Tag Archives: Jesus

It Was All Lies!

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IT WAS ALL LIES!

“For the second test he led Him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, ‘They’re yours in all their splendour to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.’

“Jesus refused, again backing His refusal with Deuteronomy:

”’Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve Him with absolute single heartedness.'” Luke 4:5-8 (The Message).

Really! Did the devil really expect Jesus to swallow this one?

Luke reversed Matthew’s order, putting this temptation ahead of the devil’s attempt to lure Jesus into a suicide jump. It seems that, as a third attempt to get Jesus to fall in line with his suggestion, the devil finally played open cards with Him. Was he that desperate to lure Jesus off course that he thought he could actually induce Him into falling down and worshipping him?

What was the prize if He did that? All the kingdoms of the world? But wait a minute — before we think that it was worth a little homage in secret, let’s examine the devil’s claim.

Did he really own all the kingdoms of the world?

Firstly the devil only spoke lie-language. Jesus categorically stated that he was a liar and that the only language he could speak was lies. “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44b (NIV).

Lie number one: he does not own all the kingdoms of the world. If he doesn’t, who does?

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Psalm 24:1 (NIV). The earth is the possession of the one who created it. It is His right to assign it to whomever He wills.

Lie number two: the devil does not have the right to give away what does not belong to him. “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to mankind.” Psalm 115:16 (NIV).

For what purpose? Not to abuse and destroy as we are doing now, but to manage for Him. “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in His own image…” Genesis 1:26, 27a (NIV).

Where does the devil fit into the scheme of things? His power lies, not in possession but in deception. Had Jesus capitulated to him, would He have become the proud owner of all the kingdoms of the world? Of course not. The devil would have become His slave-driver.

How was He to gain possession of everything the devil has stolen through deceit? “I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your Father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” Psalm 2:7-8 (NIV).

Jesus had already gained the prize through obedience. By His submission to the Father’s will, He would confirm what was already true from before the beginning of time. He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world,” Revelation 13:8 (NIV).

He would worship the Lord — pledge His allegiance to the Father alone.

Sorry, devil, you lost that round too!

Daddy Didn’t Tell Me To Do That!

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DADDY DIDN’T TELL ME TO DO IT!

“The Devil, playing on His hunger, gave the first test: ‘Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread’. Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: ‘It takes more than bread to really live.'” Luke 4:3-4 (The Message).

What sort of test was this?

There are layers upon layers of significance in these devilish suggestions and the devil was smart. He started with the physical. Jesus’ most pressing need was for food. And there was nothing resembling food anywhere nearby, except a few rocks that looked like loaves of bread. The more He stared at them the more He could almost smell the delicious aroma of flatbread cooking on a heated rock. What harm would He do by using His divine power to do a little magic? No one would know…except the Father!

But underneath that there is another layer. Before He left the Father’s side, He had renounced His right to act as God during His time on earth as a human being — for the whole time — not only when it was convenient or when He was in the public eye. Would He go back on that?

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6-7 (NIV).

But underneath that was another layer. If He made stones into bread, He would be acting on his own initiative and not on God’s instruction. That would be a denial of what a true son is. The nature of a son is submission and obedience — not doing His own thing like Adam did. If He was to have His needs met, the Father would meet them so that the Father would get the glory.

But underneath that was another layer. Satan was not stupid. He knew that it was his ultimate job to destroy the oneness between Father and Son. That was the secret power that got things done on earth. Right back at the beginning of history God knew that people could do anything if they were united.

“But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.'” Genesis 11:5-6 (NIV).

Why was this? Because unity is the expression of God’s essential nature. It was the confession of the Israelites from the beginning of their nationhood. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV). Jesus would never accomplish anything outside of perfect oneness with the Father because what the Father decreed in heaven, the Son confirmed on earth.

And underneath was yet another layer. If Jesus had listened to the devil, He would have changed allegiance, just as Adam did. He would have acknowledged that “Satan is Lord” which is exactly what the old serpent wanted!

O yes, Satan was smart! But Jesus was even smarter! With one pithy quote from the Scriptures He knew so well, He cut down the opposition and demolished every subtle insinuation embedded in those words, “Since you are God’s Son…” Satan was saying, ‘Prove it!’ Jesus shot back, ‘I don’t have to. I know it!’ How did He know it? Daddy said it: ‘You are my Son.’ And that was enough.

“…Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV).

Translation: ‘Daddy didn’t tell me to do that!’

The Father’s Blessing

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THE FATHER’S BLESSING

“There was a lot more of this — words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart into them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John’s rebuke in the matter of Herodius, his brother Philip’s wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.

“After all the people were baptised, Jesus was baptised. As He was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on Him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: ‘You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.'” Luke 3:18-22 (The Message).

What an amazing series of events! John preached “fire and brimstone” and the people flocked to him. Words that put strength and heart into them? How did that work?

Then Jesus appeared to be baptised. The Son of God — baptised? How could He be answering the call to repent? What did He need to repent about? And then the Holy Spirit came in visible form and enveloped Him; and then the Father Himself affirmed Him! Nothing like this had even happened before. What did it all mean?

In John’s Gospel the writer tells us that these things were a sign to John the Baptist that this was the Messiah. It would seem then that though they were related, Jesus and John did not have childhood connections. One lived in Galilee and the other in Judea. This was not a family affair. Each was involved in his own preparation for this climactic event. John needed to be absolutely sure of the one he was presenting as Messiah to the world.

Jesus’ baptism was not about repentance. It had much deeper significance than that. Baptism was about initiation into something — an office, a movement — and identification, agreement, with what was being presented. It was the right thing for Him to do — to make a public statement through baptism that He was one with John in what he was preaching and doing. He could not stand aloof as though He had no part in this prophetic action. After all, He was the subject of John’s message.

Just like Zachariah, who pronounced his fatherly blessing over his newborn son, affirming him as his son and speaking the prophetic words of the angel Gabriel over him, so the Father spoke His Fatherly blessing over Jesus as He stood at the brink of His ministry that would take Him on a road of submission, obedience and suffering.

Jesus was the Son of God. Did He need the Father’s blessing? Like any other human child, it was His Father’s affirmation, ringing in His ears over and over again, that energised Him to fulfil His commission with absolute loyalty. How could He state with such confidence, ‘I and the Father are one”? The Father was the stake to which He was tethered and to whom He gave unswerving obedience because the Father had owned him as “My Son”.

Just imagine how different the lives of many “fatherless” children would be if they could hear those words, “My son; my daughter.” Fathers may be present but absent in the lives of their children — measuring their worth only by what they can produce or achieve. “If you are good, I will love you. If you measure up, I will own you. Otherwise you have no value to me.” What a tragedy that children are valued only for what they can contribute to a father.

God’s love is not like that. There is no clearer picture for humans to understand the nature of the Father’s love than the simple story Jesus told of a rebellious and wayward son whom the father loved anyway because he was his son. To him his son had worth because he was his son, not because he measured up. That bond can never be severed, no matter what.

After all, a son is a son is a son.

A Strange Place To Be Lost!

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A STRANGE PLACE TO BE LOST!

 “The next day they found Him in the Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions. The teachers were all quite taken with Him, impressed with the sharpness of His answers. But His parents were not impressed; they were upset and hurt.

“His mother said, ‘Young man, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out of our minds looking for you.’

“He said, ‘Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be here, dealing with the things of my Father?’ But they had no idea what He was talking about.”

“So He went back to Nazareth with them, and lived obediently with them.” Luke2:46-51 (The Message).

Missing for three days! Then they found Him in the Temple; their son, twelve years old, sitting among the religious big shots, wowing them with His questions!

Many questions go through one’s mind. How did He connect with them? Who took care of Him? Where did He sleep? Who gave Him food? Unanswered questions because, to Luke at this moment, they didn’t matter.

It’s difficult to reconcile these two scenarios — Mary and Joseph, naturally frantic over their son’s disappearance and Jesus, blissfully unaware of the panic He had caused them because He already, at this tender age, had a dawning consciousness of His involvement in a much bigger realm. Strange too, that Jesus responded to Mary’s rebuke with His own rebuke. It’s almost as though He expected them to be in on His mind.

What did the religious boffins find so amazing and unusual about this child? He was like a little professor, a wise man in a child’s body. They were impressed with His questions. Why not His answers? Who was asking the questions? Not the religious know-it-all’s. Jesus was. What does that tell us? There is wisdom and humility in asking questions.

In Hebrew thought, intelligence was measured by the questions asked rather than by the answers given. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Questions reveal the level of our thought processes. Deep thinkers ask deep questions. Many people ask no questions at all because they believe anything and everything without applying intelligence or reason. It’s no wonder God calls us “sheep”! How else can human beings swallow the rubbish they believe?

What was Jesus thinking while the teachers were spouting their “knowledge” to Him? Was He taking it all in and weighing it up against His budding understanding of the true nature of His heavenly Father? In the days to come, that would be the point of departure from these religious leaders of Israel. Their God and His God were worlds apart. Their God ground their faces into His Law and held them at gunpoint to their allegiance to the Law at the expense of mercy. His God was compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness.

His response to His mother’s rebuke alerts us to the fact that He was already aware of God’s and His unusual relationship as Father and Son. He ignored Mary’s “your father” for a higher connection with “my Father”. That shut Mary up. She had nothing to say in response to that. She was gently put in her place, forced to remember that her Son, even at twelve years old, was the Son of God.

“His mother held these things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.” Luke 2:52 (The Message).

She tried, but He was way ahead of her. She added yet another of those unexpected gems to her treasure chest of memories for another time. One day, in the future, she would process all these things and they would finally make sense when she could see the big picture.

Missing!

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MISSING!

“When they finished everything required by God in the Law, they returned to Galilee and their own town, Nazareth. There the child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on Him.

“Every year Jesus’ parents travelled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When He was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the Feast. When it was over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but His parents didn’t know it. Thinking He was somewhere in the company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole day and then began looking for Him among relatives and neighbours. When they didn’t find Him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for Him.” Luke2:41-45 (The Message).

What a contrast! Twelve years of trouble-free childhood, and then He goes missing!

Twelve was a magical age for a Jewish boy. Bar Mitzvah! He had come of age. He was permitted into the company of the men to take His place among them. Admittedly He was still a “junior” man and had lots to learn, but nevertheless He was still a MAN. As a man He also had responsibilities. He took part in the Jewish “rehearsal” feasts. Did Jesus know at this stage that He was celebrating the ritual of His own death?

Luke pulls a veil of secrecy over the first twelve years of His life — His apprenticeship for manhood. Instead he sweeps it aside with a summary statement that says everything; no intimate details about nappy rash, teething problems, potty training, learning to walk, measles, chicken pox or a runny nose! Did Jesus participate in all these minor details associated with growing up?

A healthy, strong, wise child — that’s all we know. Those of us who are parents can fill in the details against the backdrop of our own experience! His family life must have been chaos; at least six brothers and sisters pitted against Him. Did they victimise Him because He was the firstborn and had to take the rap for everything they did? Did they gang up against Him and deliberately do things to make trouble for Him? Did Mom try to shield Him from their vindictive pranks?

We know that His brothers refused to believe in Him until after the earth-shattering event that took place in Jerusalem thirty three years later. He walked out of a sealed tomb – alive! That shook them to the core. They mocked and ridiculed Him because they didn’t understand. He knew exactly how it felt to be the cause of a split right down the middle of a family. He spoke about it. “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword…a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” Matthew 10:34b, 36 (NIV).

And then, after twelve years of a perfect record, He goes missing! What was He thinking?  Was He aware of the anguish He was causing His parents? This seems to have been the moment when He crossed over from boyhood to true manhood. In the rituals of the Passover He began to see His role in God’s big plan. With His mind filled with the Torah, which He already knew by heart, He pondered the greater truths hidden in the old story of deliverance from Egypt.

His parents had not caught up with Him. They were still Mom and Dad, doing their best to raise this kid who was placed in their trust, the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. They didn’t learn that at school! What crazy thoughts went through their minds as they frantically searched through the company for their missing son? Were they thinking, ‘After twelve’s years He’s gone and blown it. Has He been kidnapped? We’ve messed up. It’s our fault. We didn’t keep an eye on Him.’

They were so used to an obedient and compliant Jesus that this shook them to the core. What were they to do now? What if they never found Him? How would they explain that one to God?