Page 178 - Ephesians

Paul describes this armor in spiritual, and not logical order. Paul
started in the middle and mixed it all up. Commentators tell us
that this is the order in which the soldier got dressed. We are to
put on our armor, as they put on theirs. In verse 14, he starts with
the military belt. It is put on first because everything else
depended on it. It was studded with nails that secured everything.
It secured the breastplate and the sword. It was the most
important part, the anchor. And I suppose, if you are going to
draw a spiritual application, the belt is truth. I can see how truth
can be a belt, holding everything else in place. If any part of my
life is unreal, or untruthful, to that degree I am threatened with a
moral breakdown.

In John Chapter 4:24, “God is a spiritual Being, and His
worshipers must worship Him in spirit, and reality”. The
same is true of all Christians. We can say that the military belt is
truth. Verse 15, “Have your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace.” The military sandal was called a “Caliga”.
It was a thickly studded sandal, with spikes or nails that dug into
the soil. The nails in the ground gave stability and the ability to
hold a position.

When He tells us to stand. We can’t be moved because we are
held safe and secure by the nails that held Jesus’s body to the
cross. We are anchored, and held in position by His sacrificial
love.

The caliga went half way up the calf, with a hard shield for the
ankles. This protected the soldier from snake bites as he was
walking through brush, bramble and briar. Genesis 3:18,
describes the earth we have to walk in, “Both thorns and
thistles it shall grow for you”.

Remember Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you
and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He
shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on
the heel.” Interesting that the sandals protected the heel of
the foot, from the serpent’s bite!