will you stand the test?

It was 4:18pm here in Dallas, TX—on good Friday 2020 when I started working on this post. At that same time, it was 12:18am across the world in Jerusalem, Israel. Why is that significant? As each moment past, I think about Christ and the meaning of His cross…to crucifixion; and how my sin weighed on His conscience. The spiritual significance is about the reality of eternity; reality is, I’m unworthy of such a calling to eternity as described in the body and blood of the Word of God; it’s… bearing, and the weight, it’s… heavy!

Every moment of grace and mercy in our lives is an opportunity to a choice of faith. But will you stand the test of faith?

PROVING THE SON OF GOD.

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1

No person had stood the test of proving the invisible God, visible, until you’ve met this man: Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What I find so interesting, is that the Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by the devil. Why? I have here open my Ryrie Study Bible; And in his commentary, Ryrie wrote:

4:1 Satan’s intention in the temptation was to make Christ sin so as to thwart God’s plan for man’s redemption by disqualifying the Savior.

Charles Caldwell Ryrie

I think that’s bold of Ryrie, but weak compared to his next sentence:

God’s purpose (note that the Spirit led Jesus to the test) was to prove His Son to be sinless and thus a worthy Savior. It is clear He was actually tempted; it is equally clear that He was sinless (2 Cor. 5:21). See note on Heb. 4:15.

Charles Ryrie

I mean… Shoot. I think it’s awesome of Ryrie to comment on the scriptures with such confidence. Witness his assertiveness, “Satan’s intention…” and “God’s purpose…“. Wow! That’s pretty bold of a flawed sinful man, don’t you think? …I LIKE IT! because of how he backs it up.

Let’s see what Ryrie’s up to on his “Heb. 4:15” note:

Now, as you can see by Ryrie’s note here… That He (Jesus) endured and successfully passed His tests. What tests? Before we get to Jesus’ [Temptation | #1], I think it’s important to talk about qualifications. Was Jesus qualified? Did Jesus seek His own glory or… was it given? Did you happen to notice in the picture, verse 4 (Hebrews Ch.5), where it says, “…even as Aaron was“?

QUALIFICATIONS.

Aaron did not consider himself qualified or seek to glorify himself by becoming a priest to God. God called Aaron to become a minister as priest to Him (God), through Moses. In like fashion Jesus of Nazareth did not seek to glorify Himself as the Son of God, but God called Jesus! Look, watch!…

¹¹ “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” ¹³ Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Matthew 3:11-17

Do you see the correlation? Jesus was drawn to John the Baptist just as Aaron was drawn to Moses. Just as God set Aaron apart as priest; God called Jesus, “My beloved Son”, as a revelation to all that believe in Jesus Christ the only qualified Priest and Mediator set apart for the eternal salvation of our souls.

TEMPTATION

Each and everyone of us are faced with temptation. We are all being lead by the Spirit. But the question is… Will you and me stand the test? What test?

² And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Matthew 4:2-3

I’ll let you research the signficance of a 40 day fast, but don’t go out and try and be something your not. Like… You’re the Son of God, or something, that’d be idiotic. Why? Because to try and re-invent the will, so to speak, is essentially saying that you’re the anti-christ. Don’t sit on a throne that doesn’t belong to you! The tempter is here, and he is testing our faith in Jesus because JESUS IS THE BREAD OF LIFE!

Notice how the tempter influences Jesus by what he already knows about Jesus, “If you are the Son of God”.

The tempter knows what you and I are made of, he knows how to inspire our abilities by ideas that worship his agenda. An agenda that puts us on the throne of our lives as though we don’t need the God of our soul’s. The God that formed us in our mother’s whom. The God that is our Father, by the Name of Jesus Christ. WE NEED GOD!

Jesus knew His authority, but did not exercise that authority above His Father’s will for His purpose on earth. The purpose of which this site is inspired by, the purpose of hope in your salvation. We that possess the Holy Spirit abide in the will of Jesus, not exersizing our authority above Christ or apart from His will.

HOW TO PASS THE TEST?

⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4

Death is imminent when you don’t eat for a long period of. Starvation is a very real reality check. Have you ever tried fasting? It’s difficult, but cleansing. The point is not to depend or rely on your stomach (representing your life) to provide meaning of value. The value of bread means absolutely nothing without God to provide it’s sustenance which gives you it’s nurishment.

So the next time you break bread, think about when the Son of God refused the influence of temptation to provide for Himself apart from every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Jesus would have rather died than command the rocks to be turned to bread and save His life.

So how much more aught we to do the same. Don’t eat because you think it’s the food that sustains your life. Eat because of the truth that Jesus is the nurishment of your soul! And pass the test of faith that establishes the authority of God in Jesus Christ.

IT’S NOT OVER.

We aren’t finished yet. We still have a couple more tests. So the question remains… Will you stand the test?

² You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³ He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3