Armor of God, A Reflection

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a belt promotion ceremony with a gathering of various affiliated schools. It was an amazing sight to behold, as there were more than 100 students there to celebrate and witness the accomplishments and hard work that fellow team mates had done this past year. This ceremony was particularly special because I definitely felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. There were so many events that occurred that brought my mind to scripture and clearly only revealed to me through the Holy Spirit.

As various team mates came up to receive their new belts, my professor, each time would kneel in order to gird them with their new belt. The symbol of our professor willing to lower himself in order to promote his student brought to mind the idea of our heavenly Master humbling himself even to death so that he could lift us up out of the darkness sin. Philippians 2:8 ” Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” What a beautiful, live illustration of sacrifice and humility of our Savior Jesus Christ acted out in front of us in a belt ceremony!

The most profound and impactful moment to me, was when my professor promoted a fellow team mate to black belt. My professor began to explain how promoting someone to black belt is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling parts of his career as an instructor. As he called up my team mate he began to remove his own black belt to wrap around my team mate’s waist. I could not help but be overwhelmed with the scripture referring to the Armor of God. We often think of the Armor of God referred to in Ephesians.

“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” – Ephesians 6:13-17

However, I was brought to a deeper understanding of the Armor of God. The word ‘of’ can mean “that which originates”. So Armor of God means “the armor which originates from God” which is absolutely true. However, if we read in Isaiah 59:16-17, the word “of” could mean possession or “the armor that belongs to God”.

“And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.” – Isaiah 59:16-17

We clearly see that Isaiah was speaking of Christ and him girding himself with armor to bring about salvation. Could it be that Paul was quoting Isaiah’s description of the Armor of God? I began to understand the deep significance of the Armor of God. Like my professor removing his own black belt to wrap around his student, Christ took off his armor, removed the protection of his own armor and put it on us so that we would be protected. This would leave himself defenseless, even until death. What an amazing and loving Savior we serve! Each time we put on our gi and tie our belts, let it be a reminder of the loving sacrifice that our Savior Jesus Christ made for us.

Written by Andy Truong

About Andy Truong

Andy was born and raised in the DMV area and has a background in Exercise Science from George Mason University. In addition to BJJ and volunteering in his local church, Andy’s passions include weight training, health and fitness, nutrition, camping, hiking, music, songwriting, guitar, and experiencing new cultures and foods.