Swallow No Camels

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  • March 28, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #21

    Week 6 ———  The Temptations

    Matthew 4:3-11— Mark 1:13b  —  Luke 4:3-13

    Jesus has endured 40 days in the wilderness, and now the adversary comes to him with three temptations.  

    Matthew 4:2-4   And after fasting for 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.’”

    The accuser comes to Jesus in his time of greatest weakness.  He has fasted for 40 days.  But God has not yet proclaimed an end to Jesus’ fast.  Notice the accuser begins, “IF you are the Son of God.”  Jesus had just heard the voice of God himself proclaim him as the Son 40 days ago 

    Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

    First, the accuser will question your identity.  “If you are really saved, you would not have had that bad thought or done that bad thing.”  “If you were really a child of God, then your life wouldn’t be so hard or in such a mess.”  If he tried to place doubt in Jesus’ mind about his identity, rest assured you will face the same temptation at some point.  

    Then the enemy will try to get you to question God’s goodness.  This strategy has been the accuser’s method from the beginning.  In the garden, “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  By exaggerating God’s prohibition from one tree to all, he places doubt in her mind and questions God’s goodness.  She questioned whether God was holding back something good for her.  This was Israel in the wilderness.  They were led into a place with no food, a forced fast.  Soon, they were doubting God’s goodness, asking why God brought them out of Egypt, where there was plenty of food, to a place where they would starve. This was also Jesus’ temptation.  You can almost hear the accuser saying, “Come on, 40 days of fasting is sure to be enough. You can end this fast now.  Aren’t you hungry?”  The temptation facing Adam and Eve, Israel, and Jesus is this: ‘surely your appetites are a better indication of what you need than God’s word.’  And that is the temptation we constantly face.  Will we seek to satisfy our appetites, our lusts for food, money, possessions, pleasure, power, etc?  Or will we strive to be obedient to our Father and seek first the Kingdom of God?

    This was a real temptation for Jesus.  He was hungry, and he had the ability to make bread appear (even without stones) as he did in the miracle of feeding the 5000 or the 4000.  But he answers:

    “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

    He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses explains to Israel why obedience in fasting is essential:

    “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

    Our appetites should not be what controls our behavior.  Our behavior should be modeled after God’s word.  

    Matt. 4:5-6   “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.’”

    One of the secrets to understanding this temptation is a knowledge of the geography of the wilderness Jesus was in.  The Judean Wilderness is full of cliffs and wadis.  Yet somehow (whether in Spirit or physically), the accuser transports Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple.  Why was this area, with many steep cliffs, not a suitable setting for the temptation?   The difference is that in the temple in the city of Jerusalem, many people would see it.  Remember that Jesus keeps his miracles mostly in isolation in the beginning.  He tells people he heals not to tell anyone.  Other than the required feasts, he stays away from Jerusalem.  Then, in the final weeks of his ministry, Jesus purposely arranges to do an undeniable miracle in front of a crowd at Jerusalem’s doorstep.  Jesus delayed answering Mary and Martha’s plea to come and heal Lazarus, delaying his arrival until Lazarus was dead for four days.  (The thought in that day was that the spirit remained with the body for three days.  Waiting an extra day makes the miracle even more undeniable.)  Jesus forces this into the public where the religious authorities can not ignore it because “his hour has come.”  And it is this miracle that forces the Sanhedrin to decide that Jesus must die.  Had Jesus demonstrated such a public miracle before his ministry even started, he would have lost his opportunity to have that year with his disciples to teach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God to them.  That explains the ‘where’ of the temptation.

    For the temptation itself, the accuser quotes Psalm 91, a Psalm about the Messiah. It promises protection, rescue, and deliverance.  But we have already discussed that putting God to the test is sinful.  Jesus’ answer from Deuteronomy references Israel testing God when they were thirsty.  Again, they doubted God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them with thirst.  We easily see how jumping off a high place is a test. How is Israel testing God?

    if you are thirsty and there is no water, you have two choices.  You can say:

    1. “It is okay, God is over all.  He love me and will provide for me as he always has. We got hungry and he dropped bread out of the sky for us.  He will find us water”

    or 

    2.     Why did you bring us here to die, Moses?  We had plenty of water in Egypt. (Here they sound like my kids when they were little on a long car trip, “I’m thirsty, I’m starving to death, I’m hot, when are we going to get there?”

    Again they doubted God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them with thirst.  The Bible calls that murmuring. Just before this, Israel had witnessed the beginning of the recurring miracle of bread from heaven.  And yet they doubt. 

     How many signs do you need to remember that God is good?  Apparently, ten miraculous plagues, the parting of a sea, the destruction of the Egyptian army, and raining food from the sky were not enough.  How many signs do we need that God is good?  Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we tend to groan and complain about any hardship we face.  Bad weather, the high price of gasoline, the waits at the doctor’s office, an interruption in internet or cell phone or TV service — how quickly we forget our blessings and God’s faithfulness and murmur over trivial first-world problems.  How quick we are to test God.  

    This was a real temptation for Jesus.  He was the Son of God but had lived his life in obscurity.  How easy it would have been to show people all at once who he was and the power and wealth he possessed.  But that was not God’s plan.  He was to live a simple life.  For though the cattle on a thousand hills were his, he lived a life of the poor.  Though he is the power and the glory, he lived and died as the powerless and the humiliated.  At his arrest in the garden, when his disciple attacks with a sword, Jesus rebukes him, saying:

    “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”  Matthew 26:53-54.

    It is the same temptation again: doubting God’s goodness and provision, being disobedient, abandoning God’s plan. 

    The third temptation:

    Matthew 4:8-10   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.’”

    This may be the hardest one for us to identify with.  “I would never be a Satan worshiper!” we would proclaim.  It seems this temptation is no real temptation at all.  Or is it?

    First, let’s deal with the satan’s promise of power and glory, all the kingdoms of the world.  Was it his to give?  Russel Moore, in his book Tempted and Tried, says this:

    “Again, the Devil’s words were partly true. Because the original human rulers capitulated their dominion to the snake, Satan is now “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4: 4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2: 2). The kingdoms of the world are under his sway right now because, in sin, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5: 19). But this reign of death is illegitimate and parasitic. The cosmos itself is bucking in revolt against this dark power, groaning for the true heirs, “the sons of God” to be revealed in resurrection (Rom. 8: 19–21). Satan’s power is twofold. He incites human sin by governing people through “the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind” (Eph. 2: 3). And he stands as accuser over humanity, keeping us in captivity through fear of death and the coming judgment (Heb. 2: 14–15; Rev. 12: 10).” 1

    Indeed, these kingdoms are all the accusers (temporarily) to give.  But they would all be handed over to Jesus one day (Rev. 11:15 “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”).  Jesus was the Christ- the anointed one- anointed to be King.  Moore points out:

    “Satan was not just trying to tempt Jesus; he was attempting to adopt Jesus. Satan, in all three temptations, is assuming the role of a father—first in provision, then in protection, and now in the granting of an inheritance. Satan didn’t just want to be Jesus’ lord; he wanted to be his father.”2

    Jesus responds again with a verse from Deuteronomy.  He prefaces it with a command for the accuser to leave him.  He will use these exact words near the end of his ministry, speaking to Peter after Peter said Jesus should not suffer and die (Matthew 16:23).  (Peter’s statement is similar to this third temptation.)  The issue is worship.  

    We think of worship as singing songs or praying, but worship is ascribing worth or value.  Billy Graham said, “Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.”  We could say the same about your calendar or day planner.  What you value is where you spend your money and time.  There is a lot more worshipping of the kingdoms of this world than we would all like to admit.  We could all use a little more practice repeating Jesus’ phrase, “Be gone, accuser, You should worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

    You may never have a one-on-one confrontation with the satan, but you will undoubtedly face many temptations. Remember, your desires are waiting to lure and entice you.  Sin is crouching at your door.  Like Jesus, you will likely face the hardest temptations when you are at your weakest.  But Jesus, who was “tempted in all ways like as we are,” is interceding for you.  He is praying for you. Be ready for the battle.  Put on your spiritual armor.  The victory is the Lord’s.

    1. Tempted and Tried. By Russell Moore. p139.
    2. Ibid. p 136.

    Just a heads up! The gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry get busy for the next five days. So look for a blog entry each day today through Tuesday. I have some tough news for those of you following Jesus with your feet. In a few days, Jesus will make the trek from the Jordan River where John was to Cana of Galilee.  It will help if you have ever run or walked a marathon.  It will be even more helpful if you have done two on consecutive days.  I’ll post an optional entry in the “Step by Step with Jesus” section of the page this weekend with information on the difficulty of determining the site of John’s ministry and Jesus’ journey to Galilee, and what he saw along the way.

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #20

    Week 6 ———  The Devil You Say (an incredibly brief introduction)

    Matthew 4:3-11— Mark 1:13b  —  Luke 4:3-13

    Jesus is on day 39 of 40 days of being tempted in the wilderness.  Then, we will come to the three detailed temptations we find in Matthew and Luke.  So, it is time to introduce the next character, the devil.

    First, let me remind you of another Hebrew word you already know.  (You know many:  Amen, Hallelujah, Hosanna, Messiah, Gehenna, Rabbi, manna, etc.)  This word is ‘satan’ and is defined as “accuser, or slanderer.”  It is used in Psalm 71:13 “May my satans be put to shame.”  Here, your English version translates the Hebrew word to English, and it reads:  “May my accusers be put to shame.”  This word is not a name.  In Hebrew, whenever it is used to refer to an individual, it is preceded by a definite article “the,” so it is always “the satan.”  It is a title, not a name.  

    The Greek word for “accuser or slanderer” is ‘diabolos.’  It was the Greek word used to translate the Hebrew word “the satan” when the Older Testament was translated into Greek.  Sometimes, the Greek and English versions use the Hebrew word ‘satan’ instead of translating it to ‘diabolos’ or ‘the devil,’ and when they do, our English translations leave out the definite article “the.”  The word ‘satan’ is also capitalized in the King James English translation because all titles were capitalized in the 1600s.1  So without a preceding ‘the’ and with the capitalization, ‘satan’ came to be thought of as a proper name.

    In Mark 8:33, Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!”   Now, I hope you don’t think Jesus was saying that Peter was actually the enemy, the devil.  Peter was acting as an accuser, saying that God’s plan was not a good one.  But 43 out of 45 translations I checked use the Hebrew word ‘satan’ (usually capitalized) rather than translate it to ‘accuser.’2

    But what about “Lucifer”?  Isn’t that the name of the evil one?  No, not at all.  “Lucifer” is from a very unfortunate translation of the Bible done in 405 A.D. by Jerome, the Latin Vulgate.  He mistranslated Isaiah 14:12, which actually refers to the city of Babylon and the ‘morning star’ (the planet Venus).  If you want to read how this happened and how this is also responsible for our understanding of the devil having horns, pointy ears, and goat legs, I included the source in the note below.3

    Why is all of this important? This is ‘according to David,’ so feel free to disagree. (If you do, please let me know—as the rabbi said, “How can we learn if we never disagree?”) Names are important. Remembering someone’s name gives them honor.

    You know that Egypt has many massive temples and monuments. You may not appreciate that they are covered with unique hieroglyphs carved in stone—whole stories of a pharaoh’s life.  If you are the pharaoh and commissioning a temple, you put your name all over it —stories of how wonderful you are, stories of your victories in battle, stories of how you saved Egypt.  In some places you can see where someone has scratched off the pharaoh’s name from the stone inscription.

    The pharaoh Akhenaten tried to change Egyptian religion to worship only one god (the sun god).  After his death, Egypt reverted to polytheism, and there was an effort to erase that whole era from Egypt’s history.  Most of the cartouches with his name have been chiseled out. By removing his name, they dishonor him.  To remember and proclaim someone’s name brings them honor.  We still do this today.  We name buildings, bridges, and roads after people to honor them.  Those who are killed are remembered by name.  The satan, the accuser, does not deserve any honor.  He has no name.

    There is a name above all names; there is one who deserves all the honor.

    Philippians.2:9-10   “Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

    Whether you say it as the Hebrew ‘Yeshua,’ as Jesus’ mother did, or ‘Iesous’ (Greek), or ‘Isa’ (Arabic), or ‘Yesu’ (Swahili), it all brings glory where it is due.

    So why don’t we say the Father’s name?  He gave his name to Moses in Exodus 3:15, at the burning bush:

    Exodus 3:15   God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

    “This is my name.” What is the name, “the LORD?” That’s not a name; that is a title. When I read that verse in my Hebrew Bible, there is no ‘the’ there, and the word is not ‘lord,’ but God’s name.  Our English translations of the Bible substitute ‘the LORD’ (in all capital letters) whenever the Hebrew text has God’s actual name listed, which is 6824 times.  Almost all commentaries will say we don’t know the exact vowels in God’s name because they were omitted from the Hebrew text.  Indeed, the middle vowel is not listed in the standard Masoretic Hebrew text, which makes the word unpronounceable.  (Hebrew words require a vowel between middle consonants. Interestingly, the traditionally accepted pronouncement of the name is “Yahweh,” but that is also not a valid Hebrew word for the same reason.)  The reason given for the missing vowel is that rabbis said that God’s name is too holy to pronounce.  Before the time of persecution by the Greeks, however, in which public reading of the Torah was outlawed, as well as saying God’s name aloud, God’s name was used frequently and in everyday language, such as in greetings. Recent research has found over 7000 instances where scribes accidentally left in place the ‘missing’ middle vowel in copies of Hebrew texts, with the pronunciation being ‘Yehovah.’ (As expected, no instances of the vowels of ‘Yahweh’ have been found.)4

    Plenty of passages in the Older Testament invite people to praise the name of God and talk about how blessed his name is.  Certainly, this is inconsistent with keeping his name a secret.  How sad that when Yehovah gave Moses his name, he said that this is how he will be remembered, but we have essentially erased his name from our Bibles.  (I will translate God’s name as “Yehovah” instead of using “the LORD.”)

    Psalm 34:3 “Oh, magnify Yehovah with me, and let us exalt his name together!”

    Nehemiah 9:5    “Stand up and bless Yehovah your God from everlasting to everlasting.  Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

    So why does the satan have no name?   

    Job 18:5,17 “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out…His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street.”

    The wicked will not be remembered or honored.  Their memory will perish.

    We first encounter this accuser in the Garden of Eden, where he is in rebellion against God and tempts Adam and Eve to join him in rebellion. He is described there as a serpent or snake. He and the demons are seen as former members of God’s throne room, part of the heavenly council.  (In Isaiah chapter 6, the prophet sees the throne room and describes the council there as ‘seraphim,’ which is Hebrew for ‘snakes.’)  These demons and the devil are the forces at work in this world, corrupting on a grand and personal scale.  They are at work seeking to destroy God’s good creation and forcing it back into chaos.   

    I really don’t want to get into the question of “Why is there evil in the world?”  There are thousands of books on this subject with numerous explanations.  Let me say this:

    When God created the world, it was all good. There was nothing bad. But then there was rebellion by members of God’s heavenly council and by man. And then, not everything was good. There was evil. I prefer to think of good and evil as relational concepts. God created a world with opposites: up and down, light and dark, hot and cold, and good and evil. 

    ‘Up’ and ‘down’ are not things but are relational.  People living on the other side of the earth define ‘up’ as being in the opposite direction as we do.  How do you measure darkness?  You can measure light with a light meter.  There are no darkness meters.   Darkness is not so much a thing as it is the absence of light.  Darkness can only be measured in the presence or lack of light.  A hole exists only as the absence of dirt in the ground. But it can not be separated from the idea of dirt.  It is a relational concept.  Evil is not a thing that can be defined except in relation to good.  Evil is the absence of good.  Since evil is a relational concept, it is anti-God, a movement away from or counter to God.

    We are not cosmological dualists;5 we don’t believe there are two gods, one good and one evil.6   The fallen former members of God’s heavenly council are entirely subordinate to God.  The satan has to ask God’s permission to test Job (and Peter, see Luke 22:31.)  The demons have no choice but to obey Jesus.  The accuser is called the “ruler of this world” (John 12:31), but only because God has granted him that position for a brief time.  God is ultimately in charge: “The Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” (Daniel 4:17).  The accuser’s reign is limited by God in its range, power, and time. 

    Do not dismiss, however, the concept of spiritual battle in this world.  It is just as real as everything you can see with your eyes. The satan and the demons are in constant work to drag everyone and everything away from God and into chaos.  We are told to be watchful and alert because:

    “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  1 Peter 5:8

    We are warned to put on spiritual armor to protect us in this battle:

    “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”  Ephesians 6:11-13

    So be aware of the battle, be prepared for the battle, but be assured that the final battle has already been won.

    Jesus saw his mission as an attack on the forces of evil in this world.  1 John 3:8 says, “…The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”  This is as prophesied: 

    Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

    And Jesus defeated the satan and the forces of evil on the cross.

    “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” 2 Col. 2:13-15.

    So when the accuser, the satan, comes to God’s court as the prosecuting attorney against you, he opens his briefcase to pull out a list of all the charges against you, and it is empty.  All sins have been forgiven; all debts have been paid.  He has no evidence to present against you.  He is ‘disarmed,’  Col. 2:15

    But for Jesus in 27 A.D., after 40 days in the wilderness, the battle is ahead of him.  The Accuser comes at him with multiple ways to get Jesus to step off the path God has for him.  We will discuss the three temptations next time.

    1.  “By the 17th century, the practice had extended to titles (Sir, Lady), forms of address (Father, Mistris), and personified nouns (Nature). Emphasized words and phrases would also attract a capital.”  The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (David Crystal), p67.

    2. Young’s Literal Translation and  the Weymouth Translation translate as ‘adversary.’  Note that by modern English rules, a title would be capitalized here because it is in the form of a direct address.  (My English teacher said that both of the following are correct:  “The pastor came to visit.” and “Thanks for calling, Pastor.”  The second occurrence is capitalized because it is a direct address.)

    3.   “The Lucifer Myth”  by Roy Blizzard.  https://www.biblescholars.org/2013/05/the-lucifer-myth.html

    4.  If you want to understand more about the pronunciation of God’s name and why it is not spoken aloud by most Jews today, this book by Dr. Nehemia Gordon, a Hebrew scholar, and a Karaite Jew, is essential.  Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. 2012.

    5.  Cosmological Dualism is the belief that good and evil are two equal and opposing forces that balance the universe.  

    6.  The ancient Persians worshipped many gods until Zoroaster had a vision (sometime between 900-1200 B.C.) that there were two gods, a good god and an evil god (a dualism).  Isaiah 45 is a prophecy that there will be a ruler named Cyrus. Cyrus was the ruler of Persia who conquered Babylon 140 years later.  In this prophecy, God has a message for Cyrus of Persia to tell him there is only one god.

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #19

    Week 5 ———  Temptation

    Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

    Jesus is still in the wilderness.  If it seems like he has been there a long time, he has.   We are on Day 32/40 in the wilderness, and if it seems like a long time to you, remember Jesus hasn’t eaten since Feb 16.  But he is there for a purpose.  He is preparing for his year-long ministry that will end in crucifixion and resurrection.  As we near the end of our 40 days in the wilderness and approach the three recorded temptations of Jesus by the devil, it’s time to discuss the idea of temptation further. 

    We have already covered how both ‘tempt’ and ‘test’ come from the same Hebrew and Greek words and how you have to understand the context to use the proper word. We also discussed how the meaning of our English words has changed over time. We will use the modern idea that a temptation is a test in which the giver of the test wants you to fail and actively encourages you to fail.

    “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”  James 1:13

    We also briefly discussed how God can’t be tempted — God is never wrong, so how could he be enticed to do wrong?  We also discussed how God tempts no one.  Do not doubt the goodness of God as the Israelites did.  God is always good, and because he loves us, he is always for our good.  It would be outside his character to want or entice us to fail.  So, if temptation does not come from God, where does it come from?”

    “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  James 1:14

    ‘Lured’ and ‘enticed’ are both about baiting a trap or hunting.  And who is the hunter?  Who is the tempter?  Not the devil, not other people, but your own desire.  We cannot escape our desires; they are always with us.  And they are not the same for everyone. We are all lured by different things.  The same things that tempt one person may not tempt another.  Some desires we know are in our DNA.  The genes that predispose people to alcoholism have been identified.  Also, for some forms of gluttony.  But genetic predisposition is not an excuse to sin. You can’t say, “Well, that is just how I was made,” because desire is not sin.  Being tempted is not sinful.  Choosing to follow those desires is sinful.  So, the blame is primarily on our own desire. Now, other people or the devil may encourage us, but following our desires is our downfall.

    “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”   James 1:15

    If you do not keep your desires in check, if you nurture them and allow them to grow, you may follow them off the path of obedience.  Giving in to our desires is sinful.  God told Cain that “sin is crouching at the door” (who is hunting now?), and all we have to do is open the door of our desire, and sin is waiting to pounce on us. Notice how desire is pictured as a living thing being born, growing, and leading to death.  They start small – a social drink, an innocent flirtation, an eye looking in the wrong direction – then it is a slow fade down the path to destruction.  

    Did Jesus have desire?  He was fully human, and we are told he was tempted “like as we are.” So, he had to have desires.  And he was tempted, “but without sin”.  He never let his desires run loose.  He learned to fill himself with a different kind of desire.

    “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”  Gal. 5:16

    Notice that those ‘desires of the flesh’ are still there in a person who is walking ‘by the Spirit.’  They are just not gratified.  We need to choose to continue to follow a new set of desires. The more we seek to gratify the desires of the Spirit, the further we will get from following our fleshly desires.  

    “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  Ps 37:4

    This is an often misunderstood verse.  No one has ever misunderstood it more than Oprah Winfrey.  Ms. Winfrey shared in 2004 that this was her favorite verse, and I will quote her: “’LORD’ has a wide range: compassion, love, forgiveness, kindness. So you delight yourself in those virtues where the character of the Lord is revealed.” She said, “If you focus on being a force for good, then good will come.”  (A very ‘karma-like’ statement.)  She ignores that ‘LORD’ is God’s actual name (Yehovah) and applies it in her very universalist ‘all gods are god’ manner.   The usual misunderstanding of this verse is not much better, thinking the verse is saying that ‘if we enjoy God, he will give us whatever we desire.’  But the word used for ‘desires’ here is the Hebrew “mishala” which comes from the root ‘shaal’ which means ‘to ask’ and is frequently used in the OT in asking God for guidance.1  First, we must ‘delight in Yehovah’ or, as the JPS puts it, “Seek the favor [delight] of the lord.” How do we seek the delight of Yehovah? How does a nine-year-old seek the favor of her mother?  By being obedient, cleaning her room, being nice to her brother, and talking respectfully.  If we are obedient, he will give us that “desires transplant” we desperately need.

    This brings me to the worst advice I have ever heard anyone give. It was a young pastor counseling a member facing a difficult decision.   The pastor said,  “Just follow your heart.”  Why is that bad advice?  

    In the culture of the Bible, the heart is seen as the place of our emotions, decisions, thinking, desires, and choices.  (Modern medicine tells us all these things happen in the brain, but our culture still refers to the actions of the heart in a similar fashion to ancient civilizations.)

    “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick”  Jer. 17:9.

    “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander.”  Matthew 15:19.

    Our hearts cannot be trusted.  Our hearts are so damaged that surgical repair is insufficient. We require a heart transplant.  Fortunately, God has that covered, and Ezekiel foresaw that long ago.

    “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”   Ezekiel 36:26-27

    So God will give us a new spirit and heart with new desires.  But we still exist in a fallen world.  We can still choose to follow the wrong desires and the wrong path.  One day, our redemption will be complete, this fallen world will be no more, and this struggle will end.

    So please don’t advise anyone to“follow their heart.”  Perhaps we should still be wearing tassels like Jesus did.  We still need that reminder.

    If you watch “The Chosen,” you can’t miss the tassels hanging on the corners of Jesus’ and the disciple’s (and any other Jews’) clothing.  One episode (Season 3, Episode 5) features the story in the scripture where a woman is healed by touching the tassels on Jesus’ garment (the story is in Mark 5:21-34.)  Why do Jesus and his disciples (and other devout Jewish people in “The Chosen” wear tassels?  They are commanded in the Torah for this reason:

    “And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.”  Numbers 15:39

    These tassels brush against your leg every step you take.  Should you decide to wander off the path of righteousness, they remind you to be obedient to God, to fix your eye on Him, and not to be led astray by the desires of your heart.  Now, let’s look at another essential passage about temptation:

    “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,…”  1 Corinthians 10:13.

    If you stop the verse here, you get the good news that God will not tempt us beyond our ability.  From this, many incorrectly state, “God will not put on us more than we can bear.”  But the scripture makes it clear that God will purposely put more on us than we can bear. 

    “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”   2 Cor. 1:8-10 

      Why does God put us in situations that are “far beyond our ability to endure”?

    If He only allowed what we could bear on our own, then we would have no need for God to help us.  “Never mind, God, I don’t need your help. I got this,” we might stupidly say.  No, he puts more on us than we can bear so that we will learn to put our trust and faith in him.  Life is much more than we can handle at times.  We need to learn to seek his help.   So the verse doesn’t end there.  

    Let’s read a little more of that verse:

    “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape,…”

    If the verse stops there, we get the idea that God will rescue us no matter how hard things are. He will allow us to escape the awful trial or temptation. He will open a door for a way out of the dark valley.

    But the verse doesn’t end there…..

    “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”  1 Corinthians 10:13

    God’s escape plan is not the removal of the temptation but reinforcement to resist the temptation.  When walking through the valley of the shadow of death, God does not send a helicopter to airlift you out of your trouble.  Instead, he joins you in the valley and walks with you so you can endure it. (See Psalm 23)  Why?  Because if we don’t endure it, we will not get the full benefit of the trial.

    “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  James 1:2.

    You are going to need God’s help when you are tempted.  If you try to fight temptations yourself, you will get into trouble.  Jesus is there interceding for us so that we may not fall prey to temptation (Hebrews 2:18).  Like his example, we can refute temptation by our knowledge of scripture.  Why do we memorize scripture?  Psalm 119:11 says we hide the Word in our hearts so we may not sin against God.  And we can be accountable for others.  We need friends who are willing to challenge us when we wander.  (As Leonard Smart said, “Everyone needs a Nathan.”2)  And finally, the best way to avoid temptation is to flee when you see it.  

    So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (2 Tim. 2:22)

    We must run away from temptation as Joseph did from Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:7-12).   But Paul tells us to run away from sin and toward righteousness, faith, love, and peace.  We need to fill our lives with the things of God so that we will not feel the need to fill our lives with other things.

    Remember to seek joy in all your tests and temptations today. The Bible says to “flee idolatry,” “resist evil,” and “endure tests.”  Get your verbs in the right place:  Don’t flee tests, don’t endure idolatry, etc.

    Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

    1.  Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. p. 891. (1999).

    2. 11: Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without. Sweet, Leonard. (2012)

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #18

    Week 4 —— Testing

    Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

    So last time, we delved into the meanings of ‘tempt’ and ‘test,’ how the definitions of those words have changed over time, and how we must be careful, or we will get some pretty wrong ideas reading scripture.  Don’t miss the fact that any event can be a test and a temptation.  God placed the tree in the garden as a test.  The Accuser used it for temptation.  God tests us for our good so that we can grow in our faith; he never tempts us.  We are tempted by our own desires and by evil forces to entice us to sin, and those temptations may come into play during testing.  Now that we understand the words, let’s look at the concept of testing in the Bible.

    Any 6th grader will tell you that teachers give tests to punish students.  Unfortunately, many Jesus followers feel the same way about God’s tests.  Why do we have tests?  I had a science teacher in high school who gave tests at least weekly.  She said, “I can’t help you know what you need to know if I don’t know what you don’t know.”  I am not sure I appreciated that idea then, so imagine my surprise when I heard those words coming out of my mouth one day while teaching Harvard medical students how to examine babies.1

    Testing is an integral part of many stories in the Old Testament.  The tree in the Garden is a test for Adam and Eve.  It is revealed to the reader of Genesis (but not Abraham) that he is undergoing a test with his son, Isaac. Judges 2:22 tells us that God tests Israel’s obedience by not driving out the Canaanites who are still in the land.  

    James tells us the purpose of tests:

    Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4

    The former 6th grader in me has a little trouble with James’ attitude towards trials or tests.  But, let’s be honest, most 6th graders don’t think the goal of going to school is to learn — their real goal is to have fun. This is the secret to understanding what James is saying.  What is the goal of living on this earth? If you are a citizen of the United States of America, your Declaration of Independence says that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  So, the Continental Congress says that God gave us the right to pursue happiness.  (How very ‘6th-grader’ of them.)   If Paul of Tarsus had been sitting in the Pennsylvania State House in 1776, he might have had a different opinion about our God-given pursuit.2

    But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

    The goal is Jesus —conformity to Jesus, thereby bringing glory to God (see Eph.4:22-24, Rom. 8:29, Phil. 3:21).   Paul would argue with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (and I’d like to see that debate).  God gave us a goal to pursue — it is not happiness but holiness.  I am afraid this is not well understood.  My wife does marriage counseling, and it is not unusual for a spouse considering divorce to say to her, “But I know God wants me to be happy…”  It is about this time I would reveal myself as a terrible counselor because I would interrupt them and ask them to open a Bible and show me where God values our happiness over our obedience.

    God wants us to be joyful; indeed, joy is not optional — it is commanded over and over in the Bible.  (For example, see Matt. 5:12, Rom 12:12,15, 2 Cor 13:11, 1 Thess 5:16, and Philippians 2:18, 3:1, and 4:4.)  But how do we have joy in the midst of pain, trials, or suffering?  We have joy not based on the changing circumstances of our lives but on the unchanging goodness of God.  Author David Mathis says, “Not that we’re dull to the multifaceted pains of life in this age, but in Christ we have access to subterranean joy that is simultaneous with, and deeper than, the greatest of our sorrows — we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).3 Our joy in Christ will only grow as we conform more to him.  Holiness is the goal, joy is found on that path, and testing is a part of the path.  And testing brings joy because we know it brings us closer to our goal.

    So now we know why we are tested and why we get joy from being tested. Jesus adds more about testing in the prayer he taught his disciples.

    Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

    So we have our usual Greek word ‘peirasmos’ that you remember can be translated as ‘test’ or ‘temptation.’  As noted in the previous blog entry, the King James Version almost always translated it as ‘temptation.’  That is because ‘tempt’ in the early 1600s had the definition ‘to prove or put to the test’ and not the idea of enticing someone to do wrong.  We will learn next time that James 1:13 tells us that God doesn’t tempt anyone.  So Jesus is well aware that God will not lead anyone into temptation. So why does he have us pray and ask God not to do something that the Bible says God never does?

     The idea of ‘periasmos’ here must be a test, not a temptation.  So the King James Version is correct if you read it with the King James era definition of ‘temptation.’  If you read it with a modern-day definition of ‘temptation,’ then you are saying God is responsible for tempting us. So it should read:

    Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into a test,…

    So, of course, when they released the New King James Version in 1982 with contemporary English, they changed that to the modern ‘test’ and not ‘temptation,’ right?  No, they left it the same.  All the modern translations of the Bible continue to translate it as ‘temptation’ — except a very few, one of which is the Good News Translation: “Do not bring us to hard testing”(for why they do this, see the footnote).4  

    The Hebrew version of Matthew5 says, “Do not lead us into the hands of a test.”  This is also the phrasing seen in the Peshitta, an ancient Aramaic version of the New Testament still used in the East.  The Talmud, the teaching of the ancient Rabbis, has this prayer which is still prayed by Orthodox Jews daily: “Do not bring me into the hands of a test, or into the hands of shame.”  Now, whether Jesus is borrowing this phrase from a traditional Jewish prayer (which he does a good bit) or the Rabbis got it from him, I don’t know.  But I know God isn’t leading me into an enticement to sin.

    So Jesus is telling us to pray and ask God to hold back from testing us today.  This idea is seen elsewhere in the Bible as in Proverbs 30:7-9, where Agur urges God not to test him with riches “lest I be full and deny you” or with poverty “lest I be poor and steal and then profane the name of my God.” 

    When Jesus teaches us to pray that we not be tested, he speaks from the experience of recently enduring a 40-day test in the wilderness. He knows how difficult testing can be.  He will later sweat drops of blood in an agonizing test in a garden. Jesus understands the harshness of tests, and he has compassion for us.  Most of the tests we face are ones we stumble into while walking in the wrong direction.  God rarely leads us to tests, and according to Jesus, it is good to ask God not to lead us there. (Of course, asking God not to lead you anywhere presumes that you are someone who is following his directions already.  He won’t lead you anywhere if you are not following him.)

     So you can say the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ the way you always have but know that you are talking about testing, not tempting.

    Now, we must discuss the idea that it is sinful to test God.  I was talking with a friend about God testing us and how it is not okay to test God, and my friend asked me, “Then why was it alright for Gideon to test God with the fleece?  (If you don’t know the story, read Judges 6.)  First, don’t read every story and get the idea that just because a hero in the Bible did it, it is good for you.  No, God did not intend for you to have multiple wives like Jacob, to commit adultery or murder like David, or to be a complete lecherous, reprobate jerk of a bully like Sampson.6  There are a lot of examples in the Bible of how not to act and what not to do.  God had already been very clear with Gideon, so Gideon’s fleece was a lack of faith and a hesitance in obedience. 

    Ex. 17:2-3 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

    God led Israel specifically to this place without water so they could become thirsty in this wilderness.  This was a test for them.  How would they react?  Would they endure the thirst, knowing that God would not let them die of thirst because he has promised to bring them to the promised land?  They fail.  Like Gideon’s fleece, this is a lack of faith.  They even question God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them.  Their experience parallels Jesus’ first two temptations, which we will discuss more fully in a few weeks.

    The Spirit leads Jesus to a wilderness where there is no food.  The first temptation is to create bread from stones, acting independently of the Father and outside God’s will to be fasting.  Jesus refused to believe God led him there to die.  He passes where Israel failed.  The second temptation is for Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and expect God to rescue him.  Once again, Jesus doesn’t act outside of the Father’s will.  There were plenty of cliffs in the wilderness to do this test, but he was taken to this very public place for a reason.

    Many would have seen this undeniable miracle at this location, and that was not God’s timing of how the Messiah was to be revealed. Jesus’ ministry was initially to be very low-key in Galilee to allow time to teach the disciples before the authorities in Jerusalem dealt with him.   In the last two weeks of his ministry, Jesus does a miracle in front of a group of people just outside of Jerusalem.  He purposely makes sure the miracle is undeniable (he waits until Lazarus is four days dead), and this leads the religious leaders in Jerusalem to seek his death.  Had he done such a public miracle in Jerusalem in front of the religious leaders, his ministry would have been cut short before it began.  Jesus waits until “his hour has come” and then orchestrates his own demise.

    I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.  John 8:28 

    Jesus always submitted to the Father’s will.   His answer to the devil at the second temptation is, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” In other words, stay in the Father’s will and not ‘jump’ ahead of God.  God sets a path before us.  To stray from the path is a lack of trust in God. 

     Finally, there is a verse where it seems God is inviting you to test him.

    Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.  Malachi 3:10

    Some people have explained that God makes an exception to his rule of testing because it’s about tithing, and tithing is ‘special.’  That’s convenient, but I don’t think that’s right.  Remember the occasions when it was sinful to test God; it was because you were demonstrating a lack of faith or a departure from God’s set path for you.  But in Malachi, if we participate in the test, we give as God commanded, demonstrating faith. So that is obedience, not sin.  We are being faithful, and God is proving his faithfulness to us by opening up the windows of heaven.  Every day we live, God demonstrates his faithfulness to us.  You know that because of those verses in Lamentations that you memorized (and didn’t even know you knew.)  It is one of the reasons I love the old hymns.

    “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”   Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV)  

    Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
    there is no shadow of turning with Thee;  (James 1:17)
    Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
    as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

    Great is Thy faithfulness!
    Great is Thy faithfulness!
    Morning by morning, new mercies I see;
    all I have needed Thy hand hath provided:
    Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!7

    This is the secret to passing tests— remember this verse (or remember these lyrics).

    Israel is escaping from Egypt, and they are camping out on the shore of a sea. Then, the Egyptians come after them.  And God gives them a test.  He doesn’t tell them to attack the Egyptians; he tells them just to stand firm where they are. He doesn’t ask them to fight that vast army of chariots of the Egyptians, He doesn’t ask them to part the waters, just stand firm.  They had a choice: they could run for their lives or stand there, believing God would be faithful to what he said and watch God fight for them.  They passed.

    Later, Israel was in the desert with no food or water. Should they worry, complain, and yell at Moses? No, because God is good. God’s Faithfulness is Great. He has promised to bring them to a new land. He will not let them starve. 

    Abraham’s great test would be whether he would be willing to give up his only son. Would Abraham have the faith to believe that God is good, that God is faithful, and that God would keep his promise to raise up a great nation through his son, even if he were sacrificed?

    In the Garden, before he goes off to pray alone, Jesus tells his disciples,  “Pray, for we all face a great test”…  one he knew the disciples would fail. One Jesus passes. Would Jesus have enough trust in God’s faithfulness to suffer and die? Would he believe God’s promise not to forsake him but to resurrect him? 

    God may never lead you into a test. But if you are like me, you will stumble into enough on your own.  When you do, when things are brutal or bleak, don’t grumble and complain, don’t jump ahead of God, and don’t run away.  Just stand firm and believe that God is Good. You don’t have to fight the enemy, and you don’t have to part the waters because God is Faithful. He loves you and promises to work all things for your good. 

    Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

    1. Let me take a moment to thank Mrs. Puckett, Mrs. Holder, Mr. Dempsey, Mrs. Clements, and Mr. Ehman, who instilled in me a love for science and would be very surprised to know that the smart-mouthed kid became a medical doctor.
    2. Of course, Paul would not claim citizenship here anyway.  “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
    3. David Mathis, “Joy Is Not Optional: Why Your Happiness Matters to God” February 3, 2016, www.desiringgod.org
    4. So why do most modern translations continue to use “Lead us not into temptation” even though our current understanding of ‘temptation’ is different and leads to contradiction?  In 2017, the Pope suggested changing it from ‘temptation,’ and it caused quite a stir.  It seems people become very defensive of the traditional wording of the prayer they have said all their lives.  Even when faced with sound reasoning and facts, people don’t want to let go of what they have always been taught.  Jesus had this same problem with the Pharisees, refusing to let go of their traditional interpretations, even when God himself tried to teach them better.  He said, “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God”  (Matthew 15:6).  Please don’t let your traditions trump scripture.
    5. Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, George Howard, 1995.  We have multiple copies of Matthew in Hebrew. None are Matthew’s autograph, of course.  The one quoted here is Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew, translated by George Howard.
    6. Contrary to what you learned in your 5-year-old Sunday School Class, you should not want to grow up to be like Sampson.  If you want to read a great book explaining how God can use this mess of a man, here it is:  Make Your Mark: Getting Right What Samson Got Wrong, by Brad Gray.  (2014).
    7. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” lyrics by Thomas H. Chisholm, music by William Runyan 1923.

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #17

    Week 4 ———- Temptation or Test?

    Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

    Is it a temptation, or is it a test?  You have to look at a calendar to know. (Fair warning: This post is background information for the discussion on testing and tempting in the Bible. So it is a little tedious, but bear with me, words are importatnt.)

    Words change over time.  For example, “awe” in Old English meant “fear, terror, or dread”. By the mid-1700s, ‘awe’ took on the idea of ‘reverential fear’ or ‘fear with respect,’ a meaning we use today.  Four hundred years ago, two words based on that root had the same meaning: ‘awesome’ and ‘awful’ (which meant, literally, ‘full of awe.’)  But by the early 1800s, ‘awful’ began to take on our present meaning of ‘very bad.’1  ‘Awesome’ went in the other direction and, by the mid-1900s, meant ‘impressive,’ and the early 1980s added the idea of ‘enthusiastic approval’ (thanks, “Valley Girl”).  If you want to know if ‘awful’ or ‘awesome’ is a good or bad modifier, you have to know the date of the writing.  If you read literature from the 1600s (I am talking about you, King James Bible), you had better be willing to do your homework on word meanings, or you might get it backward.

    Thus our problem with the word ‘temptation’ in the Bible.  The Hebrew word is ‘nasah’, and the Theological Workbook of the Old Testament says, “In most contexts ‘nasah’ has the idea of testing or proving the quality of someone or something, often through adversity or hardship. The rendering tempt, used frequently by the Authorized Version [King James Version], generally means prove, test, put to the test, rather than the current English idea of ‘entice to do wrong.’”  For example, David tried on Saul’s armor and sword before his confrontation with Goliath, but decided not to use them “for he had not tested them” (1 Samuel 17:39).

    Now, let’s look at a verse that could cause some confusion. “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham” (Genesis 22:1 KJV).  If you read the King James Version with our 21st-century definition of ‘tempt,’ you get the idea that God entices Abraham to do wrong.  More modern translations use ‘test’ to fit our current word use.  For example, the  ESV says: “After these things, God tested Abraham.”   I would hate for someone to get the idea that God wants us to fail when I believe God is doing everything he can to help us succeed.2

    In Exodus 17:2, Moses asks the people, “Wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? (KJV).   (The ESV is “Why do you test the LORD?”)  Again, if you read that in 1611, there is no conflict with James 1:13: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.”  But if you read a 17th Century version of Exodus with our modern definition there is confusion.  In Kohlenberger/Mounce Hebrew, they add to the definition of ‘nasah’: “to test God implies a lack of confidence in his revealed character, thus is wicked.”

    In the New Testament Greek, ‘periazo’ is the verb form that carries the modern meaning to test or to tempt (entice to do wrong.)  In most current versions, when the verb is an activity of Satan, it is translated as ‘tempt.’  When used of people it is translated as ‘test’.  In the King James Version, it is almost always translated as ‘tempt.’  This has led to an understanding of the Pharisees as having evil intent when they question Jesus, as they are ‘tempting’ him.  Let me insert my personal opinion here.  Asking probing, challenging questions is how Jewish rabbis have always learned from each other.  If you were in a room where rabbis were discussing a difficult passage of scripture, you might get the idea they were enemies.  But they say that debate with disagreement is the best way to learn. Athol Dickson quotes a rabbi who was having trouble generating discussion about scripture as saying, “Come on, people! Somebody disagree with me! How can we learn anything if no one will disagree?”3 I think the Pharisees were initially testing Jesus to see if he was following a particular interpretation of scripture.  Near the end of his ministry, though, the Bible clearly shows they were trying to trap him.  So when the ESV translates John 8:6 as “This they [the Pharisees] said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him.” Their intent makes the King James translation more accurate as it says, “This they said, tempting him.”  (And yes, I just said the King James translation is the most accurate here.)

    It is about this time that my friend Mark, in our Tuesday morning Bible Study, would be commenting that he felt like he had just sat through a seminary lecture or a Grammar class.  (Don’t let him fool you; he is a serious student of the Bible.)  But God’s message to us is composed of words.  We have to cross barriers of translation and thousands of years of language changes to get His meaning, so we do not insert our own. The Bible is worthy of us using all of our heart, mind, and spirit to study it.  We must connect to the scriptures with emotion, intellect, and the Holy Spirit.  Now that we have waded through this word study, we are ready to discuss testing and temptation in the Bible next time.

    Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

    1. As an exception to our modern use of awful having a negative connotation, it has been occasionally used as an intensifier, as in “She is awful pretty.”  That reminds me of how my friends from Boston use another usually negative word, ‘wicked,’ as in “That Lobsta’ is wicked good!”

    2. I love to read the King James Version, especially the poetic nature of the Psalms and other songs in the Bible (thanks, W. Shakespeare.)  But I don’t use it to study due to the problems with changing language and because our modern versions have the advantage of better source documents and a better understanding of language and the culture of the day.  It is fine to use, but for study, at least read it in parallel with a more modern translation to help you catch the potential language traps.

    3. Dickson, Athol, The Gospel According to Moses (2003)  as quoted in Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. Spangler’s and Tverberg’s book is an easy read and a great introduction to Jesus as a Jewish Rabbi.

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #16

    Week 3 ——- What did Jesus do in the Wilderness?  (Part 3)

    Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

    Some of my best Bible studies began because someone asked me a question.  One of our group with us on this 70-week journey with Jesus asked me, “So what did Jesus do in the wilderness for 40 days?”  That is a great question!  The Bible simply said he fasted.  But as we have learned, fasting is a demonstration that you desire God more than you desire food, so it is not mere avoidance of food but the seeking of God instead that makes it a fast.  So he spent time with God alone as we do, through Bible study and prayer.  As I talked with my friend about this, he said, “Well, I can’t imagine Jesus carrying around a bunch of scrolls in the desert for 40 days, so what did he do?  True. Jesus didn’t own a personal copy of the Scriptures, at least not as we think.

    Jesus certainly spent time with the Father in the wilderness.  He didn’t have a Bible to read; he grew up as a Jewish boy in the first century.  The scrolls were in the synagogue, but the Word lived in the people’s hearts.  The first scripture he and all the others memorized was Deuteronomy 6:4 and the following.  This would become the beginning of the Shema, the prayer he would pray every day of his life, at least twice a day.   He would have learned to read with the same primary reader everyone else used then – Leviticus.  Yes, while I learned to read with Dick, Jane, and Spot, Jesus read Leviticus. By age ten, many Jewish boys would have already memorized the first five books of the Bible and then begin to learn the rest.  Exceptional students would continue after 13 years old, and many would know most of the Scriptures and much of the oral commentary. 

    Jesus would have memorized most, if not all, of the Scriptures.   All of his words are peppered with scripture quotes.  His response to the devil in the temptations, his prayers, his conversations, his lessons, his words from the cross — all from scripture.

    And we know Jesus was an exceptional student.  Remember the story of 12-year-old Jesus in the Temple?

    “After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”  Luke 2:46-47.

    They were amazed at Jesus’ scripture knowledge, so he must have been in that group that had all of the Scripture memorized.  This amount of memorization may sound incredible or impossible to you, but you have to understand the culture that Jesus grew up in.  Look at that passage in Deuteronomy 6:

    “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

    What do we talk about as we sit in our house, as we walk, when we lie down, and when we rise?  Is God’s word our baseline normal conversation, or is it work, sports, or recreation?  Or is there conversation at all?  Is the primary conversation in your home coming from a television speaker? Is family conversation limited to logistics (who is picking up who? Who has what schedule today? Where will we eat?).   Moses said we need to create a culture in our home where God is central, and his Word is our conversation.   What are we diligently teaching our children?

    I was challenged by a friend, Chad, eight years ago after listening to him quote the Sermon on the Mount (while we were standing in that very location by the Sea of Galilee!)  He asked me to consider making scripture memory a part of my life.  Sadly, I knew then that my brain was filled with more song lyrics than scripture.  I had memorized a few verses here or there, but no long passages or whole chapters.  (But I could sing almost every word of every TV show theme song from the 70’s.1)  So I memorized 2 Timothy alongside him.  And three months later, we were done. (Actually, Chad finished 2-3 weeks ahead of me, but hey, I finished.2)  I can not tell you how much memorizing those four chapters has meant to me spiritually.  Those verses came alive to me.  I felt what Paul felt as he wrote them in that prison in Rome.  On a trip there, I planned to recite those four chapters in that dungeon prison where we know he wrote them.  Saying the words, I was so overcome with Paul’s emotion that I broke down in tears (every attempt).  So I failed to recite them in that place, but I succeeded in placing them in my heart.  And once a year, I spend a few weeks with those words that have become my friends to keep the memory fresh.  Sadly, I have failed to get anyone else to join me in a memorization study.  (Maybe one of you will!)

    I can not overstate how seriously people in Jesus’ day took the Scripture.  The rabbis felt that study of the scriptures was the highest form of worship.   They said we speak to God in prayer, but God speaks to us in the Scriptures. Shmuel Safrai, in his epic 2 volume set on 1st-century Jewish culture:

    “Torah study was a remarkable feature in Jewish life at the time of the Second Temple and during the period following it. It was not restricted to the formal setting of schools and synagogue, nor to sages only, but became an integral part of ordinary Jewish life. The Torah was studied at all possible times, even if only a little at a time . . . The sound of Torah learning issuing from houses at night was a common phenomenon. When people assembled for a joyous occasion such as a circumcision or a wedding, a group might withdraw to engage in study of the Law.”3

    Now, call me a ‘Bible Nerd’ (go ahead, I know you already have), but the day someone pulls me aside at a party and wants to discuss a passage of scripture will be a wonderful day!  I love the Word.  I can’t wait to get up in the morning and study.  

    I have 50 translations of the Bible, about 20 sets of commentaries, 22 Hebrew and Greek dictionaries, and over 300 books about ‘religion’ sitting in my lap right now (on my laptop), and that’s not counting the almost endless access to other sources and resources available in the internet.  How many Bibles do you have in your house?  We have more access but, sadly, less knowledge.  “These words,” as Moses said, “are to be on your heart,” not your shelf.

    So Jesus had the Scriptures with him — they were on his heart, as God instructed through Moses.4  He considered the wisdom of the Scriptures within him.  And we know that he prayed.  Cultural studies have brought us much information as to the prayer life of people in Jesus’ day. 

    In the first century, Jesus (and any other practicing Jews) would say the Shema (pronounced ‘shmah’) twice daily, usually in public. ‘Shema’ means ‘hear,’ and that is the first word of the prayer, quoted from Deuteronomy 6:4,5: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.…”  Jesus quotes this first part of the Shema in Matthew 22:37, calling it the great and first commandment.  

    The Amidah is another prayer Jesus would have prayed several times a day.  ‘Amidah’ means ‘standing,’ and the prayer is always prayed standing up.  It has been done three times a day since the first century.5 It is also called “The Eighteen” because it was initially composed of 18 blessings. (A nineteenth blessing was added in 100 A.D.)  The wording today is not exactly as Jesus would have prayed, as the wording was not formalized until around 100 A.D. by the grandson of Gamaliel (Paul’s rabbi).  Some scholars have said that the prayer Jesus taught the disciples bears resemblance to much of the Amidah.6

    Besides these formalized prayers, Jews in Jesus’ day often prayed ‘unstructured prayers.’  “An observant Jew recited at least 100 blessings a day”7  In Jesus’ day, these blessings typically began, “Blessed is He who….”.  Sometime after 200 A.D., the rabbis insisted that all blessings should recognize God as “King of the universe.” Hence, the modern blessings begin, “Blessed are you, O LORD, our God, King of the universe.”8  There are blessings said upon opening your eyes in the morning “Blessed is He who opens the eyes of the blind.” — upon hearing tragic news, “Blessed is He who is the true judge.” There is a blessing for everything.  Does this remind you of Paul’s encouragement to “pray without ceasing”?   My small group decided to try to do 100 blessings a day for a week.  None of us succeeded in reaching 100 each day, but we all agreed that this changed our attitude toward life.  Keeping God in every part of our lives and recognizing his provision for everything makes a difference.  Paul also said that we should be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.” (Ephesians 5:20)

    This is a concise introduction to a very worthwhile topic.  Jesus’ time in the wilderness was spent reflecting on God’s Word and praying to His Father.  If you haven’t read Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg’s book on Jesus’ Jewish background, you need to.  It is a short, easy-to-read introduction to the world Jesus grew up in.  Reading this book began my study of our Jewish roots, and I could probably footnote this book throughout my writing.  There are much deeper studies, but this book is the best place to start.9

    For a moment, imagine you are in the first century.  You have finished your evening meal.  What do you do now?  There aren’t a lot of options.  Netflix is down then; it is between sports seasons, and cell service is non-existent in Jesus’ day.  What would you do?  Our culture has more leisure time than any that came before.  What do we do with it?  Again, I want to encourage you to go into the wilderness sometime in these weeks to understand Jesus better.  Perhaps a more structured prayer time would be beneficial for you.  Maybe it is time to hide some of God’s Word in your heart.  You might want to spend a few days blessing God for everything that happens.  You may not hit 100 a day, but I promise it will change your outlook.

    Blessed are you, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, who has given us his Word to instruct us and who listens to heartfelt prayer.

    ————

    Like all Jewish prayers, both of these prayers are full of Scriptures.

    The Shema

    “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6: 4–9)

     So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul—then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 

    Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11: 13–21)”

    (The last section, below, is repeated only in the morning, because the tallit, which carries the tassels, is only worn during daylight hours.) 

    The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.’ ” (Numbers 15:37 – 41)10

    The Amidah

    “(1) Blessed are you, O LORD, our God and God of our fathers—God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. The great, the mighty, and the awesome God, God Most High, who bestows loving-kindness and is the creator of all. Who remembers the love of our Fathers, and will lovingly send a redeemer for their children’s children, for the sake of your name. O King, Helper, Savior, and Shield—blessed are you, Shield of Abraham. 

    (2) You are mighty forever, O LORD, you resurrect the dead, you are great to save. Sustaining the living in loving-kindness, resurrecting the dead in abundant mercy, you support the falling and heal the sick, set free the captives, and keep faith with those who sleep in the dust. Who is like you, master of mighty deeds, and who may be compared unto you? O king, who sends death and revives again, and causes salvation to sprout forth. You are surely believed to resurrect the dead. Blessed are you, O LORD, who revives the dead. 

    (3) You are holy and your name is holy, and the holy ones praise you every day. Blessed are you, O LORD, the holy God.* 

    (4) You graciously give knowledge to man, and teach mortals understanding. Favor us with your knowledge, understanding, and intelligence. Blessed are you, O LORD, who graciously gives understanding.

    (5) Lead us back, our Father, to your Torah; bring us near, our King, to your services, and cause us to return in perfect repentance before you. Blessed are you, O LORD, who accepts repentance. 

    (6) Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, our King, for we have transgressed, for you pardon and forgive. Blessed are you, O gracious one, who multiplies forgiveness. 

    (7) Look upon our affliction and fight our fight, and redeem us speedily for the sake of your name, for you are a strong redeemer. Blessed are you, O LORD, the Redeemer of Israel. 

    (8) Heal us and we shall be healed, help us and we shall be helped, for you are our joy. Grant full healing for all our wounds, for you, O God and King, are a true and merciful physician. Blessed are you, O LORD, who heals the sick of his people Israel. 

    (9) Bless for us, O LORD our God, this year and all of its yield for good and shower down a blessing upon the face of the earth. Fill us with your bounty and bless our year that it be as the good years. Blessed are you, O LORD, who blesses the years. 

    (10) Blow the great trumpet for our liberation, and lift a banner to gather our exiles, and gather us into one body from the four corners of the earth. Blessed are you, O LORD, who gathers the dispersed of your people Israel. 

    (11) Restore our judges as before, and our counselors as in the beginning, and remove from us grief and sighing. Reign over us, O LORD, you alone, in loving-kindness and compassion, and clear us in judgment. Blessed are you, O LORD the King, who loves righteousness and justice. 

    (Note that #12 was only added after 100 A.D. and was not part of the prayer Jesus would have prayed.)

    (12) May no hope be left to the slanderers, but may wickedness perish in a moment. May all your enemies be soon cut off, and speedily uproot the arrogant. Shatter and humble them speedily in our days. Blessed are you, O LORD, who strikes down enemies and humbles the arrogant.** 

    (13) May your compassion, O LORD our God, be stirred over the righteous and over the pious and over the elders of your people, the House of Israel; over the remnant of their scribes, over the proselytes, and over us. Grant a good reward upon them who truly trust in your name, and assign our portion with them forever. May we not come to shame because we have trusted in you. Blessed are you, O LORD, the stronghold and assurance of the righteous. 

    (14) To Jerusalem your city return in mercy, and dwell in her midst as you have promised. Build her speedily in our days as an everlasting structure, and quickly establish there the throne of David. Blessed are you, O LORD, the builder of Jerusalem. 

    (15) May the descendant of David, your servant, be brought forth speedily, and may he be exalted through your salvation, for we hope for your salvation every day. Blessed are you, O LORD, who brings forth the horn of salvation. 

    (16) Hear our voice, O LORD our God, spare and have mercy on us, and accept in mercy and favor our prayer. For you are a God who hears prayers and supplications. Do not turn us away empty-handed, O our King, when we come before you. For you listen to the prayer of your people Israel in mercy. Blessed are you, O LORD, who hears prayer. 

    (17) Be pleased, O LORD our God, with your people Israel and their prayer, and reestablish the sacrificial services to the altar of your House. May you accept the fire-offerings of Israel and their prayer offered in love with favor, and may the sacrificial services of Israel your people be ever acceptable to you. And may our eyes behold your merciful return to Zion. Blessed are you who restores your Shekinah to Zion. 

    (18) We acknowledge to you, O LORD, that you are our God as you were the God of our fathers, forever and ever. Rock of our life, Shield of our salvation, you are unchanging from age to age. We thank you and declare your praise, for our lives that are in your hands and for our souls that are entrusted to you. Your miracles are with us every day, and your benefits are with us at all times, evening and morning and midday. You are good, for your mercies are endless; you are merciful, for your kindnesses are never complete; from everlasting we have hoped in you. And for all these things may your name be blessed and exalted, always and forevermore. Let every living thing give thanks to you and praise your name in truth, O God, our salvation and our help. Blessed are you, O LORD, your name is good, and to you it is right to give thanks. 

    (19) Grant peace, happiness, and blessing, grace, loving-kindness, and mercy to us and all Israel your people. Bless us, our Father, every one of us, by the light of your countenance, for by this light of your countenance you gave us, O LORD our God, the law of life, loving-kindness, and righteousness, and blessing and mercy, life and peace. May it be good in your eyes to bless your people Israel in every time and at every hour with your peace. Blessed are you, O LORD, who blesses your people Israel with peace.”11

    Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

    1.`        Yeah, you Millennials and Zoomers, it used to be a thing. There are whole songs with lyrics.  “Here’s a story of a lovely lady…” or “Just sit back, and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…”  Now, with shorter attention spans and more commercials, there is no time to give 30 seconds to a song before the show.  Did you notice that the theme song for “Friends” got shorter and shorter as the series went through the years?

    2. Chad Boss is my scripture memory hero.  Chad introduced me to an organization he has been involved with, “Scripture Memory Fellowship.”  Find them on Facebook with that name or at scripturememory.com for resources to start your memorization project.

    3. Safari, Shmuel, The Jewish People in the First Century: Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural and Religious Life and Institutions (1976) p 968

    4. I am reminded of a preacher I knew, an old retired seminary professor who would say, “Well, I don’t read the Bible much anymore.  I do sit around and quote it to myself frequently.” Thank you, Dr. Marsh. May his memory be a blessing.

    5. The Amidah may have been twice a day in Jesus’ time.  Currently, it is three times a day except on Sabbaths and Jewish Holidays when a 4th time is added.  On the Day of Atonement, a fifth time is added.

    6. Spangler, Ann; Tverberg, Lois. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus (2009)  Loc 371, Kindle Edition.

    7. Ibid., Loc 1410, Kindle Edition.

    8. Ibid., Loc 1590, Kindle Edition.

    9. Spangler, Ann; Tverberg, Lois. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus (2009).  See also Walking in the Dust with Rabbi Jesus (2012) and Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus (2018)

    10.      Spangler, Ann; Lois Tverberg. Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith . Zondervan. Kindle Edition. 

    11. Ibid.

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #15

    Week 3 What did Jesus do in the Wilderness?  (Part 2)

    Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

    Last time, we introduced the idea of fasting and how it demonstrates our desperate need for God and how we desire God more than even the basic human needs.   Don’t forget that in the Hebrew culture, all verbs are action verbs; for example, love is an action, not a feeling.  James said show me your faith by your deeds.  Fasting is an action we can do to learn our desperation for God and to show our desperation for God. 

    Other than this 40-day fast associated with the beginning of Jesus’ mission1, we don’t see Jesus fasting.  In fact, John the Baptist’s disciples ask Jesus why his disciples don’t fast.  Jesus tells them this is the time for a feast because the bridegroom (Jesus) is here.  There will come a time when the bridegroom is gone, and fasting will be appropriate.2  Apparently, Jesus had quite the reputation for feasts and not fasts, and he later tells a group of Pharisees:

    “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”  Luke 7:33-35

    After Jesus has ascended to heaven, we see the church resume fasting (Acts 13:1-3, Acts 14:21-23, and 1 Cor. 7:5).  The Didache (the 1st Century ‘church handbook’) says Christians are to fast twice weekly, specifically Wednesdays and Fridays.3  Jesus gave instructions for our fasting:

    “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  Mathew. 6:16-18

    Jesus’ emphasis is not so much that you fast in secret but that you do not do it for the reward of others.

    Should we fast?  There is plenty of evidence for fasting throughout the Bible. The only time it was put on hold was the year that Jesus spent with his disciples. Notice that in the passage above from Matthew 6, Jesus says, “when you fast,” not “if you fast.”  In Acts and Paul’s letters, the early church seems to have practiced fasting.  Let me ask you some personal questions.  Do you crave time with God?  Do you hunger for time in prayer when you miss a day of prayer?  Do you look forward with anticipation to your time alone with Jesus, studying the Word? Do you do these things with such fervor that you let nothing stand in your way?  For me, the distractions of this world tend to fill me at times to the point my desire for Godly things is numbed.  That is why I need to fast.  I must remind myself that my Creator is everything, and this world and its pleasures are just part of the creation, like me.  I need to, as Paul said, “discipline my body and keep it under control (1 Cor. 9:27), and fasting is a way to remind myself physically.  Finally, the Spirit drove Jesus to fast.  If Jesus needed to fast, how much more do I?

    Last time, I mentioned the more than 20,000 people who have completed a 40-day fast in South Korea.  In Piper’s book on fasting, he attributes the fantastic growth of the churches there to their strong emphasis on prayer and fasting.  

    “The first Protestant church was planted in Korea in 1884. One hundred years later, there were 30,000 churches. That’s an average of 300 new churches a year for 100 years. At the end of the twentieth century, evangelicals comprise about 30% of the population.”4

    That kind of growth while our U.S. churches are stagnant or decreasing in numbers.  It is time for us to learn a new desperation for God, and fasting is a means to do it.

    So then, how should we fast?  This is between you and God.  Seek His input, for, after all, submission to his will makes it a fast.  By the original definition, a fast was abstaining from food, but it has become very popular for Lenten fasts to be from certain other pleasures like the internet, social media, television, or a particular food like chocolate, meat, etc.  That may be an excellent place to start, but I only learned that desperation for God by fasting from some of the more basic physiological needs like food, sleep, or shelter. How do you fast from shelter?  I am glad you asked.  Contact your local homeless ministry and find out if you can volunteer to stay overnight with some people who have no homes in their shelter.  I have spent a few nights sleeping on a 4-inch mat on the floor with some of our “neighbors without homes” in our local Room in the Inn program.  You are putting your service to God ahead of and in place of your love for a comfortable bed and home for a night.   It is a fast if done with the proper attitude and as a way of seeking God.  If you aren’t seeking God, then you missed the point. 

    You must also be in obedience to God in other areas, or your fast will not be beneficial.  

    Look at Isaiah 58.  God instructs Isaiah to scream at the top of his lungs:

    “Declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God;”  Isaiah 58:1-2.

    Many are living in disobedience, yet they pray daily for God’s help and go to worship “as if they were a nation that did righteousness.”  Ouch!   They were going through the motions of ‘church’ but were living lives of sinfulness.  They were even fasting for God to answer them, but God did not answer despite their fasting.  So they ask God,

    “‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?  Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’”  Isaiah 58:3a.

    So God answers and tells them fasting is useless if they are living lives of disobedience. 

    “Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.  Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.” Isaiah 58:3b,4.

    God says, “You call that a fast?  You think that is acceptable to me?” (Is 58:5 my paraphrase). So then God tells them what kind of fast he wants from them:

    “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh [people]?”  (Is. 58:6-7)

    God wants them to fast from wickedness.  Let me paraphrase it: ’Take a break from sinning, stop oppressing and exploiting people; it is worthless for you to deny yourselves food and not even share the food you have not eaten while fasting with the hungry around you. You have an extra bedroom and a closet full of clothes, and yet your neighbor is homeless and poorly clothed while you hide out from your suffering neighbor in your fancy house.’

    God makes it clear that he could care less for our fasting if we aren’t living according to his precepts.  But then Isaiah has good news for them if they will repent and do what he asks (and I’ll let Eugene Peterson paraphrase this time):

    “Then when you pray, GOD will answer.  You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’  “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins,  If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.  I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry.  You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past.  You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.”  Isaiah 58:9-12 The Message.

    Have you ever felt like your prayers were bouncing off the ceiling?  Have you ever fasted and wondered why God wouldn’t respond?  Have you ever felt like your ‘worship’ was empty?  Then Isaiah says that it is time to check your obedience meter.  As Malachi noted, you can’t buy off God with money or impress him with your fasting or singing if you ignore everything he asked you to do.  Take a fast from disobedience first.  The waters of repentance are still flowing, and Jesus and John the Baptist are still calling.

    Jesus is fasting in the wilderness. Have you taken the time to journey outside by yourself this week?  Let’s skip a meal, take a hike, and commune with our Creator.  Food is good!  But God is better!!!

    Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

    1. In Acts 13:1–2, we see another example where fasting is associated with discernment for mission.
    2. Matthew 9:14-16.  This also suggests that when we are present with Jesus after that day, there will be no more fasting.
    3. Didache, 8:1, in Apostolic Fathers English
    4. Piper, John, “A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer” (2013) Location 1088, Kindle Version.

  • Bibliography — Recommended Books and References

    Resources will be added as we go. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

    The Chronological Gospels: The Life and Seventy Week Ministry of the Messiah. By Michael Rood.
    This book is what we are using to go day by day in Jesus’ ministry, based on Rood’s research
    on timing. There is a section that describes how this timing was determined as well as astonomical
    data that determines the dates of Jewish Festivals. An important resource for our study.
    The Kindle version is available on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/48FRM6y
    The printed version is available on Micael Rood’s website https://roodstore.com/collections/books-bibles

    11: Indispensable Relationships You Can’t Be Without. By Leonard Sweet.
    People you need in your life, based on Bible characters. Available in Paperback, Kindle, Hardback here: https://amzn.to/3x8MbZd

    A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. By Eugene Peterson.
    This book gives you the flavor of the Psalms sung on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A great book on discipleship. Peterson paraphrased these Psalms, which led him to paraphrase the book of Psalms and then the entire Message Bible. Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Audible here: https://amzn.to/3vHEKrF

    The Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. By George Howard.
    This has the Hebrew text of Matthew alongside Howard’s English translation, followed by an
    analysis of the text. This is geared more toward scholars, and a knowledge of Hebrew makes
    this resource most valuable. Available in Paperback here: https://amzn.to/433gOLM

    How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. By N.T. Wright.
    Jesus said the gospel is the coming of the Kingdom of God. (Luk3 4:43). Wright
    makes it clear how we have misunderstood the idea of the Kingdom.
    Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Audible here: https://amzn.to/48JcpPk

    A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer. By John Piper.
    The best book I have found on fasting. A life-changer.
    Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Audible here: https://amzn.to/3V0zslt

    Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence: The Hebrew Power of the Priestly Blessing Unleashed. By Nehemia Gordon, PhD. The story of how the name of God was hidden in our Bibles, and how we need to proclaim it, from a Hebrew scholar who is a Karaite Jew.
    Available in Paperback or Kindle here: https://amzn.to/43Azoer

    Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith. By  Ann
    Spangler and Lois Tverberg. A great introduction to Jesus’s Jewish context.
    Available in Paperback, Kindle, and Audible here: https://amzn.to/433RiWA

    Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life. By Lois
    Tverberg. A good sequel to the one above.
    Available in Hardback, Paperback, Kindle, and Audible Here: https://amzn.to/432NYLu

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #14

    Week 3 What did Jesus do in the Wilderness?  (Part 1)

    Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

    And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was ________.  Mathew 4:2

    This is not a challenging crossword puzzle clue.  Sometimes, I think I am hungry if I miss one meal.  Sometimes, I think I am hungry right after a meal.  But fasting for 40 days is another level.  Some people want to point out that the 40 days is more of a symbolic time in the Bible.  But you must pay attention when the Bible says, “40 days and 40 nights.”  Using the ‘days and nights’ terminology denotes a specific time.  (This will become important when we discuss the sign of Jonah in 2025.)  

    In his book on fasting, A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer, John Piper begins his preface, “Beware of books on fasting.”1 While this may not be the best book marketing slogan, I have to agree.  There are thousands of books on fasting.  Pretty much every religion has a form of fasting.  Then there are political fasts (as in Ghandi’s) and medical fasts.  Medical fasting has become much more popular in the past several years, with intermittent fasting for weight control and general health.  What happens medically in a fast is much more complicated than we first realized.  The interplay of a host of hormones (especially ghrelin and leptin) is beyond our current understanding, as the reactions of those hormones to fasting are not always predictable and are influenced by many other factors, for example, sleep.  And while we are talking medicine, despite what the internet says, a 40-day food fast (still consuming water) is not impossible for a healthy person.  In South Korea, over 20,000 people have completed a 40-day fasting prayer retreat.2   (That said, consult your physician before doing extreme fasting or any fasting if you have any medical problems.)

    But we are talking about religious fasting, as seen in the Old and New Testaments. What does fasting accomplish?  How does not eating make a difference from God’s perspective?  After Jesus fasts for 40 days, he is tempted by the accuser to use his power to turn stones into bread, and he answers with a verse from Deuteronomy 8:3: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” But you can’t eat the Bible like bread if you are hungry.  So, how are we to understand this?  The idea is that there are more important things in life than material provision, and that includes food.  That goes against everything I learned in my college Sociology class.

    Abraham Maslow is a humanistic psychologist who is most famous for his “Hierarchy of Needs,” which is frequently pictured as a pyramid in which the base physiological needs (food, water, air, shelter, clothing, sleep, etc.) must be met before a human can consider meeting any other needs (Safety, then Love/Belonging, then Esteem, and finally Self-actualization).  According to Maslow, it isn’t easy to consider any relationships or intellectual/occupational achievement until you satisfy your basic physiological needs.3   For example, it is hard to think about doing better at your job if you are homeless or hungry.  That makes a lot of sense and is something we see frequently in our homeless ministry.  But followers of Jesus need to add a new level to Maslow’s pyramid to make it consistent with the Bible.

     

    To Maslow, the physical preservation of life is the most critical need (air, food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep).  The Bible is very clear that these things should not be our highest priority, as evidenced by these scriptures:

    “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?…  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’   For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.   But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.   Matt. 6:25, 31-33

    But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24

    O God, You are my God;  Earnestly I seek You;
    My soul thirsts for You;     My body longs for You
    In a dry and weary land    Where there is no water. 
    I have seen You in the sanctuary,   Beheld Your power and Your glory. 
    Because Your love is better than life,   My lips will glorify You. 
    And in your name, I will lift up my hands.   Psalm 63:1-4

    Jesus is very clear about what we are to seek first, and it is not food or drink or clothing.  Paul said life had no value aside from the ministry he had.  Even though the psalmist of Psalm 63 is in the wilderness (“a dry and weary land where there is no water”), he said that rather than water, what he thirsts for is God’s covenantal love, which is better than life itself.

    What about breathing?  Breathing is a particular case.  You can’t fast from breathing (not for long).  What does the Bible say about breathing?

    Genesis tells us that “God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature”  (Genesis 2:7).  We are just dirt until God breathes life into us.  We are lifeless without God’s breath/spirit within us. The Hebrew word ‘ruach’ means ‘spirit,’ ‘ breath,’ or ‘wind.’ See how the Scriptures discuss this presence of God’s Spirit that gives us our life:

    …as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils…   Job 27:3

    Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:    Isaiah 42:5   

    Remember, on that resurrection Sunday evening, Jesus suddenly appears in the room with the disciples and tells them:

    “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  John 20:21-22

    If you don’t understand the significance of ‘the breath of God’ in the Bible, you might have found it odd that John mentions Jesus breathing on them.  But this breath of God brings life from death and new life to all as in creation, as in Ezekiel 37:9, where the prophet is told to speak, “breathe into these slain [the dry bones] that they may live,” and at Pentecost when the ‘ruach’ (Spirit) comes in like a ‘mighty rushing wind’ (Acts 2:2).

    God’s presence is the very air I breathe.  I may not live long without air, but I am not genuinely alive without God’s Spirit within me.  Several old hymns contain this concept (“Breathe on Me” and “Breathe on me Breath of God”).  Michael W. Smith wrote a song in 2001 that you have probably sung many times without realizing it was about the idea of fasting.   

    This is the air I breathe.
    This is the air I breathe.
    Your holy presence
    Living in me.
    This is my daily bread.
    This is my daily bread.
    Your very word
    Spoken to me
    And I… I’m desperate for you
    And I… I’m lost without you.4

    This is more reflective of our hierarchy of needs.

    Are you desperate for God?  Do you hunger for him?  Do you thirst for him?  Is your need for God greater than your need for food, water, shelter, clothing, sleep, or air?  Maybe you don’t feel that desperation for God right now.  This is something I didn’t understand for a long time. And perhaps that’s where you are today.  I want to challenge you today to realize that deep need for God more than anything else.  It will change your life.  How do you begin to understand this?  I discovered my desperate need for God only when I began to decide to give up some of these ‘basic needs’ for a time and seek God instead.  And this is what I learned by fasting.

    Have you ever been at a restaurant, looking forward to that great dish you ordered, and realized that you stuffed yourself so much on the salad and appetizers that you had no hunger for that wonderful main dish?  Piper says our hunger for God is underdeveloped because we fill ourselves with desires for other things.5  Mark’s Gospel tells us about Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the seeds scattered among thorns that “the desires for other things enter in and choke the word.”

    “It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable. Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, “as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8: 14).”6

    Fasting is a test to help us see which desire controls us and what is more important to us, the Creator or the Creation.  We have already noted the parallel between Jesus’ 40-day testing in the wilderness and Israel’s 40-year testing in the wilderness.  They both were led there by God and were led to hunger.  Israel fails the test by doubting God and even assigning evil motives to God.  Jesus passed the test, refusing to go outside God’s will and breaking his fast ahead of God’s plan.  How about you?  Jesus is in the wilderness.  I pray that the Spirit will drive you there for a time to fast, pray, and better know yourself and your Creator.

    We will continue this overview of fasting next time.

    Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

    1. Piper, John, A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer (2013) preface, Kindle Edition.
    2. Wesley Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer Grand Rapids: (1990), p. 192.
    3. Maslow later restated his theory and accounted that people did not necessarily move strictly from one tier to another and could simultaneously work on aspects of multiple tiers of the pyramid.  
    4. Smith, Michael W. “Breathe” 2001.  Another popular chorus exhibiting this idea of fasting is “As the Deer” by Martin Nystrom in 1984. (Based on Psalm 42).
    5. Piper. Loc 660, Kindle Edition.
    6. Ibid. Loc 67.

  • February 16 – March 27, 27 A.D.  Jesus in the Wilderness – The Year of the Lord’s Favor #13

    Week 2 Going where you don’t want to go

    It is getting time for the evening meal, and you don’t want to eat at home.  Then comes the classic question, “Where do you want to eat?” with the classic answer, “Anywhere is fine with me.”  This must be very common because all across the country, restaurants have sprung up with names like “Anywhere,” “Anything’s Fine With Me,” “I Don’t Care,” and, of course, “It Doesn’t Matter”1.  When we have a group deciding on a restaurant, and no one has a preference, we then do eliminations: for example, ‘I ate at Applebee’s last week, so not there’ or ‘I don’t feel like Italian food tonight.’  This seems to be more productive.  Sometimes it is easier to know where you don’t want to go.

    There is some discussion in the commentaries about whether Jesus fasted for 40 days and then was tempted or if he was tempted the entire 40-day period and then had the final three temptations that Matthew and Luke discuss.

    Mark 1:12-13   The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

    Our English version seems clear that Jesus was tempted for the entire 40 days, and the Greek version even more so.   Matthew and Luke then record the 3 specific temptations, but Mark does not.  It’s not hard to imagine 40 days of temptations.  We are told to expect trials and temptations.

    Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  1 Peter 4:12

    We are told that this is the norm.  God told Cain that “sin is crouching at the door”.  Peter says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8).  We are surrounded by trials and temptations — that is the fallen world we live in,

    So the Spirit “drove him out into the wilderness”.  The Greek verb is very forceful.  ‘Ekballo’ means to ‘throw out’.  This is the verb used when Jesus drives out the moneychangers in the temple, or when Jesus ‘cast out’ demons, or when Stephen is ‘cast out’ of the city and stoned.    It is the same as when the people in his hometown of Nazareth throw him out of town and then take him to throw him off a cliff.  This was not a friendly suggestion to Jesus by the Spirit to go to the wilderness.  This was no gentle nudge.  The Spirit forced Jesus to go where he did not want to go.

    As we have discussed, the wilderness is not a place many would choose to go.  On a trip to Israel in 2016, the bus stopped at the edge of the Judean wilderness, and we were instructed to go off by ourselves for 40 minutes.  It was oppressively hot and dry.  There were no trees, no shade, almost no vegetation, and no signs of water.  40 minutes was long enough.  I could not imagine 40 days.  And in Jesus’ day, it was dangerous.  Mark tells us, “he was with the wild animals.”  That seems an odd detail to throw in a short passage.  That area used to be home to large and small predators.  (We were told the large ones (like lions) were no longer there.)  But this is not a place you choose to be day and night alone. I wonder if Mark was painting the wilderness as an anti-Eden place — Eden was a place of abundant vegetation and fruit of all kinds, the wilderness was desolate.  Eden had abundant water, “there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground” such that a river flowed out of Eden, but the wilderness was dry.  The animals in Eden came to man without fear, but the animals in the wilderness are “wild.”2  But both were a place of testing and interestingly, Adam and Eve’s temptation was about something to eat, just as the first of Jesus’ temptations by the devil.

    No one would choose to go to a place of testing, with an encounter with the devil after 40 hard days.  Jesus was forced there at the beginning of his ministry.  He will be forced to go somewhere else he doesn’t want to go at the end of his ministry.  

    Matt. 16:21   From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 

    In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is “greatly distressed and troubled.” He prays and asks if there is any other way to accomplish God’s plan of redemption.  The way of the cross was not the way anyone, including Jesus, would want to go.  But praying in the garden, Jesus makes a choice that Adam and Eve should have made. 

    God asked Adam and Eve, “Will you be obedient to me about the tree?”

    “Will you follow my will or your own will?”  Adam and Eve fail at the tree of discerning good and evil.

    God asked Jesus, “Will you be obedient to me about the tree?”

    And Jesus answered, “Not my will, but your will be done.

      Jesus is obedient about the tree.

    “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree”  Acts 10:39

    God sent Jesus somewhere he didn’t want to go, as he did other Bible characters.  Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh, Moses didn’t want to go back to Egypt, Ananias didn’t want to go pray for Saul.  Abraham left his home, having no idea where he would end up. And then there is Peter.

     Jesus tells Peter, “When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). Then Jesus gives Peter the same instruction he gave him at the beginning, “Follow me.” I have been to Rome and have seen the spot where, 34 years later, Peter was led, a place where his arms were stretched-out and nailed to a cross. Peter had learned to be obedient, to be faithful to go somewhere he didn’t want to go.  I believe at some point in all of our lives, God will ask us all to go somewhere we do not want to go.  It may be to minister to an enemy or to people who don’t like you; it may be leaving your home to unknown places, or it may be to a place of desolation or testing. It may be to martyrdom. 

    Jesus followed God in everything, even to desolation and death.  

    The one who restores our soul may lead us through paths of righteousness that look to us like the valley of the shadow of death. There are some dark valleys in this world.  Some of you have walked in the valley. Some of you are walking there now.  There is the valley of pain; there is the valley of depression, the valley of despair, the valley of illness so severe it is the shadow of death, the valley of grief over a loved one.  We all will walk through those valleys — places we don’t want to go.  And on that day, may Jesus remind us:

    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

    There they are, the most common command in the Bible (“Do not fear.”) and the most common promise in the Bible (“I will be with you.”).  They are inextricably linked.  As God told Joshua before they entered the land:

    Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”    Joshua 1:9

    The same promise is given to the disciples right after Jesus tells them to go into all the nations.  Jesus’ last words in the gospel of Matthew:

    And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  Matthew 28:20

    Jesus willingly went into the wilderness and willingly went to the cross with no fear, knowing God would be with him.  God promises to be with us in the deepest, darkest valleys of death, comforting, healing, and feeding us with cups running over with goodness and mercy. 

    Jesus continues to say, ‘Follow me’.  If we follow him, we know he is there with us.  And if we follow Jesus, we are sure to end up going somewhere we would have never thought about going.  But we will never go alone. Are we willing to go where we do not want to go?  Have you been to the wilderness this week?

    1. I have heard the “It Doesn’t Matter Family Restaurant” just below Montgomery, Alabama is a great place.

    2. Talking about the ‘wild animals’ in Mark, Skip Moen said, “This sinful world into which Jesus enters to accomplish his mission is less like a pristine garden and more like Jurassic Park.”  Yikes!