Sermon Tone Analysis

I’ve entitled this message Our King advances His Kingdom.

AFTER HIS BAPTISM Jesus enters his ministry as the Spirit-anointed and Father-confirmed messianic deliverer.

But his beginning as deliverer is as out of place as was his appearance for baptism.

Instead of initiating a public reformation, he goes to the desert to fast!

But this will be more than a place of spiritual retreat.

The desert is the place of the first showdown between competing kingdoms and their rulers,

between two figures who lay claim to the hearts and souls of men and women.

Rather than retreat, Jesus now advances the kingdom of God.

We come to

THE SETTING OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF GOD’S KINGDOM.

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

"After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”

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Martin Luther said, ‘Temptation and adversity are the two best books in my library.’

Here we see the Son of God, preparing to enter on his ministry, undergoing these same elements, especially temptation.

It was God who took the initiative, not Satan.

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”

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As he looked forward to beginning the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, he met the enemy, the prince of this world, the occupying power, as it were.

As he looked forward to beginning the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, he met the enemy, the prince of this world, the occupying power, as it were.

This confrontation is looked for, not just as a preparation for ministry,

but as a part of that ministry:

an entry on the battle, a declaration of war.

It is vital to see this remarkable incident in a positive way.

It is surely not wrong to use this passage to learn from our Lord’s method of dealing with temptation, for instance

by the correct use of Scripture,

but that is not the real point.

That is purely defensive; the real point is that our Lord is on the attack.

God’s King has come from heaven to invade the enemy’s territory,

to begin the war of liberation, to free sinners in bondage to Satan.

In the light of this it is significant that for his answers to the Evil One, Jesus went to the book of Deuteronomy, using quotations that applied originally to the Israelites.

This is not a misuse of Scripture, but an insight into its true meaning and relevance.

It shows that he stood alongside his people,

that he was the true Israel,

as we have seen already in chapter 2:15.

He is the representative man, the Servant of the Lord.

He came as another Adam to represent all his people, both Jews and Gentiles, as Adam represented all men, and on their behalf to win the victory.

Where Adam disobeyed and sinned and so brought sin and death to all mankind, Jesus obeyed and earned a righteousness for those whom he represented.

The apostle Paul spells it out in his letter to the church in Rome: ‘Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous’ ().

We must remember here that Jesus was (and is) a real man, not a spirit or God in a human form.

However difficult we find it to accept, he was really tempted, genuinely under pressure, in fact even more so than we can be or imagine,

because he resisted throughout and so provoked increasingly hard temptation.

We do not get this far; we give in before we can encounter temptations as hard as those he faced and defeated.

Jesus, the representative man, suffered when he was tempted ().

This was a new and crucial stage in the age-long struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent ().

Like Adam, he was a real man.

Unlike Adam, he faced temptation in the worst possible circumstances.

Adam was in paradise; Jesus was in the desert (with the wild animals, ).

Adam was permitted to eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden except one.

Jesus ‘after fasting for forty days and forty nights … was hungry’.

He was alone, facing an uncertain future, in one sense, yet, in another, one that was awfully certain.

It was under these adverse conditions that Jesus did battle with the devil and won.

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THE STRATEGY OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF GOD’S KINGDOM.

The first temptation: bread and obedience (4:3–4)

Look how the tempter begins by challenging Jesus:

"Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

"He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”” ()

‘Think of your status; remember who you are.

Why should someone like you have to suffer the pangs of hunger,

when with a word you can remedy the situation?’

The issue is not Jesus’ divine sonship as such.

He is not being tempted to doubt his position as the Son of God, but to misuse it.

He is being enticed into using his divine power to avoid the path of deprivation and suffering that his heavenly Father has set before him, to disobey the Father’s word.

This is one of many illustrations in the Gospels of Paul’s teaching in that Jesus, ‘though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited’.

The way of the kingdom is the way of suffering, the way of the cross.

Jesus is the Suffering Servant of , so he rejects Satan’s suggestion out of hand,

as he will also do later, in the Garden of Gethsemane (26:52–54) and then on the cross itself (27:39–40).

Christ’s answer from must, as usual, be seen in its context there.

In that passage Moses reminded Israel that God had led them in the desert to test them: "He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

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God can provide sustenance by his powerful word, by which he gave them manna in the desert,

so bread is not absolutely necessary.

What is absolutely necessary is obedience to the energizing word of God.

If God has commanded Jesus to fast in the wilderness as part of his purpose of salvation,

then he will also provide for him to live to perform that work.

The command of God contained within it the provision of God.

Essentially, therefore, Christ had to trust God—to strengthen him,

provide for him and then to release him from hunger at the proper time (4:11).

And this he did, unlike Israel, who complained about ‘this manna’ () and refused to submit and trust.

We must not limit ourselves to a moralistic lesson that reading our Bibles is more important than eating our food.

We are in the realm of salvation here; we must see Christ’s work, not our duty.

The significance for Jesus is clear.

Israel demanded its bread but died in the wilderness; Jesus denied himself bread, retained his righteousness, and lived by faithful submission to God’s Word.

Jesus resisted the devil’s ploy to divert him from the pathway of obedience and consequent suffering.

Instead he set his face steadfastly to go on towards the cross.

His obedience fulfilled all God’s requirements and provided a righteousness for us who believe in him.

The second temptation: promise and proof (4:5–7)

"Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, "and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.

For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

"Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”” ()

Just as we do not know exactly how ‘the tempter came to him’ (4:3), so we do not know whether verse 5 is to be understood in a literal or visionary manner.

The temptation was real: to ‘throw’ himself down from the pinnacle of the temple and expect God’s angels to save him from death.

As has often been pointed out, the devil can quote (or misquote) Scripture when it suits his purposes.

His interpretation and application may be plausible, but they are wrong.

Failure to do proper and accurate exegesis is to play the devil’s game.

We must make sure that it is actually God’s Word that we are trusting, not a false interpretation.

Jesus’ use of ‘also’ in verse 7 illustrates a vital hermeneutical principle:

we must never interpret one passage of Scripture in such a way as to contradict other passages.

Context is vitally important.

The author of , from which Satan quoted, refers to those who ‘make the Most High [their] dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge’ (v.

9).

In verse 14 the Lord says, "Because he has his heart set on me, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name.”

‘Surely,’ argues the devil, ‘this must apply to you, if you are the Son of God.