The Sword of the LORD

The 16th chapter of Acts in the Bible tells the story of Paul and Silas’ trip into Macedonia to spread the Word of God.  Paul had seen a vision of God that directed him to go to Macedonia and help the lost souls that were there.  Once there, they had some initial success in converting souls to Christianity; but soon, through a series of events, the pair were seized by the town magistrates, beaten, and cast into prison.    The prisons of those days were usually dark, dank, and rat and insect infested.  Because of the instructions that the jailor had received concerning Paul and Silas, however, they were also cast into the deepest dungeon, and secured in stocks.   This was a strange turn of events for the Lord’s chosen who had been divinely directed to this place.  They would have had every reason to question whether they were really in the Lord’s will or not.  They could have become discouraged, despondent, or even angry.  Instead, they began to pray and seek God’s guidance and

"But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:14).   Scripture compares the putting off our old, carnal nature, and putting on our new nature in Christ with changing clothes.  The picture I have in my mind is like when I would come home from work and take off the dirty, smelly clothes that I had worked in all day, bathe, and put on clean, fresh clothes that were free of spot or wrinkle.  The simplicity of this picture is arresting.  God does not suggest that we try to clean, patch up, or press the old garments - He tells us to put them off altogether and discard them because He has a brand new garment for us.  God says that "...we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).  There is nothing salvageable about our old nature: it is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts that rule it.  The Apostle Paul was convinced that there was not one good

"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (Romans 8:15-19).   "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3:2, 3).   Each of us who have been born again by the Spirit of God have been adopted into the family of God.  From the outset we are fully sons and daughters just as surely as our own children are our sons and daughters the moment they are born. In terms of maturity, however, we have a lot of growing up to do in order to become fully functioning children of God.  It isn't apparent, looking at ourselves now, just what we will look like or be like once we grow to full maturity.  What is evident, though, is that the more we see of the Lord Jesus and His true nature, and the more we y