To the season of this mortal life, the apostle opposes another, as far more desirable to the Christian, as much more desirable as day is than night. He says, The day is at hand: the day when the believing people of God shall rise to the life immortal; the day when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again in His glorious majesty, to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.18 In that great day He will also appear as the Judge of the living and the dead. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.19 The apostle shows us, in the text, how we are to be prepared for this great day of the Lord. He exhorts,

20

Secondly, Let us put on the armour of light; and again, Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. This armour is otherwise called, The breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet the hope of salvation. This is the armour of light, in which those who are looking for the coming of the day of the Lord, ought to be equipped. In the Collect for this day, we are reminded, by being taught to pray for it, that the grace of God is needful, to enable us to comply with the apostolical exhortation. We may become acquainted with the theory of Divine truth, by the exercise of our mental faculties;

17 1 Peter iv. 7.

18 2 Thess. i. 10.

19 2 Cor. v. 10.

but without the influence of the Spirit of God upon our hearts, which we are taught to implore in earnest prayer, we shall not know it to any saving, or any practical purpose. It is by the grace of the Spirit of God that the Christian is equipped with the armour of light, the breastplate of faith in Christ, and love to Him.20 If we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love Him above all things, we put Him on as our armour to defend us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies; so that having Him for our Protector and Shield, they shall not be able to prevail against us. Faith in Him and love to Him protect the heart, since by them we rightly appreciate in some measure the benefits which are received.

Faith in Christ lays hold of His atonement, whereby pardon is brought home to the conscience. In the sacrifice of the death of Christ, the believer sees the desert of sin, how hateful it must be to the God of infinite holiness; and the reality of that wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." In viewing the atonement made by Christ, sin is seen to be no light thing, but a real evil, with which God cannot possibly be reconciled. This leads to a hatred of sin, such as cannot be derived from any other source. Faith in Christ also lays hold of His righteousness, by

20 1 Thess. v. 8.

21 Rom. i. 18.

which the believer is justified before God, and accepted in His holy presence; so that for Christ's sake he can draw nigh to God as his Father, to implore His protection and His blessing.

With this faith in Christ is joined love to Him. Love promotes gratitude and obedience. His believing people know that they have received great benefits from Him; and they therefore love Him, because He first loved them. They know that His love to them was extended freely, without any merit or desert on their part; this makes them thankful, and desirous to evince their gratitude in the way that He has commanded them to do it. Hence it is said that Love is the fulfilling of the law. Love to Christ makes obedience to all His commandments pleasant to His believing people. Thus by faith and love they are defended and preserved from falling under the power of their spiritual enemies, and are enabled with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord.23

It is by the grace of the Spirit of God also, that the hope of salvation is made to cover the head as a helmet; so that he who possesses it, is encouraged and emboldened to fight the good fight of faith against the enemies of his soul, the world, the flesh, and the devil; and to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.25 The hope of salvation enables

22 1 John iv. 19. 23 Acts xi. 23. 24 1 Tim. vi. 12. 25 Phil. iii. 14.

him to lift up his head with confidence, and to go on his way rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, notwithstanding the conviction which he entertains of his unworthiness to partake of so great a blessing.

Such is the armour of light with which the Christian warrior is equipped to fight the battles of the Lord against his spiritual adversaries. He who is clad in this armour, is described also as having put on the Lord Jesus Christ. For they who believe in Him, and love Him, and hope in Him, may thankfully say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength;" righteousness in which to stand with acceptance in the presence of God, and strength to run in the way of His commandments, and to oppose all the assaults and temptations of the powers of darkness.

The exhortation of the apostle in the text is two-fold, corresponding with the statement that he had made. As the night is far spent, he exhorts, Let us put off the works of darkness, and not make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. As the day is at hand, he adds, Let us put on the armour of light; or, which is the same thing, Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are enemies and temptations to be renounced and resisted. Here also are duties to be performed. The Christian life is a course of self-denial with

26 Rom. v. 2.

27 Is. xlv. 24.

regard to the desires of the flesh and of the mind,28 and to those deeds which the enemy of mankind tempts men to commit, and for which the world affords every facility. These we are to cast away from us, to put off, not to indulge in, not to practise. And in order to strengthen our resolutions, and incite us further to avoid these evils, we are assured that, Because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.29 Yet, alas! how vain are argument and exhortation in opposition to the depraved appetite of fallen man. He who gives the exhortation, or commands His ministers to deliver it, must Himself give the power to enable us to comply with it in the hour of temptation. We shall never cast off the works of darkness, unless power from on high enable us to do it. For this it becomes us to pray earnestly, that He who has commanded us respecting what we ought to avoid and what to do, would give us His grace or strengthen us with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that we may comply with His exhortations, and resist the temptations of our spiritual adversaries. What Satan tempts us to do in opposition to the commands of God, is in order to ensure the ruin of our souls; that we may be placed in the same awful circumstances with himself, in the regions of darkness and despair for evermore.

30

When

28 Eph. ii. 3.

29 Eph. v. 6.

30 Eph. iii. 16.