Matthew 4:1
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
If you were to be trained as an officer in the military you’d invariably study, among other disciplines, military history. A great wealth of information, even wisdom, comes from the scrutiny of previous battles. Granted, no two battles are exactly alike but it’s the primary principles that one is trained to seek, and understand, so as to rightly assess the varied situations and apply them (true principles) in present or future conflicts.
During the Second World War, Soviet officers took great delight in quizzing captured German officers on their knowledge – or general lack thereof – of Napoleon’s ill-advised foray into the frozen tundra of vast Russia. Hitler, blinded by the fantastical successes, their scope and celerity, in the rest of Europe, which he now dominated, overestimated his capabilities and attacked Stalinist Russia. Had he listened to wise counsel (Provers 15:22) he would have averted the total annihilation of his 6th Army. But in his intransigence he started a war with the Soviet Union (turning on an ally) he didn’t need to fight and basically repeated Napoleon’s folly from the previous century. The story of Nazi defeat began on that day when operation Barbarossa (the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union) was launched.
Indeed, those who refuse to learn from history are so often doomed to repeat its painful truths.
Well, it’s like this that we should consider the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Indubitably, if the Enemy came at Christ with a particular set of tactics, we do well to consider them as angles of attack he will invariably use against us too. Many Christians live enfeebled spiritual lives because they refuse to humbly consider the lessons learned here.
Every few years or so we see another great boxing matchup that’s dubbed the greatest fight of the century or some such thing. Much of that hyperbole started in the modern era with the match between former undefeated heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries and the reigning champion Jack Johnson in 1910. It was dubbed as the greatest match of all time because, you see, Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion of the world. Not only that, he was hardly a humble possessor of that crown which designated its wearer as the Emperor of Masculinity, as Ken Burns pointed out in his documentary, Unforgivable Blackness. Johnson often cavorted openly with white women and even winked at them at ringside during fights. He was brash, cocky, fearless, and in possession of superlative pugilistic skill. Quite naturally, he was hated by his enemies and thus was born the “great white hope” era of boxing history.
But that clash, easily won by Johnson incidentally, though considered the battle of the century until the next one came along, had nothing on this encounter in the wilderness between Jesus and Satan. If modern promoters were to get ahold of this the hype would reach the heavens. The Bible, though, deals with it in typical understated fashion. But let’s think about the enormity for a moment. Let’s slow down and take a careful look at what’s taking place.
First, Jesus was “led” by the Spirit into the wilderness. We’re sure that this isn’t the first actual temptation of our Lord since He’s an adult at this point and, in his humanity, was tempted just like we are. At issue here, though, is the fact that He’s led into the wilderness by the Spirit before the start of His public ministry (Matthew 4:12). In this way, Jesus is identified as the true Son of God, the true Israel famously promised in 2 Samuel 7. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River, the same river that Israel famously crossed for the first time in Joshua 3. Remember that he ark of the covenant went over first with the priests, then the people. In John 1:14 we read that Jesus is the Word become flesh and that He “dwelt among us”. The word dwelt means to “pitch a tabernacle.” In the OT the tabernacle was where God met with Israel before the temple was constructed (Exodus 25:8) and was called a “tent of meeting” (Exodus 33:7).
There’s so much great theology at work here that we’re in pain having to condense it all. Just like Israel was crossing into the promised land to take possession of the territory, Jesus, who is the very presence of God with us, comes out of the Jordan and then goes to declare that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Why the wilderness and the temptation then? Well, the true Son of God has come to defeat the great enemy – sin. To do this He’s driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to face the temptations that took down our forefather in the flesh, Adam, as well as Jews as they wandered for 40 years due to their sin. Adam was tempted in the sinless garden, surrounded by plenty; Jesus met the Tempter in the barren wilds. Adam was home in the garden, unaccustomed to want, worry, or fear. Before sin, Adam wouldn’t have understood the reality of those things that haunt us now in so many ways. God walked in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). But after sin entered the world by that one man’s trespass, death, disease, hardship, shame, guilt, worry, and aloneness flooded the land and the hearts of all.
This is what it means when Paul tells us that Jesus is the new Adam. Where Adam fell, though in luxury, Jesus rises to the occasion – for us and on our behalf – when alone and deprived. We who sin even when our bellies are full and our house is warm have never been tested like this, but Jesus Christ has taken this great task upon Himself. In this way, all are either in Adam, that is, he’s their covenant representative, under the curse of sin and death, or through faith, we’re in Christ, removed from the penalty of sin. These are the two types of people in the world according to God and there are no exceptions.
But what of the Israelites in the wilderness? Well, they show how even the most meticulous religious observation is powerless to redeem the sinful heart. Indeed, from faith and for faith, the righteous (by faith) shall live (Romans 1:17). Jesus goes to the wilderness to do what Israel could not do because by works of the law no flesh can be saved. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Jesus nullified the works of the law – in fact, through faith, we uphold the law (Romans 3:31). Israel fell to temptation in the wilderness and were thus forced to wander there for 40 years due to their lack of trust in God’s word. In this great battle, Jesus will display true Christian power and that power is full trust, knowledge and application of God’s holy and life giving Word. Upon this and nothing else will your life depend.
There’s a tendency we must guard against in modern Christian life, which is to ignorantly separate Jesus Christ from the entirety of the Word of God. People say, “oh, I’m not into doctrine…I just follow Jesus.” But this is to actually state a doctrine! A terrible one! A doctrine from hell. How else is Jesus to be known save through His holy revelation? It’s nothing short of tragic that so many Christians attempt to live their lives under the philosophy of “…you know what I think…?” when facing some question or another instead of “what does the Scripture say?” Jesus is assaulted three times in this great and cosmic showdown and we’ll assuredly study each attack as we should. But let it be known forthwith that our Lord parries each thrust of Satan by rightly quoting Scripture, thereby showing us in practice the principle expressed in 2 Timothy 2:15. This is how the battle is done! This is how you and I are to fight. Do you want to live a powerful Christian life? Then pray that you become mighty in Scripture above all things. Beware of anything else but this. Beware of any great desire to be great in the world or to have many possessions for these are two of the primary attacks leveled at Jesus and they will unquestionably come at you too.
So, let’s study this greatest battle of all time and enroll in the school of biblical living and fighting. Let’s study Jesus and all He has to show us the same way generations of warriors have scrutinized the likes of Leonidas, Sherman and Patton. It’s not what you think you see. The Lion of Judah roars in the wilderness and dashes the Enemy to pieces by His simple obedience to the Word of God. The great King is here…He’s arrived at last to smash our oppressor as only He can. In the movie Shane, the hero goes in to the fateful scene to right the wrongs, to vanquish the temporal evils of wicked and greedy men. He fights with his gun. Our hearts are stirred watching it, just like the little boy who idolizes Shane and watches from the door of the saloon. Well, we’re watching the real thing in Matthew 4 and we should be like the little boy. He wanted to master the gun just like Shane had so he’d never have to fear oppression and death on earth. We watch our Master and King wield that great sword, the Word of God, and our blood should rise, our passions awaken and we should say with one voice, “teach me that Sword, Father, so that I may be like Jesus.”
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