Eld Chew Chong Kiat

Ephesians 6:17a And take the helmet of salvation..

1. Introduction

The Christian soldier who engages in spiritual battles, must adorn the armour of God by first putting on the belt, which represents his truthfulness in enrolling into the battle for the Lord. He must also have the perfect righteousness of God, and live a righteous life which are like the breastplate protecting him against the attacks of the evil one on his character and conduct. The shoes remind him of the peace he has with God through the gospel and the peace God has commanded him to share with others, which gives him courage and zeal to fight. The Apostle used the verb “having” in verse 14 to emphasize the possessive  permanency of the above three pieces of armour, but in verse 16 he used the verb “taking” to indicate that the soldier is to take the shield, sword and helmet close by his side so that he can employ them when needed. When temptation comes like fiery darts, he takes to himself the shield of faith by trusting God completely and unconditionally in His Word, like the Lord Jesus, so that he will not yield.  Let’s look next at the helmet.

2. The Meaning

The Roman helmet is a cap made of brass, bronze or iron, fitted to the head, to guard it from any deadly blow. The Apostle in 1Thessalonians 5:8 exhorted: “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” The helmet represents the hope of salvation which protects his mind from doubts, so that he will remain bold and unwavering. 

A soldier cannot fight well without hope of victory, likewise, a Christian cannot contend with his foes without the hope of salvation. Armed with this hope he has no fear, and under the greatest sufferings, he waits patiently for salvation and fight on.  

What does salvation refer to? There are 3 perspectives to this salvation: (i) past, (ii) present and (iii) future.

(i) Past: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) God saves us from the penalty of sin when we repent and believe the gospel. Christ paid it all. Do we have this assurance of sins forgiven or do we attempt to help God by our good works? Put on the helmet, look unto Christ the Saviour and stop wondering if your sins are forgiven!

(ii) Present: Sin shall no longer have dominion over the believer (Romans 6:11-14). Christ’s death has broken its power and it has no right to rule the believer’s life. Although it tempts still, yet we are never forced to sin because we have the strength from God to not sin. Adorn the helmet, resist the devil and temptations and we shall have victory.

(iii) Future: When the Christian sleeps (i.e. dies), he awakes immediately in the presence of God being freed from the presence of sin. What a blessed hope! What glory awaits, to sin no more and to live in perfect righteousness! This gives comfort in the wrestling against sin and other afflictions in this life, knowing that “our light affliction, which is but for a brief moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2Corinthians 4:17)

The helmet of salvation is the assurance that our sins past, present and future are taken care of in Christ Jesus. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thessalonians 5:9)

3. The Application

The hope of salvation

(i) Gives Motivation to Persevere. Knowing that there is an end or that the end is near gives hope to the weary soul in battle. It is important to be assured of the final victory and of the glory to come. Living without hope is like running a race without a finishing line; no one can find any motivation to run such a race. The incentive of the labourer is rest (Revelation 14:13). Paul could not have found the motivation to risk all for Christ if not for this hope (1Corinthians 15:32). It is this hope of salvation, even the resurrection hope that enabled the Apostle Paul to persevere in the most severe trials (2Corinthians 4:8-14).

When God allows His children to be sick, it is to develop them spiritually. Perfect health is not promised by God in this life but only in heaven as part of the resurrection glory in the future (Revelation 21:4). When we have the hope of glory, we can thank God for bodily afflictions and other trials (Romans 5:2-4). Paul testified of the sufficiency of God’s grace made perfect in weaknesses, which is also God’s promise to each of us (2Corinthians 12:7-10).

(ii) Helps us Fight Against Discouragement. Elijah was very discouraged after his encounter with the prophets of Baal and ran for fear of his life (1Kings 19:1-4). He took his eyes from God who had just wrought such a great salvation in his life. He ought to ask himself, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and [why] art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him [for] the help of his countenance.” (Ps 42:5, 11) Hope lifts one who is downcast.

(iii) Helps us Fight Against Doubt. Satan wants us to doubt our salvation. He constantly assails our faith to convince us that we are not Christians, that we are not good enough, that God does not keep His Word. We need to put on the helmet of salvation to defend against such doubts. There is a place for self-examination (2Corinthians 13:5, 2Peter 1:10). But the purpose of self-examination is not to cast doubts, but to make sure that we are sincere in our faith. “And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.” ((1John 3:19) The security of our salvation is based on God’s faithfulness and power (Philippians 1:6, John 6:37-39, 10:27-29). There is no need to fear that Satan shall prevail over us. Wear the helmet and don’t allow Satan to plague us with doubts. We are secure in God’s power no matter what the armies of hell will throw at us. Only the power of God is able to preserve us from falling and to present us faultless before God (Jude 1:24-25). This is the confidence that we have and this is the helmet that we are to wear in the spiritual battle. Be like Paul and say: “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2Timothy 1:12b) Amen.