Letters to the Family of God

Dear Friends.

The story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness has traditionally been part of those churches that observe Lent. Lent is the six-week season that leads up to Easter. One of its purposes is by dent of principle the same as Advent—inward preparation. Advent is preparation for Christmas. Lent is preparation for Easter. I’ve never walked through a season of Lent, but the order chosen for it is purposeful. For example, what proceeded the temptation of Christ was His baptism. It was here Jesus heard God’s voice from heaven saying, this is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)

Immediately and in one sense violently (the word took, as in, the devil took Jesus, is a better translated dragged), Jesus is tested. There is no surprise here. As Christians, the letters of James and First Peter say at the beginning of both, Christians are not to be surprised when tested.

It's similar to our school days. We would learn a new lesson, and then the teacher would say, we will have a test on this at the end of the week to confirm you fully understood it. Jesus was to be tested. The test? Is He going to trust that He is, in fact, God's Son, God's beloved on whom His favor rests? Will He go the way of the cross, which God His Father is showing Him to bring in the Kingdom, rather than the way of the world and devil—no cross?

The testing comes first in the form of a challenge. If you are really God's Son, surely God doesn't want You to be underfed and hungry. You'd be much better off having something to eat.

Jesus replies to the temptation with words from Scripture—Deuteronomy chapter eight. And what Jesus did is parallel Himself with the story of Israel in the wilderness. Jesus is the one who embodies the new exodus. He is the one who will accomplish Salvation for the people of God. Therefore, Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness is like Israel spending 40 years in the wilderness. The difference is during Israel's journey, they were constantly being taught to rely on God's provision but were also constantly grumbling because it wasn't going the way it seemed like it should have done.

Here, the biggest lesson is not what to do when temptation comes. Of course, Jesus' temptation is the blueprint for our resisting temptation. However, we know we do not always resist temptation. When we have failed, what do we do?

The evil one would do anything to keep our eyes off Jesus. Therefore, the biggest lesson is, Jesus is the only one who is succeeding where Israel failed, Adam failed, and where we have and will fail. A large piece of the message of Matthew's gospel, as with so much of the New Testament, bears this out.

Jesus' reply to the devil from Deuteronomy emphasizes His complete trust in God, His Father. A trust, which we see going all the way through His life, to the moment where, on the cross itself, He cries out in pain, My God, why did you abandon me? But He still cries to God! The God of Psalm 22. Jesus' whole life was utterly dependent on God, and that dependence was something that was tested to the limit in the wilderness.

So, as Christians, we read the story of Jesus' test in the wilderness and look to this as the standard for our own testing. There is an old Jewish saying, my child if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for testing. In other words, do not think you can walk this Christian pilgrimage without any testing, without any difficulty, without any times when you find yourself saying, maybe I made a mistake. Maybe it's not true after all. Maybe there isn't a God. Maybe He doesn't love me? There are going to be times when, like Jesus, we face exactly that sort of test.

And if my own experience means anything, the testing often gets increasingly difficult as we go on. We meet one challenge, and as happened with Jesus, the reward for passing one test is you get another test and another. People shouted at Him, plotted against Him, and tested Him whenever He proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Until, as Matthew’s Gospel makes clear, all the testing converges as He hangs on the cross. There, the crowds mocked Jesus with the same words and intent as the devil. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross, and then we will believe you.

Matthew’s answer is like thunder. It is because Jesus is the Son of God that He must stay on the cross and die.

I am fresh off my own moment of temptation. The root of it was, do I believe what Jesus said? Whether I passed or failed, please keep this in mind. Only one person was fully led by the Spirit and, at the same time, always fully pleasing to God. He took the worst temptation known and yet was without sin. This person is Jesus, and He is alive and stands before His Father’s throne on our/my behalf. He is presenting before Father His perfect record of obedience, His perfect trust in His Father, and His perfect record of never giving in to temptation as if it was ours.

Hallelujah what a Savior!