Matthew 3 – 4
These chapters are the start of Jesus’ public ministry. Interesting that Matthew starts with His lineage and birth, then skips 30 years to His ministry. His first encounter is with John the Baptist, who is making the way for Jesus as foretold in Isaiah 40:3. When questioned about being the Messiah, he answers in verse 11:
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
This sets the stage for Jesus as Isaiah prophesized 700 years earlier! How cool is that? And as Jesus comes up from the water verse 16 describes the event:
John then baptizes Jesus and the skies part and they see “the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.””
Jesus is now on the scene and ready to “do work!” Initially he spends time with God in the wilderness fasting, although that period is not documented until the end of 40 days. Now I have done long fasts, but 40 days is crazy! I am still not clear how that prepares you to communicate with God better, but it’s very clear in scripture to do it from time to time. There are extreme health benefits to doing 1 to 3 day fasts, so I assume that is more the purpose than some crazy Holy Spirit filled experience.
Anyway what gets documented during that 40 day period is his encounter with Satan, who tempts him three times. One to satisfy His hunger, one to prove He is God’s chosen and one to satisfy his earthly wants. All three times Jesus responds with a resounding no and references to why not. Satan did not need to be reminded of these since he knows the scriptures inside and out. If you command that kind of knowledge it’s easy to compromise those of less information.
This is a thread I can go on for ages. Recently we saw “Blue Like Jazz” which is a young man’s transition from youthful faith to questioning to rejection to revelation. It’s a fascinating journey which was much like mine, except I did not reject God but took more of an “agnostic theism” position where God existed and the values were unknown so you had freedom to do whatever. Also, my journey took about 15 years where his was more or less a year. The Bible can be easily reject by reading it and parsing out verses and events without full context, but viewing it as a circular event or better a peak where the base on each side is basically the same makes it become easier to understand and comprehend.
Hence why I say read it all, and keep doing it until it makes sense to you. I question much of what is written to this day. It’s perfectly normal not to believe much of the Bible, I mean parting the Red Sea is difficult to comprehend. Sure life may be easier if we reject the Bible and just live the way we want but let’s look closely at the final temptation. This is offering Jesus earthly riches over Godly ones, immediate satisfaction over future fulfillment. Effectively this is what you do rejecting God and doing your own thing. Sure you may not be bowing to Satan, but you notice you are bowing to the dollar, the Porsche or something that is not God. Satan doesn’t want you to bow to him as much as you NOT bowing to God. That is why the culture of stuff is so dangerous, since stuff substitutes our need for God.
But as we see quickly that’s a fail. I drifted down the path more often than not in those years. I still get caught in it from time to time, like having my computer background a Ferrari California. When you put your faith and thought into stuff more than God, you never are satisfied. The worship of money overrides the need for God. You notice most of the “uber rich” never are satisfied, so your thinking a million is enough will end once you reach that point and the goal will get moved to just out of your reach. Then $100 million, then a billion and so on because “there must be more” becomes the mantra.
Hence this is why Jesus rejected Satan’s offer, knowing that our only true satisfaction is with the God. Once you accept this life will be more satisfying and rewarding. You will not live for the bank balance, but for the relationships. Sure we have to live in this world and by its rules, but not be OF the world and sucked into its greed. So when you find yourself playing the fiddle and complaining about stuff remember God is in control and the stuff will fade away.