Month: May 2023

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.  Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff,  but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:28-30 [NLT]

I’ve read this passage several times over the last 2 days…which is why nothing was written yesterday. The place I have been spending the time is after the reading of the scripture in Isaiah in the synagogue, Jesus handed to scroll back and then brought up two passages as examples of a ‘prophet not being accepted in his own hometown’. Here are the two examples:

“Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

Luke 4:25-27 [NLT]

What Jesus was saying was that not only was He the Messiah but that the Children of Israel would not be the ones who would be saved but foreigners (or Gentiles). All too aware of their oppression at the hands of the Roman empire (godless pagans), the townspeople are indignant at Jesus’ insinuation that the final days end would include rather than exact justice on the Gentiles.

I can’t even begin to comprehend how uncomfortable this must have been for Jesus. These were all his family, childhood friends, rabbi’s, and elders. They knew Him as the good boy of Joseph whom they were all proud of and heard of the amazing works He had done in Capernaum before coming home for a visit. Now here He was essentially blaspheming Yahweh and the only recourse for them (in their minds) was to cast Him out of town and even prepared to force Him off a cliff. Instead, He turned from the edge of the cliff and quietly walked through the crowd and on His way.

Application:

2 things -> 1) The God I serve is not intimidated by even the closest of my friends and family when I speak His TRUTH and obey Him. He has walked that road. 2) I must stay true to who God is growing me to be. My memory verse right now is:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or discouraged. For THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU WHEREEVER YOU GO”

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Then the devil took Him up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time [in the twinkling of an eye]. And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (all their magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will. Therefore, if You will do homage to and worship me [just once], it shall all be Yours. Luke 4:5-7 [AMP]

Today was one of those days where I read a passage, I have read a ton of times but I still gleaned so much from it that I could swear I had not consumed before. I bathed my quiet time in prayer beforehand and then followed it up with prayer for all the things/people my prayer app (PrayerMate) brought to my attention. I end up praying for everything on my prayer list every two days and a lot things, every day (its just the way the app works and it helps me make the most of the time I get to pray each day).

I am not going to be able to cover everything the Lord shared with me in my quiet time today but I will pull out the main points (essentially the main things I took away from each temptation mentioned). Although I only posted verses 5-7 above, the full passage I studied was verses 3 through 13.

First, the 3 temptations covered here are only a small part of the temptation of Jesus by satan as it says in verse 2 that satan tempted Jesus all 40 days in the wilderness. These three were the ones Luke convers because they came when Jesus was at his weakest being super hungry and tired.

Temptation 1: Knowing Jesus was so hungry, satan told Jesus “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered with scripture (Deuteronomy 8:3) “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.'” — There is a lot here but the thing that stood out to me the most was that when satan challenged Jesus with “If you are the Son of God”, Jesus did not address satan’s challenge in His answer. Why? Because Jesus knew exactly Who He was – just ~40 days earlier a voice out of Heaven called Him ‘Son’ after He was baptized. With us, satan is always questioning our position as adopted sons and daughters, our justification is complete, we should know Whose we are.

Temptation 2: Next the devil tried to show all the land he would give Jesus; all Jesus needed to do was worship satan one time. Essentially what satan was offering Jesus was a kingdom on earth large than what the Romans had; enticing Jesus with control of a territory at which He could bring His message of hope…but it would mean compromise and accomplishing His goals by the world’s methods. Christ had already chosen the lowly path, He had already identified Himself with the sinners He was there to save. Choosing this devil’s offer would mean turning His back on His calling. Once again Jesus responds with a passage from Deuteronomy 6:13 pointing out that the worship of God is exclusive. None other than he is to be worshipped.

Temptation 3: This time satan leads Jesus to the highest point on the temple in Jerusalem and tells Jesus to throw Himself off and let spectacle show of the angels coming down to rescue Jesus before He hit the ground. Satan is again challenging Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and now satan misuses scripture to try and convince Jesus that this is supported in God’s Word. Jesus does the slap down of telling the devil not to test God – Deuteronomy 6:16.

Application:

So here is the biggest point for me in this 3rd temptation – Jesus would have to choose to jump…satan could not push Him off. The same is true for us -> satan can put things/opportunities in our way to tempt us but at the end of the day, we are the ones who choose to fall prey to it or not. In each of these circumstances Jesus’ response in combat is TRUTH. He just responds with the TRUTH of God’s Word….even when satan tries to misuse God’s Word to fool us. We must be intimate in our knowledge of the TRUTH to fight temptation and the TRUTH comes from wielding the Sword of the Spirit which is God’s Word. it is the only offensive implement in the ‘Full armor of God’ and we must engage with it deftly.

​ THEN JESUS, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit
   For (during) forty days in the wilderness (desert), where He was tempted (tried, tested exceedingly) by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they were completed, He was hungry. Luke 4:1-2 [AMP]

I am back in the saddle again after taking several days off while at the PNW Biblical Counseling Conference this weekend. We were there from 5pm to 9:30pm on Friday and then 8am to 6:30pm pm on Saturday. Such an awesome time learning how to counsel those who are suffering from a Biblical approach. So thankful that our church puts this on. There were over 500 people who attended. I have soooo many notes!! This is the fourth one that Marianne and I have been to and this one did not disappoint.

Remember that when Jesus was Baptized, the Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove. Jesus was full of, controlled by, and led into the wilderness by the Spirit.

Jesus’ forty-day testing in the wilderness also has similarities with the forty-day fast by both Moses (Deut. 9:9), as he received the law, and Elijah, on his way to Horeb (1 Kgs 19:8). Both of these men show up at the transfiguration (Luke 9:30). Jesus’ ministry takes on qualities of both: like Moses, Jesus will lead an exodus; like Elijah, he will call a remnant to repentance. It seems so multilayered, yet these intertwining similarities cast no negative perspective either on the history of the event or on Jesus’ humanity. In fact, Luke’s remark that Jesus suffered hunger at the end of his forty-day fast appears to be an intentional effort to refute those who would diminish Jesus’ humanness on the basis of this story.

As Jesus gets more and more into his ministry here in Luke, I will have more Application takeaways. It is just so great to follow and dive a little deeper into the specifics of this beginning of Jesus’ Passion.

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22 [NKJV]

Today I am back to Luke and the passage is the instantiation of Jesus’ ministry through Baptism and the Holy Spirit coming down on Him from Heaven. Capped by the voice of God the Father. This is such a pivotal moment in all of the bible as recorded in all four gospels.

Some interesting points:

• The baptizing that John the Baptist was performing on all of the Jews who came was a Baptism of Repentance. It is cool that even though Jesus was without sin, He decided to take His place with sinners. At the beginning of His ministry, He publicly identified himself with the sinners He came to save.
• Only in Luke does it say that the Dove came down on Him while He was praying which would have been after His baptism.
• The symbolism of the dove is puzzling, as the dove was not an accepted symbol of the Holy Spirit. Rather the dove stood for Israel. However, there is no doubt that here it is a sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit. What happened at Jesus’ baptism led Christians to see the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit; they did not take the symbolism from Jewish or Hellenistic sources. The fact that Luke was there in person, the mention of ‘a physical dove’ descending has credence.

No real ‘Application’ to takeaway today. I am just dwelling on the divine start to Jesus’ ministry.