16 October 2023
We already understand that the reason Israeli men wore headgear in worship is because of the symbolism of a nation at war. It's one thing to wear a uniform hat; even soldiers realize that they must remove that hat indoors -- unless they are "under arms". The "under arms" status refers to having been duly authorized to use your weapons in defense of whatever mission you have been given (typically occupying space and controlling movement of people).
In essence, the ancient Hebrew nation lived under constant threat. They could never let their guard down. Even if keeping a weapon at hand was wholly impractical, the men were supposed to keep themselves alert to threats, foreign and domestic. They were to expect trouble from any direction. The Law of Moses was aimed at identifying what a threat was. The Old Testament is loaded with warfare imagery for a reason, and every head of household had standing authorization to use some measures of force commensurate with the threat, internal and external.
On the one hand, swearing feudal loyalty to Christ dissolves your human national identity. We now worship without head coverings because He is our covering. However, the New Testament is still loaded with martial terminology of watching against, not people, but spiritual authorities that use people. Thus, the image in Ephesians 6 of spiritual armor and never putting it aside.
Human nations fielded conscript armies. There were few full-time professional soldiers, and they were combat leaders. They wore weapons as a matter of course, regardless of the threat status (they were typically treated as nobility). The bulk of their troops were what we would call "reservists" who may not have even owned a weapon, but were issued one upon mobilization. In Christ, there is no such thing. Every man is regarded as a nobleman and full time professional soldier. We have these admonitions to keep watch over threats to Christ's dominion.
But the imagery begins to break down, becoming more symbolic, as we deal with spiritual and moral realities that are not apparent to human eyes. The enemy is not people, but the spiritual beings who use them. The people are not the threat, but they are the turf over which we fight.
Read that again: The people are not the threat, but the turf over which we fight. Your own human existence is just terrain to be occupied for the Kingdom of Christ. If you do not operate with a conception of your human existence as separate from your conscious awareness, you cannot understand the New Testament. You are an eternal spirit stuck in a resisting fleshly body. It may be hard to offer a clinical description of the boundary line between, but the whole point behind that passage in Hebrews 4 about the ability to discern the those boundaries:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. (Hebrews 4:12-13 NET)
Don't get lost in the English translation here; the word for "soul" in Greek refers to the fleshly nature while it is alive. Virtually none of the various English translation committees since the first English Bible have been fully aware of the Hebrew distinction between spirit and flesh. And not a one of them has ever recognized that the heart overlaps between the two. Not a single English translation recognizes the Ancient Near Eastern concept of the heart as a sensory organ in itself.
Back to the point here: Spiritual warfare is unavoidable. We still have to contend with a lot nonsense in America attached to the term "spiritual warfare". However, the basic necessity of being ready to detect the signature of Satan and his allies on the elohim council is the essence of our existence as elect children of God. The primary means of warfare is prayer, followed by some means of expressing the truth that exposes those enemies in the presence of God's people.
Don't discount the power of prayer. Prayer is the real battle; it is the context in which you defeat your own demons. That's the battle that matters most. This is where you become empowered to make those expressions that expose the hand of the Enemy. It's not just words or images, but just about any action you can take that testifies of our Lord.
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