the Son of God

Tempted Like Us

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1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. – Matthew 4:1-11 ESV

Matthew’s account of the temptation of Jesus is not just a retelling of the details surrounding the event. He has an ulterior motive, and it is the same one he has had from the moment he began His Gospel. Matthew intends to support Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, and the rightful King of Israel.

Immediately after His baptism by John, Jesus heard the following words from His Father in heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 ESV). God Himself acknowledges the deity of Jesus, presenting Him as His own Son and expressing His pleasure or satisfaction with Him. The descent of the Holy Spirit onto Jesus, in the visible form of a dove, was a sign of God’s approval of Him. And it was the Spirit who led Jesus “into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1 ESV). And Luke adds that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit” (Luke 4:1 ESV). The Son of God was filled with the Spirit of God. And this indwelling by the Spirit would allow Jesus to model the very lifestyle His death and resurrection would make it possible for all those who would eventually place their faith in Him. The same helper, comforter, and advocate who assisted Him in His earthly ministry would be available to all who became His followers.

And we should not overlook the fact that the Spirit of God led the Son of God from the banks of the Jordan into the Judean wilderness. This one who had allowed Himself to be baptized by John to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15), and who had received the approval of God, was now being led into the desolate wilderness. Why? Matthew provides us with the answer: “…to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1 ESV).

It is easy to miss the weight of those words. But it is essential that we understand what is happening in this scene. Jesus, the Son of God, who had just received the full approval of God, was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness and for one solitary purpose: To be tempted by Satan. This is the one of whom John said: “he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (Luke 3:16 ESV). This is the one to whom God declared, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22 ESV). And yet, He is being led by the Holy Spirit into an encounter with Satan, whose very name means “adversary.”

This entire scene appears incongruous to us. It seems strange that God would send His own Son, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, into the wilderness to endure starvation and temptation at the hands of the enemy. Why would God willingly put His Son through such an ordeal? But that begs the question, why would God send His Son to die in the place of undeserving sinners? The temptation of Jesus was just one part of the divine agenda that God the Father had put in place before the foundation of the world. Peter reminds us that “God chose him [Jesus] as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake” (1 Peter 1:20 NLT).

Jesus came to this earth in the form of a man, and in that form, He would suffer and endure many trials and temptations, just as we do. The author of Hebrews describes Jesus as our High Priest, who “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT). Jesus took on human flesh, so that He might be the second and final Adam, the one who would live in perfect obedience to God, through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. And the apostle Paul reminds us of the ramifications of Adam’s disobedience and Jesus’ obedience.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man [Adam] many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man [Jesus] many will be made righteous. – Romans 5:19 NLT

Jesus had to be tempted and tested. He had to suffer and endure deprivations of all kinds. In order for Him to understand our weaknesses, He had to experience them for Himself. And the very first days of His earthly ministry were going to test whether He would continue to bring pleasure to His heavenly Father. Would He continue to fulfill all righteousness?

And you can sense that Satan had a strategy in mind. The temptations he threw at Jesus were well-planned and designed with Him in mind. And notice that Satan began his attacks by raising questions regarding Jesus’ identity.

“If you are the Son of God…” – Matthew 4:3 ESV

He had used a similar strategy with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He had begun his temptation of her with the words, “Did God actually say…?” He raised doubts concerning the word of God. He wanted Eve to doubt the fairness and faithfulness of God.

In his temptation of Jesus, Satan wasn’t trying to get Him to doubt His identity as the Son of God. He wanted Jesus to doubt God’s plans concerning His role as the Son of God. It had been God’s plans from the beginning that Jesus would suffer and die. Don’t forget what Peter said: “God chose him [Jesus] as your ransom long before the world began.” Suffering was part of God’s plan for His Son, and Jesus knew it. He would later state, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 28:20 NLT). Jesus knew who He was, but He also knew why He had come. But Satan tried to get Jesus to consider a different way. He was offering Jesus an alternative plan.

And he began by appealing to Jesus’ physical needs. Matthew makes it clear that “after fasting forty days and forty nights, he [Jesus] was hungry” (Matthew 4:2 ESV). So, as Satan is so prone to do, he aimed his first salvo at this apparent point of weakness.

“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” – Matthew 4:3 ESV

Satan was not questioning the identity of Jesus. He was attempting to get Jesus to operate outside of His God-ordained identity. In a sense, Satan wanted Jesus to prove who He was, but in a way that was not in keeping with God’s will. Satan’s appeal was aimed at what he knew was the human propensity for selfishness and self-centeredness. He wanted Jesus to use His divine power to meet His own needs. But that is not God’s plan for His Son. Jesus had been sent to serve others. He had been sent to offer His life as a ransom for many, not to use His divine powers and prerogatives to meet His own needs. And Jesus responded to the temptation by reminding Satan that obedience to the word of God was far more fulfilling than bread could ever be.

Years later, the disciples would offer Jesus food to eat, and He would respond, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about” (John 4:32 NLT). And He would clarify His statement with the words: ““My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work” (John 4:34 NLT). Jesus was committed to doing the will of His Father, and He found obedience to be far more fulfilling than anything this world has to offer.

The second temptation was a poorly designed attempt to fast-track God’s plan for Jesus’ future glorification. Jesus had been sent by God to die on behalf of sinful mankind. And it would not be until after He had suffered and died, that Jesus would be raised to new life and experience the glorification God had planned for Him. But, once again, Satan offered an alternative plan.

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’” – Matthew 4:6 ESV

Satan wanted Jesus to skip the part of God’s plan that involved dying and instead to focus on self-preservation and premature glorification.

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” – Matthew 4:7 ESV

But Jesus saw through Satan’s ploy and knew this was less a test of Himself, than it would be a test of God. For Jesus to do as Satan said would have been a blatant testing of God’s will. Would He alter His plan by sending His angels to save His Son from an unplanned threat to His life that was outside of His will? Jesus was not about to test His heavenly Father. He knew the plan, and He was not going to deviate from it.

Finally, Satan offered Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Matthew 4:8 ESV). What is going on here? First of all, Satan had the right to offer these things to Jesus because of his position as the prince or ruler of this world (John 14:30 ESV). The apostle John states: “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19 ESV). So, in a sense, Satan had to authority to offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, but he failed to understand that any authority he possessed had been given to him by God. He ruled and reigned by divine fiat. And, whether he realized it or not, Satan was offering Jesus what was already rightfully His.

But Jesus wasn’t fooled by or remotely interested in the offer made by Satan. He saw it nothing more than a thinly veiled ploy by Satan to get Him to commit spiritual adultery. Satan wanted Jesus to worship him rather than God. And in exchange for His betrayal of God the Father, Satan was offering Jesus that which already belonged to Him: the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He had nothing to give Jesus that was not already His. And Jesus let Satan know that worship of God and obedience to the will of God was His highest priority. He needed nothing else.

And with that, the temptations came to an abrupt halt. But Satan was far from finished. He had not given up. Luke tells us, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13 ESV). The battle had just begun. The Son of God had arrived on the scene, and the spiritual war was about to go to a whole new level.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Bright Lights In A Dark Place.

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And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:19-21 ESV

When it comes to man’s relationship with God, it seems that everyone has an opinion, but not everyone’s opinion counts. It really doesn’t matter what I think. What you determine to be the truth about God, sin, righteousness, salvation or any of a number of other important spiritual matters is unimportant if what you believe does not come from the Word of God. Peter was preparing his readers for a rather in-your-face attack on false teachers and prophets – those individuals who were rising up among the people and secretly bringing in destructive heresies (2 Peter 2:1). Peter will accuse them of blaspheming the way of truth with false words (2 Peter 2:2, 3). He will warn the people to avoid them like the plague. But why should his opinion matter? What made Peter any different than anyone else when it came to spiritual truth?

Peter has already made it clear that he was an eye-witness to the majesty of Christ, having been there when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain top. Peter was a hand-picked follower of Jesus and had been privileged to see the words of the Old Testament prophets concerning the coming Messiah literally come to life in Jesus. That is what he seems to mean when he says, “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed” (2 Peter 1:19 ESV).  That day on the mountain, he, James and John had heard God audibly declare, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 ESV). God had testified as to the deity of Jesus. He was the Son of God. They had heard from the mouth of God Himself that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the words of the prophets. And they were to listen to Him. Which is why Peter tells his readers, “you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19 ESV). What Peter and the other apostles were teaching was the truth of God as revealed directly from the Son of God. They were carrying out the commission given to them by Jesus.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

Peter was simply teaching what he had been taught by Jesus. He was expanding upon the teachings of Jesus and clarifying the nature of the good news as revealed in His death and resurrection. As Peter has already stated, what he was teaching was not “cleverly devised myths” (2 Peter 1:16 ESV), but “the prophetic word” (2 Peter 1:19 ESV). And “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20 ESV). In other words, the prophets didn’t make up what they wrote. It was given to them by God through the inspiration of the Spirit. In fact, Peter asserts, “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21 ESV). Which is exactly what Paul confirmed when he wrote:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:17-18 ESV

Peter’s primary concern seems to be that his readers stay attentive to the Word of God. He wanted them to recognize the truth that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophetic words of the Old Testament. The good news was to be like a “lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19 ESV). This appears to be a reference to the return of the Lord for His bride, the Church. Peter is speaking of the rapture. Like the morning star that appears in the sky and foreshadows the coming of the dawn, Jesus will one day return for the Church and that day will usher in the dawn of a new day, the day of the Lord. Peter wanted them to live with that day in mind. They were to keep their minds focused on the reality of Christ’s eventual return.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV

The false prophets and teachers were attempting to mislead the people by teaching something other than what the prophets wrote and the apostles declared. So Peter was warning his readers to not lose sight of the truth of God’s Word and the promise of Christ’s coming. They were to stay focused on the task at hand. They were to not allow themselves to be deceived or distracted from the calling they had received from God. Jesus had appeared to them like a bright light in the darkness, illuminating their sin and eliminating their guilt and shame. Now they were to be bright lights in the darkness surrounding them. They were to live like Christ, fully reliant upon the Spirit of God and obeying the Word of God.

Paul wrote to the believers in Philippi, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Philippians 2:15-17 ESV). That was Peter’s desire as well. He wanted his readers to shine as lights in the world – bright lights in a dark place. But to do so, they would have to stay committed to the truth of God as revealed in the written Word and the Living Word. God did not leave His plan of redemption up to the opinion or interpretation of men. The apostle John made perfectly clear God’s grand plan for the redemption of mankind:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:1-5 ESV

We have that light shining within us. And we would do well to recall the words of Paul, written to the believers in Corinth.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. – 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 ESV

The Sufficiency of Christ.

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Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. – Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV

While do not know who the author of the Letter to the Hebrews was, we can almost certainly conclude that his audience was made up primarily of Jewish believers. Throughout the letter, he makes references to facts regarding Judaism, apparently assuming his readers were well-versed in them. He takes little time to explain details regarding the sacrificial system, the office of high priest, the history of Israel, or the identity of the individuals listed in chapter 11, who were primarily Jewish in their ethnic identity. The fact that the author was also addressing Jews whose faith in Christ might be in question is evidenced by his repeated warnings against drifting away, neglecting so great a salvation, having an unbelieving heart and failing to enter in to the rest God has promised. Even in the opening line of his letter, the author tells his readers that, “in these last days he [God] has spoken to us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV). He is acting under the understanding that his audience is very familiar with the words of Jesus and the message of the gospel. Interestingly enough, he does not mention the name of Jesus anywhere in this first chapter, but simply refers to Him as God’s Son. That Jesus was inferred and understood by his readers as the one being talked about is quite clear. The original recipients of this letter would have known exactly who was being discussed.

That the writer would delay the mention of Jesus’ name until the ninth verse in chapter two is intriguing. But it would seem that he felt no need to use the name of Jesus, but simply referred to His unique designation as the Son of God. That term would have been very familiar with his Jewish audience and would have brought to mind the very reason for which they had rejected Jesus to begin with. It was Jesus’ claim to be divine, the very Son of God, that led the Jews to accuse Him of blasphemy and to seek His death. At one time Jesus had said, “My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27 NLT). These kinds of statements did not endear Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders of His day. In fact, when He was arrested and brought before them on the night He was betrayed, Caiaphas, the high priest, questioned Jesus asking, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” (Matthew 26:63 NLT). Jesus answered, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64 NLT). And Caiaphas, in shock and horror, responded, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” (Matthew 26:65-66 NLT). And his fellow religious leaders shouted out, “Guilty! He deserves to die!” (Matthew 26:66 NLT).

It was Jesus’ claim of divine Sonship that got Him in trouble – not His miracles, signs and wonders. It was not His teaching that drove the high priest and his cohorts crazy, but His insistence that He was divine. And the writer of Hebrews jumped all over this very fact, claiming that God had “spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2 ESV). He attributes to Jesus the divine role of  creator of the universe. He was and is God. In fact, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT). This man from Nazareth, who was murdered at the hands of the Romans as the insistence of the Jews, was the Son of God. And it was the very fact that He was the Son of God that made His sacrifice on the cross acceptable to His Father. He was without blemish, sinless, making Him the perfect sacrifice and the only acceptable payment for the sins of mankind. And, the writer of Hebrews reminds his readers, “When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. Jesus returned to where He had come from, the very throne room of God. The apostle Paul writes about this very reality in his letter to the Philippians.

When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. – Philippians 2:7-11 NLT

Over the next chapters, we will see the author go out of his way to insist on the superiority of Christ. He is superior to angels, Moses, and any earthly  high priest or institution. His sacrifice was greater and more effective than anything man could ever hope to accomplish through the sacrifice of bulls and goats. Jesus was and is incomparable. There was nothing in Judaism that could compare. There was no reason for those who had placed their faith in Jesus as their Savior and Messiah, to return to the old covenant of laws and ritualistic rule keeping. Christ was sufficient. The good news was good enough. There was nothing missing and no man-made requirements necessary to complete or compliment what Christ had done on the cross.

Peter reminds us, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4 NLT). In Christ, we have all we need to for salvation, sanctification and our ultimate glorification. Nothing is missing. Nothing need be added. As the old hymn, Rock of Ages, so aptly puts it, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” Jesus is enough.

God’s Testimony.

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And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. – 1 John 5:11 ESV

1 John 5:6-12

Jesus is still on trial. Yes, He endured the trial before Pilate. He went through the mockery of a trial before the Jewish religious leadership and the high priest. He even had to submit to the inquiries of Herod, the puppet king of Jews, placed there by the Roman government. And after those trials were over, He was pronounced innocent and then sentenced to death. He died for claiming to be the Jewish Messiah. He was executed for claiming to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. The plaque that was placed above His head on the cross declared His crime: King of the Jews. And He died.

But Jesus remains on trial today. There are millions upon millions who remain unconvinced and even unaware of His claim to be the Son of God and the Christ, the Messiah. There are those who have heard His claims and who even boast of believing in Him, but who reject His as having been divine or sinless. They simply view Him as having been a good man, a capable teacher, a moralist whose beliefs and actions are well worth emulating. But they reject any idea that suggests He was somehow God in human flesh. The same was true in John’s day. The local church to whom he wrote his letter had recently experienced a split, as a portion of their fellowship had departed over the issue of Jesus’ deity. They had refused to believe that Jesus was God in human flesh. They had rejected the idea that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. They had been teaching that sin was not a reality and, therefore, there was no need for a Savior from sin. In their self-righteousness, they believed they already had right relationships with God and were in no need of someone to die a sinless death in their place. But in rejecting Jesus, they were actually putting Him on trial again. Whether they know it or not, by their actions and beliefs, they are asking Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Luke 23:3 ESV). They are demanding, “If you are the Christ, tell us!” (Luke 22:67 ESV). “Are you the Son of God, then?” (Luke 22:70 ESV). The very same things Jesus had heard while standing before the religious council or the Jews. Some, like Herod, simply treat Jesus with contempt and scorn, mocking Him for claiming to be the Son of God.

But John would remind us that there is one witness whose testimony stands the test of time. There is one who unequivocally and unapologetically testifies to the veracity of Jesus’ role as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. John writes, “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son” (1 John 5:10 ESV). At Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by John, God verbally confirmed the Sonship of Jesus. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 ESV). On the mountain top, when Jesus had been transfigured before Peter, James and John, they heard God speak similar words. “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5 ESV). All throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, God had spoken of the coming of His Son as Savior. Isaiah wrote, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isaiah 42:1 ESV). God had told Abraham that all the nations of the world would be blessed through him – through his offspring. And Paul clarifies that, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16 ESV). God had made it clear that Jesus would be His Son and that, as His Son, Jesus would bring hope and healing to a lost and dying world. Even Jesus, while visiting His hometown of Nazareth, stood in the synagogue and read the following words from the book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come” (Luke 4:18-19 NLT). Then He simply stated, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Luke 4:21 NLT). God testified. Jesus confirmed it. He was and is the Son of God. And “this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his Son” (1 John 5:9 ESV). “That God gave us eternal life and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11 ESV). Case closed.

 

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

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Here’s how you test for the genuine Spirit of God. Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God. – 1 John 4:2 MSG

1 John 4:1-6

There are so many versions of Jesus being offered up today that it’s hard to keep track. There is Jesus, the life coach, whose sole purpose was to provide us with a model for self-improvement. Just follow His instructions and you can be just like Him. Then there’s Jesus, the moralistic monk, who gave us a host of wise sayings to quote and even to live out if we so choose. This Jesus was kind of a Hebrew Muhatma Gandhi, who spoke against social injustices and promoted peace and love. There’s Jesus, the martyr, a radical peasant who tried to bring about a social revolution, but died while trying. His faithful followers picked up where He left off and kept the spirit of His cause alive. There’s even Jesus, the Son of God, who whose a man chosen by God to be a living example of what it looks like when men learn to live in harmony with their Creator.

But the problem with all these versions of Jesus is that they are not the real Jesus. They may give us brief glimpses of some aspect of His life or a partial view of His nature, but they leave out the most important, life-altering point of His existence. He is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God who took on human flesh, in order to pay for the sins of mankind and satisfy the just demands of a holy, just and righteous God. John made this point clear at the very beginning of his letter, stating, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:1-2 ESV). Jesus, the eternal life, had been manifested or made known to John and the other disciples. They had seen, touched, and heard Him. They had spent over three years living with Him. They had seen Him perform miracles, transfigured, walk on water, raise the dead, and suffer a brutal death by crucifixion. But they had also seen Him alive three days after He had been buried in a borrowed tomb that had been surrounded by guards. They had heard Him say that He was going away, but that He would be returning for them some day. And they had clearly heard His parting words as He gave them His great commission to spread the good news regarding Him to all the world. This is the Jesus John preached. This is the Jesus Paul proclaimed and gave his life for. This is the Jesus of Peter, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Titus, Timothy, the Philippian jailer, Lydia, Silas, Barnabas, James, Tabitha, Phillip and millions upon millions of others over the last 2000-plus years.

But we live in a society that has a difficult time accepting the truth about Jesus. So they re-invent Him. They come up with their version of Him that makes Him more palatable and acceptable. The Jesus of John and the disciples is too intolerant and demanding. Their version of the gospel doesn’t come across as good news at all. So people reject it or simply revise it to suit their tastes. In his book, The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society, Lesslie Newbigin writes:

The gospel is news of what has happened. The problem of communicating it in a pluralistic society is that it simply disappears into the undifferentiated ocean of information. It represents one opinion among millions of others. It cannot be “the truth,” since in a pluralistic society truth is not one but many. It may be “true for you,” but it cannot be true for everyone. To claim that it is true for everyone is simply arrogance. It is permitted as one opinion among many.

The problem is that John and the disciples present Jesus as the only way. “Everyone who confesses openly his faith in Jesus Christ—the Son of God, who came as an actual flesh-and-blood person—comes from God and belongs to God” (1 John 4:2 MSG). Even Jesus Himself claimed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). He wasn’t one way among many. He wasn’t just another option. He was the only way. The exclusive, no-other-alternative-available way. It was A. W. Tozer who said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” But I would add, what comes into our mind when we think about Jesus is what will determine our relationship with God. Jesus was and is the Son of God. He is the God-man, 100 percent deity and 100 percent humanity. A mystery that is inexplicable by man, but essential for the salvation of mankind. Jesus lived a sinless life. Yet He was required to die a sinner’s death, in order to pay the penalty due for the sin’s of mankind. He died in our place. He took on our sin and the punishment we deserved, so that we might receive forgiveness, pardon, and escape from the condemnation of death. But we must believe that He was who He claimed to be. We must accept the gift that He so graciously offers. We must believe in and trust our lives to the Jesus Christ as sent by God, proclaimed by the apostles, taught in the Bible and confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. No other Jesus will do. No other way will suffice. No other version of the truth will work. “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5 ESV).

That’s the Spirit!

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By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. – 1 John 4:2-3 ESV

1 John 4:1-6

That’s the Spirit. Or is it? Eight times in these six verses, John uses the Greek word, pneuma. And like a lot of Greek words, this one has a variety of meanings. It can refer to a breeze or movement of air; the soul of a man; the source of any power, affection, emotion, or desire; or it can be used when talking about the Spirit of God. The definition is established by the immediate context, including the words around it. But not only do we need to determine which pneuma John is referring to, he wants us to know how to figure out the difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of the antichrist.

Not only does John repeatedly use the word, pneuma, he keeps bringing up the topic of confession. He does so in a variety of way, referring to prophets, hearing, speaking, confessing, and listening. In other words, John puts a high priority in these verses on communication. Prophets, by definition, were to speak on behalf of God. They were to be His mouthpieces, declaring the words of God to the people of God. When they spoke, the did so on His behalf. But John also puts a lot of responsibility on those who hear. They weren’t just supposed to listen, but they were to be discerning. Why? Because not every pneuma or spirit is from God. Not every influence or power that appears to be spiritual is from God. The Old Testament had some clear indicators as to whether a prophet was speaking truth or not. You couldn’t just go by what he said or did. You had to dig deeper and look at the root of his message. God gave the people of Israel the following standard:

“Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, ‘Come, let us worship other gods’—gods you have not known before— do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or visionaries who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the Lord your God, who redeemed you from slavery and brought you out of the land of Egypt. Since they try to lead you astray from the way the Lord your God commanded you to live, you must put them to death. In this way you will purge the evil from among you.” – Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT

If they dreamed dreams and talked about signs and wonders, but encouraged the people of God to worship false gods, they were false prophets. And the penalty for their deception was death. Pretty serious stuff. In the book of 1 John, the apostle gives a similar warning to test the spirits or spokesmen declaring to be representing God. And the criteria for the test was simple: What do they say about Jesus? Do they confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? Was He the Son of God? Was He the Savior of the world? “Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist” (1 John 4:3 ESV). It is the lie of Satan. People can claim to have the truth, know the truth, and speak the truth. They can claim to speak for God. But if they do not confess Jesus as the Son of God, sent by God to pay for the sins of man, they are not of God. They are from the world, John says. Not only that, they speak from the world, and the rest of the world listens to what they have to say. But John made it clear that he and the other apostles were from God. They spoke on behalf of God, because they confessed the same Jesus that God confessed. And they spoke to those who were also from God. The children of God recognize the voice of God. Over in his gospel, John recorded an incident that occurred in the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus found Himself surrounded by a crowd who demanded, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly” (John 10:24 NLT). Jesus responded, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” (John 10:25-30 NLT). John follows this up in his letter with the declaration, “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 NLT). We have the Spirit of God within us. We have the power of God available to us. We have the truth of God made known to us. All because we believe and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and the sole reason we have a right relationship with God the Father. And anybody who teaches anything else is dead wrong.

Believe and Love.

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And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. – 1 John 3:23 ESV

Two simple things: Believe in Jesus and love one another. But oh, how difficult those two things can be to do. The first one seems so easy. In fact, all of us who have placed our faith in Christ as our Savior have already done it. We have already believed in Jesus. But there is a sense in which we must continue to believe in Jesus. The word “believe” that John uses is in the aorist tense. Typically, we end up translating aorist verbs as past tense, but in the Greek the concept of an aorist verb is considered without regard for past, present, or future time. We don’t have an equivalent tense in English. So in reality, our belief in Jesus is to be past, present and future. It is non-ending. One of the reasons John put so much emphasis on abiding in Christ is that it is the key to our fruitfulness and without abiding we can do nothing. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5 ESV). To abide in Him is to believe in Him. We must continue to rely upon Him for our sanctification just as we did for our salvation. Without Christ, we cannot be fruitful. Without Christ, we cannot grow in Christ-likeness. Without Christ, we cannot love others. Without Christ, we cannot do anything.

Which brings us to the second simple statement we find so hard to do: Love one another. It would seem that our struggle with loving one another is directly linked to our unwillingness to believe in Christ. Yes, we believed in Him for our salvation, but we sometimes fail to believe in Him for all that follows after that. When Jesus said that He would send us the Holy Spirit, we must believe that what He said was true. We must believe the promise of Jesus even when we don’t feel the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. We must also believe that the Holy Spirit is our helper, comforter and guide just as Jesus said He would be. We must believe that He, the Spirit, is the Spirit of truth just as Jesus said He would be. We must believe that the Holy Spirit will teach us “about everything, and is true, and is no lie” (1 John 2:27 ESV). Our capacity to love one another is not some self-manufactured, man-made kind of love we conjure up out of our own will power. It is a fruit of abiding in Christ and relying upon the Spirit of God. Believing and loving go hand in hand. We love because He first loved us. Without Christ, we will find it impossible to love others. In the very next chapter, John tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God, and knows God” (1 John 4:7 ESV). Our capacity to love comes from the love of God for us. But we must believe that. We must rely upon that. We must understand that all of our righteous deeds, apart from Christ, are like filthy rags. Even on our best day, our best efforts don’t measure up. We are completely dependent upon Christ for all that we need to walk as He walked (1 John 1:6) and love like He loved ( John 15:12).

To believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ is to believe that Jesus is who God claimed Him to be. He is the Son of God. He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. He is the sinless Lamb of God who died on the cross in order to satisfy the just demands of a righteous God. He is the risen Lord of lords. He is our advocate, our mediator, who sits at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf. He is our source of strength, hope, salvation, mercy, grace, and love each and every day of our lives. He is the vine and we are the branches. Without Him we can do nothing. We can’t live without Him. We can’t love without Him. But we must believe that. We must abide in that. We must remain totally dependent upon Him for all that we need, from our salvation all the way to our ultimate glorification, and everything in between.

Something Worth Proclaiming.

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…that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. – 1 John 1:3 ESV

John had enjoyed an intimate, eye-witness relationship with Jesus. He had listened to Him teach and preach. He had watched Him heal and even raise Lazarus from the dead. He had stood with Mary, the mother of Jesus, at the foot of the cross on which Jesus was being crucified, and heard Him say, “Behold, your mother.” From that day on, John would take Mary into his home and care for her. John was close to Jesus. He loved the Lord and was loved by Him. But what John was proclaiming in the opening verses of First John was far more than a knowledge about Jesus the man. He was proclaiming the truth regarding Jesus, the God-Man. The entire letter of First John is based on the foundational principle and reality regarding the incarnation of Jesus. John was not just giving an historical, eye-witness account of Jesus’ birth, life and death. He was proclaiming His deity and His role as the spotless sacrifice for the sins of mankind. There were those in John’s day who denied the deity of Christ. They rejected the idea that He was God come in the flesh. As we will see later on in John’s letter, these people claimed to be Christians and bragged of having a relationship with God, but they denied the Christ. Many viewed themselves as sinless and therefore, in no need of a Savior. But John will make it clear that fellowship with God is impossible without acceptance of His Son as Savior. John had heard Jesus Himself boldly claim, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV). Jesus was NOT just a good man attempting to live a morally exemplary life. He wasn’t just another martyr who had sacrificed His life for a good cause. What John was proclaiming about Jesus was radical and risky. Jesus was the Son of God and through Him and Him alone, man could enjoy a restored relationship with God.

Jesus had told His disciples, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (John 14:10-11 ESV). What John is proclaiming in these opening verses is unbelievable. It sounds more like fantasy than reality. But John believed it whole-heartedly. He proclaimed it boldly and without apology. Because of who Jesus was and what He did, men can be restored to a right relationship with God. They can enjoy fellowship with the God of the universe. The apostle Paul reminds us, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). But there’s more. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11 ESV). We have been reconciled, made right with God. Which is what allows us to enjoy fellowship with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Which should produce in us a joy that is full and complete, lacking in nothing. Jesus Christ, the word of life who gave life to creation, is also the eternal life, God Himself. The Son of God took on human flesh and then took on the sins of man. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV). John was proclaiming what God had long ago prophesied. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6 ESV). It was Jesus’ deity that made possible His sinlessness. It was His humanity that made Him an appropriate sacrifice. It was His death that paid for our sins. It was His resurrection that proved He was who He claimed to be: the sole source of eternal life. Now that is something worth proclaiming.

Day 76 – John 8:1-30

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Not of This World.

John 8:1-30

“You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.” – John 8:23 NLT

Jesus was human. But He was also divine. He was the God-man, perfectly God and perfectly man. And while He was born as a baby just like every other man, and lived His life just like every other human being, He was distinctly different. He was completely sinless. He was perfectly obedient to the will of God, His Father. While He had to undergo temptation just like the rest of us, He never succumbed to it. On the outside, He looked just any other ordinary Jew. There was nothing about His appearance that stood out. In fact, Isaiah, in prophesying about the coming Messiah, said, “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him” (Isaiah 53:2 NLT). But in Jesus’ case, appearances really were deceiving. Because He was anything but ordinary. He was the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior of the world, and the future King of Israel. But to the people of His day, Jesus was an enigma at best and a nuisance at worst. They didn’t understand Him. They couldn’t fathom that He was who He claimed to be. In terms of the Messiah, He wasn’t what they were expecting. The Pharisees seemed to spend all their time trying to trap Him in order to discredit Him. In spite of His teaching, they had little respect for Him. They saw Him as a backwoods radical with no training and no understanding of the Scriptures. Being experts in the Law of Moses, they were constantly trying to expose His ignorance by putting Him in situations where He would forced to decide wrongly. That was their obvious intent when they brought the woman caught in adultery before Jesus. There was a large crowd watching and they wanted to see what Jesus would say when confronted with this delicate legal situation. But once again, Jesus confounds them. He surprises them and sends them packing, but He sends the woman away with a word of forgiveness and a warning to sin no more.

Jesus came offering Himself as a light to illuminate the prevailing darkness. He came to expose sin and provide a way to escape the penalty for sin. The Pharisees were trapped in the darkness despite their knowledge of the Word of God and their belief that they stood righteous before God because of all their religious activities. Jesus said, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is” (John 8:19 NLT). They were blind to the reality of who Jesus was. They couldn’t see Him and they refused to accept Him. They rejected His claims, His teachings, His miracles and His offer of eternal life. And Jesus explained the problem clearly and simply: “You are from below; I am from above” (John 8:23 NLT). That was the issue. They were stuck with their limited, earthly perspective. They were of this world and couldn’t recognize Jesus because He was not of this world. He had been sent by the Father into this world. He was God incarnate – God in human flesh. He was Immanuel – God with us. He could not be explained in human terms. He could not be written off based on human reason and logic.

When the people looked at Jesus, they saw a man, just like them. And He was. But He was so much more. He was God come to earth. He was the Creator of the world choosing to live among His creation. Earlier in his gospel, John reminds us, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness” (John 1:14 NLT). In the days of their ancestors, God would reveal Himself to the Israelites in the form of a pillar of fire or smoke. He would settle on the mountain top accompanied by thunder and lightning. He manifested Himself in powerful displays that were unmistakable and terrifying. They struck fear into the hearts of the people of God. It was obvious when He was with them and it was frighteningly clear when He was not. But with Jesus, the presence and power of God was contained within the body of an ordinary looking man. And while Jesus did extraordinary things, it was hard for the people to get past the packaging, because He appeared to be just like them. But He wasn’t. Jesus said, “You belong to this world; I do not” (John 8:23 NLT).  They would die in their sins, but He was sinless. They would be condemned to a life of darkness, relegated to spend their days on this earth until they died. Jesus would die, but be resurrected and then return to where He was from. Jesus told them, “When you have lifted the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I AM he” (John 8:28 NLT). Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection would be the final proofs of His claim to be the Son of God, the Messiah. He would die, but He would rise again. He would do what no other man had ever done: Live a sinless life. And then He would offer that unblemished life as a substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of all mankind. He would die in our place, so that we might have eternal life. But to take advantage of His gracious gift requires belief. “for unless you believe that I AM who I claim to be, you will die in your sins” (John 8:23 NLT). You can’t judge the validity of Jesus’ claim based on human standards. It won’t make sense. It requires faith – a trust in the claims of Jesus and the Word of God that He was not and is not of this world. He is divine. He is God. He was and is who He claimed to be, and His offer of eternal life stands. It may make no sense. It may seem illogical and impossible, but it’s true. “For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful” (John 8:26 NLT).

Father, You are the one who sent Jesus into the world. You are the one who gave Him His assignment. It was You who sanctioned and blessed His ministry. You are the one who required His sacrificial death on the cross so that we might have a restored relationship with You. You are the one who raised Him from the dead and gave Him new life. And it is You who will send Him back some day. Everything about the life of Jesus is divine and not of this world. And yet, too often we can be guilty of judging Him according to human standards. We overemphasize His humanness and lose sight of His God-ness. He was and is the Son of God. He was more than just a good, moral, humble, wise, and selfless man. He was Your Son sent to accomplish Your will. And He did it perfectly. Thank You. Amen.

Ken Miller

Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org