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Pull for the Shore

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Jesus of Nazareth 4

Southern Jordan Desert



      Jesus of Nazareth


In the Wilderness

                  Matthew 4:1,2


Intro: This wonderful passage of scripture is a favorite of many Christians. Jesus has just come from being bapttized by John in the Jordan River. In the first verse Jesus is being led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. The setting is in the wilderness, the subject is the temptation of Jesus. and the outcome is the start of his public ministry. My aim in this study is to identify practical lessons we can learn from this wilderness experience of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a theme of Matthew’s gospel to present Jesus as King and heir to the throne of king David. Moses said God would raise up a prophet like him, Deuteronomy 18:15. There are verses in this study that parallel Jesus and the Old Testament: Moses fasted forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai before the Israelite's received the Mosaic covenant, Exodus34:28; Jesus Christ fasted forty days and forty nights in the wilderness before giving us the new covenant in his blood, Luke22:20. Adam lost paradise after the temptation in the Garden of Eden, Genesis3:12; Jesus regained paradise.
Title: In the wilderness
Subject: Temptation of Jesus
Text: Matthew 4:1-2

"Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights , 
he then became hungry.

Then Jesus - At that time Jesus; The Greek form of Joshua; In Hebrew; Jehoshua means Yahweh is salvation.
was led - Def; Gk; anago - (verb).  It means the same as to launch a vessel; to put out to sea.
by the Spirit - Def; Gk; pneuma - Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit, was influenced and directed by the Spirit.
into the wilderness - Def; Gk; er'emos - into an uninhabited solitary place.
to be tempted by the devil. Def; Gk; diaballo - to throw words of slander back and forth with implied harm.
After fasting - Def; Gk; nuestio - (verb).  to abstain from food for religious reasons.
forty days and forty nights - Sunrise to sunrise for forty days; to show He did not eat after sundown.
He then became hungry - Def; Gk; peinao' - to suffer for want of food only, (not of spiritual hunger).

A summary of this passage might read something like this: At that time, (after his baptism), Jesus set his sails, being directed by the Holy Spirit into an uninhabited solitary place, only to have insulting words thrown at him by the devil. After fasting from sunrise to sunrise for forty days, He then suffered for want of food only, not spiritual hunger."

Question: "For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone." James1:13. Does this statement from the bible disprove the deity of Jesus Christ? Well no it does not because he was both human and divine. And the Word/God became flesh/Jesus and made his dwelling among us." John1:14. Second question: If Jesus Christ is both God and man what is the point of him suffering and being tempted in the wilderness? Would this not be needless suffering for Jesus to go through?

Point: "Son though he was, he learned obedience through what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for 
all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews5:8-10. Jesus explained to his disciples that he 
must go to Jerusalem and that He would suffer many things. Matthew16:21.


     Paradise regain'd: By John Milton 1608-1674
      English playwright, historian, and poet.

 I who e're while the happy garden sung, by one man's disobedience lost,
  Now sing recover'd paradise to all mankind by one man obedience fully
Tri'd through all temptation, and the tempter foil'd in all his wiles,
Defeated and repuls't, and Eden rais'd in the waist wilderness.




Conclusion: The main idea the author Matthew presents to his audience, is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, as foretold by their prophets of old. Jesus of Nazareth is a type of Moses, He identifies Himself with the Israelite's in this passage and His victory over temptations in the wilderness are His Messianic credentials.

Application: For those who want to know Jesus Christ, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." For those who already believe, freely we have received freely we should give. Follow Jesus example from this passage and continue to, keep on being filled and led by the Spirit of God. Matthew says Jesus was led by the Spirit, Luke says Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and Mark says the Spirit sent Him into the wilderness.

                                 

                                                                      
                                                           A Bible study by: Glenn Faurot
Attributes:                                                                 

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