In the social realm, to “put on” is to pretend to be something one is not. For example, several years ago a young man, pretending to be the member of a famous family by flashing money and living the high life, fooled many people in into buying into his investment plan. Everything was a sham. But for him it paid off, until he was caught. In this series the term “put on” means something entirely different. It means to literally take on a spiritual characteristic that one does not have. What is “put on” becomes WHAT ONE IS in the spiritual realm, which is the only realm that matters in God’s family for “as goes the spirit, so goes the person.”

This is true for both the churched and the non-churched. For this reason, all problems that exist on whether mental, physical or material are, in fact spiritual. In the Old Testament, the Lord of the Old Testament (Who would come to earth as Jesus of Nazareth) told our spiritual ancestors–the Israelites–that Truth in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Later, He would tell those who would believe and obey Him that they could ask for what they wanted and He would give it to them, that what they sought, they would find, and the door they knocked on would be opened for them (Mat. 7:7-12). However, relative to God’s promised blessings, there are caveats–conditions that must be met in order for the Lord’s promises to be kept. This teaching concerns those Biblical conditions which are almost never met. I refer to the promises as “headlines” and the caveats as “fine print.” The headlines are well-known, but the fine print is totally ignored. For this reason man, including churchman, rarely has a Biblical promise come to fruition. Satan rules the lives of 99% of mankind, including those within “the church.”

The question then becomes, what is required of the believer in order to have God’s promises fulfilled in this life? This brings us to the Book of Hebrews, beginning with chapter one, verse one. Here the Apostle Paul–believed by many to be the author of the book (I do not)–is telling the converted Israelites (Hebrews) that God (the Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) normally spoke to the ancient Israelites through His prophets by way of the Holy Spirit. In a few cases we find Him speaking to people face-to-face. A few examples are, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel and Abraham. Later He came to earth as a man and routinely spoke to His disciples/apostles and many others face-to-face, as well as to the multitudes who followed Him wherever He went. Though He ministered to those multitudes by healing their sick and casting out their demons, and on two occasions, by miraculously feeding them, on the Day of Pentecost only 120 true believers came together to celebrate the Holy Day. With that small group, God created the New Covenant Church. Today God’s true church numbers only a few thousand world-wide, just as He prophesied would be the case in Mark 4:31 where He compared His church (the kingdom of God in embryo) to a mustard seed–the smallest of seeds. As He warned, a false church, posing as His church, has grown into a tree where birds build nests and poop on everything. The birds are symbolic of the Catholic/Protestant Religious System. Their religious beliefs and customs is what I call religious poop. See the home page of this website for a list of such beliefs and customs.

In verse three we begin to learn what we must become in order to receive the promises of the Lord in this life and throughout eternity. Paul tells us by describing Jesus Christ, Whose life (His “walk”) we must emulate in order to spend eternity with Him and His Father. Here Jesus is described as “the brightness of God’s glory and the image of His person.” How is this possible when it is written about the coming Messiah that there would be nothing about His appearance that would draw people to Him. He would be despised and hated and rejected by the people. So rejected would He be that people would hide their faces from Him (Isa. 53:1-3). So despised would He be that He would be marred as no man had ever been marred, then nailed to a cross until death, then buried among the wicked (vss 5-9). His “brightness” was totally spiritual, as is that of His true saints. And the attitude of their fellow man toward them is the same that Jesus experienced, which he also warned us would be the case. Read Matthew chapter 10:16-26).

It is written that those who claim to be Christ’s spiritual brethren–His friends–that they must “walk even as He walked” during His time on earth. As a man like all other men, He was tempted and tried by Satan, “yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Bear in mind that He had divested Himself of all of His divine powers before coming to earth as a man like all other men. Read Jesus Christ: God, Man or God-man. Key word–God-man. Jesus, being a mortal human like you and me, did everything He did through the same Holy Spirit power that is available to us IF we “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) and overcome Satan as He overcame Him (Rev. 3:21).

As we all know, Satan is the great attacker, unleashing his “fiery darts” of temptation at us continuously. This is where the “put on” part of the Bible comes into play. We are told repeatedly to “put on” certain spiritual characteristics that will enable us to “overcome” the prince of the power of the air. Jesus used the “sword of the Spirit”–God’s Words to defeat the devil. Jesus spoke that Word power into various situations in order to control those situations. THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ACTIVATED BY THE SPOKEN WORD. Recall that Jesus spoke to the fig tree and it died, to the storm and it quieted and to demons and they obeyed. What He said always came to pass. I have found that the same holds true for me. Two times He commanded the devil to “get behind Me,” meaning to get out of His sight. Satan had no choice but to obey Him. The first recorded occurance took place following His 40-day fast when the devil tempted Him in such a way that, had Jesus obeyed him, He could have satisfied his extreme hunger. On another occasion had He taken the bait (jump from a high wall), it would have proved His exalted position with God (Who would have saved Him). In another instance, had He accepted Satan’s offer (to bow to him) He would not have had to suffer and die in order to rule the world. The Lord’s response to the tests was to quote Old Testament Scriptures. His spoken Words dictated the outcome of each incident.

Now we will find out why Satan had to obey whatever Jesus said. The lesson to be learned is that in order to be able to resist the devil’s temptations, we must be spiritually “wearing” certain things which we must have earlier “put on.” Having done so Himself, He could tell His disciples/apostles to do the same thing. They, in turn, would tell those who would hear their messages, believe them and follow them so as to become like their Lord and future Savior.

We will begin our “put on” segment with the most important statement relative to walking in victory over Satan in this life. Several passages of Scripture speak to this “put on” command from the Lord. We will begin with First Peter 1:15,16 where, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, the apostle tells us to be holy AS our heavenly Father is holy and BECAUSE our heavenly Father is holy. In other words, we must “put on” the same righteousness that Jesus “wore.”

The purpose of holiness is to be able to stop “ALL OF THE FIERY DARTS” of temptation that Satan and his fallen angels continually send our way (Eph. 6:16). In Romans 13:12 Paul tells us to “put on” God’s “armor of light.” Jesus told His disciples that as long as He was in the world He was the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. He then told them that they were the LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Following His departure, they would be “wearing the light.” What makes Jesus and those who obey Him the “light of the world.” What is that light? THE WORD OF GOD–the only thing they all had in common on the spiritual level.

In Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10 we are told to put on the NEW MAN, who is God as man, as was Jesus Christ Who said that when one saw Him, one saw God. This is made even more graphic in Romans 13:14 where we are told to put on the LORD JESUS CHRIST. The culmination of the “put on” commands is found in Ephesians 6:11-17 where we are told to put on THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD. Read that passage carefully. Note that in every “put on” statement, THE DECISION IS ALWAYS OURS. Sinners Saved By Grace have decided not to obey God’s call to “put on” the spiritual protection He offers all of us. Supposedly being already saved, they see no need to obey God. This Satanic “truth” is rotting the very soul of billions of people today. This is the primary characteristic of those whom Paul prophesied would “fall away” from the Lord just before His return to earth (2 Thes. 2:3). Do not be found within that group. L.J.