“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” Ephesians 6:11
There are many monuments around our country memorializing the military and its contribution to the freedom we enjoy. There is the famous Iwo Jima Memorial in Connecticut which remembers the 6,821 Americans who lost their lives on that island. The men raising the flag are standing. Then there is the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. which remembers the 58,318 soldiers who died there. The three figures in the statue are standing.
The Bible compares the Christian life to that of a soldier. When it
does it often mentions either the Lord or His soldiers standing.
Stephen faithfully preached the word of God in Jerusalem for over a
year until he was summoned before the Sanhedrin. He tells them of
their sin and rebellion toward God. In their anger they reject God’s
truth once again. Stephen stood to preach repentance and salvation
to them. He did not back down or cower at his mission. He spoke the whole counsel of God in of a fierce demonic foe. He knew he faced danger but he stood firm. When Stephen is stoned and killed we read that the Lord stands up at the right hand of God (Acts 7:55) This is unique because normally we read of the Lord seated at God’s right hand. Scripture tells us Stephen described the Lord’s standing up to the Sanhedrin. The impact was significant. They were “cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him (Stephen) with their teeth”. They knew the prophetic symbolism of the Lord’s standing. They knew Psalm 68:1-2: “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him”. They knew Isaiah 3:13, “The Lord stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people”. From those verses they knew the Lord’s standing signified His pending judgment on them for their rejection of His authority as their Messiah. They hated Stephen for the truth which convicted their hearts.
In Revelation 5 we read once again of the Lord standing. “And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” When Jesus stands it is because he alone has the authority to take and open the scroll and to judge the earth.
So why do Christian soldiers stand? Joshua 5:13 says “Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries’?” The Lord’s answer to Joshua is staggering. He responds, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come”. In other words the Lord did not come to take someone’s side. He came to be obeyed. We as Christian soldiers stand before the enemy because our Lord has all authority and is to be obeyed. Just as a servant stands before his master to receive his instructions, we stand awaiting our next instructions from the Lord. Whether it is to suffer and die for Him as Stephen did or if it is to live longer to serve Him, we stand to show the world His authority. The command to stand is not for believers to summon up our own inner
strength to win a battle. Instead it is the attitude of a soldier/servant waiting to obey his supreme commander’s next order. For a soldier to be alive is to stand ready to obey the authority over him. The message our standing sends to an evil world is that our commander is worthy.