Typically we Christians equate the word of God with the Bible. And we Christians do believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, as Paul writes to his young ministry partner Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” Certainly, God has communicated his word in other ways as well. We read in John chapter 1 that Jesus is the Word. That doesn’t mean Jesus is the Bible. Jesus is far more than the Bible. Jesus is God who took on a human body, and in Jesus’ life example and teachings, we can view “read” the word of God so clearly. Also the Spirit of God still speaks. But we certainly emphasize that is through the Bible we can hear the Word of God.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
That verse gives us a very visual image of the offensive power of the Word. It’s like a scalpel that God uses to do soul surgery on the innermost parts of our lives.
Sword. Scalpel. The writers of the New Testament really liked to use the imagery of sharp blades to describe the Word of God. How then do we use the powerful sharpness of the Word of God to defeat discontentment and temptation? (Which we talked about in the previous post.) We need to learn from the master.
It probably comes as no surprise when I say that Jesus, who was the Word of God, was also very knowledgeable about the Bible, which in his day was only the Hebrew Bible, which we call the Old Testament.
Open a Bible to Luke chapter 4, verse 1. As we think about how the Word of God is a powerful weapon to help us fight discontentment and defeat temptation, what we will read in Luke is that Jesus was at a place in his life where he had every reason to be discontent. And Satan knew it. Satan knows when we are discontent. In that moment he can strike with a temptation that is strong, attacking our weakness. Satan lashes out at Jesus. How will Jesus respond?
At this point in the story of Jesus, he is only beginning his ministry years. Jesus has just been baptized by John. You would think Jesus would take over the reins of the ministry from John and start preaching to the crowds right there. But no, Luke tells us Jesus went away all by himself. We read this in verses 1-2,
“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”
40 days! And he ate nothing. When is the last time you went 40 hours without food, let alone 40 days. In the desert? Yet it seems the main purpose of Jesus’ time in the desert was to be alone and depend on God. Jesus experienced his humanness, depending on God for supernatural care, and thus Jesus could fully feel his humanity.
Based on the end of the verse, it seems best to understand the focused temptation as happening at the end of the 40 days, when he was very hungry.
When we read that, we might assume that Jesus is extremely weakened. Yet Dallas Willard says that Jesus is, if anything, at a place strength. Strength? How so? Think about what Jesus has been doing for 40 days? Jesus has spent 40 days with God, depending on God, Jesus is practicing spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are habits, practices, training for the spiritual life. During those 40 days in the desert, Jesus is practicing solitude, fasting, and thinking about Scripture. Though they aren’t stated, he would have had lots of time for silent meditation and lots of prayer.
But then at the end, the devil shows us to tempt Jesus.
I wonder if, for Satan, this situation is new. God in human flesh. This IS very new. He has never encountered God in the flesh. Yet, Satan has had, and continues to have in our day, victories over humans. It happens all the time. Here before him is what appears to be a human. I wonder if he was testing the human side of Jesus.
Satan gives it a try. A very persuasive try.
In the next post we’ll learn how Satan attempts to tempt Jesus and how Jesus reacts!
Photo by Humble Lamb on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 