One of my favorite C.S. Lewis books is The Screwtape Letters. In this fictional account of spiritual warfare and human temptation, Screwtape (a demon) is writing to his nephew Wormwood (a demon) about the temptation of a man in England that they call the patient. “In them, Screwtape advises his nephew, Wormwood, on how best to tempt a British man, called only “the Patient,” into sin and, eventually, into Hell. Wormwood is an inexperienced devil, and he has gone to a training college to help prepare him to tempt humans into sin. Screwtape complains, however, that this college has taught Wormwood nothing because of its incompetent director, Slubgob. By the second letter, readers learn that the Patient has converted to Christianity and has begun going to church. The Patient is most likely in his mid-thirties and he lives with and takes care of his aging mother.” (The Screwtape Letters: Full Book Summary | SparkNotes)
Even though the Screwtape Letters is a fictional account, it gives us some good insight into the spiritual world and temptation. C.S. Lewis does a fantastic job of describing the spiritual warfare that exists in the unseen spiritual realm. Each time that I read the Screwtape Letters, I often think of the Apostle Paul’s writing in Ephesian 6, where Paul warns and gives advice on how to deal with the Spiritual Warfare that exists in our daily lives.
In our text this week, we examined the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. The temptation of Jesus confirms two important things. First that Jesus is the Divine Son of God who will become our propitiation. Secondly, Jesus is the fully human and will be the perfect sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God. The writer of Hebrews writes these words, “ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15). It is the dual nature of Jesus at work in the wilderness. What do I mean by dual nature? Theologians call this dual nature, “The Hypostatic Union.” The hypostatic union is the term used to describe how God the Son, Jesus Christ, took on a human nature, yet remained fully God at the same time. Jesus always had been God (John 8:58, 10:30), but at the incarnation Jesus became a human being (John 1:14). The addition of the human nature to the divine nature is Jesus, the God-man. This is the hypostatic union, Jesus Christ, one Person, fully God and fully man.” (What is the hypostatic union? | GotQuestions.org). It is this union that makes Jesus the perfect and only sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of the Father. Wrath is simply the judgement of human sin by the Holy and Righteous God of the Universe.
Let’s jump into the text and examine the two main points from this past weeks sermon!
The Compulsion into the Wilderness (v. 12)
It is amazing that the coronation or beginning of Jesus ministry just happened at the baptism and now he is being driven out into the wilderness. Now we need to understand that Jesus not being forced but is willingly going into the wilderness. The Father and Holy Spirit are not leading Jesus into something that the He was not willing to do. Before the foundation of the World the divine plan of God was executed and at the center of that divine plan is work of Jesus. This driving into the wilderness was part of the plan and work of God.
Mark says that immediately following the Baptism of Jesus that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. The word immediately in the Greek is “εὐθύς -euthus” which is defined as; “straight forwards; directly, instantly.” So, the question is why was he immediately driven into the wilderness following His baptism? Pastor John MacArthur explains it this way; “Why in the wilderness? Couldn’t that temptation have come somewhere else? Sure, it could have come in Jerusalem. In one of the temptations that the devil brings to Jesus, He actually takes Him to Jerusalem. Why the wilderness? Why the desert? Because Jesus is here away from everyone and everything. He has gone from the exalted, highest moment of His coronation at His baptism among the massive crowds that were surrounding John the Baptist in His baptizing at the river Jordan. He’s gone from the crowds to absolute and total isolation in the desert.”
The wilderness here is marked as a desolate and lonely place. The Greek word here is “ἔρημος – erēmos” which is defined as: “lone, desert, waste, uninhabited, Mt. 14:13, 15; Mk. 6:31, 32, 35; lone, abandoned to ruin, Mt. 23:38; Lk. 13:35; a desert, uninhabited region, waste, Mt. 3:1; 24:26; Acts 7:36.” It is the same kind of place that the Israelites wandered in for 40 years in Exodus. But unlike the Israelites having each other, Jesus was alone without people around. The wilderness was the battleground for Jesus and Satan.
Application Question: We may not go into the physical wilderness but there are times in our lives when we are in the emotional and spiritual wilderness. At those times are you inclined to spend time in the Word and Prayer or worry about what is happening?
The Conflict within the Wilderness (v.13)
When we think of the temptation in the wilderness we think of 3 temptations of Jesus as just something that happened quickly, but this was a 40-day interaction. Mark, as well as other gospel writers lets us know that this a lengthy altercation (40 days). Not only was the altercation with Satan but he had to contest with the wild animals of the wilderness. Just as a shepherd protects his sheep in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus as the Great Shepherd protects His flock in the wilderness.
I love how Pastor John MacArthur describes this encounter in his sermon on the temptation of Jesus. “So Jesus will be tempted unlike Adam. Adam was tempted in a paradise. Adam was tempted in a lush place. Adam was tempted in the companionship of Eve, and Adam fell. Christ is tempted in utter isolation in a place that has most felt the curse, that is the most opposite of Eden of any place in the world, an absolute dangerous, barren desert. Verse 13 further describes it in the middle of the verse as “a place where He was with the wild beasts.” And Mark here is dramatizing the danger of that place, but he’s also saying there weren’t people there because people don’t live where wild beasts live, and wild beasts eventually go where people aren’t.
This is intended to describe the danger but even more intended to describe the isolation in this place. If you read through the Old Testament, you will find that there are places in the Old Testament that describe the kind of things that lived in that place. I just read you from Deuteronomy 8, which talks about scorpions and serpents, but the Old Testament speaks of lions being in the Judean wilderness, of wild pigs who were very dangerous, of wolves, foxes, jackals, panthers, and who knows what else. But this is not a place where people lived. This is an ominous, dangerous, uninhabitable place full of wild animals.”
As the Messiah King, Jesus is at battle. Jesus was not just showing that He could defeat Satan, but He was showing His Glory and His Divinity in overcoming the temptation that Adam could not overcome. Jesus completes the work where Adam failed.
This temptation was not just about connecting with humanity in temptation but was claiming His authority and power over temptation. All those who have placed their salvation in Christ have the Holy Spirit and now can overcome temptation because we have been bought by the price of Christ. We are no longer living in the weakness of the first Adam, but we live in the power and strength of the second Adam. We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit!
Application Question: When temptation arises, where do you turn for wisdom and direction? Are you like Adam and given in or like Christ and quote the Word?
In Conclusion:
Temptation is real and we all experience it every day. We must be prepared to fight the spiritual war that exists. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of the enemy. We must prepare daily and to do that we must be in the Word, in Prayer, and walk with brothers and sisters in Christ.
We are not to walk alone in this life. The church is the body and family of Christ. That is one of the main reasons we are told not to forsake ourselves in gathering as believers. Let’s walk together, battle together, and worship together!
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