There’s an obscure little story in the book of 1st Samuel that would be easy to miss, but it’s very important. Saul has become the 1st King of Israel, and the country has been captured by the Philistines, a neighboring nation that hates Israel. Saul, even within a short period of time, just two short years, has already proven himself to be a poor king, unwilling to obey the Lord. The Prophet Samuel has told him that God would not allow Saul’s kingdom to continue past his own life. In other words, his son’s would not become kings after him. With this background in mind, we come to the little story that is almost buried in 1 Samuel 13:19-22:
“Now there was no blacksmith to be found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make swords or spears.” But all the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to sharpen each man’s plowshare, his mattock, his ax, and his sickle; and the charge for a sharpening was a pim (a small measure of silver)for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to set the points of the goads. So it came about, on the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan.”
Did you catch that? The army had no weapons! Neither sword nor spear. Nothing. Can you imagine a modern day army with no weapons of war? An army that is completely dependent on the enemy to even supply them with the machines to harvest their crops? Only men with sticks and stones, hoping they can defeat an enemy that is more powerful than them? What are the odds that they could defeat such an enemy? I would suggest zero to none.
Now let me ask you a question. Do you, as a Christian, have a sword by your side or in your hand? What am I talking about, you are thinking. Let me show you something in Ephesians 6:11-13 that Paul admonishes us to do:
‘Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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.”
Paul goes on to describe the various pieces of armor, namely the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, putting the gospel of peace on our feet, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. You might look at these and think, check, yeah, I believe in Jesus and I think I understand the gospel. No worries, right? But then Paul mentions one more piece of equipment, and I want you to ask yourself if you have one and if it is dull or sharp? Is yours a butter knife, perhaps? I’m being serious. It’s the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
The sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Did you know that every time you read the word of God, which is the Bible, you are (proverbially) sharpening that sword? But, and this is a big but, unless you pick that Bible up, you don’t really have a sword do you? It might as well be a butter knife, for it does you no good in a battle. Look at what the writer of Hebrews says:
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
Are you taking someone else’s word for what the Bible says or are you reading it yourself? Are you believing that if you listen to sermons, or are reading a devotional every day, that that is enough to know the Word? What if I told you that when Jesus told us about the last days, the first warning He gave us is that there would be rampant deception. Matthew 24:4 (Take heed that no one deceives you.)
In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 Paul warns us that there would be many false teachers and prophets, even in his day. He also tells us why:
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
The reason they pretend to be ministers of righteousness is because they are not following Jesus, they are following satan. And how my friend, will you ever be able to discern who they really are, unless you have a very sharp sword in your arsenal? You must read and study the word of God. You must sharpen that sword every single day. It is the only way that you will know the truth and know it well enough to hear when you are being lied to and deceived.
Now lets go back to our story of Israel and the Philistines. Why do you think that they took away Israel’s weapons? That’s an easy answer, isn’t it? Because they didn’t want them to fight and actually defeat them. They even removed all the blacksmiths from the land so they couldn’t secretly make weapons of war.
With that in mind, why do you suppose we have a modern day church that doesn’t know the Bible? Why do so many people who call themselves Christians, never open their Bible, except maybe in church? I’ll tell you why! Because the enemy has convinced them that they don’t need to read it. They are far too busy doing more important things. I’m too busy. I volunteer at church. I have kids. I have a job. Etc. And so we have an army without weapons. An army that has willingly laid down their arms, and bought the lie, “you don’t need to read the word, just listen to a sermon”, “just read your two minute daily Bible verse or a devotional”. But isn’t a sermon or a teaching or a devotional just someone else’s opinion?
This blog post is my opinion. It might be true, but in the end, it’s not the word. It’s not the sword of the Spirit. It’s just my opinion. I could be lying to you. I could be deceiving you. How will you know? Take the verses I gave you above and open your Bible and read them, then read what was before and what came after. And might I add, keep reading the whole chapter. Now you are picking up your sword. Now you are sharpening your sword!
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