The first Sunday of Lent brings us to a very profound spiritual encounter. Jesus and the Enemy meet in the desert. But how did Jesus get there?
Luke tells us in chapter 3 that at the moment of Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove and God the Father’s voice from Heaven was heard saying “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
And so filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is led into the desert for 40 days. 40 is an important # in Scripture. The time for The Israelite wandering in the desert after leaving Egypt was 40 years. Jesus ascended to Heaven 40 days after He rose from the dead.
And we see that in the desert, he was tempted by the devil.
I was always fascinated with the Sahara desert when I was a child. They would always reference it in history books and geography as the biggest desert in the world. Deserts as we know are extremely dry, very hot (especially in the daylight), and quite dangerous with lack of any food or water. And Jesus, after 40 days, found Himself hungry (and probably thirsty too).
And the Enemy comes and tries to tempt Him in His weakened human state.
Isn’t that true for us as well? We don’t like to talk about the existence of “the Enemy” or the “devil”. We think of that little cartoon figure in red standing over our shoulder. But look around our world today. The Enemy represents evil. Do we see evil in our world today? I’ll let you answer that question.
The reality is the Enemy is prowling around trying to prevent us from following Jesus. You see from the beginning of time, in Genesis 1, God separated the light from the darkness. They cannot co-exist. And it is when we are in a weakened state, that the Enemy comes to deceive and trick us.
We meet the Enemy in chapter 3 of Genesis, the most cunning of all the animals (as the serpent). And what does he say to Eve. Did God really tell you that you could not to eat of any of the trees in the Garden. Doubt. Confusion. Chaos. The Enemy comes to cast doubt and confusion in our lives.
But we see in today’s encounter, how our Lord fights the Enemy.
The Word of God. John 1 tells us who the Word (the Logos) is. Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God! And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!
Jesus had no doubt who He was. As I mentioned earlier, God the Father already told us at His Baptism: this is my beloved Son!
And yet, the Enemy says, “if you are the Son of God, command this stone to turn into bread”. IF. And how does our Lord turn back this first temptation. By quoting Scripture from Deuteronomy: man does not live on bread alone, but by EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD!
What are we feeding ourselves with each day? As disciples, we have been saying that to follow Him requires us to:
Be with Him
Become like Him
Do as He did
Being with Him means spending quality time with Him. It means opening His Word and learning, reflecting and growing in our knowledge of Him. He wants to be our best friend. If we find ourselves spending more time on social media than we do with Jesus in His Word, in prayer, in reflection, how can we be prepared to fight the Enemy in times of weakness.
The Enemy then attempts to trick Jesus by offering Him another worldly desire. Power. He would give Jesus all the power over this world if He worships Him. And yet our Lord rejects that offer by quoting the first commandment. You shall worship the Lord, our God. Him alone shall we worship.
So who or what are we worshipping? Is it our favorite sports team, a particular TV show, our job? Has that become the center of our life? Work is important. Family is important. But it cannot take first place in our life. Our time with Jesus each day has to rank first. The commandment is clear: Him alone shall we worship.
Finally, the Enemy throws Scripture back at Jesus when he challenges Him to throw Himself down and have the angels protect Him. Cunning tactics. But the Lord one-ups the Enemy again. You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test! How often do we test God? For me, daily! Have you ever played let’s make a deal with God? God, if you do this for me, I will do what you ask. That’s not what God desires from us. He wants us to choose Him. And place Him first. Place Him at the center. There is no other spot for Him. The demands of discipleship are hard. We were reminded this week in Luke 9:23-24: take up our Cross, deny ourselves and follow Him.
We are invited to go into the desert. We experience the desert in so many ways in our lives. Spiritual Dryness and barren prayer-life. And the Enemy pounces when we are weak and hungry. But our Lord provides us the remedy to fight the Enemy in these dry and arid places in our lives. The Word of God.
Hebrews 4:12 says the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
His Word will pierce our hearts. His Word will draw us nearer to Him. His Word will challenge us.
And notice the last line that Luke states in this encounter. The devil departed from him for a time. Satan does not give up; he hates losing. We are in a constant battle. The forces of good and evil. They cut right through the center of our hearts. We must battle and fight each day to resist the temptations that Satan throws at us.
My challenge this week is for us to carve out 5-10 minutes each day. Find a verse. Find a psalm. I’m going to pray with today’s Psalm. 91 Verse 2 which says: Say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.”
Proverbs 3:5 says:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely.
God’s Word has the power to transform our lives. It is our #1 weapon to fight the Enemy. In times of temptation, trial and tribulation, we can find comfort, consolation and strength to fight and defeat the Enemy. Just as our Lord did.
Be with Him
Become like Him
Do as He did
As we encounter the Lord in His Word, may the Holy Spirit descend upon us and give us the courage and strength we need to defeat the enemy and dedicate ourselves to following Him.
Luke 4:1-13
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him,
“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”
Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It is written
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve.”
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”
When the devil had finished every temptation,
he departed from him for a time.
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