Scriptures that Shaped Their Author

Worship the LORD, and Serve Only Him

Scriptures that Shaped Their Author

In Ephesians, Paul speaks about how we are to respond to the the temptations of our spiritual enemy. Paul writes,

"Put on the whole the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand, therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your wait, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.  As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.  With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."  - Ephesians 6:10-17

Note that the only offensive weapon we are given is the word of God, which Paul calls "the sword of the Spirit."  Of course, Jesus has many other weapons and powers at his disposal during his temptation in the desert.  Yet he chooses to limit himself to those same tools that have been given to us.  His use of the word of God as a defense and offense against the devil reminds us that like Jesus, we too can defeat the powers of evil with nothing more than God's Word and our faith.


Worship the LORD, and Serve Only Him
 

In this third and final temptation, reported in Matthew 4:8-11, Satan takes Jesus to "a very high mountain" to show him all the kingdoms of the world.  Satan offers to give Jesus them all, if Jesus would only fall down and worship him.

Is this a real offer?  Are we to believe that Satan has the power to fulfill what he is promising?  Scripture suggests that perhaps there is some validity to Satan's claims.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus calls Satan "the ruler of the world" (see John 12:31 and 14:30).  In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Paul refers to the devil as "the god of this world."  In the first letter of John, we are told "that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19).  None of this invalidates God's ultimate authority.  For we know that "the most high God has sovereignty over the kingdoms of men" (Daniel 5:21).  But God, in his sovereignty, has given us over to our own choices and sins.  Thus the world is often contrasted with the church; the church is the family of God, and the world is in rebellion against God and in service to God's enemy.

Understanding the depth of the world's alienation from God and affiliation with Satan is critical if we are to understand what Jesus truly did for us.  It is not for just "the good people" that Jesus came.  Instead, "God so loved the world" - the world in arms against him - "that he gave his only begotten Son."  It is in the depth of our disloyalty that Jesus gives his life for us.

This offer in the final temptation then, is a real one.  Satan proposes that he will give up his claim on our allegiance, if Jesus would simply bend the knee.  In a way, this is the same exchange that God the Father and God the Son intend; the life of Jesus for the lives of all people.  This would allow Jesus to accomplish his purpose without the cross and all it's suffering.

Jesus knows, however, that without the cross there can be no eternal change in the lives of mortals; the sin that lives within us would not disappear even without Satan's direct influence.  Moreover, Jesus knows that no kingdom not allied with God could endure.  Thus he banishes his enemy and continues his journey to Calvary.

Extras

Jesus' Scripture reference in the third temptation comes from Deuteronomy 6:10-15.  It is not a direct quote, like the other two citations, but it is a clear restatement of 6:13.  Significantly, this passage is immediately preceded by the Shema, the famous verse from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 which Jesus cited as the greatest commandment, and which we have been using as our call to worship throughout this series.  As Satan asks Jesus to worship him, Jesus is certainly reminded of these famous words:  

"Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
 

Do Not Put the LORD Your God to the Test

Scriptures That Shaped Their Author
 

What are the passages of the Bible that are closest to your heart, that you draw upon in your moments of greatest need?  In the midst of temptation and suffering, being able to recall verses from memory is an extraordinary comfort.  St. Paul tells us that Scripture is the only weapon we have against our true enemy; he instructs us to "take ... the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
 
Jesus models this response to temptationfor us during His time in the wilderness.  He is tempted three times by Satan, and after each temptation, He responds with the sword of the Spirit - a quotation from Scripture.  Last week, when tempted to turn stones into bread, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3 stating, "man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."  This week, in Matthew 4:5-7, Satan brings a different, but related temptation.  He takes Jesus to Jerusalem, to the pinnacle of the Temple itself, and says, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down."  Then Satan does something extraordinary; he quotes Psalm 91, saying "it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"

Do Not Put the LORD Your God to the Test
 

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Satan is familiar with Scripture; even in the Garden of Eden, He twisted God's words to tempt Adam and Eve into disobedience (see Genesis 3:1-5).  Yet we are powerfully reminded that we need more than a passing familiarity with the Bible to contend with our spiritual enemy.  We need to understand the overarching messages that run throughout Scripture so that we can read and interpret individual verses in context.
 
Satan's temptation is more than a misunderstanding of Scripture; it strikes to the heart of Jesus' identity as the Messiah.  Will Jesus follow the path set out by His Father that leads to the cross, or instead skip ahead to the "coming on the clouds" conclusion?  This decision is fundamental to His entire ministry, and extremely relevant in our context today.  Too often we want to be Christians on a different path than Christ.  While he chose the difficult journey that led to the cross, we would prefer a safer road with less suffering.  We are always trying to be Christians without the cross, but no one knew this temptation like Jesus Himself.  Yet He chose not to overwhelm the entire Jewish people with an extraordinary event (as God did in the Exodus) but instead to let the message, rather than the miracles, drive His ministry.  
 
Jesus' response is from Deuteronomy 6:16-25.  He says, "again it is written, 'do not put the LORD your God to the test.'"  In it's context in Deuteronomy, Moses is reminding the people of the time they demanded a miracle from God and threatened to return to Egypt if He would not perform it.  The temptation to put God to the test, to demand yet another miracle, is common to us today.  Jesus reminds us that God is not subject to our rules or expectations, nor can we "box Him in" with our theology or reading of Scripture.  Instead, we are called to submit our wills to His.  Where are you inclined to put God to the test?  What would it mean to submit to His plan, rather than submit Him to yours?

Extras
 


The passage that Moses refers to is found in Exodus 17:1-7.  This is only two chapters after the parting of the Red Sea and the victory over the Egyptians.  It is extraordinary that after such an amazing sign, the Israelites so quickly turn on God and demand another!
 
This is perhaps part of the reason that Jesus chooses a different pattern in His ministry; while performing many signs and miracles, Jesus does not produce wonders on the same scale as those that occurred during the Exodus.  People often remark that God doesn't seem to do miracles anymore, and that if God did do something amazing, perhaps it would be easier for people to believe.  Our history, however, tells us differently.  Abraham believed God before ever seeing a miracle; the Israelites saw all the wonders of the Exodus and days later threatened to reject God.  Perhaps there is more than we know to Jesus' response to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." (John 20:29).

One Does Not Live on Bread Alone

Scriptures That Shaped Their Author
 
 

Jesus' ministry is saturated with Scripture and Scriptural themes; we have only scratched the surface of the multitude of Old Testament passages that impacted the life and ministry of our Rabbi.  We have not had time to discuss, for example, Isaiah 61:1-2, which Jesus quotes at the beginning of His ministry in Luke 4, or anything from Matthew 5, where Jesus reinterprets many of the laws of the Old Testament.
 
But our next three weeks will focus on a different set of Old Testament verses.  As we consider Scriptures That Shaped Their Author, we will focus on the three passages that Jesus turned to in the midst of one of His greatest trials - the temptation by Satan in the wilderness.  We highlight these verses because they are of special significance to our Rabbi; they are close enough to His heart and mind that it is to these texts that Jesus turns when in conflict with the evil one.  

Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone
 

After His baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he fasts for forty days and forty nights.  At the end of this time, He is famished, and Satan comes to Him and says, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."  (Matthew 4:1-4).While Jesus performs many miracles throughout His ministry, this time He chooses to simply quote from Deuteronomy 8:3, stating, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."
 
In each challenge of Satan, Jesus is tempted to use His divine power to spare Himself the difficulties of mortal life.  This could lead Jesus to repeat this choice in later aspects of His life, especially at the cross.  The temptation to be Messiah without suffering is perhaps the most dangerous and appealing temptation that Satan can offer Jesus.  However, the challenge to turn stones to bread holds another, equally dangerous temptation for Christ (and ourselves).  It is the temptation to honor and obey God based on what He will do now, instead of what He has done already.
 
We face this trial constantly in our modern lives.  When we see or experience great suffering, we naturally ask and hope that God will miraculously alleviate that pain.  This is very biblical.  However, it can lead us into a dangerous situation where we are inclined to be angry with God, or even reject Him, when He does not do as we ask.  We can quickly develop a "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" theology.  But Jesus reminds us, through His use of this quote from Deuteronomy, that true faith resides in what God has already done for us.
 
In Deuteronomy 8:1-10, Moses reminds the people of God's provision for them during their forty years in the wilderness.  In the same verse that Jesus quotes, Moses reminds the people, "[God] humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."  When Jesus quotes this verse to Satan, He is not only pointing out the similarities between Himself and the people of Israel; He is also demonstrating the meaning of faith.  Jesus does not need to see stones turn into bread, because through Scripture Jesus has already experienced the miracle of manna, the bread from heaven.  Likewise, while we hope to see miraculous healings in our lifetime, through the pages of the Bible we have already experienced the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In the light of that miracle, we no longer need new signs from God (though we certainly appreciate them when they come).  The message is simple; if what God has already done (from the manna to the resurrection) is not sufficient to move us to place our trust in Him, then nothing that He could do today will ever convince us.

Extras
 

 
In this passage Jesus teaches us the proper way to read the Bible.  Too often we try to cram the stories of the Bible into the larger narrative of our lives.  This leads to dangerous theology - "Because Jesus cured the blind man, He will surely cure me," or "Because God punished the Egyptians, He will surely smite our enemies as well."  We err when we believe that the extraordinary story of Scripture can be fit into our individual lives.  
 
Instead, we are called to fit our lives into the larger narrative of God's story.  This leads to theology like that of Jesus, where we do not need for a miracle to make bread, because we have already experienced the miracle of manna in our reading of Scripture.  A proper reading of the Bible leads us to find ourselves in its pages.  We were slaves in Egypt, but God saved us with a mighty hand.  We were hungry, but God fed us from heaven.  We were hungry, and God made a meal for us from five loaves and two fish.  We were slaves to death, but God broke death's hold by resurrecting us with Jesus.  When you read the Bible as Jesus does, it becomes more than a book of stories and laws; it is your personal history with the Maker of the Universe.

The Son of Man, Coming on the Clouds of Heaven

Scriptures That Shaped Their Author
 

Jesus' most dramatic claim in the Gospels is that He is equal to God - that He is God in the flesh.  In John 10:30, He states, "I and the Father are one."  Moreover, Jesus describes His relationship with God as a Father-Son relationship.  Although there is no previous basis for the concept in Judaism, Jesus claims that He is literally the Son of God, who created the universe and sustains it daily together with the Father and the Spirit.  Jesus explicitly makes the claim to be the Son of God again and again throughout Scripture (for example, John 5:24-25). 
 
 Nevertheless, "Son of God" is not Jesus' favorite title for Himself.  Instead, the vast majority of the time when Jesus refers to Himself, He calls Himself the "Son of Man."  Jesus calls Himself the "Son of Man" seventy-nine times throughout the Gospels, and twenty-nine times in the Gospel of Matthew alone!  This is a strange title; at first glance, it appears as though it would apply to any human male.  Yet Jesus uses it as a Messianic, even divine, name.  Where does this use of "Son of Man" come from?  

The Son of Man
Coming on the Clouds of Heaven
 

 The prophet Daniel, who clearly had a significant impact on Jesus' thinking, speaks of a vision of the end times.  In his vision, after a series of monstrous beasts that represent empires, there comes "one like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven."  This "Son of Man" is presented to the Ancient of Days (God), who gives Him an eternal kingdom.  You can read the vision in Daniel 7:9-14.
 
Jesus not only uses this story to identify Himself; He also quotes this line directly in Matthew 24:30 and 26:64.  It is clear that a huge portion of Jesus' self-identity comes from this passage.  In the midst of His earthly ministry, Jesus chooses to reinforce to Himself and His disciples that there is more to come - that the same man who seems 100% human is in fact also the divine being described in Daniel 7.  Notice that in Daniel He is called "one like a son of man" - in appearance mortal, but in reality much more than merely human.  
 
The return of Jesus on clouds with power and glory is essential to His entire ministry and self-identity.  Do we recognize the same significance of the return of Jesus today?  What would it mean to live in light of His promised return?   

Extras
 

 
The mainline denominations (Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, etc) have tended to avoid any discussion of the return of Jesus in recent years, as though it is a topic that is too confusing or too unbelievable to discuss.  On the other hand, much of the non-denominational world has obsessed with the end of the world - fixating mainly on the book of Revelation and "Christian" fiction like the Left Behind series.  We need to reclaim the doctrine of the Second Coming and reground it in the person of Jesus.
 
If we want to know what the return of Jesus will be like, we should NOT go first to Revelation.  Instead, we should go first to the source - Jesus Himself.  He speaks of His return in every Gospel.  For example, read Matthew 24:15-31.  Then, after reading Jesus' account of His return, we should try to compare other Scriptural accounts into what Jesus says - not the other way around!
 
For more fun with Daniel and Jesus, note also that Matthew 24:15 is a reference to Daniel 9:27.