Loincloth of Truth

The Armor of God as described by Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-20 is a spiritual armor, which gives us an illustration of how the foundation of our lifestyle need to be. Every piece of the armour described to the Church of Ephesus shows us to rely on the Lord's strength, rather than our own strength. When we put on the armor of God, we would walk in a lifestyle based on the solid foundation of God's Word, and shine as a child of the Most High God, ultimately giving all the glory to God. The Bible says:

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth..." - Ephesians 6:14

Apostle Paul describes the armour beginning with the loincloth and calls it the "loincloth of truth". Whenever we have trouble understanding something in the Bible, we need to refer to the Bible itself. This is because, the Bible has a built in dictionary which interprets itself. When Apostle Paul said the loincloth of truth, he was referring to Jeremiah 13.

In Jeremiah 13 the Lord shows prophet Jeremiah and the tribe of Judah the consequences of departing from the Lord. Jeremiah is instructed by the Lord to buy a linen loincloth and not let it touch water, and put it around his waist. The Lord asks him to go to the Euphrates river and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. After many days, the Lord asks Jeremiah to go and dig up the loincloth that he had hid. When Jeremiah recovers his loincloth, he finds it to be spoilt, and good for nothing. With this illustration the Lord explains to Jeremiah that the people who refuse to listen to God's Words, and who stubbornly follow their own heart shall be like this loincloth, spoilt and good for nothing. The Lord further explains that He made the house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to the Lord, just as a loincloth would cling to the waist of a man, that they might be for the Lord, a people, a name, a praise and glory. "Judah" in Hebrew means "praise". Prophet Jeremiah starts off by saying:

"Thus saith the LORD unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water" - Jeremiah 13:1

When we read Jeremiah 13:1, we see that the Lord is very specific about the material of the cloth. Linen is a fabric which the high priest of Israel was instructed to wear by the Lord.

"And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach" - Exodus 28:42

This is because the high priest serving in the tabernacle is not suppossed to sweat, as man sweats as a result of the curse of sin, as described in Genesis 3:19. This is a curse which our Lord Jesus redeemed us from when He sweat Blood in the garden of Gethsemane, as mentioned in Luke 22:44. The Lord further told Jeremiah not to let the cloth to touch water, as "water" in Biblical symbology represents "God's Word". Euphrates is the largest and longest river in western Asia. The Lord by asking Jeremiah to bury the loincloth near the Euphrates river, He was illustrating the vastness of God's Word and how much a person can draw from it. Ultimately, what the Lord was saying is that a person who has not read or heard God's Word, even though they have access to the Word, would ultimately end up like the loincloth which prophet Jeremiah hid. For this reason Apostle Paul begins with the loincloth and illustrates that the basic foundation for believers in Christ Jesus need to be in God's Word, which is the truth.

When satan tempted Eve, the first thing he said to her was "did God really say?". Now Eve was created after Adam. The Lord had clearly instructed Adam in Genesis 2:17, not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As the husband, he is suppossed to give God's Word to his bride, Eve. The way Eve answered to satan shows that Adam had not instructed her with a solid foundation, because we see Eve adding to God's Word by saying that "even if we touch it, we would die", which is something God did not say. Since her understanding of God's Word was not solid, she relied on her own understanding, which gave an opening for satan to tempt her, which ultimately resulted in the fall of man. The Bible says:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" - Proverbs 3:5-6

When satan tried the same strategy with our Lord Jesus, who is none other than the Word made flesh, he was unable to succeed in tempting the Lord to sin. Our Lord Jesus did not use any repetitive prayers, and neither did he use any incantations or spells, but He only stuck to the written Word of God by saying "it is written...".

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" - Matthew 4:4

When Jesus Christ faced satan in the wilderness, He faced him not as God almighty, but as 100% man at His most weakest moment, as He had fasted for 40 days. This is the reason satan would do his best to keep you from reading God's Word. The devil would even convince you into thinking that only renowned scholars and theologians would be able to understand the Bible. If you fall for such a lie, then your lifestyle is based on a broken armor, where satan has an opening. When our Lord Jesus walked on the earth, He always emphasized on God's Word.

But how can we NOT live on bread (food) alone? We need food.

What God's Word is meaning to say is, when we keep our eyes on our Lord Jesus by reading the Bible, we are relying on the Lord's Grace to sustain us. Our Lord Jesus said:

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" - Matthew 6:26

The Bible calls us - the Church, as the "Bride of Christ", and our Lord Jesus is known as the last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45. Christ being the head of the Church, keeps washing His bride - the believers in Christ, with the water of His Word. The Bible says:

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" - Ephesians 5:25-26

Our Lord warns the shepherds leading the Churches which does not prioritize on Gods Word in the book of Revelation.

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see" - Revelation 3:8

The Lord says to buy gold from Him, meaning to rely on His righteousness by putting their faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and not rely on their own righteousness. "Gold" in Biblical symbology represents "righteousness, and diety of Christ". The "white raiment" represents purity or holiness, where "holiness" means "to be set apart". The word for raiment in the Greek, is the word "himation", which is the same word used to describe or Lord Jesus's garments in the New Testament. This clearly shows that Christ is the one who takes the responsibility to keep us holy. The Bible says:

"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" - 1 Thessalonians 5:23

The first Adam failed to keep giving God's Word to his bride, Eve, hence she did not have a solid foundation on God's Word. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, keeps His bride, the Church, holy or sets her apart, by constantly washing her with the water of God's Word. For these reasons, Apostle Paul begins describing the armor of God at its foundations which is the loincloth of truth.