Monday, January 12, 2009

The Wilderness Test

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." - Matthew 4:1


Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted and to put His faith in the Lord to the test. God isn't the one tempting Jesus since God is never the agent of temptation, but He does allow Satan to tempt Jesus in order to test His faithfulness. This is a direct mirror image of when God led His people out of Egypt and into the wilderness, to humble them and test them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep His commandments or not (Deut. 8:2). Let's get to the 3 temptation's Satan threw at Jesus and see how Jesus responds and then how His response relates to the testing of the Israelites.


"And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But He answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" - Matthew 4:2-4


Jesus responds to the first temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 which is basically saying that God will ultimately provide. Jesus has complete confidence and trust in God as the ultimate provider. Jesus knows God will sustain Him. This verse in Deuteronomy refers directly to when the Israelites were tested through their hunger in the wilderness. "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut. 8:3). This was a lesson in faith and trust that the Israelites had to learn in the wilderness. God "allowed them to hunger" and fed them only with manna which was a mysterious food from Heaven that was completely unknown to them. The manna would appear each morning, but would quickly mold and melt if stored (Exodus 16:20-21). This meant that the Israelites could only gather enough food each morning for just that day and then had to trust that God would provide more the next day since nobody could store any of the manna for later. The Israelites were humbled and forced to trust in God's Word that He would provide their nurishment each morning by literally providing them with their daily bread (Exodus 16). The Israelites struggled with their faith and trust as most of them continued to try and store the manna, but Jesus' faith and trust in His Lord is proven in His immediate response to Satan. Jesus - 1, Israelites - 0


"Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him. 'If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' Jesus said to him, 'It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" - Matthew 4:5-7


Jesus responds to the second temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 which is a direct reference to when the Israelites tested and questioned the Lord at Massah and Meribah (Exodus 17:1-7). Even though when they were hungry and questioned what they would eat and God provided, in chapter 17 of Exodus we find the Israelites hitting the panic button and questioning God again once they became thirsty. They end up "putting God to the test" by asking "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7). Which meant, if God is truly with us like He says He is then show us a sign and give us some water. Basically, prove Your presence by giving us some water. However, Jesus refuses to test God by jumping off the roof and letting God prove His presence by saving Him. Satan tries to turn scripture around on Jesus, but Jesus' faith cannot be shaken. 

Jesus - 2, Israelites - 0


"Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him,  'All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" - Matthew 4:8-10


Jesus responds to the third temptation by paraphrasing Deuteronomy 6:12-14 which is a command to the Israelites to remember "the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage" (Deuteronomy 6:12). This is another temptation where Jesus succeeded in a situation where the Israelites had previously failed. In Exodus 32 we read that while Moses was atop Mt. Sinai getting the "two tablets of the Testimony", the Israelites made a golden calf that they began to worship as their god and even stooped so low that they claimed that this golden calf was their god that brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 32:4). Jesus, on the other hand, never turned to worship anyone or anything other than the Almighty Lord and served Him only. 

Jesus - 3, Israelites - 0


Jesus' experience in the wilderness relates directly to the Israelites' wilderness experience. Jesus, just like them, was led into the wilderness to be tested. Unlike them, our Lord and Savior and King withstood every aspect of the test. Praise Christ the King for His perfect righteousness. 


-TEvans  

7 comments:

Tanner said...

Some people argue that since Jesus was perfect, He cannot completely relate to us when we fall into temptation. Some say that Jesus does not know how hard it is to fight temptation. CS Lewis provides an excellent case for why Jesus actually knows better than anyone about the battle against temptation.

"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to talk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means - the only complete realist." - CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

waino said...

awesome. would have loved to sit down and talk with that guy in person. and you love you some cs lewis dont ya

B. Free said...

Wow. Deep thoughts. What amazes me is to think of those days and nights where you I've struggled with a specific sin and eventually given in. Sometimes fighting temptation takes an incredible amount of energy, strength, prayer, and TIME. Then, giving in can take as little as 5 seconds and ruin my efforts. It's not worth it and it never will be.

Tanner said...

Let's just say that I personally feel that God speaks through CS Lewis. CS Lewis is timeless and borderline prophetic.

-TEvans

Jules said...

Terry,
Such a good study and presentation right there. That was awesome and to throw the C.S. Lewis on top of it was epic. I will use that as a bible study this year. Thanks brother for the bread. I am consistently motivated by your study habits. Be blessed.

Tyler Parker said...

When we are growing up, which is worse?...When you see your parents just livid mad at you or when you can see in their eyes that they are truely dissappointed in you. Easy one there, you always feel worse when you know your parents are dissappointed.

We do this to ourselves. We blow up on someone or throw things around when we are mad, but when we are dissappointed in ourselves we feel like crawling in a hole. Like B. Free said, you struggle with yourself and finally give in and you just feel terrible.
It is a never ending battle unfortunatley because we are all flawed. I think this most puts it in perspective that it is good to feel that pain and hurt, because it at least shows you care. How many dumb and mean things did you do growing up that you didn't think twice about, but when looking back you just shake your head at how immature it was. The same thing will happen with us in our spiritual growth and maturity. The more biblical knowledge we soak up, the worse we will feel breaking under the pressure of sin.

Enjoy the fight, it is worth it!

Tanner said...

Jules, I appreciate the enthusiastic praise for my study habits, but I am no great theologian by any stretch of the imagination. Whenever, I write an email such as this I'm merely piecing together notes on verses from men with much more spiritual knowledge than myself. I'm more like the investigative reporter of e-fellowship who gathers information on topics from several different informants, and then attempt to put them into a story that makes sense to the everyday reader. I'm basically the e-fellowship Clark Kent without the superhero alter-ego.

-Terry "just a messenger" Evans