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Matthew 4:12-25
INTRODUCTION:
If you recall, over the past few weeks, as we worked our way through the first few chapters of Matthew’s gospel, Matthew has taken pains to present Jesus as the One who fills up all of Scripture. And one of the ways Jesus does so is by coming as the fullness of all that Israel was to be. In addition to coming as the fullness of Israel, Jesus also comes as the fullness of all that God Himself would be to His people and what is meant by Immanuel, God with us. So, in Christ, the fullness of God and the fullness of Israel come forth in a single man—the God-man, Jesus Christ.
Matthew begins his gospel by tracing Jesus’ genealogy through Abraham, King David, and the exile. In chapter 2, like Israel, Jesus spends his infancy in Egypt before being called out as a Son. In chapter 3, Jesus is baptized—passing through the waters of judgment, which points to Israel’s Exodus through the Red Sea. In the first half of chapter 4, Jesus does his stint in the wilderness, tested 40 days, coinciding with Israel’s 40 years of testing in the wilderness before entering the promise land.
Now, as Jesus begins his ministry, Matthew continues to link Jesus to these two primary fulfillments—Jesus as the True Israel, and Jesus as God/Yahweh come in the flesh.
WHY GALILEE?
Which brings us to Why Galilee? While Galilee is referenced often in the New Testament, it’s not so common in the Old Testament, showing up a mere 6 times in 4 contexts.
Galilee first shows up in the book of Joshua in reference to the first City of Refuge, Kedesh, in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali. The second context is when Solomon gifts Hiram, the king of Tyre 20 cities in the land of Galilee, of which the king of Tyre is very displeased. The third context is that of exile; Galilee is the first of lands of Israel to go into exile; as such, it is fitting that the gospel would first go forth from Galilee. The fourth context is quoted from Isaiah 9 in our passage here.
Verse 12: Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
THE LIGHT AND LOCALE OF THE KINGDOM
The context of Isaiah 9 is that of exile and darkness. As we have walked through our Wednesday night study, Finding Jesus in the Old Testament, you’ll recall that exile is not so much a physical location as it is a spiritual location. Exile is that of being further and further from God and His dwelling. The further people are from God, the further they are from Light. To be in exile is to dwell in darkness, indeed the shadow of death.
Something to take note of: the exile is somewhat a reversal of Joshua leading the people of Israel in to conquer the land and drive out its inhabitants. In fact, the last king of Israel is Hoshea, which is a form of Joshua. But rather than this Joshua and the people of Israel driving the idolatrous nations out of the land, God appoints ruthless nations to drive Israel and her idolatrous king out of the land of promise.
The land would thus be called Galilee of the nationsbecause foreign kings resettled the land with peoples from other nations. Even when Israel returns from exile, much of the land is a melting pot of people groups, especially around the region of Galilee.
Israel’s exile displayed God’s contempt—His displeasure—for what she had become. Israel would be like a divorced adulterous wife who was cast aside. In exile, she would bear the shame of her reproach. And even after being restored to the land, Israel would endure the shame of foreign occupation, residing in the shadow of peoples who didn’t know their God. But here’s the thing. Most of the people of Israel didn’t truly know the God of Israel either.
ROLLED AWAY
This takes us to the meaning of Galilee, which in Hebrew is pronounced Galil, the root word being galal, which means to roll away. Used only 18 times in the whole Old Testament, it primarily refers to that of either rolling large stones over or away from the mouth of an entrance, or that of rolling away reproach.
When Joshua and Israel cross over the Jordan river, before they begin driving out the nations, the Lord has the people circumcised a second time. I don’t have time to explain the significance of this, other than to say, once the whole nation’s circumcision was complete and their wounds healed, the Lord says to Joshua, “Today, I have galal, I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you”—the reproach of their 400 plus years of bondage.
But this Light that dawns in Galilee, is the Light that rolls away the darkness, rolling away not only the reproach of Israel but the nations, because it is this Light that sets people free from the most enslaving bondage ever—our sin and alienation.
This word for “roll” even shows up in Matthews quoted passage of Isaiah 9 in a unique way, in the idea of a coming conqueror who would crush the oppressors. Every warrior’s sandal in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. The victory is portrayed by garments rolled in blood, and such a victory is what’s needed to ultimately roll away the reproach of God’s people.
This victor is described in the very next verses—which you’re likely familiar with:
For to us a child is born, and to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
This Light is none other than the One who sits on David’s throne. But he’s more than that; the text is clear that it is Mighty God himself who sits on the throne of David. How can that possibly be? Of course, that’s the question Jesus poses to his adversaries. How is it that David calls this Son, Lord? Well, it is because Jesus is the fullness of Israel and God both at the same time.
Even in our text we are reminded of the rivalry even within Israel. Zebulun and Naphtali are sons of Jacob from two different mothers. In fact, Naphtali’s name means to wrestle and prevail.
Rachel and Leah both bore a different kind of reproach, a different kind of shame. Leah was unloved, and Rachel was barren. But they both sought to resolve this reproach through childbearing, bringing forth a son. I could take time to recount the story for you, but suffice it to say, there is but one Son who is able to roll away your reproach and remove your shame, and that’s God’s very own Son, Jesus.
APPLICATION:
O the ways you and I seek to roll away our reproach through rivalry—competing with others, perhaps vicariously through our kids, touting our kids’ achievements. And there’s certainly godly reasons to recognize such achievements. But when it becomes a matter of rivalry, no amount of victory will ever suffice—be it acquiring added adolescence, assets, accolades, affections, or accomplishments.
Only this despised Galilean Son who took on our reproach by having his garment rolled in blood can roll away our reproach, because He alone has conquered our greatest rivals: sin, death, and the devil.
Our reproach is rolled away when we are united with him through faith—a faith that, as Jesus preached, repents. In Jesus, the Kingdom has come at last, because the Light of God has broken into the darkness of our fallen condition. And this Light has indeed gone forth to Galilee of the nations, referring to all those people groups brought into the region due to Israel’s exile. The Light of Christ has dawned even among the nations.
THE APPOINTED AGENTS OF THE KINGDOM
That’s the Light and Locale of the Kingdom. Next, we look at the Appointed Agents of the Kingdom, verses 18-22.
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw tow brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and Hohn his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Here, Jesus is calling forth the first four of what will be twelve disciples. Why twelve? Because Jesus is calling a new twelve, raising up a New Israel. But there’s something interesting, at least concerning these first four disciples, and that is: they’re fishermen.
Now, previously, the people of Israel, at least early on, were made up of what primary occupation? Shepherds. So, why now, rather than calling shepherds, is there a focus on fishermen?
Without at all diminishing the importance of the shepherding role of the church, which is still every bit as vital, Israel’s initial role was not to hunt and fish for people, but to shepherd the ones born to them.
I believe it’s right to say that the first Israel’s mission was primarily one of “come and see,” as well as raising up the offspring born to them in the ways of the Lord. In this, the Kingdom of God would expand beyond the borders of Palestine as the outside world looked on at the glory of Israel. We see this in the Queen of Sheba coming from afar to behold Solomon and all his glory.
The problem is that Israel never remained holy, that is, set apart from the nations, but rather sought to be like the nations around them. So much for “come and see.” Israel was the nation enamored by their neighbors, and as such, conformed to the world, and thus they were sent into exile.
In fact, we looked at this closely as we walked through the first half of the Book of Jeremiah. Jesus makes a very clear allusion to Jeremiah 16:16, in that he would make his disciples fishers of men. To capture the context:
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but “As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
(And here it is.)
Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
God sent foreign peoples to hunt and fish for the people of Israel to haul them off into exile. Now, the Lord is raising up fishers to bring them back, taking captives for Christ.
The physical return from exile was at best a partial return because the people still dwelt in darkness. They are still spiritually exiled from God. And the spiritual matters far more than the physical. “Flesh and blood,” as Paul would say, “can’t inherit the Kingdom of God.” Yet, how often we tend to be far more concerned with the physical that will soon perish.
These disciples are going to fish for lost souls. Jesus is going to use these men as his agents to spread the net of the gospel far and wide. But get this; there isn’t some hope that one day these disciples, after enough training, might become fishers of men. The text says, Jesus himself is going to make them fishers of men.
EFFECTIVE CALL OF JESUS
Notice also the effectual call of Jesus, and the disciples’ decisive obedience. When Jesus commanded, “Follow me,” the disciples left everything.
What’s important to note, is that rabbis did not call disciples. Rather, students sought out rabbis. In fact, it would be beneath a Rabbi to have to round up his own students. “If I’m so great, students should seek me!” A rabbi who has to call his own must not have very much clout.
O the humility of our great Teacher, our Lord, who takes the initiative. Because if he didn’t, none would be discipled and none would be saved. My family read Psalm 14 the other night, and Scripture’s pretty clear. None seek after God. All have turned aside.
Why? Well, we love John 3:16, but seldom refer to what follows in John 3:19. The verdict of why none truly seek after God is because people love darkness rather than light. Because if they came into the light, the wickedness of their works would be exposed, and who wants that?
Only those transformed by the Spirit, who testifies to us that our wicked works of the past are now covered in the righteous garment of Christ that was rolled in his own blood.
DECISIVE OBEDIENCE OF HIS DISCIPLES
When Jesus calls, his disciples immediately left everything to follow this humble rabbi. And note, Jesus doesn’t call them to follow God, or to walk closer with God, or even to live a more godly life. The discipleship call isn’t to make God your priority. This God has a face. Jesus calls disciples to follow him. And whoever doesn’t renounce all that he has, including your loved ones, Jesus says, isn’t worthy of him.
These fishermen left everything to follow Jesus. They left their employment which put bread and fish on their families’ tables. They even left their families.
In fact, they didn’t wait until they were finished with the day’s work. James and John were in the process of mending their nets and left in the middle of it, leaving their father to pick up the slack.
APPLICATION:
The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t waiting for you to get your finances in order. It isn’t waiting for you to walk your daughter down the aisle. It isn’t waiting for anything you might have on your plate, no matter how godly it may be. There is but one true priority, and that is following Jesus, whatever the cost. There is nothing… nothing at all that you can lay aside for the kingdom of heaven, that when all is said and done, you’ll regret.
I believe the missionary Jim Elliot captures it beautifully. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Jim Elliot was a fisher of men, seeking to take the gospel to unreached peoples in the jungles of Ecuador. Jim and four others went fishing for men and were welcomed by the spears of those men. His wife Elzabeth would later take the gospel to the very people who killed her husband.
They got it. Do we? What loyalties are dividing your affections, your attention, your agendas? Are you seeking to sustain some little kingdom here that will soon perish. The Lord has called for many fishers.
I don’t know exactly what that looks like for you. You’ll have to work that out yourself. What I do know is that I don’t want to stand before this Galilean who offered to roll away my reproach and have to explain how other priorities were just a bit more important than his calling on my life.
As our gospel meditation read by Caleb earlier reminded us: How slow we are to sell all we have to buy him who sold all he had… and himself too… to buy us. O Lord, by your gracious Spirit, help us overcome such apathy.
THE MISSION AND MINISTRY OF THE KINGDOM
Last section: the Mission and Ministry of the Kingdom. Verses 23-25.
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
These three verses serve somewhat as a summary of Jesus’ mission and ministry, but don’t discount them as if there’s little to unpack in this summary. Because of time constraints, you’ll have to do some of that yourself. To help you along, let me point out a couple of things.
This summary is a sort of demonstration of the Great Commission at the front end of Matthew’s gospel and beginning of Jesus’ ministry. That’s the goal of preaching, teaching, and gospel works—to make and be disciples.
We proclaim the gospel, that people might receive the good news and come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. We teach all that Jesus has done and commands that people might grow in discipleship. And we minister to others in the love of the gospel; that’s not only being a disciple; that’s displaying the work of the gospel in our very lives.
To leave out any of these three is to neglect the mission of the church. And notice, it’s in these three practices together that the fame of Jesus spreads. But sadly, many congregations are happy to focus on one or two of these while setting the others aside.
For example: most liberal churches fall off on the side of exalting that of ministering the works of the gospel, all the while neglecting the proclamation and teaching of the gospel. We know what that leads to—a type of humanism, a glory in man that doesn’t glory in God. Nor does it glorify God.
O such works may be said to be in the name of Jesus. But to disregard Jesus’ Word completely misses the goal of the works. Such is a Christ-less gospel that fails to save, and merely provides for a supposedly better life here in this fallen world before being consigned to hell.
You and I, however, more likely run the risk of exalting the preaching and teaching of the gospel, while setting aside the ministry of the gospel. Yes, preaching and teaching are part of ministering to others, but you know what I mean. To fail to do the works of the gospel is to fail to give people a living witness of the gospel.
PORTRAIT OF THE GOSPEL
Here’s what I mean. Jesus came not only preaching and teaching about the kingdom, he gave them a portrait of what the kingdom looks like by healing every disease and affliction. While every ailment and hardship is not necessarily due to a particular sin, they are an effect of sin in general. And Jesus came to reverse the Fall’s curse.
Sickness and pain, physical handicaps various forms of oppression, be it mental or demonic, are all a portrait of the ugliness of sin—the havoc wreaked on the world due to our rebellion and being banished from God who is our Tree of Life.
The healing Jesus brings is a restoration of creation in miniature, the fullness of which comes at his return when he brings the New Creation. It’s a testimony that the Old is passing away and the New has indeed come.
PLUNDERING THE ENEMY
That’s what I think is going on with the casting out of demons.
Joshua and Israel marched into the land to drive out the inhabitants, who would easily be recognized as the seed or offspring of the Serpent. Then Joshua and his army would plunder their goods. Now, I don’t have time to trace this out, but there’s a cosmic spiritual battle taking place, to which Joshua and the driving out the inhabitants merely point.
Suffice it to say, Jesus has come as the greater Joshua to bind up the strong man, the devil, and to plunder his house. Jesus has come to drive out not peoples, but Satan’s influence among his people, which is exactly what the sword of the gospel accomplishes.
Now, Jesus, in part, bound Satan with his victory over the wilderness temptations. As such, the kingdom of God is advancing in his early ministry. But it’s not until the cross when the strong man is fully bound, allowing the fullness of the devil’s house—all nations—to be plundered. Instead of plundering material goods, however, this new Joshua and his army of disciples are plundering living souls for the kingdom.
APPLICATION
You and I likely aren’t supernaturally healing every physical ailment, affliction, form of oppression, pain and heartache. But don’t think this ministry doesn’t apply to you and me. We seek not only to announce the good news, but to offer a portrait in miniature of resurrection restoration to the degree we are able.
Jesus’ mighty works bore witness to his unique authority and power as the divine Son of God and the inbreaking of his kingdom. Our frail works of care and concern for one’s temporary ailments here in this fallen world are a witness of our heartbreak over the effects of sin and our hope in the final realization of Christ’s kingdom and the resurrection life in the age to come.
CONCLUSION
In Christ, our greatest disease and affliction has been healed by Jesus himself taking on our infirmities and enduring the greatest of all afflictions, the poured out wrath of God in our place.
But on the third day, the stone was rolled away, along with all the reproach Christ bore for us. After the resurrection, Jesus’ disciples met him in none other than Galilee on the mountain Jesus had directed them. And when they saw the fullness of his reproach rolled away… they worshiped him.
We are going to pray, and then we’ll continue worshiping him in our partaking of the Lord’s Supper.
INTRODUCTION: Matthew 4:8-11
We’re wrapping up our look at the three-fold temptation of Christ. The devil sought to tempt our Lord as Prophet, Priest, and King. Today, we’re looking at the temptation regarding Jesus’ kingship.
We’ve also considered these temptations in light of their immediate nature—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Again, I want to remind us that although one of each of these is highlighted in each temptation, all three show up in almost, if not every, sin. In our passage today, Satan seeks to tempt Jesus not only in regards to his kingship but with the lust of the eyes.
READ: (Matthew 4:8-11)
KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD AND THEIR GLORY:
First, we need to deal with this location, “a very high mountain.” Now, I’m afraid I might lose some of you who hold to a strict literal interpretation of Scripture, but I don’t think the devil necessarily took Jesus up any specific mountain, though he may have. More specifically, there isn’t a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world can be seen. And if we borrow from Luke’s account, the devil shows all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus in a moment of time.
This, being shown all the kingdoms of the world, I take to mean, not just the kingdoms of 1st century B.C., but of all time, including the kingdoms of our day.
Why is this important? For one, the devil is seeking to tempt Jesus with something actually tempt-able, something supposedly worth Jesus’ attention. This is the Son of God, and you’re going to offer him tiny little Roman occupied Jerusalem. No thanks! The devil is seeking to entice Jesus with something that might possibly seem enticing.
So, consider this. You and I live in the most materially prosperous kingdom to date. And the devil says, you can have, not only all of this, not only all of the Middle East, but all of Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America, I’ll even throw in Antarctica (though no one likely has a kingdom there, except possibly some Emperor penguins).
That’s the bargaining chip the devil is using here. And before you think, it’s not the devils to offer, there is a sense in which God has, for His own wise purposes, granted Satan an authority—albeit limited—over this fallen world. Hold that thought.
The second reason for this “very high mountain” is because it should remind us of heavenly Zion, along with the other great mountains of Israel’s history. God reigns from Zion; He reigns from on high. If we recall the temptation in the Garden, and that garden sanctuary being set on a high mountain with the 4 rivers flowing down it, dividing the four corners of the earth, there was only One person set above Adam, and that was God Himself. Adam was given dominion over EVERYTHING! Adam was to reign as king… with one exception. Adam’s kingship would never surpass God’s but would be subservient to God.
I use the term “subservient” deliberately, though I guess I could use “submissive” or “subject to” or even “subordinate” and likely accomplish the same bristling within our prideful hearts. We don’t like those terms, at least not if they are in reference to our position. And that’s exactly what Adam was dissatisfied with.
Satan’s temptation in the Garden was this: You really think God set you over all the kingdoms of the world, do you? You’re really no more than a slave. So far as you are under God’s authority, you actually reign over nothing at all! And with that, the seed of discontentment is planted, and in no time, it gives birth to sin.
As image-bearers, we were created to rule—to have dominion and authority over all creation—but not outright, but rather, as a reflection of the perfect Ruler, God Himself.
In fact, God gives us a picture of what such governance looks like on Day 4 of creation when he placed the luminaries in the heavens to rule the day and the night. The greater light was to rule the day, and the lesser light was to rule the night. Now, the words “sun” and “moon” aren’t in the text of Genesis, but that’s because the picture points to something more significant. How does the moon shine forth its light at night? It reflects the sun. That is how Adam, and I would argue how all of humanity, was supposed to reign on earth.
Created in God’s likeness, Adam was appointed a kingdom to govern, but only so far as he was a reflection of God’s righteous rule. As soon Adam disobeyed by eating from the forbidden tree, Adam’s governance no longer reflected God’s righteous reign. And as such, Adam was removed from his lofty position.
Adam and Eve weren’t content to reign over the kingdoms of the earth, they wanted to reign over heaven too. They desired God’s throne. That was the vision shown to their mind’s eye. Eve saw that the tree was good for food and a delight to the eyes. But due to a higher authority, this tree had been withheld, and it had been withheld for that purpose, to remind them that there was indeed an authority greater than theirs. With the lust of the eyes, the serpent showed Eve that she could perhaps have more; she could have what was God’s.
You see, at its core, every temptation is a spiritual temptation that takes place within the innermost soul of the person, which is why Satan didn’t have to take Jesus up a physical mountain to physically show him the kingdoms. He needed to show Jesus the imaginative possibilities of “What if?”
These temptations from the Enemy were supernatural temptations which Jesus had to conquer in the weakness of his hunger-stricken flesh. Think how hungry you are. Wouldn’t you like to satisfy it? Imagine, what if your Father let you fall to the ground, would you question His love?
Perhaps your Father won’t truly give you the throne. And even if He did, you’d still be second in command. I’m offering to give it to you now. Why wait?
“All these I will give you, if you will only fall down and worship me.”
WORSHIPING THE ENEMY:
Those words might seem pretty direct. But it’s helpful to remember, we are receiving a concise retelling of the events. It takes but a minute to read the full account of these three temptations, but I think it’s fair to say that the temptation lasted longer than a minute. So again, what do the words mean, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Do you think that makes it easier to resist the temptations of the enemy when he is that direct? … that giving into to temptation is an act of falling down at the serpent’s feet and worshiping him? Well, let me make it easy for you. Every time we give into temptation, that is exactly what we are doing. We don’t give into temptation as an act of worship to God but to the evil one who deceives us into questioning God’s goodness.
I would even argue that you and I know very well what sin is and what it isn’t. O we may deny it. We may even seek to justify our sin as not being sin. But planted deep inside the fabric of our being, we know. It’s embedded in us as image-bearers, even as corrupt as that image may be.
We all know that there is a God, and that includes even the most devout atheist. And we all know that we live out our lives before Him. And at every instance we have an opportunity to trust His good design—loving Him and in turn, loving our neighbor well—or trusting in the lies of the serpent that to disobey God will provide something better. Our eyes see something desirable that isn’t ours, and we want it.
ILLUSTRATION: DAVID AND BATHSHEBA:
Take King David. He saw a beautiful woman on the rooftop bathing, and he imagined, “she could be mine.” He inquires about the woman, and finds out that Bathsheba is someone else’s wife, Uriah the Hittite. Well, what’s the temptation? Why should Uriah be the one to have her? I’m king. Not Uriah. Why should this one woman be withheld from me? That same thought process is what led Adam and Eve to eat. And so, David sent messengers and took her anyway. And after having her, he sends her back.
Notice that all three aspects of temptation are involved here. The lust of the flesh: it’s not only natural but godly for man to be attracted to woman and woman to man. It’s a godly desire for a man and a woman to be intimate with one another. God created us as fleshly creatures to enjoy such things to His glory. BUT, get this, such desires, such pleasures, such good gifts from God are not to be God. So, there is an aspect of the lust of the flesh involved.
We already looked at the lust of the eyes. David saw her and imagined she could be his. He could have her, even if just for a night. The lust of the eyes is not so much the physical eyes, but the mind’s eye, whether you physically see something, or hear about it, or even contemplate the possibility of something. It’s the constant want for more, never content.
Then there’s the boastful pride of life. Why shouldn’t she be mine. Who’s to withhold her from me. I want her just once to show that Uriah doesn’t have one up on me, but I have one up on him. I mean seriously, is Uriah a better man than me?
Well, David, yes, he was. But not because he had a beautiful woman as his wife. But because he sought to honor you and his fellow soldiers, even while you dishonored him, even to the point of putting him to death by the enemy’s sword to cover up your own evil.
And before you think I’m coming down too hard on David, our giving into temptation looks the same. O it might not be as graphic, but I bet, if we traced out the root of the issue, even in regard to the so-called smaller sins, it would look just as hideous. You see, when we give into the lust of the flesh, we are saying to God, I’m not satisfied with what You have given me. I think I deserve more than You’ve given my neighbor.
O Lord, how often the lust of the eyes has led me to be discontent with the provisions You have given me—failing to recognize the billions of image-bearers You have placed on this vast globe with sufficient material treasure for all to enjoy—and yet how often I long for that which you have graciously given to another, forgetting that you like to give them good gifts too. I know, at its core, my lust after another’s treasure is because I haven’t made you my ultimate treasure—I haven’t found my rest, my contentment, my satisfaction in You.
Do you realize that if what God has given you wasn’t enough, He would have given you even more. This is actually how the Lord rebukes David: All of this I had given you, and the Lord names some of His good blessings to David, and then he adds, and if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
Now, in case some of you might be thinking, “Well look at how much God gave David. I mean, He gave David a kingdom and all that comes with it!” Well, if that’s the case, then it proves the point. Because there will always be someone who has more than you. And when you think you’ve finally reached the top, there’s still God.
The lust of the eyes is insatiable. And when you and I give into those seeds of discontentment that the enemy seeks to sow, we are, in a very real sense, bowing down and worshiping him, and not the God who made us, not the Lord who laid down his life for us.
WORSHIPING AND SERVING GOD ALONE:
Verse 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.’”
It’s helpful to recall that Jesus was born king. Satan, the ruler of this world holds no actual authority over Jesus. And as a reminder, in the Garden, the serpent held no actual authority over Adam. Adam allowed the snake to seize authority when he succumbed to the serpent’s deception.
This temptation of offering the kingdoms of the world to the Son, the heir of the true throne, strikes right at his office of King. Jesus doesn’t need to receive a kingdom from Satan. Jesus is King of all creation, all things have been created through him and for him. Yet, at the same time, as a man, the full manifestation of his kingdom is not yet.
[There is a patience and longsuffering Jesus must endure before he receives the throne. We could consider the account of Jacob in comparison to Joseph (or even David).]
Jesus didn’t come to receive a worldly kingdom, though his kingship certainly includes all the earth. Jesus himself declares that his kingdom is not of this world. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world in its origin, meaning his kingdom doesn’t derive from any creature, whether that be man or Satan.
And Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world in its nature, because the kingdoms of the earth are not at all what Jesus’ kingdom is about. Why? Because they are focused on the wrong glory. They are fixated on the glory of man, thus lacking the glory of God.
Satan could show him all the kingdoms of the world, but as Isaiah 40 says, they are but a drop in a bucket, accounted as nothing, and less than nothing. And what is Isaiah comparing the nations of the world to? In comparison to God Himself. Jesus won’t bow to Satan or give into anything Satan might have to offer, because Jesus, the incarnate Son, the God-man worships his Father.
The Son of God doesn’t give into the lust of the eyes because the Son never seeks his own gain, advantage, or glory, but seeks only to honor and glorify his Father—because his Father is EVERYTHING to him! There’s nothing to truly tempt Jesus with because nothing remotely compares to the treasure Jesus has found his satisfaction in, in the person of his Father.
And the same is true for you and me when we recognize the infinite treasure we have in Christ. Sadly, we have short memories and need to be reminded week-after-week, day-after-day, hour-by-hour. Because as distracted individuals, we quickly lay our eyes on another possible treasure that somehow supposedly might compete with what God has graciously given us, all the while forgetting the infinite treasure we have in Christ. In Christ, we are heirs of absolutely everything good! But most of all we have him; he is our infinite treasure.
Jesus worshiped his Father, and sought only to serve his Father in every facet of his life, including how he would reign as King, forever submissive to his Father’s authority and will.
Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13, which is the passage Silas read for us, known as the Shema. Something to note regarding this passage is its monotheistic emphasis, its emphasis that God is one.
In fact, if by chance you question the importance of knowing a book like Deuteronomy, realize that all three quotes Jesus uses to combat the enemy’s temptations come from Deuteronomy 6-8. We would do well to take a cue from Jesus and know this book (that is, if conformity to Jesus is important to us.)
The two quotes form Deuteronomy 6, not to put the Lord your God to the test, and worship the Lord alone, fall on the heels of the greatest commandment, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Jesus never put his Father to the test, nor did Jesus worship anyone other than his Father, specifically because he indeed loves his Father with all his heart, soul, and strength. Jesus didn’t need to use his strength to fight off the devil; he used all his might to love his Father, and that is what led to his victory over these temptations. And that is the one thing that will lead you and me to victory over temptation too.
You see, sin is an act of worship, an act of love. It is an act of misplaced worship and misplaced affections. But Jesus’ affections were always fixed on his Father. His worship was always fixed on his Father.
And so long as that was the case, no temptation stood a chance against him, even in the darkest moments leading up to and during his crucifixion. Why does Jesus go to the cross? Well, one of my favorite answers to that question comes from John 14:31, so that the world may know that I love the Father.
OUR CONQUERING KING:
Verse 11: Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Jesus used his kingly office to do what Adam should have. He told the serpent to, “Be gone.” The enemy had no ground for an accusation against Jesus, no authority on which to stand because Jesus refused to entertain the enemy’s temptations. And thus, the testimony of the voice from heaven, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” is validated.
But what about the rest of us who had failed to pass this test. Certainly, the enemy has ground for accusation against us. I mean, we’re not Jesus. We can’t simply tell the enemy to, “Be gone.” Well, I don’t think Jesus’ authoritative command to the devil is necessarily as prescriptive for us as much as it shows the results of our resisting temptation. As James writes, resist the devil and he will flee.
But even more so, it shows us what our King has accomplished on our behalf. Jesus has conquered our enemy. It’s not just that the enemy had no grounds for a charge against Jesus who resisted temptation perfectly; the enemy actually doesn’t have grounds for a charge against you either, that is, if you are in Christ. Because in our union with Christ, the full penalty for our sin has been paid for at the cross. Every temptation has been overcome. No one is able to bring a single charge against God’s elect in Christ (Romans 8:31-34).
As King, Jesus conquered, not only temptation, but our greatest adversary, the serpent.
CONCLUSION:
Jesus came as the True King over the only kingdom that ultimately matters, the only kingdom that will endure—the Kingdom of God. And as King, he laid down his life for his subjects, calling us to lay down our arms of hostility and submit to his kingship.
The application for us is to stop seeking to build your own kingdom here, promoting your own glory that will soon fade and be dissolved along with the rest of the kingdoms of this world. To serve any other king than King Jesus is to worship and serve the king’s enemy the devil.
Adam, discontent with his appointment as king over paradise, was banished to a domain of thorns and thistles. As such, King Jesus would in turn bear a crown of thorns. David, discontent with receiving the domain of his enemy Saul, secretly lay naked with another man’s wife, bringing shame on his kingship. Jesus would, therefore, go to the cross stripped naked, bearing the shame of every failed king before him.
Jesus would humble himself to such amazing depths because what mattered most to our humble King was not the extent of his kingship, but who he was to represent with that kingship—how he used such to honor his Father, exalting his Father as King. And for this reason, God the Father has seated him, our Lord Jesus, at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
INTRODUCTION: Matthew 4:5-7
We continue our study of the temptations of Christ this morning through the lens of Jesus’ offices of prophet, priest, and king. Perhaps we could ask, why study Jesus’ temptations in this manner. Perhaps you’ve noticed, Luke orders these temptations differently. For Luke, the temptation of Jesus throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple is listed as the third temptation, not the second as recorded here in Matthew.
So, why the difference in the order? Well, it’s helpful to remember that the biblical authors are much more concerned with painting a theological portrait for you and me, more than they are with recording the details in chronological order. It’s not that chronology isn’t important; it just takes a back seat to what is most important, and that is displaying to us who this Jesus is.
Luke follows what I would refer to as the progression of sin as recorded in 1 John 2: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. This is also the order in which we see sin progress in the garden in Genesis 3:6, when Eve saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and would make her wise like God. If we were studying Jesus’ temptations in the Gospel of Luke, I would likely focus more on that aspect.
But we’re in Matthew, and Matthew has ordered these temptations in the order of Christ’s offices. Order? You ask. Is there an order to Christ’s offices? I think there is.
We briefly looked at Hebrews last week which also records Jesus’ offices in the order of prophet, priest, and king. Even as we consider the gospel accounts, the order is pretty clear. Jesus comes to communicate God to us — Prophet. Then he offers his sacrifice for sin — Priest. And now he reigns as exalted King. Certainly, all three aspects run throughout the whole of Jesus’ ministry. At the same time, there is an emphasis we should be aware of.
This order of office also shows up within the nation of Israel, and I would argue, it’s found in the order of creation as well. Adam is first established as a prophet, then priest, and only then as king.
In fact, these roles coalesce into one, as to what all humanity was created to be. Which is why we’re going through these temptations and roles in this fashion. Because it’s at the very heart of what the enemy seeks to attack. In fact, these roles are at the core of what it means for us to be image bearers. So, let’s jump in.
READ (Matthew 4:5-7)
WHY THE TEMPLE
So, why the temple? Well, for one, the devil knows Jesus came not only as the True Prophet, but also as the True High-Priest, and the True King. He only needs Jesus to falter in just one of these three interconnected offices, and he wins. So, here at the temple, it’s obvious, the enemy has Jesus’ priestly office in mind.
Another thing Satan is seeking to do is raise the stakes. O he continues to ask the question, “if you are the Son of God,” and notice the definite article “the.” If you are the true Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, and keep your foot from striking a stone.”
But Satan is also raising the stakes in tempting Jesus to prove that God truly dwells here. I mean, this is His house, and the city that is called by His name. If God supposedly dwells here, I know how we can find out for sure! Throw yourself down! Let’s see if his angels will rescue you. If they do, I’ll believe. Of course, we know, as does the Serpent, that should Jesus have listened to this snake, whether the angels rescued him or not, the Serpent wins.
But Jesus’ rebukes his enemy, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”
What is perhaps most often pointed out in this passage on the Temptations of Jesus is that Jesus fights off temptation with Scripture. And it’s important for you to have your sword—the Word of God—ready to fight off the enemy’s attacks. But get this; the enemy knows Scripture too.
But it’s not enough to know the words. You need to know what they mean, what’s the context, what’s the author’s intent. You can’t claim a promise out of the Bible that is ripped from what God intends by it. That’s not resting on the promises of God. That’s an attempt at manipulation. That, loved ones, is a form of putting God to the test!
Do you truly care about what God wants this Word to do in you? Or are you more concerned with using this Word, merely as a means to gain what you want in the moment. O the abuses of Scripture for hopeful worldly gain.
Consider Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Instead of having it posted at the gym, O you got this! Put those words in front of your plate at the dinner table for the next meal you’re not all that fond of. Or post it on your dash for when you’re stuck in rush hour traffic. Or on the back of the person in front of you while you’re waiting in a long slow line. Excuse me sir, could I trouble you to wear this tiny post it on your back! And you just stick it to their sweater.
[Or maybe call your bank and have them print it at the top of the balance of your depleted account or foreclosure notice.]
Or when you receive that health diagnosis—yours or someone close to you— and it’s not looking good. But Lord, I trust you, and I know the true miracle is not some physical healing, though I know you’re perfectly capable. The true miracle is that you would bring a rebel like me into your presence, into your family, and set me at your banquet table.
Whatever disappointments, whatever trials you have appointed for me in this age, in this season, I can endure them solely because my hope is not in this world or anything this world has to offer, but in you. And I know you will bring me home, to your house in peace.
Jesus refused to put his Father to the test, by seeking to force his Father’s hand. His Father didn’t have to do something more to prove His love to His Son. The Son already knew. And if you’re a believer, it’s because you know. God has already proved His love for you with the cross. To ask Him to prove His love beyond that, as if the cross is not enough, is to put Him to the test, asking Him to prove what He has already in the greatest display possible. What greater test could he prove it by?
GUARDING THE BODY PREPARED
Satan quotes from Psalm 91, which is a psalm of God’s promise to hold fast those who have made the Lord their dwelling place, their refuge. Where did the people dwell with God? In the Holy City, at the temple, which is why the enemy took Jesus to the temple for this particular temptation.
The verse immediately before the one Satan quotes says of such a person, no evil shall befall you, no plague shall come near your tent. The idea of God’s people avoiding trials and tribulations has gained much traction because of poor interpretations of verses like this one. Which is why it is so important that we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, and not make it mean whatever we want it to mean.
First, who fits this verse better than anyone? If anyone has made the Lord his shelter and refuge, it’s Jesus, and it’s Jesus as a man! And yet, the greatest evil ever encountered by a human being fell upon him, at the cross. The plagues fell on the tent of Jesus’ own body, the body knitted together in his mother’s womb, the very body God himself had prepared for this purpose. So, whatever this verse means, it doesn’t mean no physical harm will come to his person.
Jesus doesn’t strike his foot against a stone… but against an iron spike that secured his feet to the cross. But in doing so, Jesus fulfilled verse 13 of Psalm 91, which is the very next verse after the Serpent’s citation, “You will tread adders and trample serpents underfoot.”
Satan sought to tempt Jesus, the most humble person ever to walk the planet, with the boastful pride of life—and I pray I never cease to be amazed at Jesus’ humility—in not having even an ounce of that, “I’ll show you,” attitude. Because if I had Jesus’ power, that’s exactly where I’d abuse it first.
To put God to the test, saying, “Prove your love to me by doing this my way,” is about as far away as you and I can get from making God our dwelling place and refuge. Instead, testing God is an act of rebellion, putting ourselves in His place.
So, how does this apply to Jesus’ priesthood? Well, Jesus’ was tested to make his sacrifice here and now, rather than following his Father’s perfect plan. If you recall throughout our study in the gospel of John, “Jesus’ time had not yet come.” There was an appointed time for Jesus’ sacrifice, a time and a place for this body God had prepared, and it wasn’t now.
And catch this; it wasn’t to be at this temple because this temple wasn’t the True Temple where God dwelt. The True Temple was that very body God had prepared, and in that body, God would sacrifice, not only His Son, but His dwelling, that He might raise a new one—a New Temple in which to dwell.
But priesthood is not just about sacrifice. In fact, if we were to break down the offices of Christ — the prophet is the representative of God’s truth (or Word). The priest is the representative of God’s holy presence. We can think about these offices in regard to what they were to guard. The prophet is to guard God’s truth. The priest is to guard the holy things. And what, of all creation, was to be more holy than God’s image bearers.
GUARDING PARADISE
Now, when we think of priesthood, we need to consider the tabernacle and this idea of a temple. It’s important that we recognize that other ancient religions designed their temples to represent the cosmos. And within that miniature hand-fabricated cosmos, they’d place a stone, wooden, or metal representation of their god.
Now, in one sense, it’s correct to say that Moses’ tabernacle, and later Solomon’s temple, represented the cosmos in miniature. But that’s not exactly the whole picture. In fact, it’s a bit backwards. And here’s what I mean.
Creation itself was actually designed as a temple. And within that temple, God didn’t place a stone, wood, or metal statute of himself, but a living, breathing representation. He made both male and female in his image to display his glory and beauty on earth.
God created the entire cosmos as a cosmic temple and place mankind as His image within that temple. And then, in Genesis 2, God makes a smaller temple in Eden, a garden. And Genesis 2:8, God puts the man whom he had formed in it!
So later, when we see that the tabernacle and the temple are designed to reflect the cosmos, they are actually reflecting the original temples of creation itself, which in turn reflect the heavenly temple after which even creation was fashioned.
In the midst of this garden temple, God placed two sacred trees. And in Genesis 2:15, Adam was placed in the garden to work and keep it. Those two words are used extensively regarding the priestly role of Israel and the Levites.
The Lord’s refrain to Pharaoh was to let my people go that they might serve me. That’s the word here for work. Adam was appointed to the priestly service of the Lord. And the Levites were appointed to the priestly service concerning the tabernacle.
The word, “to keep” or “guard,” is similarly used extensively concerning that of guarding the tabernacle, as well as guarding the covenant and commandments of the Lord that the people might remain holy and not die.
So, Adam, as a priest to God most high, was to reflect the glory of God in his likeness, and he was to guard the covenant God had made with him concerning creation: Enjoy it all. That’s one way you’ll display my glory well. And guard this one tree that distinguishes who is God and who Is not. That is how Adam was to work and keep the garden. But Adam fails to keep an unclean beast out of this temple.
Adam failed to guard that which was holy, in allowing his wife, his fellow image bearer, to be deceived and eat. He should have stood up to the snake, even if such meant risking his very life. [So, perhaps the question of sacrifice before the Fall of mankind isn’t entirely absent after all.]
But Adam wasn’t willing to sacrifice himself to guard the holy things. Adam tended to be a lot like some of us in defending that which is holy. You know, I don’t want to make any waves. So, while I know it compromises God’s clear instruction, I’ll just go along with everyone else. And in this, Adam put God to the test, trusting the serpent’s word, “You shall not surely die,” over that of God’s, “you most certainly will.”
Also, realize that Adam is a type of son, a son of God. That’s what Luke records in Jesus’ genealogy. So, the words of the devil to Jesus, are in line with what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with in the Garden. If you’re truly the son of God, you won’t surely die. You’re God’s little representatives. He needs you. If you die, this whole temple thing, a little place for God to display his splendor and glory in having a bunch of little image bearers running around is over.
But as a priest, Adam failed to guard the temple, the garden, the paradise in which he was placed as God’s representative. What’s more, Adam failed to guard the image of God, allowing that which was holy to become desecrated and marred.
Adam and Eve tested God, presuming on His kindness, and thus, they found themselves outside the temple for which they were made, with cherubim now taking Adam’s role in guarding.
GUARDING CURTAINS, FRAMES, AND HOLY THINGS
Although the original priesthood is tarnished, it is far from eliminated. We could look at Abel and his sacrifice, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Jacob. Perhaps if we considered the tower of Babel, we might see just how distorted man’s view of his priestly role had become. You see, at Babel, man sought to build a tower to the heavens, to God, to make a name for themselves. But God makes us His image bearers, not that we might carry His image to heaven, but to fill the earth with His image. Even the idea of us dwelling with God in heaven, if that’s what we believe to be the end game, is distorted. God is bringing heaven to earth. He is to reside here. The earth is to be His dwelling place with man, not heaven.
And so, God takes a new people to Himself, the nation of Israel, and has them set up a new temple made of curtains and frames. The tabernacle was a portable temple, which conveys something extremely important that is often overlooked. God’s presence is not so much in some static place such as a temple building in Jerusalem. God’s presence is wherever His people are. But here’s the important part; the people were to follow God, not the other way around.
Along with this new temple, comes a new priesthood. In Exodus 28, this priesthood is giving special apparel, which is described extensively down to the list of varied gems and precious stones, as well as engraving the names of the tribes of Israel on those varied stones, as signets.
Exodus 28:2 captures these garments well. Speaking to Moses, the Lord says, You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. Aaron was to bear the names of Israel upon his heart as he ministered before the Lord within the tabernacle. And the same was true for the priest later when the temple is built.
But we have to be careful in equating the priesthood to the clan of Aaron and his sons, or even to the Levites. In Exodus 19, before the priesthood of Aaron or the Levites is established, the entire nation is described as being a kingdom of priests. If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
[Just so you know, both 1 Peter and Revelation pick up this passage and apply it to the church. If you’re a believer in Christ, you are being prepared as a kingdom of priests to God. But we’ll look at that another time.]
And even when the temple is built, such is not to be the boundaries of God’s dwelling place. I think a case can easily be made that Israel’s priestly duty was to expand the boundaries beyond Jerusalem, and even beyond Canaan, to the whole world, making all of creation as a cosmic temple, as was the plan with Adam, and as indeed is the certain plan for the New Creation. But before expansion, their duty was to guard the holy things.
And so we see that Israel, rather than guarding the worship God had entrusted to them, they wanted to know how their neighbors worshiped, what their temples and altars were like. And they desecrated God’s holy place, and they too were removed from service into exile.
A PORTRAIT OF OUR PRIESTLY FALL
A place where you can read a poetic account of Israel’s and Adam’s fall from their priestly position is in Ezekiel 28. The passage concerns the king of Tyre but there’s more going on in these oracles against the nations. Some have suggested that this is a reference to Satan’s fall, but that is to completely overlook both the role and the dress of the priesthood.
Ezekiel 28:12 describes this one as being the signet of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering. Who else could be described as being God’s signet other than the one fashioned after His likeness? How much closer to perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty can one be than being fashioned in God’s image. And these stones are the stones found on the priest’s breast piece, which he wore as he offered his priestly service to the Lord.
And then in verse 14 it says, You were anointed guardian cherub, I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. Well, guardian cherub describes the priests role to guard that which is holy, which both Israel and Adam failed to do.
No, they aren’t cherubs, but when Adam fails, who is positioned at the entrance of the garden to take Adam’s place as guardian? Two cherubs. And even the mountain fits the description for the temple, the garden sanctuary, and the location of the tabernacle at Mount Sinai, which Moses ascended as it was ablaze with fire.
But what I want to draw your attention to, is the downfall of this priesthood. Verse 15, You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you… Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
God had created mankind in such amazing glory, as priests who would be his image bearers in the temple of creation he had fashioned specifically for that purpose. What more exalted position could there be than that! But we thought too highly of ourselves. And still the world seeks to entice you to think more highly of yourself. The devil continues to use the same temptation. You’ve got to think better of yourself than that. You feel a little low right now. Come. I’ll sit you on the pinnacle of temple.
But that’s not even the temptation. The temptation is getting you to try and twist God’s arm with your life. And with that, either one of two things happen. Either God sends His angels out to keep you from harm, supposedly correcting your low self-esteem, because now, well, see how special you are. He wouldn’t dare allow something to happen to His little image bearer. He needs you too much.
Or God allows you to fall to the ground, and you supposedly got the better of Him. And a word on suicide because I have people whom I love who have wrestled with this in a big way. Understand, suicide is perhaps one of the most vociferous acts of putting God to the test that there is. And I don’t say that lightly. You are taking the fullness of the gift God has given you and just throwing it off the temple, trying His hand. O I’ll show you who’s God.
But get this, rebelling against God is an act of suicide! That’s exactly what Adam and Eve did in the garden when they ate. That’s what Israel committed when they chose to worship other gods. That’s what you and I are committing when we seek to put God to the test. We are seeking to destroy ourselves at an attempt at moving God’s hand.
But even should you receive the outcome you desire; it won’t heal the brokenness inside. It will only deepen it. It won’t cut short the pain or heartache; it will only prolong it, and perhaps, even for an eternity, because such testing doesn’t draw you closer to God but further away.
It’s this sort of putting God to the test because we think too highly of ourselves that has desecrated the beautiful temple He had created for us. This is why we live in a fallen world; our temple has been shattered, and we have become shattered with it.
CONCLUSION
Jesus couldn’t throw himself off this temple because it had become our temple, not God’s, and Jesus was not about to offer his sacrifice at the wrong temple. So, God prepared His very own holy temple in which to offer the sacrifice necessary to cover our desecration. He prepared a temple in the form of a body, the body of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
We had shattered God’s beautiful temple. Now, Jesus would shatter his. The temple of his body would be so marred beyond resemblance to the point that there would be no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
But O was it beautiful, beautiful beyond measure, nothing less than glorious perfection, indeed a signet of God’s perfection with your very name engraved, not just on his heart, but on the palms of his hands. That is, if you are in Christ.
Our High Priest preserved and guarded the holiness of this temple in order that it might be the perfect sacrifice to restore the beauty and glory of ours, that we might once again reflect His beauty and serve Him as priests.
We’ll be in Matthew 4 this morning, looking at the temptations of Jesus. To give you a brief overview of the chapter, Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil in regard to his hunger, in putting God to the test, and receiving all the kingdoms on which he could cast his eyes.
Why these three temptations? Well at the heart of these, they are the same temptations everyone wrestles with. They are what John refers to as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. Every single temptation you will ever deal with falls into one or more of these three categories.
Jesus is tempted with hunger — lust of the flesh. He is tempted in being shown and offered the abundance of the kingdoms of the earth — lust of the eyes. And he is tempted to put God to the test by throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple — the boastful pride of life.
These are the same three temptations Eve fell prey to in the Garden. All three temptations are recorded in a single verse, Genesis 3:6. She saw that the forbidden tree was good for food — lust of the flesh. A delight to the eyes — the lust of the eyes. And that it was to be desired to make her wise like God — the boastful pride of life.
If Jesus is to truly identify with our struggle, our weakness, he must be tempted in every way we are. That’s exactly what Hebrews 4:15 records. We have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness, because he has been tempted every way we are, yet he never sinned. As such we can confidently draw near to the throne of grace. Jesus understands your struggle.
But Jesus isn’t tempted just as our high priest. The idea of drawing near to the throne of grace, suggests kingship. And if we were to look immediately before, we read of the living and active Word of God that discerns the thoughts and intentions of our heart, from whom no creature is hidden but all are exposed — pointing to Jesus’ office as prophet. Or we could look at the opening of the letter. In the last days, God has spoken to us by His Son. Who communicates God’s Word? The Prophet does. And being the exact imprint. Jesus communicates God to us perfectly. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Purification for sin, points to Jesus’ priestly office, and sitting at the right hand of Majesty, his kingly office.
I take the time to make this point because each of these three temptations deal primarily with an aspect of each of these offices — Prophet, Priest, and King. Now, we don’t want to artificially divide the offices of Christ. There’s certainly some overlap between the three. Still, each temptation focuses on a particular office more than it does the other two. This matters because it hits at the heart of what Jesus does for us, what we were created to be, what we fell short of being, and how in Christ, we overcome and fulfill these roles by not succumbing to these same temptations.
So, over the next 3 weeks, we’re going to look at each of these temptations with a view as to its office of impact. Today, will be that of Prophet.
READ (Matthew 4:1-4)
As soon as He is baptized, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Why the wilderness? Well, for one, just as Jesus identifies with Israel in his baptism, so he must identify with Israel in his being tested in the wilderness (Exodus 16).
This word “tempted” can be translated as either tempt or test. There’s no distinction in the original language. In English, we use to different words to try to capture whether such is positive or negative, but we must be careful in suggesting much of a difference between either. If we want to make a distinction, perhaps we can think of it like this: the intent of the devil or any evil entity is always that of tempting, with the hope of deceiving for harm. The intent of God and every good entity is always that of testing, with the hope of revealing truth for good. Remember, if we understand God as sovereign, even if the devil is tempting for harm, God is allowing it as a test for good.
Upon coming out of Egypt, and crossing the Sea, Israel came immediately into the desert to be tested (Exodus 16:4), to see whether they would walk in the Lord’s commands or not. They aren’t tested so that God might see. God knows! God rationed them with manna, so they would know whether they truly trusted the Lord to the point they obeyed His voice, or whether their hope and trust was in something else. That is the living and active Word that discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. You want to know whether you truly trust God. It’s easy. Do you keep His Word?
Now Jesus, the True Israel, God’s True Firstborn Son (I say that because Israel is called God’s firstborn son), Jesus must pass the test where Israel failed, if He is to be the One through whom redemption and blessing to the world is to come. That, in part, is why Jesus is led into the wilderness. And notice, Jesus is led into the wilderness and is tempted at his weakest, after fasting 40 days and 40 nights. And Jesus is not tempted by one who is weak, but the strong and crafty serpent who through his craftiness brought about the fall of all mankind.
Now Satan is not match for the Son of God. The divine Son can slay this dragon with the breath of His mouth. But remember, Jeus must pass this test as a man, without the use of any of his divine power. Otherwise, it can’t truly be said that He was tempted in every way you and I are. So, don’t think that this test isn’t real, that the temptation isn’t real. Jesus overcomes as a man. And He does so in the same way you and I are called to… with FAITH, utter reliance on the goodness of His Father.
So, how does the devil first tempt our Lord? Verse 3, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Now, for the One who will soon multiply a few loaves of bread to feed the multitudes, indeed, the One who is the very Word through which stones and bread were designed and created, turning a few stones into bread to rid his body of this agonizing physical hunger is a walk in the park. But Jesus is not about to disqualify Himself as our Savior by not passing this test in His humanity. So, rather than giving in to this crafty serpent, Jesus replies, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, and the context of Deuteronomy 8 is that of a reminder for Israel to remember the Lord their God, that He is their portion, in Him alone they are to trust.
For forty years Israel was tested in the wilderness. Why 40 years? Because the first generation rebelled. And they rebelled because they lacked FAITH. They didn’t trust God’s goodness. So the entire second generation was humbled, and the Lord let them HUNGER and fed them with manna, so that he might make them know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. God tested them to remind them that their true sustenance wasn’t bread but HIM! The wilderness was a necessary yet temporary detour on the way to the promise land which was filled with God’s abundance, where they’d soon enjoy brooks and fountains and springs of fresh water, wheat barley, vineyards, figs, pomegranates, olives, honey. This land is a land in which they would eat bread without scarcity, lack nothing. A land even filled with raw resources such as iron, and copper.
But all this good provision is worthless… it shall be as nothing… if in the abundance of God’s goodness, you forget Him. If the gifts cause us to lose sight of the Giver, they’ve gained nothing… we’ve gained nothing. The wilderness was to prepare God’s people to handle abundance well. But to receive the abundance but lose God, they’d be better off in the wilderness. God gives us the wilderness because what we need more than bread is Him.
Jesus had fasted forty days. He was hungry. But what Jesus hungered for more than food, was to do the will of His Father, to please His Father. That was Jesus’ Bread. Even if obedience meant physically starving to death, His soul would be satisfied in His Father, and in turn, he’d enjoy every eternal blessing, rather than seeking satisfaction in those things that perish, that in time, leave us hungry.
Jesus trusted his Father would provide absolutely everything necessary for him to enjoy His Father to the uttermost. And God provides you and me with the same thing. We are given absolutely everything we need to enjoy God to the utmost… but only so long as we trust Him, that we trust in the truth of His goodness, that He is not only good, but that He is good to you, and that He is the best good for you.
The test Jesus passed, which all have failed, was not so much about bread as it was a test of trusting the truth of God’s goodness. Why are we led through the wilderness? To see whether we truly believe the truth we proclaim about God’s goodness. Do we truly trust Him. Is He enough for us? What if heaven consisted only of God? Or do we just want the gifts?
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Why the wilderness? So that Jesus might be tested, not only as the True Israel, but also as the True Prophet.
To help you see this, consider the only other two individuals recorded as fasting 40 days: Moses and Elijah. And both of them did so in the wilderness. Also, both experienced God multiplying sustenance in the midst of scarcity: manna for Moses and the people of Israel — and flour for Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.
I mention this because it’s helpful to recognize the craftiness of the Serpent. If Jesus really is the True Prophet to arise after Moses, then bringing forth bread in the midst of scarcity doesn’t seem utterly detached from God’s ways. “Go ahead, command the stones to become loaves. Your Father’s done it before. Do you really believe Your Father would provide less for you than He did for Moses?
As mighty as these two heroes of the Old Testament were, they both faltered out of selfish concern for themselves, and by doing so, they failed in their witness to uphold the truth of God’s goodness before others.
For Elijah, it was in his fleeing for his life from Jezebel, operating out of the belief that he was the one lone prophet of God that remained. (1 Kings 19).
For Moses, who we’ll look closer at, it was at the waters of Meribah, as recorded in Numbers 20, when he strikes the rock in anger, rebuking the people for their crying out in thirst. Israel quarreled against Moses and Aaron, and the Lord told Moses to “take the staff and assemble the congregation… and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water for them, and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” But what does Moses do? O he assembles the congregation all right. And he says, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice.
Now, this isn’t just some technicality in which Moses failed. O he struck the rock instead of simply speaking to it. I don’t think that’s the issue at all. The Lord says that Moses failed to uphold Him as holy before the eyes of the people. How?
Well, think of it like this. There is a world of difference between someone grumbling over their dinner because they don’t like the menu, and someone who’s complaining about lacking a genuine necessity like water. I’m not saying that the second isn’t sin, but they are not at all the same thing. The first is that of an individual who feels entitled and lacks gratitude. The second is that of an individual in a miserable condition beyond their ability to do anything about it. The Lord always shows compassion for the latter and looks with anger on the former.
One role of the prophet is that of mediating the truth about who God is. When Moses rebukes the congregation in their desperate need and strikes the rock in anger, putting his frustration with the people ahead of his role as prophet of the Most High, Moses fails to mediate the truth of God’s goodness, His compassion for His people.
Jesus, as the True Prophet, in passing his test in the wilderness is able to mediate the truth of God’s goodness to us, His compassion for us. Jesus denied his hunger, because if not, he would have disqualified himself from being able to mediate the greatest display of God’s goodness to us at the cross.
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Why the wilderness?
Jesus was tested as the True Israel who trusted in the truth of God’s goodness.
Jesus was tested as the True Prophet, who mediates the truth of God’s goodness.
Now, we look at Jesus tested as the Second Adam, who guards the truth of God’s goodness.
A question we might ask is, what does Jesus’ being tested as a prophet have to do with Adam. While we don’t have time to cover the extent of the evidence here, a careful reading of Genesis 1-3, in light of the rest of Scripture, shows that God created Adam as the first prophet, priest, and king. In fact, that’s the role all of humanity was called to before the fall. And it is the call Jesus has come to restore to those who are his.
Remember, we are to be conformed to the image of Christ… which would include, albeit to a certainly lesser degree, these three offices of prophet, priest, and king. Today, we’re only looking at the office of prophet. The primary ministry of the prophet has to do with what? The Word of God — communicating God’s Word… God’s Word which is nothing less than the Word of Truth.
If we back up to Genesis 1, what’s the first thing the Word of God creates? LIGHT! — And not just light. Remember, there’s no sun or any other celestial bodies on day 1 — they don’t come until when? Day 4.
So the light must represent something other than a physical light source, because other than the light that was now created, the only other entity in existence was God Himself.
Now, I would suggest that this light is that of the knowledge of the glory of God. Or we might say, The Light of Truth. I get that from many places. 1) We could look at John 1, which is written in such a way as to take the reader back to the opening of Genesis. “In the beginning was the Word… in him was life… and that life was the… (WHAT?)... the LIGHT of men. The light shines in the darkness…”
We could look at 2 Corinthians 4:4-6. Paul, writing of the veil of darkness the evil one has placed over the eyes of unbelievers, writes, “he has blinded their minds… (to do what?)… to keep them from seeing… TRUTH.” But what does God do in the gospel? Verse 6, ”For the 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.” So the light points to the truth about God, and specifically the knowledge of God’s glory.
Genesis 2 also deals with the light of truth, only this time it’s not described as light. Genesis 2:4 opens similar to Genesis 1, the creation of heaven and earth, and the idea of being without form and void, but this time, the barrenness is described as no vegetation had yet sprung up. In place of the Spirit hovering over the face of the deep, a mist is over the face of the ground. And now catch this, when God forms man, He breathes into him the breath… or we might say, the Spirit of life.
Now what does the Spirt do besides give life? Or maybe a better way to phrase the question: How does the Spirit give life?
Well, the Gospel of John records Jesus calling the Spirit, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, who will guide the disciples into all truth. How does Jesus convey the Spirit to the disciples? He breathes on them, saying, “Receive! Receive this Spirit of Truth.” More than anything else, that’s what the Spirit grants us; He grants us life by conveying to us the truth of who God is that we might know Him.
Life is knowing TRUTH. And not just any truth, but the truth about God. In fact, that’s how Jesus describes life in John 17, “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you sent.” The power of the Spirit, by which we live and have our being is that of the truth about God, which in our sin, we exchanged for a lie (Romans 1).
Which brings us to Adam. This conveying of truth on Adam helps us to see Adam’s role as prophet, one charged with mediating and guarding the truth. In Genesis 2:15, Adam is charged to work and to guard, and one of the things he was to guard was the truth concerning the trees in the Garden. “You may surely eat of every tree in the garden (which would include the tree of life), but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Adam was charged with guarding the truth about these trees which communicated something utterly important about God: that God alone is the source of life (thus the tree of life), and that God is the sole authority of good and evil.
Which means, Adam wasn’t given his own outright authority as to truth. Adam was to guard the truth God had communicated to him.
Recall, even as the divine Son, Jesus submitted perfectly to His Father’s authority in every way, even in regard to what he said, speaking only what the Father has given him to speak. That should blow our minds, because in our pride, we just feel the need to speak our mind, and we take it upon ourselves to do so, without ever asking if such is pleasing to God.
Well, this takes us to Genesis 3, which, rather than beginning with barrenness, it begins with a man and woman who are bare. They are naked, in unashamed rest… that is until a beast creeps in and calls into question the light of truth, with the words, “Did God really say?”
Now when Jesus is tempted by the Devil’s distortion of truth, suggesting to Jesus that he should do something contrary to the Word of Truth, Jesus speaks up to correct that distortion by quoting the Word of Truth.
But here in the Garden, we see Adam utterly fail as God’s prophet. Notice, the serpent came to the woman, not the man, which allows us to see Adam’s failure on a few accounts.
First, Eve’s response is itself a distortion of the truth because she adds, not only shall we not eat of the tree, but we aren’t even to touch it. So, either Adam failed to communicate God’s Word accurately, or he failed to make sure it was communicated well, making sure that Eve understood the word accurately.
Second, Adam fails to protect the woman from the lies of the serpent. Eating wouldn’t open her eyes and make her like God; she was already created in God’s likeness. Rather than opening her eyes to truth, she would be open to believing lies for the rest of her life. Because Adam failed to protect her, Eve ate, giving into the lust of the flesh, because she saw that it was good for food. But it wasn’t. It was poison that would bring about a slow and painful death.
The third way Adam fails in his role as prophet is that he listened to the voice of his wife rather than the voice of God. Rather than leading her into truth, he follows her into the lie.
And the fourth way Adam displays his failure is that now, having rejected the truth of God’s goodness, he now distorts the truth himself, blaming both the woman and God for his failure.
So, Adam is removed form the Garden Sanctuary as God’s prophet, into a barren wilderness of thorns and thistles. Since Adam, when tested in the Garden, surrounded by the abundance of God’s good provision, failed, the Second Adam, the One who is to lead us back into the Garden, must be pass this test in the wilderness.
And get this, the testing is nothing less than trusting the truth of God’s goodness, mediating the truth of God’s goodness, guarding the truth of God’s goodness. O it’s one thing to be tested in the midst of God’s abundant provision, where the only thing off-limits is but a single tree, the authority of who determines good and evil.
I mean, Adam and Eve were lavished with EVERYTHING! How could they possibly question God’s goodness, as if God was withholding something good from them?
Well, You and I run the same danger. Before we give the Israelites a hard time for their grumbling in the wilderness living off manna, realize, you and I don’t live in a barren land. O it might not be Eden. But our nation, the land we sojourn in could very easily be described as being, “well-watered like the Garden of God” which is exactly how the land of Sodom is described and why Lot chose to live in Sodom.
We have so much, and the abundance we enjoy can cause us to be utterly unprepared then temptation comes to us, or when we are led into the wilderness for a season, to be tested as to whether we truly trust God’s goodness, that He is enough for us, or if we merely have trusted in His gifts.
Jesus never once calls into question His Father’s goodness, 40 days without a crumb to eat, with the devil tempting, “O just a morsel of bread. Go on, command a pebble to become a crumb. How can you think that Your Father truly cares about you if He allows you to suffer like this unnecessarily?”
But if the Son doesn’t trust the Father’s goodness, who possibly could? And if the Son who knows the Father best, and trusts His Father to the point that he goes to the cross, why wouldn’t we?
But, if by chance, you’re struggling to trust the truth of God’s goodness where you are right now, whatever your situation might be, I want you to consider this: Why on earth would Jesus come and endure these trials and temptations, subjecting himself to such suffering?
He left His place in heaven, a place of utter bliss and joy with his Father. And he came to endure the barren wilderness for you, in order to display to us the truth of God’s love, which we had all squandered for a lie.
In these last days, God has spoken to us through the True Prophet, His Son, and He communicated to us the fullness of His goodness, writing it on the cross with His own blood. What better way could He possibly say, “I love you.”
As image bearers who are being conformed to the image of Christ,
our prophetic role is that of trusting the truth of God’s goodness, communicating the truth of God’s goodness, and guarding the truth of God’s goodness, for ourselves and others.
Let us pray.
We consider the question “Why was Jesus baptized?” under three headings: The Surprising Nature of Jesus’ Baptism, The Goal of Jesus’ Baptism, and The Qualifications to Which Jesus’ Baptism Testify.
What’s more shocking? John who’s been baptizing many from all over the region, who just rebuked the religious leaders who saw themselves as too righteous to participate in this baptism, to now say to this man, Jesus, “You don’t need to be baptized — OR — the fact that Jesus, the only truly sinless person to ever walk the planet, participates in John’s baptism of repentance.
We’re never told the extent to which John and Jesus knew each other growing up. We know they are relatives. But whether they ever met outside their designated wombs up to this point we don’t know.
What John does have to go on is the same thing we all have, our interaction with others.
I’m reminded of a trip my family made to the Northwest to visit Redwood National Park. — Like you, I’ve seen more trees in my life than could possibly be counted… and as different as one tree may be to another… they’re really quite similar too.
As we made our drive down the Oregon coast into Northern California… we’d see a large tree and ask, “Is that a Redwood.” — Jenny’s sister would keep telling us, “You’ll know when you see one.” — And how true that was. — When we came upon our first Redwood… not even one of the largest… we had no doubt that we were looking upon a tree unlike any other. — That’s how massive these trees are. — That’s how massive the difference is between a Redwood and any other tree I had ever seen before.
Our sin nature is so embedded within us that it oozes out of the core of our being infecting everything—to various degrees to be sure and certainly God’s righteous restraint keeps it from corrupting more than it does. We’ve just grown so accustomed to it that most of the time it hardly phases.
Sin rarely stands out to us as surprising! But what is surprising is a man with no sin! You and I have never encountered such an individual in person… EVER!
That was my experience of the Redwoods. — Sure, we might find ourselves impressed by many of the large trees of the Northwest, but, for the most part, in comparison, they’re just trees. None were what I’d call breath-taking, until we came up on the first Redwood… and we knew we were looking upon a tree unlike any other.
When John encounters Jesus, he is encountering a man like no other a man with no sin. This is a baptism for repentance for the forgiveness of sin. But Jesus had nothing from which to be cleansed, no sin from which to repent.
If you think that’s an exaggeration, that Jesus’ character doesn’t stand out in stark contrast to every other person who’s ever walked this earth, Jesus himself alludes to such when he asks which one of you can possibly convict me of sin! The answer, “NO ONE!”
The most they could accuse Jesus of was doing good to others on the Sabbath, giving rest to those suffering from whatever ailments on the day of rest.
They accused Jesus of fellowshipping with sinners failing to realize that if Jesus didn’t, he'd have to live in complete solitude during his sojourn here. If that was the case, he would have never left heaven in the first place because the only fellowship that doesn’t involve sinners is within the triune Godhead itself. But he came! He came to fellowship with us!
THE GOAL of Jesus’ baptism gets to the heart of why Jesus came. The language the gospel writers use regarding Jesus’ baptism point to something specific. Jesus has come to bring about a New People of God on earth and he has come as the head, the representative of this new people just as Adam in the Garden but failed.
Perhaps it’s easiest to see this to begin with Noah, rather than Adam. Looking at verses 16 and 17, see if you notice the similar elements Matthew has carefully recorded in his telling of Jesus’ baptism.
When humanity corrupted itself, God OPENED the HEAVENS and the rain fell, covering the earth. God remembered Noah and caused a wind/Spirit to pass over the earth, and the WATER subsided. Noah released a DOVE, and the dove returned to Noah. After the waters had subsided, Noah offers a burnt offering which is described as a PLEASING aroma to the Lord.
The heavens opened, the waters of judgment, the ark brought safely through those waters, the Spirit and the dove, and the testimony of God’s pleasure, well pleased.
If you think that’s accidental, I would ask you to consider this: Is not the same divine author of Genesis the author of Matthew’s gospel also?
When the waters recede, Noah and family stepped out of the ark onto dry land. Noah and his family are a New People on a newly cleansed dry land.
The account of Noah is one of New Creation that harkens back to Genesis 1. Each of these same elements are there. We have the waters, the heavens split or separated, the spirit hoovering, and the announcement of God’s pleasure, “And it was very good.”
What happens in the original creation? God made a New People to dwell on a new land, a dry land that God brought forth out of the waters.
That’s what the Exodus is intended as, a New People passing through the waters of judgment entering a new land. The same elements fill in the whole of the Exodus narrative.
Adam and his offspring failed to bring God’s righteous reign upon the new land God had prepared for them. Noah and his offspring failed. Moses and the descendants of Jacob failed. Everyone thus far has fallen short failing to bring about the Creation mandate of Genesis 1 pointing to the need for a better head than Adam, than Noah, than Moses, or anyone else who has come before, which brings us to why it was necessary for Jesus to be baptized to bring this about.
The Testimony of Jesus’ baptism qualifies him as the only representative who can bring about this New People of God. Only Jesus is sufficient to bring about such a humanity who will live out God’s will on earth as in heaven.
So, what are the qualifications displayed here at Jesus’ baptism?
QUALIFICATION #1 — Jesus comes… to be baptized… as the only perfectly obedient one… who does his Father’s will — and thus, Jesus is baptized… in accordance to His Father’s will… to fulfill all righteousness.
Recall… up until now… God’s will has not been done on earth as in heaven. — So here Jesus is come to do that will perfectly… the King of the kingdom has come to show perfect obedience… as He humbly submits… [unlike the religious leaders who refused]
QUALIFICATION #2 — Jesus is baptized in order to identify with His people.
See… if Jesus comes as the only truly sinless person… which he must be… then what keeps His being set apart from being a hinderance to His ability to save us… How is he able to identify with our condition?
Since he is so infinitely set apart from us… if we are to have a genuine union with Christ… Jesus must meet us where we are…
So Jesus comes and steps down into the dirty Jordan… not to be cleansed…but to enter our filth.
…which overlaps with QUALIFICATION #3 — Imputation.
This is a baptism of repentance… a baptism for the remission of sin. — So why does Jesus submit to it? — The easy answer is that Jesus isn’t baptized for himself… He’s baptized for us.
Jesus takes our judgment upon himself… bearing our sin in our place. — Our sin is credited to Him… and his righteousness is credited to us. — The waters of baptism… are a symbol of a transfer taking place … our sin is washed off us and onto Jesus… and Jesus’ righteousness is washed onto us.
Jesus has come as a wrath bearer… who endures the flood of God’s wrath in our place… because He is the only One… able… to pass through… God’s righteous judgment… of His own merit.
Which brings us to QUALIFICATION #4 — Jesus is righteous in himself.
Notice… that when Jesus was baptized… immediately he went up from the water…
Now, I don’t think this is suggesting that… when John baptized others… he was holding them down… under the water. You know the wages of sin is death… so I’m going to hold you under until you receive your just penalty for sin!
I believe Silas, and Sandi, and Samuel… would have had some pretty strong reservations about being baptized if that’s what we were doing.
No… everyone else John baptized… was brought up out of the water as well. — John wasn’t drowning people… he was baptizing them.
But the gospels are written in such a way … as to draw out theological points.
Since the waters of baptism represent judgment … Matthew is at least making the point that… such judgment couldn’t hold Jesus.
Jesus passes through the waters of judgment due to his own righteousness.
QUALIFICATION #5 — is the testimony that Jesus is Yahweh come down to rescue His people… which is the point of Matthew’s allusion to Isaiah 64… and the heavens being opened. —
Due to Israel’s constant rebellion… it seemed as if Yahweh had utterly rejected his people… So, in Isaiah 64, the prayer is that God would… tear open the heavens and come down… once again performing mighty works of old… in saving his people.
Jesus’s baptism is… a testimony that God has not forgotten His people… but has now come.
QUALIFICATION #6 — is the testimony of the Spirit — Jesus, as a man … lives out his life of perfect obedience… through the power of the Holy Spirit. —
Now, that might not seem as important at first glance… but here is why it is…
You see, if Jesus, as the divine Son… conquers sin through his divinity… resisting temptation with a power unavailable to us… then is Jesus truly tempted in every way you and I are? — (We’ll get to this next week.)
This is where the Spirit comes into play. — The Son of God… did not lay aside his divinity… in the incarnation… BUT… he did set aside certain prerogatives he has as the Son… in order to live out his humanity in such a way… that never compromised his overcoming of sin in the flesh.
Jesus overcomes sin, through the power of the Spirit… who is available to all who trust in Him.
Indeed, such was available to Adam before he sinned. — In Genesis 2, after God formed Adam out of the dust of the earth… God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life — OR — we might even say… the Spirit of Life.
At the incarnation… the Son of God never stopped upholding the universe… all his divinity was completely available to him at any given moment… BUT … not once did Jesus use that divinity for his own benefit… or to fend off sin and temptation… — He entrusted himself to His Father’s care… by relying on the Holy Spirit.
APPLICATION: Which means… in Christ… you and I have the same helper Jesus had … to overcome sin.
Final qualification — QUALIFICATION #7 — The testimony of the Voice from Heaven — verse 17 — This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. —
Now we could spend a great deal of time on this last verse… and the two passages from which it is quoted… Psalm 2… and Isaiah 42.
For now… let me just point out.. Psalm 2… refers to Jesus’ divine Sonship… that he is the Son of the King… and thus rightful heir of the throne… God’s throne.
And as King… he will break all nations… all people… who refuse to submit to his righteous rule… with a rod of iron.
BUT… Isaiah 42… is the beginning of the Servant Songs… the Lord’s suffering servant … who will bring about the redemption of God’s people… including those from among the nations… …and the way he brings about such redemption… is being broken himself.
So, this Jesus… who is born king… who is the rightful king… — …before he executes judgment as king…
…is going to give his life as a ransom for many… pardoning rebels… you and me… by paying our penalty in our place.
[ILLUSTRATION: Physician]
Think of it like this. — Independently wealthy physician — Island — Pacific — terminal disease — all tribes — every individual — impact every aspect of life — greatly shortened lifespan
Every attempt for a cure failed — couldn’t develop necessary antibodies — due to compromised immune system — Rather than fighting the virus — it simply mutated into numerous forms.
With every resource at his disposal — the wise Physician knew there was but one cure — a pure healthy host — who could develop the necessary antibodies. — The dilemma, however, this host would have to willingly subject himself to the disease — and all its mutations — which would certainly kill him. — Moved by his compassion for this people — the Physician decided he himself would go.
That’s what Jesus has done for us. — He is the only perfectly healthy and pure host — who can provide a cure for our disease of sin. — But to do so — he must come into contact with our disease… with us… knowing such will cost him his very life.
Each of these testimonies… serve as witness to why Jesus is the only qualified individual… to bring about this New Kingdom People
Because Jesus is the firstborn… the only begotten… preeminent one… the true heir and King… who comes as the Suffering Servant… bearing our disease of sin — …the Father looks down at his Son… who humbled himself… — …to participate in this baptism… a baptism the rest of the religious leaders shunned… and the Father declares… I am well pleased.
Which is another way of saying… as God did at the end of the 6th day… and it was very, very good.
CONCLUSION:
This baptism… at the Jordan… points to the Greater Baptism… Jesus is yet to endure… the fires of hell as it were… enduring the full wrath of God towards sin… on the cross.
It is this baptism… that Jesus endures… that Prepares the Way for us… to be with God… in the Garden… a new garden… once again.
But understand this… the ark… didn’t save everyone… but only those with Noah.
The Red Sea didn’t remain parted for everyone to pass over… — …but only those with Moses.
The cross will not save everyone… but only those with Jesus on the cross… — I hope you get that! —
Only those who die with Christ… who are crucified… endure the waters of judgment… now… with Christ… will withstand judgment… because Jesus has borne the fullness of the judgment on our behalf.
Those who choose not to submit to this baptism of repentance… will endure them later… without Jesus to Prepare the Way.
Everyone must pass through the cleansing… purifying baptism of God’s judgment. — The question is… whether you pass through it … as one who receives mercy… because you’re in the ark with Noah… walking through the Sea with Moses… dying with Christ on the cross… — OR — whether you go through it on your own… apart from God’s chosen head.
The choice is yours. — God has prepared the way… for us in Christ… or you can take your own.
A final word: — Our repentance is not works… but faith. — You turn to the Lord… not as a work… but as a continual trust… in His finished work… as a desperate reliance on Jesus to save… to sustain… to bring you… safely through His righteous judgments… into His loving arms.
Why does Jesus teach his disciples to pray, “on earth as it is in heaven?” Because God’s prescribed righteousness found in a joyful obedience grounded in trusting and delighting in God has not been carried out on earth as in heaven.
Around God’s throne in heaven a multitude of angels are in constant worship singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” While on earth—even for those of us who know Christ—we aren’t living in constant worship and adoration of who God is.
So, we pray that the Lord would do a work in our hearts that in every facet of our lives His name would be hallowed before asking for our daily provision. Every request for provision should be with an aim to fulfill the first petition.
The Spirit’s role in your life is to conform you and me to Christ. —
And He does that by removing the chaff — convicting you and me of those worthless things in our lives.
The question is not whether the waters of baptism cleanse away sin but how. The entire earth was cleansed via water as an act of judgment. But in His mercy, God spared a remnant, eight persons in all. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were brought safely through those waters of judgment.
God makes a covenant with Noah, his offspring, and every living creature on the earth never to destroy the entire earth through water again. Still, water continues to be used, albeit on a much smaller scale, as a symbol of salvation through judgment.
Consider the Exodus: Pharaoh’s entire army is wiped out in the Red Sea, God’s waters of judgment. At the same time, the Lord spares a people through those very same waters. But then again, that entire first generation was judged unfaithful. So, they failed to pass through the waters of the Jordan into the promised land.
Baptism, passing through water, continues to be a portrait of cleansing away sin. Some, by God’s grace, pass through the waters of judgment, but many don’t. O the kindness and severity of God. If you're a believer, continue in that kindness. If you're not, turn to the Lord of mercy today.
The baptism of John was one of repentance because only the repentant will pass through the water of judgment cleansed rather than perishing, which means those kept through judgment are those who confess that they are deserving of God’s righteous judgment and thus turn to Him for mercy.
The Winnowing Process of the Spirit: There’s quite a bit of stuff in my life that—when I look back over my week soberly and honestly with the gracious conviction and illumination of the Holy Spirit—has not been lived to the glory of God. And every aspect of our lives not lived to God’s glory is chaff. It’s made up of the wrong kingdom and needs to be removed.
That is the winnowing process of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He points out those things in our life that don’t conform to the image of Christ and calls us to turn from those worthless things because nothing that is not of eternal value will enter the kingdom of heaven.
The goal of discipleship is conformity to Christ, and no part of Jesus’ life failed to be glorifying to His Father. THAT is our standard, not our neighbors who might not know Jesus. We need to stop comparing our walk with them and their life and allow the Spirit to convict us of those areas of our life that are not yet conformed to Jesus.
If we are to enter the kingdom of heaven, we need One who is mighty enough to winnow us thoroughly but gentle enough to spare us so that something good remains when He is through. Praise be to God that Jesus is the One who holds the winnowing fork and no one else.
In Christ, we are NEW now! Obviously not totally new because some of our old selves remain, but we are genuinely new. The winnowing process is perfecting that newness until you and I are completely new all the way through the core of our being so that we represent Christ, not exhaustively, but perfectly.
The winnowing process will continue until every last facet that doesn’t conform to Jesus is blown away by the Spirit. That chaff will then be swept into a pile and set ablaze until none of it remains, allowing you and I to stand before a holy God blameless and pure and with great joy.
The concept of repentance… is not popular for a culture… a world… that is turned in on itself… — But that’s the message for this morning. — Get excited… I’m here to share a very unpopular message with you today… — In fact… it was John’s message in the wilderness. REPENT!!!
But isn’t that the one static application to every faithful proclamation of God’s Word —Repent! — Look at every gospel proclamation in the Book of Acts… and the emphasis… the response the people were called to… was REPENT.
We can talk more about just what repentance looks like — but unless — unlike the apostles themselves — you’ve already arrived at perfection — our response to the gospel — today… and everyday… is to repent. We’ll look closer at this as we work our way through the text… For now…
I’ve titled this morning’s message: PREPARING THE WAY — which will be the primary lens … through which we will view this passage. — We’re going to split this message into two parts. — First… this week… the command for us to prepare the way … and … next week… the Lord’s provision in preparing the way
READ (Matthew 3: 1-3)
THE PROCLAMATION:
John the Baptist is in the wilderness warning people to REPENT! What is the ground for this repentance? — FOR the kingdom of heaven is at hand —
or a more literal translation — the kingdom of heaven has come near. Much can be said about what Matthew intends with this Kingdom of Heaven — but the simplest way I can think to express it would be — everything that is part and parcel (or characteristic) to God’s reign — The term KINGDOM is what we might call an ACTIVE NOUN — a kingdom is based on a king’s reign — and is subject to where that reign is actually executed or carried out. — Physical boundaries don’t define a kingdom — they may seek to define the geographic extent of a kingdom — but they don’t make up a kingdom.
John is proclaiming that God’s kingdom — God’s reign has come near. —
Now, the first thing you ought to ask yourself is — Doesn’t God already reign over all of creation? — And of course, the proper answer to that is, “Yes, He does.”The Sovereign Lord is sovereign over all — PERIOD!!! But that reign… God’s reign… is not manifested to the same degree in every locale. —
In fact, — the one place where God’s reign is least manifest… is in the sinful hearts of men and women.— And such has been the case ever since the FALL. The reason for John’s call — to repent — is because the kingdom has come near — God’s manifest reign has come — along with all of its consequences — both the promises — and the judgments.
So, Matthew tells us in verse 3 — that this … John the Baptist … is the one spoken of by the prophet Isaiah — The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Obviously, this is where I gleaned my title for today’s message. — This quote from Isaiah, is from chapter 40 — If you want a chapter of the Bible that expresses the set-apart-ness and sovereign reign of God — you couldn’t pick a better chapter of the Bible than Isaiah 40. — Let’s look at this passage and see just what exactly Matthew is referring to — I’ll begin at verse 1 so we have the context.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received for the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for out God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Now, this language — prepare the way of the Lord — make a straight highway in the desert — lift up the valleys — lower the mountains and hills — level the uneven — grade the rough places —
What is this portraying? — The removal of all obstacles. The Lord has come — He has come to pardon — to comfort — to end warfare — meaning He has come to offer terms of peace. — On top of that… He has come the infinite distance! — from His throne in heaven — down to this barren wilderness. — There’s but one obstacle! — Our Rebellion.
Isaiah 59 is helpful — Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; — (now listen) — But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
The one mountain — valley — rough passage — that keeps us from God… is not God stiff arming people to keep them away — nor is it God playing hide and seek because He doesn’t want to be found…What keeps us from God… is our turning away from Him. And hence, the call to repent. — That’s what repentance is…It is a turning toward God! Our human nature has gone radically off course — and needs to make a 180-degree turn — running to — rather than from God. God is bringing His kingdom — He has come the infinite distance — All we need to do is turn and receive Him. — It’s really that simple. —That’s the PROCLAMATION. — Now, let’s look at this one proclaiming the message.
PROCLAIMER:
Matthew stated… in verse 3… that John the Baptist is the one spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. — He is the prophesied herald.
John is the front runner of the coming One… Jesus. — The One who shall reveal the glory of the Lord. — John the Baptist is the one who goes before the Lord — and he does so in the Spirit of Elijah. Now, where do I get this?
Look at verse 4 — Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. — There’s but one person in the rest of Scripture who fits that description— Elijah the Tishbite. — Elsewhere…. Elijah is described as wearing a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist. Now, if we consider the time of these events — Israel has experienced some 400 years of silence — no prophetic voice since Malachi. — And Malachi ends his words as follows — Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.
For anyone who may not know — When the birth of John the Baptist is announced, — we are told that his ministry will be one of turning the hearts of fathers to their children. This John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness. — He’s living off — what is far from the finer things in life. — How many of you have tried eating a bug — deliberately. — Perhaps the honey made the locusts more palatable. — What’s important to notice about John’s lifestyle — is that it shows utter reliance on his God for his sustenance. — John has forsaken the luxuries that we are tempted to cherish and worship. And perhaps… John’s utter reliance on the Lord… enables him to eat the very locust… that God had sent as plagues. — You see… the very things that strike fear… anxiety… frustration… even torment… in the lives of others… pose little threat to the one who trusts in the Lord. —
But perhaps I’m just reading too much into the text.
John’s diet also serves as a reminder of the 40 years Israel spent in the wilderness. — There were no fancy meals for 40 years. — No onions, no garlic, no melons, no cucumbers — Whatever your favorite meal is — home cooked or dining out — forget it! For 40 years Israel grumbled at the dinner table. — And would we fare any better. — Just ask someone sitting next to you — about the last time your response… to dinner … or any other common grace… has been something other than praise and adoration for God’s provision. So, John’s in the wilderness as a reminder of Israel’s wanderings — But also… consider this… John’s in the wilderness — drawing people away from the temple in Jerusalem — because the True Temple has come.
So, what are the responses to this strange character… and his unpopular message?
RESPONSES:
Verses 5 and 6 — Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
I’m going to pause to offer a lesson regarding interpretation — which we’ve covered in class. — Is the text saying that every individual person from Jerusalem, Judea, and the region went out and was baptized? — The text does say “all.” — Is that what Matthew means?
I raise this issue, because of the numerous times I’ve heard preachers and teachers explain the word “all” like this: — You know what the word “all” in Greek means… It means “ALL.” — And every time, they intend it to mean all without exception. — But the word “all” is always qualified!
We know it doesn’t mean every individual without exception — because elsewhere we read that… the Pharisees and experts of the law… were not baptized by John.
I bring that up… because we are going to see two different responses to John’s message.
Many… from the entire region… came — After 400 years of silence… there’s hope… anticipation… curiosity… — And when they hear John’s message…
they confess their sins and are baptized. That’s really a first act of repentance… confessing our sins… both corporately and individually. — That’s what the crowds were doing… That’s what we do in here Sunday-by-Sunday. — And we do it for a reason! — It’s biblical! — And it is the one proper response to the gospel!
Along with the crowds… we also have the religious leaders showing up on the scene. — Verse 7 — But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
ILLUSTRATION: These religious leaders coming to witness John’s preaching and baptism — was sort of like the concern a business owner has when a competitor opens shop down the street. Recently, in Mount Juliet, a new B.J.’s Wholesale opened. — For years, my wife has driven 30 minutes to Sam’s Club — and others of you in here have been making the trek to Costco. — The Pharisees and Sadducees coming on the scene — is a bit like Sam’s Club and Costco coming over to Mt. Juliet to check out the new competition in the area. These guys — the Pharisees and Sadducees are rivals — and one of the few things that bring them together is a threat to their authority.
Notice that John is fully aware of their insincerity… calling them a brood of vipers — literally… you offspring of serpents! — Reminding us of Genesis 3… and the enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. So, John asks — who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. — This clarifies John’s message …just in case one mistakenly thought John’s message of the kingdom of heaven — coming near… meant that it was all harps, puffy clouds, and rainbows. — Far from it! Rather — the kingdom of heaven — God’s righteous reign coming upon the earth — entails that those who refuse to repent — those who continue to rebel — will face certain judgment… the wrath to come.
So, if you’re truly sincere — verses 8 through 10 — Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
These religious leaders — had the mistaken notion that their genealogy … was sufficient for their entrance into the kingdom… that they were right with God because they were physical offspring of Abraham.
Well John makes it quite clear… as does the rest of Scripture…
There is no superior nationality! — There’s no superior race… no superior gender… no superior socio-economic status… no superior political party to which to belong… no superior place of birth… or current residency… or however else you may want to identify yourself…
NONE OF THAT MATTERS REGARDING YOUR STANDING BEFORE GOD! The only true people of God… the true sons and daughters of Abraham… the only ones who can legitimately claim to be God’s people… are those who do the will of God… by trusting Christ! — Your ancestry is irrelevant … if you reject God’s provision of grace. That applies to those who’d call themselves Jews — and yet… as our Lord pronounced… are nothing more than a synagogue of Satan… because they have rejected Him… Because by rejecting the Son… you automatically reject the Father also. — This applies… every bit as much to… those who claim to be the church … but have rejected the God of the Scriptures … the Christ proclaimed in the Word!
These religious leaders came as skeptics … wondering what to make of this new messenger … They came to evaluate this messenger … when what they needed to do was evaluate the message! —They came to judge John … when they needed to be concerned about their own judgment! —
Let me mention this… You might find yourself out there weighing the messengers of God’s Word… and we need to take care to do so… But we best be doing that through an open Bible… weighing the message… with the Word of God… more so… than the mouthpiece through which this Word is proclaimed… because ultimately… it’s God’s Word… that weighs each of us… not the other way around.
John’s word to the religious leaders… and his word to you and me… is: Are you bearing fruit worthy of repentance… Kingdom fruit… the fruit of God’s righteous reign? Because One is coming after John… the One whom John proclaims…— Jesus himself.
THE ONE PROCLAIMED:
Verses 11 and 12 — I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
Now, the person John speaks of… doesn’t come on the scene until the next verse — which we won’t get to until next week. — but just so we’re all clear… and forgive me for stating the obvious… but John is referring to Jesus. According to John’s words, John is only a messenger… calling everyone to be prepared for the One coming after. — Jesus is the One you should concern yourself with… not John. John even admits, he is unworthy… or the word in this case is “fit” or “sufficient” to carry Jesus’ sandals.
I don’t keep up with sports… but Steve mentioned Wednesday that … Alabama’s head coach of 17 years… Nick Saban … retired. — During those 17 years… Alabama won 6 national championships. — The question… I’m sure… that was on most … college football fans minds… immediately after Saban’s announcement… “Who’s going to fill those shoes.” — Who is sufficient to carry those sandals!
Well, John the Baptist… doesn’t have in mind… someone who’s come to entertain us … through sports victories. — In fact,… the question as to whether or not this coming One will be victorious… isn’t even on the table… because Jesus comes as Victor. — That’s the reason why Jesus comes. — There is no one else suitable… who can bring the kingdom of heaven near… because everyone else that has walked this earth… has fallen short of the glory of God. — John and Jesus… aren’t even in the same league… The comparison here is the difference between water… and fire. — But we’ll have to look at that next week. — Next week… we’ll look at God’s provision in preparing the way. We’ll look at Jesus’ baptism… and much of what that entails… not least of all… Jesus bearing the waters of judgment in our place.
What’s important for us to consider now… is that: The Kingdom of Heaven has come near… because God has come near… in the person of Jesus… who has come as King… who was born King… Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? — the wise men asked. Jesus has come to restore God’s righteous reign upon the earth. — He’s come! Everyone will submit to this King… bow the knee to this King… honor and glorify this King… The question is whether you will choose to do so now… willingly… or be forced to do so when he returns.
Recognize… His patience… in allowing you and I the opportunity to repent… now… is an act of mercy. John is pronouncing the coming of the One more powerful. When we consider the two most powerful men of the Old Testament… we often think of Moses and Elijah. But if you know your Old Testament… the one who arose after the preaching and ministry of Elijah… was Elisha… who had a double portion of the Spirit. Both performed mighty works… even raising the dead… but only Elisha… after his own death and burial… caused another dead man to live again. John the Baptist comes as the Elijah of Old. — And this Jesus is the stronger One who arises after. And yes, you should fear Him! — because all authority to judge is in His hands.
But He is also the only One powerful enough to raise Himself from the dead. — And He is the only One who… through His own death, burial, and resurrection… is might to save you and me… from the wrath to come.
Have you honored him… by preparing the way of the Lord… removing every obstacle that separates you from Him. It takes but one thing on your end… Repent. Turn to this King who is mighty to save… and live. Turn and trust Him. He is worth it.
— PRAY —
Jesus, even as a child, fills up the fullness of Israel's history - at least in summary - succeeding where Israel failed, showing himself as the True Israel through whom God blesses the nations, delivering his people from the exile of sin that separates us from Him.
To show how Jesus, as a child, fills up Israel's history, Matthew offers 3 fulfillments, and more than a dozen allusions.
Matthew shows Jesus as the true Son who endures all the trials and sufferings of Israel. God's Son partakes in the journey Israel took in order to reverse Israel's course and bring about a greater deliverance.
Jesus, as the despised Davidic King, has been set apart for the sole task of bringing about a New Exodus. But first, Jesus had to journey through his own Exodus narrative, because such was necessary "to fulfill all righteousness." Jesus fills up righteousness where Israel, the whole world, and you and I lacked it.
As a boy, Jesus is spared the atrocity that happened to the slaughtered 2-year-olds in Bethlehem. But Jesus was spared that evil, solely so that he could endure an even greater evil, the cross. Jesus' exodus from Egypt as a child would be detoured by a greater exile that God's people would never endure. Jesus endures the greatest exile imaginable for a beloved Son. On the cross, Jesus is forsaken by his Father, and bows his head in death.
Jesus endures this greater exile, forsaken by his Father, so that we wouldn't be. You and I are not forsaken ... because Jesus was.
But Jesus also marches out in the greatest Exodus, for not even the grave could hold him! And as he marches out in victory, he leads a host of captives in his train... us!
Our exodus into the promised land is certain. But for now we are for a time in exile here.
When life takes you on a detour, when you are despised, when you are faced with grief and sorrow, when others seek your harm, even your very life... hold fast to Jesus. Remember, the tears are almost over... your exile is almost over. In Christ, the exodus we've been waiting for is here.
The account of the Magi points to something far more significant than a group of foreigners bringing costly gifts to a newborn King to fund his family’s escape to Egypt. These foreigners from the East are bringing particular gifts that bear Temple significance.
Gold, myrrh, and frankincense were among the original contributions taken up from the people of Israel as an act of worship for the construction and service of the Tabernacle. (See Exodus 25 and 30.)
These Magi — these outsiders — are filling up a portion of Israel’s history — presenting their contributions for the True Temple, the True Sanctuary in which God will dwell among His people.
This king the Magi came to worship, is not only King; Jesus is also, all at the same time, the temple in which God dwells (Immanuel), the High-Priest who mediates within this temple, the greater Moses who erects the new Temple built of living stones, with Himself serving as the Cornerstone.
We, believers, become contributions for this temple. That’s what the Magi point to. They were bringing the contributions, though they didn’t know it, as the initial contributions for a new Tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded Moses to instruct the people to do.
But don’t think these Magi came bringing these gifts blindly. The Psalms and the Prophets spoke of the wealth of the nations coming to Zion, coming to the Lord, coming into His holy sanctuary. These foreigners are bringing the wealth of the nations to the Lord Jesus who is our sanctuary. And that is what we, ourselves, from among the nations, are called to do.
But the Lord doesn’t need our gifts. He’s the Creator and Giver of all. Yet God invites us in to participate. God didn’t need Moses to build the tabernacle. He didn’t need the people’s contributions for it. And yet He gives us gifts that me may return such for His services as an act of worship.
But these material items are but a temporary tangible means to express something eternal. In Revelation 18 — the overthrow of Babylon which stands for all world empires and the commercialism for which they stand — these costly wares, among which are listed gold, myrrh, and frankincense, will come to nothing. They will no longer serve as an expression of our worship, as they will hold no value whatsoever.
Instead, the wealth of the nations comes in the form of worshipers who offer, not their wares but themselves as their contribution for the Temple City, the New Jerusalem where God will indeed dwell with His people forever.
The Magi gave their costly treasures as an intentional act of worship. But that’s not all they gave. They gave of their time, coming from however far away, setting aside whatever they had going on, setting Jesus as their priority. They gave their talents, the wisdom and knowledge to search the Scriptures and discern the sign, how to navigate and make their way to Jesus — who Himself came an infinite distance that He might be found by them… and us!
They gave up their pride, falling down before a babe and worshiping Him. What could possibly be gained in this act of humility? Joseph and Mary had nothing to offer them. What they gained was no less than EVERYTHING, the one thing each of us need most… a right posture and relationship with God Himself.
They even gave their very lives, putting their lives in jeopardy, not only in commencing on this long journey, but the threat of Herod loomed over them.
Everything that is part and parcel to your life — your time, your skill, your material goods, your relationships, your intellect, your body, the whole of your being — has been gifted to you that you might bring it as a gift to present to this King born in Bethlehem… this King who came to give His all… His very life for you!
While many costly gifts were offered for the construction of Moses’ Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple — even fine woods such as acacia and costly cedar —
Jesus lay the cornerstone of the True Temple on a splintered beam
of common ordinary wood to offer the Greatest gift of all — Himself
This Temple Builder isn’t looking for exquisite gifts from you. He’s seeking ordinary clay, the very material from which you and I were made. Bring yourself to Him!
Don’t allow this opportunity to worship King Jesus pass you by.
Come and worship the King!
This mornings message is intended as Christmas message — certainly from a well-known Christmas passage — yet, not likely your usual Christmas message.
- Import of understanding passage before can rightly apply
- What we need to understand about any passage —
o In addition to what does this mean
o What does this tell me about God
o About ourselves — and our condition
o About our Savior — God’s provision for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ
- Only then can we respond appropriately —
Our focus — verse 21 — “She — being the virgin Mary — will bear a Son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” But to understand what is meant — must grasp, not only immediate context — but the larger context of God’s revelation as it relates to this passage.
We’re going to look at two primary aspects of this passage:
The first — of which will spend most of our time — is why this particular name for this particular child? And we’ll close with — why this child came into the world in this particular way.
READ: (Matthew 1:18-25)
As usual — must start by addressing a few things going on here in Matthew 1 - completely unnoticeable in the English text — v. 18 — the word “birth” not normal word for such — only shows up a handful of times in entire NT — but as with every inspired word — confident Matthew chose — deliberately Genesis — LXX — Verse 1 begins same word — The Book of Genesis - Matthew doing couple things — 1) tying the coming of this Son — to the whole of Redemption History — that begins in Genesis — Last week looked at — anticipated Seed of Woman
2) This coming of the Promised One — is the beginning of a New Creation
I want — back up — look at this genealogy — verse 2 — Abraham was the father of Isaac — good translation — a few older translations likely use the word — begat — as in Abraham begat Isaac — or perhaps — Abraham fathered Isaac —
The word here is closely related to that of Genesis — same word family — the word is γενναω — which means to bring forth — it comes from the Greek word γενος — which you’re likely familiar — it’s Latin form genus is used in Biology to classify living organisms — It shows up in — Greek version of Genesis chapter 1 — when God creates both plants and animals — they reproduce — and here’s our word — according to their kinds — in other words — like begets like
Why does this matter — Well, after the Fall — when Adam sinned — and was exiled from God’s presence in the Garden — he later bore a son — Seth. — But here’s the things regarding Adam’s son Seth — Genesis 5 tells us that he was begotten — that’s our word in Matthew 1 — Seth was begotten in Adam’s likeness — Adam’s image — Adam reproduced according to his kind — and the problem with Adam’s kind — is Adam’s sin nature carried over to his offspring.
Another thing about this genealogy — it traces Israel’s history — Now, the world was already steeped in the corruption of sin — Why? — Because when we’re all in the likeness of Adam — We all choose to eat the fruit Adam ate — Which means — we all seek to do things our way — rather than trusting God —
Another thing about this genealogy — it traces Israel’s history — Now, the world was already steeped in the corruption of sin — Why? — Because when we’re all in the likeness of Adam — We all choose to eat the fruit Adam ate — Which means — we all seek to do things our way — rather than trusting God — And when each of us are seeking to play God — there will not only be friction — there will never be genuine lasting peace.
This genealogy traces God’s plan to rectify the turmoil brought about due to our sin — So a few highlights — and each of these appear in verse 17: Abraham — promise — in his offspring — all nations will be blessed — unfortunately, Abraham’s offspring proved to be anything but a blessing
David — promise — righteous King from his family tree — sadly, the heirs to David’s throne proved to be anything but righteous rulers.
Exile — Just as Adam and Eve — exiled from Garden — away from the Lord’s presence — Israel too exiled out of the Land of Milk and Honey God provided for them — the Land in which God would dwell with them.
The final highlight is that of the Christ — now it’s interesting — no mention of return from exile — Though a physical return to the Land out of Babylon — the people were still very much in exile — Because what makes one in exile is whether or not Yahweh is dwelling in our midst — whether we are at home with the Lord.
This New Genesis that arrives in Jesus — is the answer to exile — the Promise of a New Exodus — a release from slavery — but a slavery from what — verse 21 — why will he be called Jesus — He will save His people from their sins
Their issue — and ours — is not so much be enslaved or oppressed by our enemies — not in being held captive by foreign superpowers or those stronger than us — The entire human race is captive to sin. — [expand on sin]
That is why we’re told this child is to be named Jesus. But there’s more to it than that… — The name is significant! Jesus — is the Greek equivalent of Yeshua — which is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew — Yehoshua — which in our English translations we pronounce as Joshua — which means “Yah is Salvation” or “The Lord Saves!”
Whoever this Son is — this Jesus is — He is nothing less than the Lord’s provision for our salvation — the One God has sent to rescue us — and to rescue us from that which we need saving from the most — our sin.
[Matthew’s fulfillment formula]
… Jesus isn’t so much a fulfillment of some prophetic prediction — but rather Jesus fills up all the anticipations — the first of which we looked at last week — One who would crush the head of the serpent — the tempter — the accuser
This brings us back to what this name entails — how it relates to this One who fills up the patterns of those who came before.
[Prophet — Priest — King]
Throughout redemption history — the stage was being set for a coming Prophet, a Priest, and a King — a prophet like Moses — a priest after the order of Melchizedek — a king from David’s line — But little expectation that One man would or could fill up all 3 of the unique offices — And yet Jesus does exactly that.
We’ll look briefly at each of these offices — and how they relate to his NAME — Prophet — Priest — King — We’ll go in reverse order, so that we begin with what is likely the most obvious of the 3 — KING — Out of all the expectations — concerning the coming Messiah — which is the Hebrew equivalent of the word Christ — simply means anointed One — the expectation was for this anointed One to be heir of the Davidic throne — the long-awaited Son of David.
How does Jesus’ name play into this anticipation — Joshua
Wait. I don’t recall Joshua being a king — No, Joshua wasn’t a king — at least, he didn’t have the title — but he certainly had all the biblical trappings of a king —
What were some of the roles of the king? — When the Israelites ask for a king — they are seeking one who will go out and fight their battles for them — One who will lead the military — This was exactly what a king was in ancient times — He was the chief commanding officer — (George Washington)
The king was also to be the one who would subdue the people — in other words — restrain them from unrighteousness — and execute justice in the land
In Exodus 17 — after Israel comes out of slavery in Egypt — who’s appointed as commander over Israel’s army? — Joshua
In Deuteronomy 17 — the Lord sets expectations for Israel’s future kings — He shall meditate on God’s Word day and night and not let it depart from his mouth — turning from it neither to the right or the left —
In chapter 1 of Joshua — that’s exactly how Joshua is commissioned when he takes Moses place as Israel’s leader.
If you compare David’s instructions to Solomon — to be strong and courageous — the Lord gave Joshua that very same instruction —
In Numbers 27 — Joshua again is described as the commander of the army — but he’s also called a shepherd of God’s people — just as king David was — and just like King Jesus
Joshua was indeed a king without the title — but why? — Because Joshua recognized who the true King was — the Lord himself. — Even Joshua’s name pointed to who the true is.
Jesus fills up the office of King — not only as the Davidic King — but the greater Joshua — who will lead his people out of exile — into the promised land of the New Jerusalem. — He is the greater Joshua who not only leads us into battle against the enemy — He vanquishes all our enemies — Jesus alone has the power to break sins reign — He is the mighty one who can save.
PRIEST — Jesus also comes as — true High Priest — the mediator between God and man — the One who atones — or covers sin — by offering a substitute in the place of the sinner.
The tabernacle and temple were set up in such a way — to show both God’s desire to dwell among his people — and the difficulty of how can an holy God dwell among a sinful people —
Enter the High Priest — once a year the high priest was to go into the innermost room of the temple — called the Most Holy Place — and this high priest was the only one who could enter — and that — only once a year — and because the high priest himself was a sinner — he had to first offer a sacrifice for his own sins — before he could offer the sacrifice for the sins of the people — to cover their sins —
How was sin covered — by the slaughtering of an innocent animal in place of the rebellious people — But you ask — and rightly so — How can an animal pay the penalty for my sin? — and that was the problem — it couldn’t — and never could —
The sacrificial system was simply a place holder — until the fullness of what the sacrificial system pointed to came — Jesus himself
And why couldn’t God simply cover our sin without a sacrifice? — Well if a crime isn’t paid for — then justice hasn’t been done — And God is perfectly righteous — he can’t allow sin to go unpunished —
A lenient judge is an unjust judge — Think about it — if I stole $1000 from you — and the judge simply decides to show mercy to me — letting me off without paying for my crime — that’s all good for me — but you’re still out your $1000 — Justice hasn’t been done — And if you’re not bothered by that — well… let’s see!!!
And the same is true of any other crime — But here’s the thing — our crimes are first and foremost against God — not our neighbor — Our neighbor is harmed solely because we rebel against God and His righteousness — Furthermore — when we wrong our neighbor — we wrong an image-bearer — still making our wrongdoing against Him.
Back to our high priest — we need one who will atone for our sin — The problem is — the high priests weren’t all that holy.
So, how does this pertain to Jesus’ name? — Some of you “A” students who read study your Bible already know — Just as there’s a kingly figure who shares Jesus’ Hebrew name — Joshua — so too there’s a priestly figure — a high priest — who returns from exile
In Haggai — this high priest, Joshua is also commanded to be strong — for the Lord is with you — This Joshua is to rebuild the temple — in which the latter glory shall be greater than the former — but the temple he builds — by no means surpasses the glory of the former — And yet, there’s the anticipation — One day it will!
Zechariah is given a vision of this same high priest — Joshua is found in filthy garments with Satan standing by to accuse — Now these filthy garments are intended to portray sin — the sin of both the high priest — as well as the people
How can such a high priest stand before the Lord and intercede on the sinner’s behalf? — The priest had the role of pronouncing clean and unclean — and here Joshua stood — an unclean high priest —
Well, the angel of the Lord exchanges Joshua’s filthy garments with new — removing Satan’s ability to accuse him any longer.
In Zechariah 6 — we find this high priest — also receive a crown — so Joshua is portrayed as a Royal — or Kingly Priest — who receives the crown — a priest on the throne.
But there’s a problem — The priests came from the tribe of Levi — the kings from the tribe of Judah — Such can only be resolved in One person — the New Joshua — Yeshua — Jesus — who is both king and priest
Jesus will build the temple — the house of the Lord — and one the far surpasses any brick-and-mortar structure — because the temple Jesus builds is made out of living stones — his people — They are now the place where God’s glory dwells
They can now dwell in God’s presence because they are now cleansed of their sin — because this high priest, Jesus, offered the only sacrifice sufficient to cover our sin — he offered Himself.
PROPHET:
Last one — Prophet — The role of the prophet was to be God’s mouthpiece — to declare the Word of God — the call for justice and righteousness — to set forth the indictment against sinners — and call the people to repentance — But the prophets also announced the Good News of the Lord’s mercy — his pardon for sinners.
The prophet was to instruct the people in the things of God — and most importantly — they were to reveal Yahweh — Many prophets reveal YH in their pronouncing of his judgments — displaying the Lord’s righteousness through their messages. — These messages were more forthtelling than foretelling — pronouncing the dilemma of our sin and God’s holiness — and yet the prophets also proclaimed God’s great mercy — but how would such mercy finally come about without compromising God’s justice?
Now, what about the name Jesus — is there a prophet with a related name — is there a Joshua the prophet anywhere in the Bible? Not exactly — But do you know what Joshua’s original name was? — Numbers 13 — And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua
At times — rather than speaking the message the Lord gave them — the prophets were required to enact their message. — Perhaps no prophet had a more unexpected task than the prophet Hoshea — whose name we pronounce as Hosea — but that’s not it’s Hebrew pronunciation — it’s Hoshea — just like Joshua.
Hosea — one of the 12 minor prophets — was called to take a wife of whoredom — and have children of whoredom — Such might not seem as shocking in our culture — sadly — but this is likely one of the hardest assignments given to the Lord’s prophets
Just as Hosea’s wife — who bore him children — was unfaithful — chasing after many lovers — so too — God’s people chased after other suitors — foreign gods — to worship — The prominent way sin is described in the prophets — is as adultery — spiritual adultery towards God
Israel was to be Yahweh’s bride — and the individuals were the children — But despite her whoredom — her faithlessness — his people’s constant going astray — God promise mercy and compassion — He promises to heal their apostasy — and to turn his anger away from them.
The book of Hosea ends with these amazing words — Whoever is wise, let him understand these things…
What on earth is God doing? — He’s preparing the world for His Son.
Where Hosea was just a portrait — a representation — Jesus is Yahweh come in the flesh to redeem His faithless Bride — Where Hosea was merely an image — an enactment of the truth of God’s love for His people — Jesus is the real deal — There’s no fuller pronouncement — no fuller representation of God’s love — than the person and work of Jesus — the greater Hoshea —
Jesus’ name matters— Yahweh saves — and he saves from sin.
When the Angel of the Lord — speaking to Joseph — explains why this child is to be named Jesus — he quotes Psalm 130 — “For he will save his people from their sins” — who will save them? — Yahweh himself.
The language of Psalm 130 is that of “ransom” — God’s people don’t need ransomed from slavery in Egypt — they never did — They didn’t need rescue from the clutches of Babylon, Assyria, or Rome — Each of those are mere portraits of a much greater captivity — slavery to sin and its effects
Ransom — refers to the fact that a price must be paid — it’s not as simple as parting the sea — The miracle isn’t parting a great body of water — that the people can walk across on dry land — For the God who spoke the universe into existence out of nothing — but simply by a word — surely parting the sea is a walk in the park!
Don’t be in awe over that — Be in awe that this God is mighty to save you and I from our sin — That He is able to cancel the record of debt that stands against us — that He is able to reconcile us to himself — showing us abundant mercy without compromising His justice —
Whoever you are — wherever you are — no matter how far from God you’ve run — no matter what your past looks like — no matter how far gone you think you might be — The Lord’s arm is not too short to save — By His mere rebuke He dries up the sea! — Your not too far from grace — In fact, that’s why He came — to bring His mighty arm of salvation near — He came as a precious little baby named Jesus — in order to stretch out His mighty arms of salvation on a cross — for you!
VIRGIN CONCEPTION — Which brings us to the virgin conception — And I do believe that’s the biblical emphasis — the focus isn’t on the virgin birth — but the conception
Joseph and Mary were betrothed — and she was found to be with child — before they consummated their marriage —Joseph, now, — being a just man — was unwilling to put her to shame — so he sought to divorce her quietly —
Now, here — Joseph is a portrait of what this Child shall be — Just and Merciful — the character of God —
If Mary had been unfaithful — to marry her would be unjust — such would invite impurity into the house of God’s people — But to put her to open disgrace would lack the compassion of the Lord too. — An impossible dilemma that even Joseph would be unable to pull off.
But God! — Joseph, I know that’s not your baby — It’s mine!
And Matthew wants to make perfectly clear — in case one would seek to suggest that “virgin” in this context simply means young maiden — or in Isaiah’s case — she was so until the prophet slept with the prophetess — In verse 25 — after Joseph woke from the dream — he took Mary as his wife — But he knew her not — until after she had given birth to a son.
He knew her not! — That phrase is significant — It’s a euphemism — but not just any — It’s an intimate knowledge in which a couple comes together and conceives —
At the beginning of Genesis 4 — we read — And Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore Cain — and again at the end — after Cain killed Abel — Adam knew his wife again — and she bore a son — and named him Seth —
But from this intimate knowledge of Adam knowing Eve — Seth — is born in Adam’s likeness. — And as just and merciful as Joseph was — if he was to know Mary — he would pass on the sin of Adam as well.
The virgin conception is incredible — unbelievable — utterly impossible — and yet it happened — And it had to happen! — It was absolutely necessary for this child to be brought into the world in this way! — The child needed to be in the likeness of sinful man! — Or he couldn’t pay the penalty for our sin — Jesus’ sacrifice would be worthless — Because man sinned — man must pay the penalty. — But in order to be a perfect sacrifice — Jesus had to be without sin himself — so he had to be born apart from the seed of Adam — conceived by the Holy Spirit — completely the work of God alone.
That and that alone qualifies Jesus to be the perfect Prophet — Priest — King — Because this child is God — the very Son of God!
The Genesis — the beginning of Jesus Christ in no way suggests that the eternal Son had a beginning — And yet, as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham — as a child of flesh — his days did indeed have a beginning.
The man — Jesus Christ — was not eternal — and Yet Jesus as the Son of God is! — He is the Great I AM — Yahweh come in the flesh —
Christmas — the first Christmas — is the day on which the eternal One is born — the I Am becomes — the day on which He who is — becomes what He was not! — That is the greatest miracle!
In the Old Testament — God had manifested Himself in various ways — most particularly in the appearance of man — We call these theophanies — manifestations of God — And yet, God never truly took on flesh — until being conceived in the virgin’s womb — Jesus Christ is the perfect and final Theophany — God Himself — and as such — He is Yeshua — God’s salvation in human form.
As Prophet — Jesus saves us from the deceitfulness of sin — by displaying the truth of God’s love, his mercy, his goodness in the fullest measure of the cross — counteracting the lies of the Serpent that had once caused us to question otherwise.
As Priest — Jesus saves us from the penalty of sin — that separates us from God — by offering the only sufficient sacrifice that assures full and lasting pardon — He removes the guilt of our sin that keeps us from drawing near to His throne of grace — and He defangs the Serpent by removing the validity of Satan’s accusations
As King — Jesus saves us from the power of sin — subduing our rebellious hearts with his love — As the Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep — leading us in paths of righteousness — He has vanquished our strong enemies — crushing the Serpent’s head
Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king —
He has revealed God
He has reconciled us to God
and He reigns as God on high
Why do we call him Jesus — He save his people from their sins — The Lord is our salvation — Immanuel — For God Himself has come.
PRAY
Genesis 3:15 — The Gospel Announced - Protoevangelium Good News begins here! The entirety of redemption history is a fulfillment of this text — One is to come and crush the head of the snake. Christmas — what we believers celebrate — is the arrival of the anticipated ONE! The HOPE of Genesis 3:15!
1) God’s Sovereign Rescue Plan through Enmity
2) God’s Painful Victory through Sacrifice
God in His sovereign mercy and grace refuses to allow us to make peace with the Serpent. The Enemy will not ultimately win the affections of the Woman. Rather, God will crush the enemy and win back the affections of the Woman. That’s the story of the Bible in a nutshell
From Genesis 3 — Revelation 22.
Every book of Scripture every chapter every verse to some degree develops and furthers this theme — until the enemy is vanquished — and the Bride is finally won over by her King.
READ: (Genesis 3)
I. Enmity — God’s Sovereign Rescue Plan through Enmity
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring (or seed) and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
While consequences pronounced for all 3 parties in form of curse:
The first judgment rightly falls to the serpent
While not diminishing the judgment to come on the woman and the man respectively — the serpent’s judgment alone is described as crushing —
We see God upholding His righteousness — all the while extending hope to these two guilty rebels —
Measure of hope in all 3 — with the greatest hope being found in the pronouncement that One will come and crush the head of the Serpent
Notice — All 3 curses — have to do with seed of some sort
Serpent — difficulty / hostility / pain between seed (offspring) — between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed — between the serpent and the Promised One
Woman — difficulty / hostility / pain bringing forth seed (offspring) — the fruit of the womb — including the Promised One
Man — difficulty / hostility / pain bringing forth fruit of the ground — the seed of the field — the Land will be resistant to bringing forth the bread of life — the seed necessary to sustain life until the promised One comes
Abraham: Beyond the scope of our message — but not at all irrelevant — all 3 blessings to Abraham also relate to seed — In fact, the answer to each of these curses:
Great Name: Triumph over enemies
Offspring: As numerous as stars & sand
Land: Milk and Honey — restoration
The Promised Offspring — answer to each of these promises
But each of these will come through great difficulty / hostility / pain
But notice, YH sovereign over these curses — subjected to futility — in hope
Sovereign grace toward Abraham — and YH’s commitment to fulfill promises. Sovereign over this Rescue Plan — entails difficulty / hostility / pain — found in the form of enmity between the parties
I will put enmity — God himself puts the enmity — between the Serpent and the Woman — and between the Serpent’s Seed (or offspring) and the Woman’s Seed (offspring)
Issues: What is meant by seed / offspring?
And just as important — Serpent and Woman?
Easy one first:
Serpent — we know this is Satan — Why? — Because what we’ve been taught — Of course — debate whether actual snake — Regardless — we know more is meant by this Serpent than only a mere snake. Revelation 20 — dragon, ancient serpent, the devil, Satan.
A bit more complicated: Woman —
Now if you recognize the serpent not specifically dealing with a snake — but more than a mere snake — hopefully — able to follow the same idea with the woman. (And if by chance you understand the Woman differently — then, at the very least — you likely chalk up what I’m going to apply to the Woman — to her offspring — So, we should still arrive at the same place.)
First — don’t doubt this refers immediately to the woman Eve — But not fullness of what’s intended — (allowing Scripture to interpret…) — Woman / Wife — (over 300 times for each) — The People of God — who were to rule creation under Him — regularly referred to collectively as woman/wife - Culminating — Israel — YH’s Bride, and the Church — Bride of Christ
So, woman — Covenant Community — Community of Fatih — not necessarily faithful —
Back to Eve — and how this applies to us — God himself puts enmity between Serpent and Woman, or — might say — between seducer and seduced. Import — recognize — woman’s responsibility. BUT also — taken advantage — by one stronger. Satan seeks to draw away God’s people’s affections from God! Every idol — every sin — affections removed from God — and placed elsewhere — a seeming victory for this seducer
Application: Helpful — every time sin — give in temptation — weh have been DECEIVED, Seduced by a LIE — The Problem — we tend to like the idea of being seduced — confusing seduction with winning over one’s affections — wooing — would be the archaic term.
Seduced — sexual overtones — prominent — Bible presents sin — yet touches every aspect of your being:
- seduced into being thought highly of
- being right — made much of — thought well of
- special favor over another
- lusting after that which God graciously gives to another (covet)
- seduced into painting yourself in better light — another in lesser
The tempter knows how to seduce you in such a way — it speaks to the very core of your being — all the while distorting the truth — and our sinful flesh tends to love it in the moment!
In God’s grace — He refuses to allow us to be comfortable lying in bed with the snake! Which means — the Woman — and the entire community of faith — reside in a hostile environment — But far worse would be God giving us over to the seducer. No!
YH refuses to allow the whole of the human race to make peace with the serpent — While the Fall brought grave consequences — spiritual separation and death are not the final word — ONE is coming — the Seed of the Woman is coming! And thus the SEED —
If you don’t accept the Woman as representative of the Covenant Community — then follow the scholars who ascribe such to her seed / offspring — I’d argue that seed/offspring — however — would be the individual children of the Woman — of the Covenant Community — not the Covenant Community at large (2 John / Rev 12)
But problem — Women don’t have seed — not literally — and not in this sense — Greek word — sperma — seed comes through the male
Similarly, the Serpent — doesn’t have offspring in this sense —
In fact, many theologians take issue with the idea that the Serpent has offspring —
(But such is to entirely miss the point — If we read the Bible literalistically — make mess of whole story — Such is to apply a hermeneutic — Scripture never commands or suggests — Rather — opposite — God’s people regularly rebuked for missing the point for this very reason —
Have to determine whether to read the text as the inspired authors teach — or apply our own inspired method)
So does the serpent have offspring? — not literally — Idea isn’t — women now carry garden hoe — in case — run across a snake, (strange — pet snakes). But yes, this Serpent — the devil — indeed has offspring
John Baptist and Jesus — Pharisees brood of vipers — hatchlings of a snake
Jesus speaking to the Jews who didn’t believe — God isn’t your father — but the devil is — for you do the devil’s will. Jesus says something even more interesting — referring to the devil being their faith — He says — He was a murderer from the beginning. Did the serpent do the actual killing? (superintendency — responsible)
Jesus is referring to the account of Cain killing his brother Abel — the enmity spoken of in this very passage — the first seed of the serpent — and the first seed of the woman
So, Seed of Serpent — those who oppose the purposes of God - the religious leaders as a brood of vipers - Peter, when seeking to stand against the plans and purposes of God is rebuke by Jesus “Get behind me Satan” - So the idea of “seed of the serpent” is not necessarily an offspring issue as much as a resemblance issue —
When we go against God’s revealed plans and purposes — we resemble the serpent and can thus rightly be called his offspring — just as Jesus referred to the religious leaders as children of the devil. All humanity from here until the end of history is distinguished between seed of serpent and seed of woman
But who belongs to which? All offspring of Adam and Eve that come into the world — affected by Fall. Apart from God’s electing grace — are seed of serpent - They do the serpent’s bidding — Dance to the tempter’s tune
- Eat – Eat – Eat
Only those who receive YH’s special electing grace belong to the seed of woman — Can rightly be called children of God — in biblical sense
Seed Singular:
One more thing we need to address as regards the Seed of the Woman — the context of her offspring — is singular
Seed — collective noun — singular/plural — (fish) — no plural seed —
Seed of Woman — a singular pronoun — He — He will bruise your head
There is an anticipation of a particular individual — a specific offspring — a single seed — who will rise up and crush the enemy
Eve likely thought when she gives birth to Cain — that he’s the one
I’ve gotten a man with the help of the Lord
But we quickly find out the Cain is like the serpent — not the One to crush
Redemption History begins tracing a path of hope to this seed:
Not Cain but Seth —down to Noah — Not Canaan but Shem —Abram
Not Ishmael but Isaac — Jacob not Esau. Joseph — not his brothers who are hostile toward him — showing themselves like the serpent. Not Manasseh but Ephraim — But then from Joseph to Judah — who has his own set of twins — Not Zerah — but Perez — through woman Tamar — the first woman recorded in the N.T. — and in Jesus’ genealogy
Something to notice regarding this genealogy of sorts — fraught with enmity: Cain / Abel — Canaan / Shem — Isaac / Ishmael — Jacob / Esau
Joseph / brothers. But there’s also the difficulty / hostility / pain in childbearing — the bringing forth of the seed. Eve loses Abel to murder — Sarah barren — hostility with Hagar, Rebecca’s barren — sends Jacob away for fear of Esau, Rachel barren — hostility with sister Leah — even dies in childbirth, Tamar — denied rights of widow — bring forth seed through father-in-law — Judah — scheme of deception — and prostitution
And the list goes on…
Application: Sovereign Enmity
If you’re life is filled with difficulty / hostility / pain — It’s baked into the plan of HOPE — because God refuses to allow you and me to make peace with the enemy
If God allowed you and me to have peace with every other entity (as if that could even be possible — but hypothetically) — every other person, all of creation, even with the Serpent himself — and yet we were without peace with God — we would lack EVERYTHING because nothing else will ever satisfy — because we were created for Him. God refuses to let you and me settle for anything less than the best — and there is no close second.
This Sovereign enmity between the seed of the serpent and seed of the woman is nothing short of grace. This brings us to part 2:
II. Victory: God’s Painful Victory through Sacrifice
He (Seed of the Woman) shall bruise your head (Serpent)
and you (Serpent) shall bruise His heel
In anticipation of this Seed — the Promised One
- we see that victory takes place in form of a head wound (to Serpent)
- whatever that may mean — typically suggesting FATAL
- and a heel or foot wound (to Seed of Woman)
- whatever that may mean — typically not fatal —
but nevertheless — a wound
So how does this concept play out over Redemption History:
While — Seed of Woman — points to a single individual — Jesus
Important to recognize that Israel’s history is a shadow — of that of Jesus — Israel is the type — Jesus the antitype — or actual fulfillment
Israel is to crush their enemies underfoot.
Backing up a bit — verse 14 — Serpent cursed to crawl on his belly and eat dust — Serpent — lick dust — a portrait of the serpent being cast down — the dusty earth will now be his primary abode — until God’s purposes concerning the serpent are complete — and he is finally cast into the lake of fire.
(Understand God’s sovereignty there — God is under no obligation to delay — but rather has deemed it appropriate for His own purposes and His people’s good — that the serpent remain a little while.)
Trampled Head of Serpent (and his seed):
Numbers 24:17 — Balaam’s prophecy:
… a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab… Moab — enemy of God’s people — thus seed of Serpent — crushed head. Judges 4-5 — Deborah — glory shall not go to Barak — Lord will sell the enemy Sisera into the hand of a woman —
Thus, Jael, a woman, and a Canaanite woman at that, bring Sisera into her tent and drives a tent peg through his skull. So in Judges 5:24-27 we read this account of what happened:
Most blessed of women be Jael — that should sound familiar —
that is the greeting Elizabeth addresses Mary, the mother of Jesus with —
Most blessed of women —…she sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell — dead.
In light of our text of Genesis 3:15 — that is an amazing account.
Perhaps nothing more than coincidence? The New Testament apostles wouldn’t have read it as such. In crushing the skull of Sisera — the seed of the woman has victory over the enemy of God’s people.
In Judges 9, Abimelech, one of Gideon’s sons,
rises as an enemy of his own people — a seed of the serpent —
a woman crushes his head by dropping an upper millstone on his skull — the word being “gul-go-leth” — which is where we get Golgotha —
which all 4 gospels find it important enough to mention.
Hold on to that.
David — a singular seed — crushes the skull of Goliath, the Philistine — no doubt a seed of the serpent — at enmity with God’s people. In Isaiah — one of our favorite Christmas passages — the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son — Do you know the context? — End of Isaiah 6 — there’s an anticipation of the Holy Seed — Isaiah 7 — God pronounces the crushing of Judah’s enemies — defined by their “heads” —
Psalms —regular mention of God striking or crushing the heads of enemies — (we can’t possibly cover every allusion to this)
Perhaps, most applicable — Psalm 110: Highly Messianic, The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool —
The idea of God crushing enemies under this Messianic individual’s feet — But there’s more: depending on how you translate verse 6 — The ESV renders the Lord shattering chiefs — but that word for translated chiefs — same word for head in Genesis 3:15. This Psalm which no doubt is about Jesus — portrays God’s enemies’ heads being crushed under his feet as a footstool.
Hannah’s prayer — the Lord is said to guard the feet of his faithful ones — but the wicked shall be cut off — the enemies of the Lord shall be broken to pieces — Whatever happens to the heel — the feet of the faithful — it will not ultimately be a fatal blow.
But same cannot be said of God’s enemies who are broken to pieces. And in the middle of that inspired prayer —reminded it is not by might that man prevails — Jesus will ultimately crush the enemy — not through might but weakness — But we’re not there just yet.
This idea bookends the scrolls of First and Second Samuel — Where 1 Samuel begins with Hannah’s prayer of crushed enemies and a protected foot — 2 Samuel ends — Davids Song of Deliverance —
the enemy is beaten down as fine dust — Serpent licking up dust —
crushed and stomped down like mire in the streets — The blow to the head of the enemy is again by the foot as the Seed of the Woman stomps on him. — The enemy is said to have fallen under his feet —
While the Lord has provided a wide place for my steps and did not let my feet slip — Heads crushed — Foot not fatally wounded.
There are many more passages we could look at — and so far, we’ve only focused on the Old Testament!
Perhaps helpful to point out that the Enemy wasn’t ignorant of this anticipation — In fact, Satan even uses one of these texts to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. Psalm 91 — For He will command his angels concerning you — to guard you in all your ways — On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. — The promise of protecting the foot so it doesn’t receive a fatal blow —
But the text isn’t finished — You will tread on the lion and the adder —
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
The Promised One:
No surprise — when the Promised One — Jesus — finally comes on the scene — many expected — military warrior — One who would crush the enemy — who the Jews saw to be Rome — Like Joshua — when he led Israel in to conquer the promised land — had the men of Israel place their feet on the necks of the Amorite chiefs
Obviously glossed over — passages — this conqueror’s suffering. Right from beginning — Serpent shall bruise his heel Was such to be a minor bruise — almost a sort of inconvenience from stomping on the snake? STOMP! Ouch, that hurt!
Adam — never protected his woman — never came to her rescue —
Sure — seeing the naked help-mate in the garden — this at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh — but do we ever witness any more affection than that — any act of care or love — or was it just all take. Thus — the serpent — crept in — and seduced his wife! And the man let him!
When he should have crushed the serpent’s head right then! Adam failed where it mattered most — being willing to lay down his life for his Bride
David — and when it finally looks like the Promised One has arrived
A son of Jesse anointed as King — a shepherd boy named David Who crushes Goliath’s skull with a stone. We find — even as faithful as David is in so many areas. Rather than being the One to crush the head of the Serpent. He ends up looking very much like the Serpent himself
Stealing another man’s wife — And he did it in secret! The ones God appointed to care for the garden — to guard creation — To rule justly over the peoples of the earth – and protect them, Instead drove the people away from God — into the arms of the snake. It’s not enough now to simply crush the head of the snake
Jesus came to win back the Bride!
A man lost her — Adam lost her to the snake — A man must win her back. So Jesus comes in the likeness of man — likeness of Adam. But not from the seed of Adam. In the fullness of time God sent forth his Son,
born of a woman — The virgin conceived a bore a Son —
and his name — Emmanuel, Born of a woman — without any male seed — conceived by the Holy Spirit.
One of the ways Jesus identifies himself with our text — as the Seed of the Woman — is near the opening and closing of John’s gospel. At the wedding in Cana — refers to his mother as what? “Woman” — Woman, what has this to do with me? EVERYTHING!
And again from the cross — “Woman." Woman, behold your Son!
(referring to himself or John…). Unlike Adam — attracted to tree. In the garden — Jesus recoils from it. Yet not my will — and endures the curse of the tree, that the children of Adam — might become offspring of the Woman, Behold, your mother!
Jesus shows his love for those who are to become offspring of the Woman by bearing their curse in their place. That’s how Jesus crushes the skull of the Serpent by carrying his own cross up the hill to Golgotha — the place of the skull — Where his hands — and his feet — are bruised
On the cross — it appeared that the feet received the mortal wound
rather than the head of the serpent. But 3 days later — we find that God does guard the feet of his faithful. Unlike Adam — Jesus displays his love for his Bride — Paying the highest cost possible — His own life. All who are moved to repentance — by this display of infinite love — this irresistible grace — become offspring of the Woman — the church — the Bride of Christ
Apart from trusting Christ — we are still offspring of Serpent — still at enmity with this Seed of the Woman — at enmity with God and His People
Jesus hasn’t come to make peace with the world — but to offer peace to those who repent.
Those born anew — become offspring of the Bride — whose affections YH has won back — through His lovingkindness displayed in the person and work of Jesus the Seed of the Woman
Conclusion:
We were too weak for the serpent — So Jesus came in our weakness to defeat him — But the problem wasn’t our weakness — but our supposed strength — Our pride that sought to do things our way — to deal with the serpent our way —
The weakness the Son of God came in — was the weakness of FAITH — entrusting himself utterly to His Father’s care — which our first parents failed to do.
O the faith it took to come as man — the omnipotent subjecting himself to our weakness — coming as a helpless babe — unable to do a thing for himself — other than trust — trusting His Father — at his earthly mother’s breast.
It’s in that weakness — the Son of the woman crushed the dragon’s head
The Beast has received its mortal wound — Victory is won — The Dragon knows his time is short — and thus he is angry —
But fear not — Paul encourages us in Romans — The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet too! — But how?
Not in strength of pride — but in the same weakness of faith.
The Beast has received its mortal wound — Victory is won. The Dragon knows his time is short. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. But how? — Same way — laying down your life. Don’t keep giving in to the Seducer — the one who deceives in order to gain your affections — yet has no affection for you. Look to the One who has proven His love — to win you back
God in His sovereign mercy and grace refuses to allow us to make peace with the Serpent. The Enemy will not ultimately win the affections of the Woman. Rather, God, through the Seed of the Woman, will crush the enemy and win back the affections of the Woman.