or prohibitions such as "Touch not, taste no, handle not", which, by engendering a

spurious sanctity, but minister to the satisfying of the flesh. The whole armour of God

can be summed up in the words of Col. 3: 11, "Christ is all".

The "evil day" of Eph. 6: 13 may be but one of the "evil days" of Eph. 5: 16. As

there is a future day of redemption (4: 30), so there may be a future evil day for which

the present is a period of training, but of this we have no knowledge, and therefore we

prefer to wait for light. We do know that upon the entry of Israel into their possessions

one decisive victory took place, viz., the overthrow of Jericho, and that by faith and not

by fighting. The analogy may hold good. There is yet to be war in the heavens between

Michael and the dragon, but where Scripture is silent we cannot speak.

There is no thought in Eph. 6: of the soldier fighting to obtain victory. That kind of

doctrine suits the devil well, for it disguises the fact that he is already conquered, and that

the believer, in Christ, is already "more than conquerors". Praying and wrestling for

victory are similar to the O.T. instance of Hagar and Ishmael dying with thirst, with a

well of water hard by. The resurrection and ascension of Christ spoiled "principalities

and powers", "led captivity captive", placed all things under the feet of Christ, and

seated the church in the heavenlies.

The soldier of Christ "stands" for all the truth of God against the lie, and in season and

out of season he wields the sword of the Spirit by "preaching the Word". We shall not

serve the truth by going into more detail, and will leave these facts of Scripture with the

reader, praying that both reader and writer may be led into all the truth, and that all that is

ours in Christ we may "put on". Then, by grace, "having worked out all", may we stand.