It has sometimes been suggested that Christians are not called to life onboard a cruise ship sailing leisurely in the tropics, but rather on a battleship on full alert, positioned in a war zone. The Bible is full of images of the spiritual battle in which we are engaged, warning us about the devil who goes about like a roaring lion seeking those whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) as well as a list of the armor God has provided for us: swords, helmets, shields, and breastplates (Ephesians 6:10-20). Part of the job of leaders – pastors, teachers, parents, counselors – is to awaken Christians to the strategies of the enemy and to help us all learn how to use that armor in the daily battles we must fight. And this is a battle which we will wage all the way to glory. The greatest exposition of that equipment is found in William Gurnall’s 1655 classic sermons on “The Christian in Full Armor.”
Ironically, the same Bible which assures believers that their salvation is complete and which forbids them to be anxious also commands them to wake, watch, beware, be ready, be alert, and be on guard some forty-four times in the New Testament alone. If God is victorious, why does He still call us to set a watch? If his enemies are vanquished, against what are we guarding? Sometimes one of the fruits of victory is a new capacity to set a proper watch, as did, for example, modern Israel on the Golan Heights after the 1967 Six-Day War. The permanent victory of the cross gives watchful believers far more confidence than any earthly guardsman may have over his post. For the spiritual watch that comes after Christ’s victory is not a watch against an invading army with power to conquer or mount a lengthy siege, but against the once-conquered rebel who is truculent enough not to concede his obvious losses. We watch, not because the enemy has power “to lead astray, if possible, the elect” (Mark 13:22). It isn’t possible (Romans 8:38-39). We watch because God is pleased to trounce, again and again, His defeated enemies, and to use the weakest of possible means to do so.