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Let me pray then again, and we'll have our teaching. Father, I know that we say it all the time, but it is truly a priceless privilege to not simply be called by your name, the name that is bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ, but to be called by that name together, to be part of this new human race that you have purposed in the Messiah as the last Adam. A new human race that will grow and will flourish and eventually fill the earth so that the knowledge of the living God and of his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. We have the infinite privilege to be bearers of the life and the light and the likeness of our God, to be those who manifest your wise and just and loving Lordship in the world. And Father, when we consider what you created man for, a creature who appears less than the angels, and yet the one who is crowned with glory and honor, whom you have set over the works of your hands." Father, it brings to mind the woeful contrast between who we are and what we were created to be and what human beings have done in the perverting and the corrupting of their lordship in this world. A world that runs according to the satanic mind and the procedure of the king. When you have called us to be image lords in the world. But we thank you that you have not left the world in that woeful place. You have not left your human creatures in that woeful place. But that in the Messiah you have made man be truly man. And as the first fruits from the dead, the beginning of your new creation, we see in His glorification, in His enthronement, in the fact that all authority in heaven and earth is His, we see our own glorious destiny. Indeed, if we are justified in Him, we are already glorified in Him. We already share in that glory as having been raised up and seated in the heavenly places in Him. And we long for that day, Father, when hope becomes sight, when all things are renewed, when the sons of God are revealed in the resurrection and the consummation of the last day, and the whole creation is made to finally enjoy that renewal in the Messiah that has been longing for all of this time, that our God would be all in all. Father, we gather in that name and with that vision in mind. And I pray that you would carry each of our hearts and minds into that realm of glory and exultation. Meet us, teach us, build us up, cause our hearts to be filled with exultant joy. For we come together in your name to be taught of you to see a more full and a more transforming vision of Jesus our Lord. So we ask that you would glorify him in this time by the ministry of your spirit in our midst. It is in his name and for his sake that we pray. Amen. Well, you've all probably noticed how much attention I've been giving to this idea of incarnation. It's been many, many weeks of considering that theme. We looked at the nature of incarnation, how the scripture wants us to think about it. And now as we're looking at the gospels and the life and the ministry of Jesus, I've kind of put the heading over all of this as the work of incarnation. And the reason for that, again, is that if we step back and we put the gospel accounts in their biblical context, Jesus comes into the world and his person and his work represent the climax of the salvation history, that which the scripture has recorded, this salvation history that begins with creation and then the fall and then the calling of Abraham, the Abrahamic people, ultimately coming to the Messiah himself. And so Jesus comes into the world, the gospel writers show us, as the climax of that history, and as the one in whom that history is fulfilled. He's the destiny of that history. He's the destiny of Israel itself. And they want us to see Christ through that lens. But at the center of that developing story through the Old Testament is the promise that Israel's failure, upon which the creation's destiny depends, is not to be the last word. Yahweh will cause Israel to be Israel. He will return to Zion and somehow in association with this messianic figure, the son of Abraham, the son of David, Yahweh will bring about this second exile or this second exodus rather. He will liberate his people from their captivity. He will forgive them. He will cleanse them from that which has bound them and alienated them from him. and he will take his place in the midst of them. He will once again inhabit his sanctuary, and he will establish his kingdom in the son of David. This is what Israel was waiting for. This is the story that the scriptures tell. This was the hope that the prophets set in front of the sons of Israel. And all of that comes together and has its substance in this thing that we call incarnation. I've mentioned before, and perhaps in your own experience, this is kind of how you've been taught to think about it, I don't know, but we tend to treat the incarnation as kind of a distinct Christian doctrine that sits off to the side. It's kind of out there in abstraction, and it's just simply this idea of God becoming man, and we view it as a test of orthodoxy. Do you hold to the deity of Jesus? Oh, if you don't, then you can't be an orthodox Christian. But it's just a doctrine off to the side. And if we link it with anything, we tend to use it as primarily a way to justify this doctrine of the Trinity, which is another litmus test of orthodoxy amongst Christians, or somehow to be a way in which we can explain the issue of the atonement and how Jesus can take our sins because he has no sins of his own because he's the divine son of God and therefore his blamelessness can be imputed to our account. So that's kind of how we're taught to think about incarnation but I've tried to show how the scriptures treat this in terms of This is how the God of Israel has returned to Israel to be in their midst. He has taken up Israel's life and lot, Israel's failure, Israel's calamity, Israel's unrighteousness in himself in order to liberate them from the captivating power. in order to end their exile, in order to renew and restore Israel, renew the covenant, so that now Israel can finally fulfill its Abrahamic vocation on behalf of all the families of the earth. This is the way the scriptures understand this thing of incarnation, and this is the way the gospel writers frame their accounts of Jesus. He doesn't just come into the world and heal some people and teach some nice doctrine and walk on water and do some other miracles and that sort of thing and then finally go to the cross. They're building their case very carefully to show that He is Yahweh returned. And that's why we've been focused on John the Baptist, right, as the forerunner who announces Yahweh's return to Zion. and he is the one who points to the Messiah and says, there he is. So that's why we've spent so much time on this issue of incarnation, and we have to view the gospel accounts through it. So even as we're looking at this wilderness testing, it's not just simply Jesus was able to stand against the devil and prevail against his deceitfulness, and we need to do the same thing. Here's how we answer the devil. We go to the scripture. It's not that. Ultimately, this is the way incarnation is having its work. And so incarnation is about Yahweh coming and returning and taking up Israel's life. This is the person and the work of Jesus the Messiah, the true Israelite. It originates in him and his work. Incarnation has its origin in him, his work, his death, his resurrection, his enthronement. And since that time, incarnation is continuing to have its work in the church. You say, oh, are we incarnate? No, but the point is that we are the fullness, the church is the fullness of him who fills all in all. If Jesus the Messiah is the reality of incarnation, the bringing together of heaven and earth, Yahweh's return to take up his place in his creation, The Church is the fullness of that reality. As Paul puts it, we are the dwelling of God in the Spirit. Incarnation is continuing to have its work in the Church, and ultimately in the renewal of all things, such that, as Paul says, God will be all in all. There will be no distance between God and his creation. If we see the merging of the creator and the creator in the incarnation, it has its fullness in this thing that we call the new heavens and the new earth, the renewing of everything. So incarnation becomes the central theme, the central idea of how God would do what he said he was going to do, what he accomplished, what is in place now, where this is going, what it means to be a Christian. It's that substantial. And that's why I put it at the center. So that's the lens through which I want us to consider not just this wilderness testing episode, but ultimately all of what the gospel writers are showing us about Jesus. And I do want to spend the next several weeks at least pulling out some of these things in the gospel accounts, because they're very intentional in what they're doing. But as we've seen then so far with respect to this wilderness episode, and let me just set the context by reading both This is recorded both in Matthew and Luke, these three tests, but let me read with you the Matthew account, Matthew 4, 1 through 11. And we'll be considering the last, the third of these tests today. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit, and this is immediately after his baptism, when he is anointed by the Spirit as Mashiach. Mashiach means anointed one. The baptism and the coming of the Spirit, the descending of the Spirit on Jesus is the affirmation of his messianic status as the beloved, well-pleasing Son. And immediately now the Spirit drives him into the wilderness. As I said last time, this testing isn't the devil putting together a scheme to try to tempt Jesus. This is the Father sending his Son to undergo Israel's testing so that what he has stated about his Son will be proven out. This is my beloved son. This is the well-pleasing one. Jesus was led by the spirit up into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, and his assumption is you are, that's what God had just, he heard the pronouncement at the Jordan, this is my beloved son. If that is indeed the case, Then command these stones to become bread. But Jesus 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. Then the devil took him into the holy city, Jerusalem, and he had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. And he said to him, If you are the son of God, then throw yourself down. For it is written, and he quotes from a psalm which we saw is an ode to man as man, the protection and the provision that God promises to the faithful man, the faithful son. And Satan says, you need to claim that for yourself. He will give his angels charge concerning you. On their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. And Jesus said to him, on the other hand, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. And again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their glory. And he said to him, all these things will I give you if you fall down and worship me. Then Jesus said, be gone, Satan, for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him. There's the wilderness ordeal. And again, it's a key aspect of Jesus' solidarity with Israel. What all of the gospel writers want you to see is that Jesus, this is what incarnation is about, Yahweh taking up Israel's existence. even Israel's failure, Israel's alienation, to remedy it in himself. And so his baptism is Jesus showing solidarity with Israel. Even as they come before Yahweh in a posture of penitence, a posture of repentance, being prepared to receive Yahweh, Jesus shows his solidarity with them in that act. And he is Mashiach in solidarity with Israel and now he goes out to undergo Israel's testing in himself, Israel's wilderness testing in himself. And all of these three pieces of testing in the way Jesus answers them show very explicitly, the Gospel writers want us to see, that Jesus is undergoing in himself what was kind of the great emblematic failure of Israel. When Israel thought of its failure of sonship, it always pointed back to the wilderness. That was where this really was shown in a concentrated way. Now Israel continued to fail throughout its history, but the wilderness was the substantial proving out of that failed sonship. And we've seen also, therefore, that all three of these tests were directed at Jesus' human sonship. If he is the true Israel, if he's being tested as son of God in that sense, as the true Israel, he's being tested as a human being. He's being tested with respect to his human sonship. So the first test challenged Jesus' sonship in terms of this human sonship criterion of humble, dependent, grateful, patient trust. Would he trust his Father to provide for his needs? And the point of temptation was for him to take up divine prerogative and remedy his own plight. In that way, failing in his human sonship, taking up a prerogative rather than depending on his father. Then we saw the second one amplifies that, also pushing against Jesus' human sonship by in effect saying, okay, if you are this son of God who trusts God and believes him, and patiently waits for his provision, then here's what God's own word says about what that looks like. If you trust God for his provision and his care, then claim this promise from the scripture, throw yourself off the temple and he will protect you, he will preserve you. So he was being tempted at that point to show solidarity with Israel, but solidarity in the wrong way. solidarity in their presumption, he would be a failed son as they had presumed upon God and expected God to provide for them in a certain way. We saw this last time, the expectation of outcomes. Where's our water? Where's our food? You brought us out here to die. He was being tempted to fail as Israel had failed in terms of confusing presumption with faith. This third test that we're going to consider today, to me, has a climactic quality to it, as I mentioned earlier, in that it tests Jesus at the point of the ultimate goal of his human existence. This is the testing of his human sonship, and now it presses him out to the point of the ultimate goal or the reason, the purpose, for this sonship. That's why I wanted to do these readings today, because what is this ultimate goal of human sonship? It's lordship, right? We saw that at the very beginning. Genesis 1 tells us man was created to rule in the world. This is pressing him at that very point. So I've titled this third test, The Snare of Human Lordship. Matthew has this last. We've been following Matthew's order. Luke puts it in between the other two tests. And I just mention here there's a lot of debate and different arguments as to why they have a different order. And obviously they can't both be right. And did they make the change intentionally one of the two of them or is there an error here. What do we do with that. And I personally think that the reason for The order is really indifferent. This is climactic in a certain sense, but I think, again, Jesus communicated this testing ordeal to his disciples. They weren't there with him. They didn't experience it. And so what he communicated to them was a time of testing and a circumstance of testing that involved these three things. This wasn't all that happened in the 40 days. These are kind of like touchstone concentrated things that can be pointed to to get at what was really this time of testing about. It's not like this is the sum total of it. And I don't think the order is as important as the way these things work together to kind of bound the nature and the significance of this testing in the way Jesus responded to it. So that's all I really want to say about that. The setting for this test, once again, we have Jesus being carried off someplace. We saw in the second test that he was taken into Jerusalem and set on the top of the temple. Here he's taken to a high mountain, Matthew and Luke say, from which he could survey the kingdoms of the earth. Luke says, in a moment, in an instant. Luke uses an expression here that really refers to the inhabited world. Matthew says the kingdoms of the earth. Luke says the inhabitations of men, the human realm. He uses the same term in Luke in chapter 2 where he refers to the Roman Empire. where Caesar Augustus sends out that a census should be taken of all the inhabited world, meaning the Roman world. So Luke is referring to, he's focusing on this idea of human kingdoms, human dominion, not just the planet, the material planet, but the human kingdoms. And even more narrowly, with the Roman Empire perhaps in focus, because in that world at that time, what would you think of when you thought of the kingdoms of the earth? Rome was it. Rome was the dominant world power. The Romans called the Mediterranean the Roman Lake. Their kingdom spanned the whole area around the Mediterranean Sea. So this is the inhabited world, the inhabitations, the human kingdoms and realms of dominion. The next thing that I mentioned, again, just in passing, because we as Westerners know that the Earth is round, and we think in that way. And so we say, how could Jesus go to the top of a mountain and see all the kingdoms of the world? Even if you were on the surface of the sun, you wouldn't see all the kingdoms of the world, because the Earth is round, right? You can't see the backside of the planet. So it doesn't matter how tall of a mountain he's on, and there aren't very high mountains in Israel, and I mentioned this mountain in Iran that's 18,000 feet, but it doesn't matter, there's not a mountain, even if you're on Mount Everest, you can't see all the kingdoms of the world. So the point is that this is a visionary thing, as I mentioned before, and I think that was the case with the temple also. So we shouldn't get all wrapped around the axle of how could this happen? How could Jesus see all of this? This is something that was facilitated to him for the sake of the test. The issue is the test itself and how Jesus responded to it. Matthew and Luke don't care to explain to us how this happened. Same thing with the temple episode. So in terms of the test, what I want to point out first is that the devil insists to Jesus, the test is, I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth and all of their glory. Not just the kingdoms, but all of these kingdoms represent the splendor, the glory, the excellence, the supremacy of man. All the glory that man can be and accomplish in the world, I will give you all of that. He said it's been given to me and I can give it to whoever I want. Now often commentators say, probably more often than not in the commentaries I've read, either Satan was trying to deceive Jesus. He doesn't have authority over the kingdoms of the world. God is sovereign over the earth. Satan doesn't have authority. He's deceiving Jesus. Well, There's no indication that Jesus is deceived or that he pushes back against us. He doesn't say, you're a deceiver, you have no authority over the kingdoms of the earth. He doesn't question that. Others say, you know, again, if Satan isn't lying, what he's done is he's usurped this. He's somehow taken and claimed something that really isn't his. He's a usurper in that sense. And I don't think that's the point at all. When we read this in the context and we look at even the language again in which this is constructed, the larger arena of this testing and ultimately who this person Jesus is and what he came to do, how we should think about this specific test. I think that the answer when he says, this has been handed over to me, that's the idea, delivered over to me. God didn't give it to him. This was delivered over to the Satan by man. Man was created Lord of the earth. Man was created to be Lord of the earth. But he relinquished that Lordship when he yielded to the satanic deception to become Lord in his own right. Man's lordship is the administration of God's lordship. And the temptation in Eden was for man to become man in his own right. To become like God, to assume to himself the prerogative to think and judge and act and rule in his own name, in his own right. And what we see in the world is the result of that, the procedure of the king, where all authority, all power, all resource is used according to the ruler's best sense of himself and what serves him and his interests. So in the quest to become ruler of the world, in an ultimate, supremely independent self, man ended up making himself subject to the Satan. He turned over control to the Satan. You see Jesus himself calling him the ruler of this world. Paul calls him the God of this world. John says the whole world lies in the evil one. This is not Satan trying to deceive Jesus about some authority over the world that he doesn't have, and he's not some kind of a usurper. He, in a very real way, has legitimate authority over the world because man has given it to him. Evident in the fact that man is now no longer the worshipper and the server of God, but he's given over to idolatry, that which he creates in his own image and likeness to serve his interests. That's the satanic agenda. So in that sense, the devil was offering to grant Jesus a dominion that was his to bestow, but he's actually replicating the temptation that came in the garden. It's not exactly the same, but the thrust of it, the significance of it is the same. Like Adam and Eve, Jesus could become Lord of the earth in his own right, but under the ultimate sovereignty of the Satan. What does he say? All these things I will give to you if you fall down and worship me. I will give you all authority and I will give you control and ownership of all of what man has accomplished on the earth as Lord of the earth if you will be subject to me. So Jesus, again, obviously here is being tested as the Son of God, or as the Son of God as a human being. And he's being tested at this level of autonomous human authority. It's a clear recapitulation of the original satanic temptation in Eden, and particularly therefore targeted Jesus' status as Son of Adam, as Luke tells us, right? Son of Adam. and his calling to be true man. But this was true of Israel as well. This was Israel's testing as well. This wasn't just the garden. What was done in the garden became the satanic interaction between the Satan and mankind from that point forward, focused on Israel itself as son of God through whom all things were to be put right and in to put it this way, this satanic power and authority would be overthrown. So Israel was very much defined by the same sort of autonomy operating under satanic governance. Israel's idolatry, which God points to as the main issue, that's why I wanted to even read Deuteronomy 6, what's at the center of it? Don't depart from Yahweh. Don't worship other gods, right? The Lord our God is one. You shall love him with heart, soul, mind, and strength. You shall not follow after other gods. You shall not be distracted and taken away by other lords, powers, things that you think can benefit you. Israel was consistent in pursuing idols in every generation. Things that they believed would secure their well-being and bring them prosperity, would protect them. Remember what Yahweh said, if you will cling to me, you will prosper in the land and I will give you conquest over all your enemies. They sought those things through their alliances with the gods of the nations and the powers that the nations could bring to bear. So this same seduction was true of Israel throughout its life, and Israel failed this test, not just in the wilderness, throughout. Israel was given over to the pursuit of other lovers. As I mentioned here, you can see this in Ezekiel 16, 23, Hosea 1 and 2, and those lovers were focused on the gods of the nations, other gods. and eventually Yahweh departed from them and he sent them away. He didn't divorce himself, but he sent away the harlotress wife and her children with the promise that one day he would return and he would restore her and betroth her to himself and bear new children for him. So the Satan was challenging Jesus as son of Adam and son of Israel, but unlike Israel and unlike Adam, Jesus recognized that this offer of autonomous lordship really held out only the promise of his destruction as man, not his glorification. This is a temptation to the glory of man becoming exalted, right? You will become like God. I will give you the kingdoms of the earth and all their glory. This was a seduction to glorification and Jesus understood it would only bring his destruction. Again, because man is the image of the living God so that a human being dies, he ceases to become truly human when he distances himself from the one who is his life and his truth, the one who is the definition of what man is. Man's independence is man's abolition. This is what Genesis 1-3 teaches us, right? It's only through this intimacy, it's only by us being an extension of God himself, our thoughts, our words, our hearts, our lives, our lordship being his life, will, words, actions, lordship, that man is truly man. In the day that he departs from that, he dies. Jesus understood that. So the issue isn't the offer to rule the world, and this wasn't even just an offer for Jesus. Often you hear commentators or others say, oh, well Jesus was eventually going to get authority over the world. Satan is just trying to rush it for him. Well, and there's truth in that, but this isn't just about what was promised to Jesus. This is about the human vocation. This is about the human destiny that is realized in Jesus, but actually has its ultimacy, its fullness in a new human race of image lords. the priestly king has his fullness in a family of priests and kings, right? So this isn't just about Jesus gaining control over the earth. This is about God's purpose for his creation and how he would administer his own lordship through the human creature that shares in his image and likeness. So man is priest as well as king and that means he mediates the divine creaturely relationship. His lordship is priestly. He's mediating on God's behalf. So human autonomy is death. It's the end of man is man. There is no human autonomy, let alone autonomous human authority and dominion. So Jesus answered the Satan in a way that expressed his authority over him. The authority and power, this is important. the authority and power that were his as man in proper relation to God. Remember, this is the testing of Jesus as the human son. Be gone, Satan, depart from me. This isn't, again, the exercise of divine prerogative. God is greater than Satan, so God can tell Satan to leave. This is Jesus actually acting as true man, image Lord. The one who is going to be taking back the lordship over the earth that Adam gave to the Satan, Jesus is going to be taking it back for man. and therefore for God. That's what's happening here. And this becomes very clear again when we read the gospel narratives in the light of the larger scriptural story, as opposed to just focusing in on this temptation and trying to figure out, okay, I guess God doesn't want me to be deceived, or I'm glad Jesus overcame the devil, or whatever. We don't know what to do with these things if we don't keep them in the larger story that the scripture is telling. So the Satanic Lord sought to elicit the son's fealty, his devotion, his loyalty to him as king, but Jesus commanded him to leave. Once again citing from Deuteronomy chapter 6. a citation in which he was asserting his own faithful sonship in what sense? His absolute faithful, loyal devotion to his God and his commitment to seeing his father's will accomplished. It's not just that Jesus says, no, I'm going to wait and get the kingdom the way my father promised. That's not patently untrue, but it really kind of misses the point. It's not that he's just going to wait and do it his father's way. It's that there's really only one way for this kingdom to become God's kingdom again, for God to once again become Lord of the Earth, which is in and through man, and that's through this process of the Son's work, the working out of incarnation. It's not just a shortcut, it's that it's no cut. It can't happen that way. That's the undoing of the whole thing. So Jesus' citation, as I say, is right on target. It's coming from this passage where Moses is warning Israel to remain utterly committed to their covenant God and Father, not to allow their devotion to wane or to be distracted or displaced to other gods. They're getting ready to go into the land, and he says, you've been unfaithful for 40 years, You need to keep his covenant when you go into the land and it will go well for you. That will ensure your well-being when you enter his habitation and it will ensure your triumph over all your enemies. So Moses was challenging the Israelites to fulfill their election as sons by keeping his covenant. Keeping Yahweh's covenant. And through that faithfulness, they would become a royal and a priestly kingdom. Exodus 19, if you keep my covenant, then you will be to me a kingdom of priests. And then they, in that way, exercising Yahweh's sovereign, wise, loving lordship in the earth, thereby ministering the light of his truth and blessing to all of the world's inhabitants. And thus Israel, the sons of God, would prove themselves well-pleasing sons. This was what Moses is charging them with. But Israel will go into the land and they will fail. All of the things Moses warned them about will come true. Israel will show itself to be an unruly incorrigible son, prideful, independent, determined to pursue its well-being through relations forged with the nations and their gods. They will do exactly what God warned them not to do. So now, Jesus comes into the world. Yahweh is focusing Israel's election, Israel's vocation, son of Abraham. God is focusing that on the man, Jesus, the Israelite Jesus. Yahweh Himself had taken up Israel's life and lot in the incarnate Son for the sake of His intent for His creation. That intent being bound up in Israel by covenant oath. I know I keep saying these things over and over again, but this is the marrow of the story that is being played out in Jesus' life and his work. This is the lens through which we need to read the Gospels and understand the person and the work of Jesus. He was born a son of Israel in order to liberate and renew Israel. Salvation is of the Jews, to the Jew first, then to the Greek. And he would do that work of liberation and renewing. Redemption is about freeing something up from something that's taken it captive. What is the captivity? It's not Egypt again. It's not Babylon. It's not Rome. It's this principle of alienation. It's subjection to the satanic power. Yahweh will liberate Israel by crushing the satanic power that had enslaved not just Israel but all mankind, subjecting them to an anti-human, anti-creation reign of terror, a world that operates according to the procedure of the king, where everything works towards destruction and dissolution. And redeemed and renewed, Israel could finally then fulfill its mandate on behalf of mankind. You've heard me say before, what is it that caused Jewish believers in the Messiah? Israel's Messiah that they've been waiting for for 500 years has come. And now Jews, beginning with the 12 disciples, are coming to faith in the Messiah. What makes them want to start going out to the Gentiles? Why would they do that? It's because they know if Jesus is the Messiah, if he's reconstituting, renewing Israel in himself, it's time now for Israel to begin to carry out its Abrahamic mandate that it never could for all those centuries because its interaction with the nations only lied against Yahweh and furthered the nation's apostasy. Remember, we saw that even in David's sin. You've given occasion to the Gentiles to blaspheme. Well, now if Yahweh is restoring Israel in Messiah himself, it's time for the good news of the kingdom to go out to the Gentiles. And that's what they do. Paul goes out, lists Draconian. He says, God let you Gentiles go your way. He left you alone. Oh, he bore witness to himself through the rains and the natural blessings he brought. But now let me tell you that in Israel's Messiah, God is renewing the world and he's sent me out to bring this message. Paul says the same thing on Mars Hill. The resurrection of Jesus means that all people are to repent, to come to embrace the Messiah, right? To become a part of God's family. So these Jewish Christians were simply understanding the scriptures and what it means now for them to be Israel indeed in the Messiah. the light of the knowledge of God going out to all the families of the earth. So ultimately, in that way, God could realize his design at last to fill the earth with his presence and glory through the rule of his faithful imaged children. This isn't just about Jesus getting a kingdom. This is about God achieving his goal for mankind with its centerpiece in the man, Jesus. So in Jesus' own words, and we'll see this as we continue through the Gospels, he said that he had come to bind the strongman in order to plunder his house. The world lies in the evil one. The world operates according to the satanic, anti-man, anti-creation premise and set of principles. And Jesus came to plunder the strongman's house. That conflict saw its initial triumph in the wilderness, and we're going to see hereafter all of Jesus' interaction with satanic powers, whether demonic or human, are all from a vantage point of triumph and authority. He's already won substantially the battle as the Son of Man. As the son of man, he has now triumphed over the Satan, and that will reach its climax at Calvary, right? He has already shown himself and will continue to show himself the beloved and well-pleasing son. And when his triumph of love is finally fully accomplished, then he will bring many sons to glory, Hebrews 2. Through sufferings, he would bring many sons to glory. He's not ashamed to call them brethren. Let me just close then with John 12 and just kind of by way of again saying, OK, what does this mean to us? Well, it means that when we say we are sons in the sun, this is what it means. It doesn't mean that we now know we're going to go to heaven when we die. It means that we are sharers in the triumph of the sun who says all authority in heaven and earth is mine. We've been given everything that pertains to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and grace, his own power and grace. We are raised up, seated in the heavenly places in the Messiah. And we are the ones in whom Jesus is carrying out a new kind of lordship in the world. not the satanic lordship that all human beings know and that characterizes all the kingdoms of the world. Remember when Israel wanted a king, God said, pick whoever you want. I don't care. This is what he'll be like. He'll rule according to the procedure of the king. So this should speak to even issues of our Christian nationalism and getting the right politician in there and all And I'm not saying that we shouldn't be concerned to try to have godly leaders, but in the end, the church is the godly leader that the world needs. Christ is Lord of the world, and our gospel is not about how to get people into heaven, but about what it is for the world to be subject to a new king who governs according to a new principle of lordship, a lordship of self-giving love. Jesus was trying to get his disciples to understand that, right, in the upper room. We're going to get there. You call me Messiah. You call me Lord. I am. But you don't understand lordship. You understand the procedure of the king. And you think I'm here to crush and to throw a sword around and cut off people's heads and defeat the Romans. No. The way in which I display my lordship is by giving myself for the world. I've said it so many times, the placard, this is the king of the Jews over Jesus' head. The Romans meant it as a mockery. Here's what we do to rival kings. We crush them and we humiliate them. They didn't just crucify Jesus, they put a royal robe on him and a crown of thorns and they beat him and they mocked him and they spit on him. This is what we do to kings who are going to come against Rome's authority. And yet through that yielding himself to the powers and the satanic powers behind the powers, Jesus crushed them and took them into the grave and established his own triumph through self-giving love. And he tells his disciples, the least is the greatest. the servant is the ruler, right? This is what it looks like. I'm among you as one who serves. And so we are to be administrators of that kind of kingship, that kind of lordship, that kind of dominion in the world. We have to push back. When we speak truth to power, we're speaking against the procedure of the king, whether it's got an R or a D or whatever it has after We're saying there's a new Lord and there's a new way of doing human authority in the world. Right? That's what this is all about. That's how practical it is. And we are to be living out now what is going to be our vocation consummately for all eternity. Our hope is an earthly hope. Not a disembodied floating around with wings in heaven forever, but rulers over God's works, over the works of his hands, over his creation. And we are all ready to be rulers in the world in that sense. Not trying to overthrow Rome. Jesus didn't send his disciples out to overthrow Rome. We're not trying to overthrow the government, but we are manifesting what true lordship looks like in the world. That's what we're called to. So Jesus said, and I'll close with this in John 12, and then we'll pray. This is in those final days, he's getting ready to go to the cross, and some Gentiles want to come and see him. And he says, well, this isn't the time, but you will see me when you see me in truth. I will be made known to the Gentiles. Verse 20 of chapter 12 of John, there were certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. This is the Passover. This is the Passover week. And these therefore came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee and said to him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. And Philip came and told Andrew and Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. And he said, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it. He who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. Now let's think of that statement through the lens of what I just said. And if anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there he will be. He will do this thing called human life in a new way. That's what it is to take up our cross. It's to die to the way of doing human life that we've known and become a different sort of person. What kind of person? What we are in Jesus himself. Where I am, there my servant also will be, and if anyone serves me, then the Father will honor him. And now my soul has become troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it's to this very hour that I came into the world. Father, glorify your name. And there came, therefore, a voice out of heaven saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. And the multitude who were standing by and heard it were saying that it had thundered. It sounded like thunder. And others were saying, no, I think an angel has spoken to him. And Jesus answered and said to them, this voice has not come for my sake, but for your sakes. And now the judgment is upon this world. and so also upon the ruler of this world who shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." There's a theology of the cross. You see, these Gospels and the things that they record about Jesus doing and saying take on a whole different light when we look at them through the lens of, again, the Israelite history. And that's truth that all the law, the prophets, and the writings were speaking about the Messiah and the messianic event. This is how Yahweh returns to judge the earth. Let the trees clap, write the hills. We read Psalm 98. Let all the earth rejoice and sing, because Yahweh is coming. He's going to put things right. Sing a new song. Glorious things. Let me close us in prayer and then we'll close with this final song. Father, as always, I pray that you will press these things deeply into our hearts. I know there's a lot. It often feels like we're drinking from a fire hose, but these are the very rudiments of the faith. These are really Christianity 101. These are the things that the gospel writers expected their readers to understand in a natural and an easy way. And our problem is that we're really just so far away from the scriptures and the story they tell. And we've been taught to think through systems and structures and confessions and categories of doctrine. And we don't know the story of the God of Israel, the God of creation, the God whose intent is to sum up everything in the Messiah and so become all in all. So I pray that you would help each one here, Father. Again, meet us where we are in our understanding, but don't let us remain there. Cause us by your spirit and by even our own zeal to long and to strive to grow up in all things into Christ who is the head. To truly bear his fragrance in every place as bearers of his life and likeness. Help us to be faithful in that way. Not faithful simply as those who behave properly, but faithful as those who are manifesting and living out Christ's lordship in the world. As servant lords, as lords who manifest your own wise, loving, just lordship in the world. Father, your church is Christ in the world. We are the gospel that we proclaim if we proclaim the true gospel. And so help us to be faithful. Don't let us be content to be babies. Don't let us be content to just remain with a basic understanding of Bible information. We desire to be fully conformed to Christ by the renewing of our minds. Meet us in that task and help us to be laborers together in that work. We grow up together in Christ, and I pray that that would be our ministration to one another in all things, whether we eat, whether we drink, in our work, in our play, in all the things that we do, Father, that we will be those who are ambassadors and heralds of the Messiah and your triumph in him. So bless us as we close our time of worship and fill our hearts even as we sing this closing song. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen.
The Work of Incarnation - Fulfilling Israel's Sonship, Part Three
Series Journey Through the Scriptures
This message examines the third of Jesus' tests during His forty-day wilderness ordeal. Like the other two, this test was part of His Father's proving out of His own assertion concerning Jesus that He was His beloved and well-pleasing son. And because Jesus was being tested as Son of God in solidarity with Israel, His testing was as human son of God - God's True Israel in whom Israel was to be renewed and reconciled.
Sermon ID | 31824205696861 |
Duration | 53:45 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday Service |
Bible Text | Luke 4:5-8; Matthew 4:8-11 |
Language | English |
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