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Articles 2021-2023
When John was baptizing many in the Jordan river, Jesus also came to be baptized.
…and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
Prior to any public ministry, Jesus was totally pleasing to His Father as He walked in intimate relationship with Him. Here was the basis for His ministry to the nation. Sonship preceded service. Similarly, it is not our service of others that establishes our sonship; it is our relationship with our God as His sons and daughters that establishes all Christian ministry.
As a result of Heaven’s priorities, the Father publicly declared Jesus’ sonship. And in the wilderness, Satan immediately attacked what the Father had said (Luke 4:3, 9). If the enemy can undermine our sense of identity, it will color/infect whatever service we do in Christ’s name and will cause our motives to be impure. For example, some have brought a measure of spiritual control over others in God’s house while not realizing that they were motivated by insecurity in their own souls.
But because Jesus knew exactly who He was, He did not have to prove anything to anybody. He just continued loving the Father and walking in perfect union with Him. And so:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness…
(Luke 4:1)
Notice that God did not send His Son into spiritual warfare; He led Him there. Similarly, in our own lives, we do not go looking for spiritual opposition. As we simply follow our Commander in Chief, the enemy will oppose us. But our confidence will lie in the fact that we do not face our adversary on our own but in the One who led us into the battle.
Some have suggested from the above verses that Jesus was first filled with the Holy Spirit at His baptism. Unlikely. If John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb, it is doubtful that the Son of God had to wait thirty years. So, why the visible descent of the Spirit like a dove at His baptism? One main reason was because the Father had told John what to look for in identifying the Messiah.
John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
At first, John did not realize that Jesus was the Messiah. But God quickly made His choice perfectly clear. His own presence upon, abiding within, and being perfectly revealed through the man Christ Jesus was what all of Israel’s history had been building toward – the Lord God of Israel Himself in flesh among men.
The Father had shown John that the Messiah would immerse God’s people in the Holy Spirit. And so, Christ came not only to fill His people with Himself but to plunge His people into Himself. Jesus, both the power of God within and the environment in which to live – both the strength of our hearts and also the Rock upon which we stand.
After fasting and engaging in spiritual warfare for forty days, Jesus then became hungry (Luke 4:1 - 2). And seeing his hunger, Satan immediately attacked Him in His identity by challenging what the Father had said.
And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
(Luke 4:3)
“Take this action to prove to me that what has been said to You is true.” Jesus refused. And again, in His public ministry His primary aim was not to prove who He was/convince people that He was the Messiah but to make known the One who had sent Him. For example, one wonders if He ever got around to telling anyone that He actually had been born in Bethlehem, the place where the Messiah would come from (Micah 5:2). Maybe He did. But Scripture just doesn’t say.
Of course, some knew very quickly that he was the Messiah (John 1:41, 45, 49). Then amazingly, He revealed who He was to a woman who had both errant theology as well as a rather “colorful” background (John 4:26).
But again, His focus throughout His ministry was not primarily to point to Himself or to prove His identity to others. Because of who He was He revealed the Father perfectly whether people knew He was the Messiah or not. And what they all picked up on was that He spoke with an authority that the religious leaders simply did not have. Here is what confronted the dark spiritual and religious powers operative in the nation.
When the Lord Himself is our only agenda, we will speak when He sends us and keep silent when He does not, no matter what people expect of us or what terms are used to describe our ministry. Such an approach reveals His discipline in our lives.
And so, because he was hungry, and because the particular stone that Satan pointed out probably looked like a crusty loaf, the temptation to act and prove His identity was quite real. But notice Matthew’s record of His response.
…He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”
It is not enough to only know what our God has said in the past; we live by what He says. Whenever He opens His heart to us, it is life to our whole being, it births courage in our souls, it releases strength to face our circumstances, and it brings awareness of His determined destiny for us. How precious to us is His word. And Scripture tells us where that word is found. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God… (John 1:1).
If we want to know what is on His heart, we must go to Him and spend time in His presence. That is where His Word is found. Then amazingly, His written word, the Scriptures will come alive. The Bible is the most important book on planet earth; it is the only book that God has written. How absolutely necessary it is that we read and study it. And then, time and again, because our heart is to know Him, He will meet with us in the words of sacred Scripture, revealing His thoughts, His intentions, His purpose.
And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
What a liar! While Satan is the god of this present age (2Corinthians 4:4), the one to whom the ungodly bow as they yield to his influences upon their souls, yet the whole creation and its fulness belongs to God (Psalm 24; 89:11; Genesis 14:19). And He is the only One who had the authority, the right to make such an offer to Jesus. In fact, He had already put into Scripture the very same offer, the very words that He would speak to the Lord Jesus at His resurrection and enthronement.
”But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
”I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.’”
Jesus was begotten, the first born from the dead at his resurrection (Acts 13:33). He then ascended, received all authority in heaven and on earth, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and asked for the nations as Zion’s installed King.
So, what was Satan’s plan in all this? What was he trying to do? Very simply, he tried to tempt Jesus to come into His inheritance by a different and easier way than through the cross. But the Father’s route was taking Him to Calvary, and there was no other way. And in our own lives, there are no easy shortcuts bypassing the cross as we follow our Lord into our inheritance.
So, of course, Jesus refused to worship the devil. And what did Satan do? He again attacked Him in His identity. To prove that He was really God’s Son, Jesus should try to take His own life by throwing Himself off the temple and force God’s hand to save His life. Obviously, our Lord turned him down flat (Luke 4:8 - 12).
In our own lives, let us not try to force God’s hand. Faith is not revealed by jumping out of a boat and expecting Him to do a water–walking miracle for us. That is not how it works. Peter’s words were, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water (Matthew 14:28). Only if Jesus commanded would the miracle happen.
Finally, Satan will attack us in our identity. But knowing who we are in God will not be made secure simply by trying to work up faith. Our confidence is in the One who has already birthed faith in us, a faith that is rooted in His eternal love for us. And it is in knowing Him that He will give us insight into the depths of our own souls. Amen.
Donald Rumble – November 2023
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