you need to study and become equipped.

The Shield Of Faith – On pages 196-198 of his book “Salvation by Allegiance Alone”, Matthew Bates says this is the shield of allegience, and he paints a wonderful and beautiful picture of what this shield looks like. Not only would I be violating the fair use doctrine if I quoted all three pages of that book, but it would make this long article even longer. Thus, while I won’t directly quote any more of his book here, I will reword and condense the content of those three pages into a more bite-sized and copyright friendly way;

Matthew Bates uses the imagery of the “shield of faith” from Ephesians 6:16 to illustrate that saving allegiance is a multi-faceted gift from God that must be freely received and maintained through three necessary components:

1: The Inside (Mental Affirmation) – The interior of the shield represents mental agreement with the eight-stage gospel (the story of Jesus the king: preexistence, incarnation, death for sins, burial, resurrection, appearances, session at God’s right hand, and future judgment). This intellectual assent is the first component of saving allegiance.

2: The Edge (Verbal Confession) – The edge of the shield is embossed with the confession, “I profess that Jesus is Lord.” This public declaration of fealty or loyalty is the formal gateway to salvation and holds the entire shield together.

3: The Front (Embodied Fidelity) – The shield’s front is a liquid, transforming image—a moving picture of the person being conformed to the image of the resurrected Christ through embodied, active loyalty. This enacted fidelity is the ongoing, crucial element of allegiance, demonstrating participation in Christ’s character and proper stewardship.

Bates concludes that all three surfaces—mental affirmation of the gospel, declaration of fealty, and embodied loyalty—are necessary for salvation, the ultimate goal of which is resurrection life: to rule the new creation with Christ as a fully restored image of God. ^[15]For more on this, see my other lengthy essay “A Treatise On The Christian’s Eternal Home”.

How does this shield of allegiance protect us from “The flaming darts of the evil one?” One example would be the Joseph story in the book of Genesis. When Potiphar’s wife tried to get Joseph to commit adultery with her, he said that he couldn’t do it because not only would it betray Potiphar’s trust, but it would be a sin against God. (Genesis 39:9). Joseph’s loyalty to God kept him from committing a heinous sin. Ultimately, arrows tend to be fatal things if they strike you in the right spot. Temptations to reject Christ under persecution (Matthew 10:26-33 tells us how this is fatal), temptations to give into hate and revenge (see 1 John 3 for the dire consequences of that), or to resort to witchcraft because Yahweh isn’t hurting our enemies like we want Him to (Deuteronomy 18:10-11) can all be firey arrows that can be quenched by the shield of allegiance. And I can personally attest that the latter two of these arrows have been shot at me and successfully quenched.

The Helmet Of Salvation – When it comes to interpreting this piece of the armor, I’m not sure what to make of this piece. There are differing views among biblical scholars as to what the Helmet Of Salvation could represent and what it does in protecting the believer from spiritual attacks. Since I myself don’t take an official stance, let’s just briefly examine the three most prominent views among biblical scholars.

1. The Protection of the Mind and Thoughts ^[16]This view is held by biblical scholars like Peter T. Obrien and is expressed in his commentary on Ephesians. Other scholars who hold this view are F. F. Bruce and Ernest Best.
   The head is the command center of the body, and the helmet protects the head. Spiritually, this is understood as protecting the mind, thoughts, and worldview from the enemy’s schemes.

Guard Against Attack: Satan’s primary attacks are often directed at the mind, assaulting believers with doubt, despair, discouragement, and deception about their salvation or their standing with God. The helmet of salvation shields the believer from these “fiery missiles” of the evil one.

A Renewed Mindset: Wearing the helmet means having a God-centered way of thinking that aligns with the truth of the Gospel, enabling believers to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

2. The Hope and Assurance of Final Salvation (Future Aspect) ^[17]Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones takes this view in his detailed sermons on Ephesians. John MacArthur also takes this view.
   Many scholars emphasize the link between the Helmet of Salvation in Ephesians 6:17 and Paul’s parallel statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, where he calls it the “helmet, the hope of salvation.”

Future Glorification: This view stresses the future aspect of salvation, which is glorification—the certain prospect of eternal life and final victory over sin and death. This confident hope is what ultimately protects the mind from giving up in the present struggle.

Security in Christ: This certain hope provides confidence and assurance in the midst of trials and suffering, knowing that the present battle will not last forever and that the ultimate outcome is secured by Christ’s victory.

3. Salvation as Present Possession and Identity (Present Assurance) ^[18]John Stott and Alister Begg take this view.
   The helmet is also viewed as the present assurance and reality of the believer’s salvation in Christ, which impacts daily life.

Present Deliverance: Salvation is not just a past event or a future hope, but an ongoing, present reality of deliverance from the power of sin. This knowledge of being a “new creation” in Christ and already “declared righteous” acts as the armor that repels feelings of guilt, shame, and unworthiness.

Christ Himself as Protection: Some suggest that putting on the helmet is essentially “putting on Christ Himself,” as Paul borrows the imagery from Isaiah 59:17, where God wears the helmet of salvation, signifying that the protection comes from union with the Savior.

What all of these views share in common is that the helmet is meant to protect the Christian’s mind from spiritual attacks. But how exactly it does so is debated. For me, I wonder about what the term “salvation” is even meant here. Does it mean salvation in the sense of justification by allegience/faith alone (i.e our innocent, forgiven standing before God)? Does it refer to the process of sanctification? Glorification? All three (which is the richest sense of word you can use)? Or does it refer to salvation from trials. After all, the word “salvation” does not necessarily have to have a religious connotation, although given this context such a connotation has a high antecedent probability. If I could nail that down, then I’d be more confident in taking a harder stance on one of the views outlined above. I will say, though, that none of the proposed views strike me as implausible.

The Sword Of The Spirit, Which Is The Word Of God – The last piece of the armor mentioned by Paul is the “Sword Of The Spirit”. This is the only offensive piece of the armor. Paul tells us what this sword is; the word of God. What is the word of God? Well, it depends on the context. The Bible often refers to itself (i.e written scripture) as “The Word Of God”. Examples of it being used in this way would be (Exodus 24:4, Psalm 119:60, Romans 3:2, and Hebrews 4:12). Examples of it referring to the proclamation of the Evangelion (or gospel) would be references such as Luke 8:11, Acts 4:31, Acts 6:11, and 1 Thessalonians 2:13. Well, in what sense is Paul referring to in Ephesians 6? Here, I think he likely has both in mind. It depends on whether we are fighting a one on one battle against an evil being trying to destroy us, or whether we’re part of the army of the Lord spreading the gospel and taking back land from the fallen sons of God. The gospel would certainly be a subset of scripture as a whole since the 8 elements of the gospel in the previous subheader make their way into the canon. ^[19]2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that all scripture is God breathed and is useful for various purposes. And while some try to make The New Testament exempt from being the referent of this verse, I think these … Continue reading The best example of such skilled swordsmanship on display is the temptations of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4. With every temptation that Satan threw at Him, Jesus countered with “It is written…”, “It is written…”, “It is written…”. Jesus the King, the true Adam, the faithful Israel, parried the Serpent’s attacks, sliced the dragon’s forked tongue, and stabbed the prowling lion in the heart! ^[20]For reasons as to why I’m using all these animal images of Satan, see Genesis 3, Revelation 12:9, and 1 Peter 5:18. You can also check out my essay “Psalm 91: Your Battle Anthem Against … Continue reading Jesus didn’t just quote scripture, he believed it, and obeyed it. Jesus gave pistis (allegience) to Yahweh, which resulted in Him being shielded from the firey darts of the wicked one, he had a stronger breastplate of righteousness than any one of us, he traveled as much as he did because He Himself was clad in the shoes of readiness to spread the gospel of piece, and he wielded the Sword Of The Spirit against Satan when Satan tried to undermine him. A less successful example would be Eve in Genesis 3. In Genesis 3:1-4 (ESV), we read “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” There’s a lot to say about these 4 verses of scripture, and my inner Bible nerd wants to give much commentary, but for your sakes I’ll spare you and zero in on Eve’s use of God’s word. While Eve couldn’t say “It is written” like Jesus, since there was no scripture yet, they did have God’s spoken words. So Eve said “God said…” And while she (mostly) accurately recollected the prohibition recorded in Genesis 2:16-17, she not only added to the command (God didn’t say she couldn’t touch it), but her defense was half hearted. When the Serpent contradicted what God said, rather than trust in The Lord and not lean on their own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), they leaned on their own understanding and listened to the Serpent, with the resulting consequences that follows. It is not enough to just know what God said. You have to believe Him and obey it. As Jesus’ brother James wrote “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22-25, ESV). Adam and Eve were lousy swordsmen, but that doesn’t negate the evidential value of this episode in showing us, along with Jesus in Matthew 4, that everything God has said should, in our individual spiritual battles, be our offense against the devil. Thus, this supports my propositon that all of inspired scripture can be in view when Paul says that the Sword Of The Spirit is the Word Of God. This is why a proper doctrine of scripture, the ability to exegete properly, and the memorization of scripture is so important. As the Psalmist put it, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Psalm 119:11)

But what about collectively? As the church moved out from a small band of men in Israel and proclaimed the gospel more and more throughout church history, we have wielded “The Word Of God” (i.e the gospel) as a sword in taking over territory for King Jesus. This sword doesn’t cut flesh, and it doesn’t take lives. In fact, it gives life! The only thing it kills is the old creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) the old version of a person before embracing the gospel and being transformed by its life-giving power! Ultimately, it will kill the old gods who had power over the nations once it reaches its fullness in the world. As the Apostle Paul wrote “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, NRSV)

Piece 3: The Divine Council Worldview (The Deuteronomy 32 Worldview)

I have referred to taking back territory from “gods”, “Sons Of God”, and “unseen powers” a few times now. For those who don’t know, it may be necessary for me to give a brief explanation of what I’ve alluded to. The late biblical scholar Dr. Michael S. Heiser has spearheaded a movement bringing back into evangelical thought an overlooked and neglected rich supernaturalism that he calls “The Divine Council Worldview”. Other scholars like Ronn Johnson, Tremper Longmann III, as well as non-scholars like Pastor Douglas Van Doorn and Brian Godawa have picked up on this theology and built upon or incorporated it into their writings. The primary source to read about this is Dr. Michael S. Heiser’s book “The Unseen Realm: Recovering The Supernatural Worldview Of The Bible”.

In Genesis 11, we read about God dividing up the nations as a result of the people of Babel trying to build a tower that reaches to the heavens. The dividing of the nations happened at Babel, but looking at passages in Deuteronomy we know that more happened there other then the introduction of a multiplicity of languages. Deuteronomy 32:8-9 says in the NIV “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.” (emphasis mine) This should say, however, “Acccording to the sons of God”. Now, granted, most English Bibles do not read “according to the number of the sons of God” in Deuteronomy 32:8. Rather, they read “according to the number of the sons of Israel.” So the NIV isn’t alone here, but a good case that ‘Sons of God’ is the correct reading is made from the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[21]For a discussion of the Hebrew text and manuscript support for “sons of God,” see Michael S. Heiser, “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God,” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (January-March 2001): … Continue reading As Dr. Heiser wrote “Frankly, you don’t need to know all the technical reasons for why the ‘sons of God’ reading in Deuteronomy 32:8–9 is what the verse originally said. You just need to think a bit about the wrong reading, the ‘sons of Israel.’ Deuteronomy 32:8–9 harks back to events at the Tower of Babel, an event that occurred before the call of Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. This means that the nations of the earth were divided at Babel before Israel even existed as a people. It would make no sense for God to divide up the nations of the earth ‘according to the number of the sons of Israel’ if there was no Israel.” ^[22]Heiser, Michael S.. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (p. 113). Lexham Press. Kindle Edition. Deuteronomy 4:19 is a related passage. It says “And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.” (NRSV, emphasis mine) This is referring to Deuteronomy 32:8-9 in which God allotted Sons Of God over the nations to rule them (cf. Genesis 10-11), but these gods lead the nations astray into worshiping them rather than the Creator, and as Psalm 82 teaches, they will be judged for that. Here, in Deuteronomy 4:19, Moses tells the Israelites that the sun, moon, stars, “all the heavenly array” that “have been apportioned to all the nations under heaven” And not to be drawn away to bowing down and worshiping them. The ancients did not know that stars were giant burning balls of gas millions of miles away from the planet Earth. God accommodated theological truths about Himself and angelic beings to the cosmological understanding of their day. ^[23]See William Derham, “Astro-theology: or, A demonstration of the being and attributes of God, from a survey of the heavens,” printed by W. and J. Innys, 1721, Jan Irvin, Jordan Maxwell, Andrew … Continue reading

Psalm 82 describes the judgment of these beings for leading the peoples astray into many wicked practices, most heinous of which is idolatry. As even Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 10:20, “demons” took on the personificaton of the gods of the Ancient Near East. “There is a demon behind every idol.” as you might have heard said. A lot of Christians get spooked by the language of divine plurality, and honestly, I get it. When I first read Dr. Michael S. Heiser’s book, I was spooked too! “Gods? Plural!? Are you saying The Bible teaches polytheism?! Is God just one member among a pantheon!?” The Divine Council Worldview does not threaten monotheism, if by monotheism we mean that there is one Maximally Great Being, (i.e one Elohim with all the omni attributes and is the Creator of all things) and that this Maximally Great Being is the sole elohim worthy of our worship. When we see the word G-O-D, we think of a set of attributes (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, etc.), but that is not how the Hebrew word “elohim” was used. Elohim’s usage, as I said, mirrors more the way our English word “Spirit” is used, because Elohim was used to refer to any inhabitant of the unseen realm from The God of Israel to the departed soul of the prophet Samuel. Even in places where the existence of other gods is admitted, the biblical authors go out of their way to talk about how Yahweh is superior. For example, Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” (ESV) Psalm 77:13 (ESV) “Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?” or Isaiah 41:21-24 where Yahweh challenges the gods to tell the future to prove that they are gods worth worshipping. Plus, you have all the Omni attributes taught in scripture. ^[24]see William Lane Craig’s Defender’s class “Doctrine Of God: Attributes Of God” for both a biblical and philosophical survey of God’s attributes, … Continue reading We should not be spooked to put an s at the end of the word “god”. There will always be one and only one Maximally Great Yahweh.

So, the gods (elohim) ruled over the nations and did so unjustly. However, Yahweh always planned to reclaim the nations. This is what the call of Abraham in Genesis 12 was about, that through Him, all the nations on earth would be blessed. From Abraham’s line, Messiah would come to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) and reclaim the nations. Interestingly, in Psalm 82, in the final verse it says “Arise, O God, judge the earth for you shall inherit all the nations.” (ESV). Dr. Michael S. Heiser notes that “In the Septuagint, the Psalms are numbered a little bit differently. In the Septuagint this is Psalm 81, not 82. And if you look at the last verse, the verb for rising up is the Greek verb anisti. It’s one of two primary verbs used of the resurrection in the New Testament. The noun Anastasis is the noun for resurrection. So Paul, he uses it in Isaiah 11. He uses it, you know, he sees it in Isaiah 11. He sees it also in Psalm 81. And so this is why from the Old Testament, Paul understands that the rising of the Messiah is related to the reclaiming of the nations.” ^[25]Dr. Michael S. Heiser, from “Demons, Principalities, What Do The Powers Of Darkness Fear – Part 2?”, September 4th 2025, YouTube, from the channel John 14:6. –> … Continue reading

In the context of spiritual warfare and salvation history, the New Testament framework is outlined in Romans 11:25, which identifies a critical “mystery.” This mystery is the partial hardening of Israel that persists until God fulfills the “fullness of the Gentiles”—the complete inclusion of every nation under the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20). This commission is founded upon Christ’s post-resurrection declaration of “All authority… in heaven and on earth” (v. 18), signaling the definitive nullification and eventual destruction of the disobedient spiritual authorities (the “gods” or “principalities”). Ultimately, the success of the Great Commission is the divinely appointed trigger for Israel’s restoration, leading directly to the Day of the Lord, the return of Christ, and the eschatological end (the New Eden).^[26]Paraphrased and condensed from what Michael Heiser said in ibid, 42:55-45:20.

I’ll end this section with an excellent mic drop quote from the late Dr. Michael S. Heiser. He said, “Whenever I get asked the question about spiritual warfare, I ask this question: ‘What would a principality or a power fear?’ I’ll tell you what they fear. They fear their own destruction. So, the thing that can instill the most fear in them is if the church as defined as every individual Christian would just do their job. Because as the one kingdom grows, the other kingdom diminishes and we inch further and further down the line to the fullness of the Gentiles. They know it’s coming. So they don’t think they can kill God and win that way. But if they can get the church distracted, if they can make it hopelessly worldly so that its message is invalidated, so that the great commission screeches to a halt or slows down, they’re going to be here a long time, and they know it. So these things are related. So what spiritual warfare really is accomplishing the great commission.” ^[27]ibid. Time Stamp –> 46:27-46:32

Final Piece: The Kingdom Of God Is “Already” and “Not Yet”

This could plausibly be inferred from the first piece that Jesus, after being resurrected, has ascended and is seated at the right hand of God The Father, reigning as king. However, I want to look at some biblical passages concerning this thing we call The Kingdom Of God. If you’re like me, you probably grew up thinking that this was a reference to the Heaven we go to immediately upon biological death. And when you heard the term “The Kingdom Of God”, images of a big glowing golden castle behind big pearly gates appeared in your mind’s eye. While God certainly reigns from Heaven and the intermediate state certainly is under his domain, the terms “Heaven” and “The Kingdom Of God” are not interchangeable. ^[28]Although the terms “The Kingdom Of God” and “The Kingdom Of Heaven” are. It refers to the reign of Jesus Christ and there are clues that the Kingdom of God is already here in one sense, but not here yet in another sense.

This is called “The Already, But Not Yet” paradigm of the Kingdom of God. I first learned about it from N.T Wright and then later heard Dr. Michael Heiser talk about it. Evidently, it was developed by Princeton theologian Gerhardus Vos early in the 20th century. ^[29]See GotQuestions.org, “What Is The Concept Of ‘Already, But Not Yet'” –> https://www.gotquestions.org/already-not-yet.html)

As GotQuestions.org points out, there is a sense in which God’s kingdom is already in force. Hebrews 2:8–9 says, “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death” (ESV). In this passage, we have a “now” (we see Jesus crowned with glory), and we have a “not yet” (not everything has been subjected to Christ). Jesus is the King, but His kingdom is not yet of this world (see John 18:36).

Also, in 1 John 3:2, we read, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” Again, we have a “now” (we are the children of God), and we have a “not yet” (our future state). We are children of the King, but we must wait to see exactly what that entails. ^[30]ibid.

When Jesus cast out demons and was accused by the Jewish leaders of doing it by the power of Satan, Jesus refuted their argument and then said “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Luke 11:20, ESV). Since Jesus was already casting out demons “by the finger of God” (i.e The Holy Spirit) in the first century, then the Kingdom of God has arrived. Even in some of Jesus’ parables, the “Already, But Not Yet” paradigm can be seen. Most plainly, it can be seen in Jesus’ Parable Of The Mustard Seed. (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-19). The Kingdom of God begins as tiny as a mustard seed which is then planted. But then, overtime, it grows into a massive mustard tree! The Kingdom of God began with just Jesus and His disciples, or perhaps the nation of Israel that didn’t reject Jesus as Messiah. But then as The Great Commission went on, members of God’s kingdom increased, and King Jesus’ territory grew larger and larger. No longer is Yahweh just served by Jews in a country the size of New Jersey, but by multitudes all over the planet! When Jesus returns, and the dead are raised, and the unrighteous are cast into Hell, the Kingdom will be fully inagurated. The Not-Yet portion will arrive. The mustard seed will be a fully grown mustard tree!

Tying All The Threads Together

The Gospel is that Jesus is God, pre-existed with the Father, became incarnate, died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose again on the third day. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God The Father. He reigns on high currenty, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. At the Babel event, one of three great rebellions, ^[31]See Dr. Michael Heiser’s lecture “Three Rebellions. Spiritual Warfare”, –> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsbVFSjDVO4&t=1s Yahweh appointed gods over the nations to rule them when He basically divorced the whole of humanity, keeping Israel for Himself and starting the nation of Israel with the call of Abraham. This call was part of God’s rescue plan, as he did not intend to disinherit the nations for God. God loves all people and wants all people to be saved (John 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:4-6, 2 Peter 3:9). So the call of Abraham was the beginning of a long multi-generational long-game. The gods alloted to the non-Israelite nations, at some point, became corrupt and lead the people to worship them rather than Yahweh, among other abominable practices. Yahweh brings them (or will bring them) into His divine council to judge them (as we read in Psalm 82) and He will sentence them to “Die like men” for this. This is where pagan gods come from. God became a human and proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was at hand, fulfilling prophesies, performing healing miracles, and teaching. Then he died to both pay the penalty for sin in our stead as well as ransom the whole world from the power of the devil, who was the lord of the dead and the ringleader of the pagan gods.

The proclamation of the gospel is primarily about Jesus’ Kingship (Evangelion). The Armor of God, as we’ve seen, can and should be understood in both an individualist as well as a collectivist sense. The latter was most likely not lost on the original audience as the ancient Greco-Roman world was a highly collectivist culture. So, we should see ourselves as lone soldiers wearing The Armor Of God fighting hordes of demons all on our own. Sometimes we our alone, as Jesus was in the wilderness during his temptations, and the armor will protect us then. But collectively, we should see ourselves as an army of armor clad soldiers marching and reclaiming more and more ground for King Jesus. The gods of the nations have been disarmed (Colossians 2:15) and His territory is growing. The fallen host of heaven are having to deal with The Christian Occupation. Spiritual Warfare at its greatest is a form of non-violent conquest warfare. And these evil gods and demons know that once this conquest has reached the farthest corners of the world, they’re done for. Whether any other conditions need to be met before Jesus is willing to return can be debated. But what I think can’t be is God’s intention for the Evangelion to reach the farthest corners of the globe. If it’s not a sufficient condition, it is at minimum a necessary one. And so, as Dr. Heiser said in the quote above, fearing their own destruction, they want to delay the Great Commission’s fulfillment as much as possible. They will do whatever means is necessary to undermine the church. I began this long essay with a quotation of Matthew 16:18, where Jesus tells Peter “On this rock, I will build my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” Gates are defensive structures, not offensive weapons. We should not envision the church as just barely fending off evil forces. We are the aggressors! We’re the ones on the attack! Hell is trying to keep us out! And yet, Jesus says their fortification will not succeed. The gates will be broken through and the kingdom of darkness will be overrun!

If you’ve taken the time to read this Brobdingnagian essay, it is my prayer that you have not only had your theology refined, but that you are as excited as I am to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. You don’t need to go to a third world country neccesarily. Very likely, there are lost people in your own back yard! Go! Make disciples for the glory of King Jesus!

Onward, Christian soldiers,
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before!
Christ, the royal Master,
Leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
See His banner go! ^[32]“Onward, Christian Soldiers” is a 19th-century English hymn. The words were written by Sabine Baring-Gould in 1865, and the music was composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871.