Sanctuary

Matthew 4:1-11 (ESV)

 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights,
he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him,
“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city
and set him on the pinnacle of the temple
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down,
for it is written, ‘He will command his
angels concerning you,’ and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written,
‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world
and their glory. And he said to him,
“All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.”
Then Jesus said to him,
“Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Then the devil left him, and behold,
angels came and were ministering to him.

Here, we learn about three specific ways that Satan sought to tempt Jesus, each one more significant, by challenging his desire for food, urging him to display power sensationally, and encouraging him to use political power to establish God’s kingdom. In this third instance, he was tempting Jesus to bypass the cross. The devil was more than willing to give us all back to Jesus if only Jesus would worship him instead of God. Skip the suffering, save the people, deny God, do it the easy way. For each response, Jesus relied on Scripture, the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), to resist.

These temptations occurred following Jesus’ baptism. Right after Jesus was anointed for ministry, the Spirit led him into the wilderness for 40 days and nights of fasting “to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus’ time in the desert reminds us of Moses fasting for the same period on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28). After Moses’ 40 days and nights, God gave him the Ten Commandments for the Israelites. Thus, here we see that Jesus is the new Moses come to fulfill the law that Moses was given.

Prayer

Gracious God, we praise you that you know what it is like to be tempted in every way, as we are. Thank you for showing us how to resist temptation and thank you for enduring the cross and for fulfilling the law, for our sakes, on our behalf. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

John 1:29-34 (ESV)

 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him,
and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!
This is he of whom I said,
‘After me comes a man who ranks before me,
because he was before me.’
I myself did not know him,
but for this purpose I came baptizing with water,
that he might be revealed to Israel.”
And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit
descend from heaven like a dove,
and it remained on him.
I myself did not know him,
but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain,
this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

In Genesis 22, Abraham took his only son Isaac to Moriah because God had commanded him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering. Isaac questioned his father, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham responded to his child that “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” As Abraham was about to sacrifice his own son on the altar, God stopped him and provided a ram to take the place of Isaac.

Jesus is the Lamb that God provided to take away all sins. Abraham did not have to sacrifice his only son, because God chose to sacrifice his son to atone for our sins. Because of this, God views us in the way he viewed his son when John saw the Spirit descend from heaven upon him. He calls us, both men and women, his beloved sons, with whom he is well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

We no longer have to live in anxiety laboring to justify our existence. Our justification is in Christ, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God who took away our sins and the sins of the world.

Prayer

God, our Father, we thank you that we are your beloved sons with whom you are well pleased. We pray that you will work deep into our being the truth that we no longer have to labor for our salvation, but we can find rest knowing our identity is in the Lamb of God. Give us an understanding of the depth of the sacrifice that was made to atone for our sin so we may fall more in love with you to grasp who we are and who we shall become. In Christ’s Name, Amen.

Zechariah 12:10-14 (ESV)

 And I will pour out on the house of David
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace
and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me,
on him whom they have pierced,
they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child,
and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
On that day the mourning in Jerusalem
will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon
in the plain of Megiddo. The land shall mourn,
each family by itself: the family of the house of David
by itself, and their wives by themselves;
the family of the house of Nathan by itself,
and their wives by themselves; the family of the
house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves;
the family of the Shimeites by itself,
and their wives by themselves;
and all the families that are left,
each by itself, and their wives by themselves.

Although Zechariah spoke these words, they were the words of the Lord. Yet how could this be? How could God say, “They look on me, on him whom they have pierced?” Could God be wounded? Even more puzzling, could God be “pierced” – which indicated a killing? In other words, could God die?

Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy. Not only was he fully God, but he was also fully man. Moreover, as the prophecy predicted, Jesus was the “only child” and “firstborn” Son of the Father (John 3:16). He died and, on the cross, he was pierced: “One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).

The prophecy, however, said more. It said that those who pierced him would mourn because God would pour out on them “a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy.” In other words, the Spirit would open their eyes to see what they had done and how grievous their sin had been. This mourning would be widespread yet intimate – “the land shall mourn, each family by itself.”

In part, this prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost. Peter said to his listeners, “You crucified and killed [Jesus] by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). Then, upon hearing the gospel, they were “cut to the heart” and 3,000 were saved that day (Acts 2:37-41). Today, this prophecy is still being fulfilled. As the Spirit fills us with grace, we mourn over Christ’s death because we know that “he was wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). In our sorrow, however, we also rejoice because his death “brought us peace, and with his stripes, we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

– By The Park Forum

Prayer

Lord, we confess that our sin pierced Jesus. Thus, we mourn and ask you to pour out your Spirit of grace and mercy. In humility, we rejoice that your loving kindness never fails – while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). In Christ’s Name, Amen.