Isaiah 59 v 17
He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.
The Book of Isaiah mentions both the Breastplate of Righteousness and the Helmet of Salvation. These are elements of God’s armour and Paul says He shares them with us.
Paul does not include the garments of vengeance as,
Romans 12 v 19
For it is written: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord
This gives the impression the Armour is used for defensive purposes only. We should never use it to bring about our own will or take revenge on others.
Breastplate of Righteousness
A breastplate is used to defend the body against damage. It protects key organs from harm.
Spiritually speaking, this breastplate gives protection to our most vulnerable areas.
Satan will tempt us in our weakest and most vulnerable areas. If we fail and succumb, we know we can trust God will cover our sin with His righteousness, through Christ.
What is Righteousness?
One way of looking at righteousness is saying that a righteous person is someone who is in right standing with God. Someone who is in the correct relationship with Him.
Righteousness can also be defined as God’s justice in our lives and the World.
A different perspective is to think about the root meaning of the word. Righteousness comes from the Old English word, rihtwīs, which means right-manner.
So another way of looking at it, is righteousness is walking in the divine path.
We can’t walk in the righteous path because we sin. We act in a manner which is against God’s rule. Jesus is the only one who has ever successfully walked this path of righteousness.
If we have faith in Christ, we are in Him and therefore clothed in His righteousness. So when God sees us, He sees Christ.
Helmet of Salvation
The helmet protects the head from harm.
Spiritually, it stops damage to the mind. We are in a spiritual war and this is the main battleground. This is where temptation is fought and where we must capture every thought and bring it under Christ’s authority.
2 Corinthians 10 v 5
We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
The Helmet reminds us that no matter what we go through and what temptations we battle, we are saved. If we remain faithful to God, we will be saved.
What is Salvation?
I like to think about salvation in terms of the story of Noah.
In the narrative, we see God brings judgement to a sinful World. A chaotic flood where all who were not faithful to God, where killed.
Symbolically, Noah takes his family into the Ark to be excluded from the punishment.
Similarly, we become part of Jesus’ family when we have faith in Him. Though we are judged at the End of Days (Noah and his family go through the judgement), Christians are excluded from the punishment, death in the Lake of Fire.
Whereas Noah climbs into the wooden Ark, Jesus ascends on the wooden Cross.
The most bizarre symbolical link is Noah builds a wooden boat, and Jesus is the son of a carpenter.
So a Christian is saved from a world of sin, a world filled with death and pain, but primarily they are saved from God’s judgement. And unlike the Flood which was death by water, the punishment is death in the Lake of Fire.
In our small group's study, we talked about how we are to put on God's armor, and then stand firm in His mighty power (or, strength of His might). How wonderful to be clothed (armored up) in Christ's righteousness! What a generous gift from our amazing and loving Father God.
Same with the helmet of salvation, which is God's gracious gift to use through Christ. Let's stand up to the adversary with these precious truths. Wonderful armor against our enemy's "gaslighting".