Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...29

Jesus faced testing in the wilderness. Mark and Luke suggest the testing lasted 40 days and nights. They both use the present participle form of the verb which indicates continuous action. The verbal also indicates the action of testing was "being done" to Jesus. Jesus endured continuous pressure, propositions and testing from a source outside Himself.

Very few humans could honestly say they were tempted to do anything for 40 continuous days. Our tempting/testing lasts for a much shorter duration. And our effort to resist and remain faithful seems momentous and drains us of emotional, physical, mental and spiritual energy. Our momentary trials cannot compare to this intense, long-lasting trial of Jesus. How weak we truly are!

Matthew alone implies that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and THEN came the tempter and the test. This provides a warning as well. Testing and temptation can come when we are weak and where we have weakened ourselves. For instance, Scripture tells husbands and wives "not to deprive each other [of marital relations] except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer.Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you..." (1 Corinthians 7.5-6 NIV.)

While Jesus clearly commands, and Scripture provides examples of the practice, fasting from food can easily lead to a temptation to satisfy our hunger at the expense of our vow to God. Going without proper sleep might make us susceptable to a temptation to act out easily-angered.

Luke adds an powerful reminder to us at the conclusion of the 40 days. "When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left [Jesus] until an opportune time" (Luke 4.13 NIV.) These days did not form the only temptation of Jesus. The devil watched and waited for an "opportune" time -- times of weakness, weariness along the way to Jerusalem's cross/tomb. He would tempt Jesus through the cry of the crowds and the voice of His closest followers. Jesus confirmed in His conduct the confession of the Father. But this was not the end-all temptation.

So, too, with us. We may endure this season of testing. We may resist temptatin and through Jesus remain faithful. But other times await. We cannot let down our guard.

Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...28

We have examined whether Jesus's experience in the wilderness involved temptation to sin or testing to prove His character. From the detailed teaching in James 1 and the principles from mutliple narratives, we concluded that this time tested Jesus to demonstrate in practical terms Who He is. God the Father had already stated His confident asssessment of Jesus as God the Son -- the Accepted-Beloved-Pleasing. The Spirit affirmed this assessment with His anointing presence.

That Jesus endured this testing effects us in several ways. The author of Hebrews [whole other post, ;)] points out "Because He suffered when He was tempted [tested], He is able to help those who are being tempted [tested]" (Hebrews 2.18 NIV.) He suffered the hunger, the pressure, the testing circumstances. Being made fully human, like His brothers, He comprehends the casualties caused by testing. He can now dispense mercy and faithfulness to us. He understands the fullest potency of temptation as He alone outlasted the tempter. He knows what it takes to make it through victorious. HE OFFERS US HIS HELP TO OVERCOME TEMPTATION.

"...we do not have a high priest who is unable to emphathize with our weaknesses, but was tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet He did not sin. Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4.15-16 NIV.) He endured temptation and remained true. He alone knows the full potential of humanity in the face of temptation. We only know the limit of our breaking point. He alone can appropriate grace and mercy so that we do not have to cave in to the pressure. HE OFFERS GRACE AND MERCY TO THE TEMPTED.

What a compassionate, merciful, understanding Jesus! His wilderness days open up to us days of victory. His suffering eases ours. His faithfulness props up our faithlessness. He walked the wilderness alone so that we could travel temptation in tandum with Him. And with Him, we have freedom from sin! Bless His name!

Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...27

We are exploring whether Jesus faced temptation or trial in the wilderness. We are going to deal with the significance, if any, of either. Something very difficult and important happened to the Lord during and immediately following the 40 days and nights.

Using the Rule of Faith -- that Scripture, as Truth, is non-contradictory -- we looked at a clear teaching passage on temptation found in James Chapter One to clarify our understanding of the wilderness. Three key truths about temptation emerge: 1. God cannot be tempted by evil. 2. God does not tempt anyone with evil. 3. Our own evil desires lead us into temptation. So Jesus, fully Divine, could not be tempted by evil. Being the new Adam, conceived directly in the womb of a virgin by the overshadowing power of the Spirit, He had no "bent to sinning" not inheriting original sin. Jesus had no inner brokenness that would be enticed. He was not tempted in the same sense that we are.

Let's look at other narratives. Abraham was tested by God when God told him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. God does not tempt anyone with evil. God was testing Abraham's trusting obedience. Abraham passed the test and God stopped the sacrifice.

Satan accused Job's faith and integrity. God trusted Job and granted the Accuser permission to test Job through adversity, trials and sickness. At each increasing level of challenge, God affirmed Job's integrity. Job passed the test and God restored to him all the Accuser had taken.

God states in several passage that He allows evil, pagan empires to harrass or harm Israel as judgement on bad behaviors. God does not design or delight in the afflicting nation, but grants permission for the eventual renewal of His nation, Israel. He sets boundaries of intinsity and duration for the time of trial.

In these passages, God actively supports the person being proven through testing. God grants permission to one who wishes to deceive or destroy and sets boundaries for the trial. These adversities are within the scope of God's sovereign will and reign.

Peter encourages us "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief from all kinds of trials. These come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even if refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1.6-7.) Again, God allows difficulty as a proving ground for our character. He stamps His approval on us by the trials He allows. He expresses His trust in us.

If we return to James 1.2-3 once again we discover we should, "count it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance." Here again we find a clear teaching that God allows difficulties not as temptation to evil, but as testing our our character. He indends it for good, no matter what the actual trial intends. (Recall Joseph's statement to his sold-him-into-slavery brothers.)

So in the wilderness Jesus faces testing. His Father has full confidence in His Son. The devil has permission to present the scenarios. He vainly hopes to sidetrack the Son into evil. The Spirit supports the Son who makes the Father-pleasing choice every time. Jesus emerges from the wilderness fully accredited in actual space/time testing. He has demonstrated, in part, why the Father declared Him "...My Son, whom I love. With Him I am well-pleased!"

We need to allow this time in the wilderness to encourage our hearts. When we face hardship, sickness, mis-understanding, betrayal, financial reversal or out-and-out temptation to sin, God has pre-approved the situation based on what He, in absolute perfect omniscience, knows He can get us through. I certainly feel more like Tevye, "I know. I know. We are Your chosen people. But once in a while, can't you choose someone else?" than Peter and James who counted trials and problems as God-authenticating-me pure joy.

Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...18

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness just as we are. The tempter pulled at Him to sidetrack the Cross/Tomb goal. Jesus overcame.

John says we are pulled by this world away from the Father's love. The last aspect of this worldly love is the pride of life. Being boastful of what one has and does comes not from a core of Father-love, but from the base world of physical reality.

The truth is we are a soul composed of a body and filled with a spirit. In the creation of man, God fashions a mud-man out of dust and breathes into this figure spirit or the breathe of life. Then we became a living soul.

Far too often we live in the physical reality while ignoring the spiritual. In so doing we are less than human. Life consists of more than what we eat or wear -- Jesus said.

The pride of life deceives us into thinking we are only what we have and what we do. We boast about our possessions our accomplishments. Even the Barney Fifes of life drop names and activities into conversation trying to impress or justify their worth.

Satan whispered to Jesus, ..."if you are...you have special protection..." This tease tugs at who Jesus is and appeals to pride. God had promised and, as discussed in a previous post, will provide this special protection to His Son numerous times. The temptation in the wilderness puffs up the promise as a way to prove worth or show off to the crowds no doubt congregated at the Temple. Literally, pride would have gone before a fall -- a fall most likely leading to Jesus' premature and non-redemptive death.

Money, power, popularity -- all hold the temptation to pride. Huberis has been listed by our RC brethren as one of the Deadly Sins. Pride launched Lucifer and Nebechadnezzar into a failed rebellion to usurp the Divine throne. Pride moved Adam and Eve to seek to be God-like. Pride deludes us into thinking we stand secure at the very moment we teeter on the brink of disaster.

The victory over pride? Submission to God and God-appointed authority. Jesus deflected the deceiver by quoting, "Don't tempt the Lord, your God." He humbled Himself in submission to the Father's will. We need to do the same, to submit our decisions to His descretion, to yield our wants to His way, to  pass the praise to the Provider. In the process we need to guard that we don't become proud of our humility.

We can overcome this temptation as we walk in the Yoke of the Yielded One. "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11.28-30