The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION OF JESUS
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION OF JESUS
Lesson Plan:
1. Public Consecration of Jesus (Mk. 1:9-11)
2. Temptation Test (Matt. 4:1-11)
3. Three Great Temptations (Mk. 1:2-4; 5-7; 8-10)
4. Victory (Mark 1:11)
Lesson Setting:
Time: The Baptism may have been around 27 A.D., and the Temptation began immediately after and continued 40 days.
Place: The Baptism was in the river Jordan (Mk. 1:9) near Bethabara, east of the Jordan (Jn. 1:28). The exact place is unknown. Tradition points out the fords opposite Jericho. The Temptation took place in the Wilderness, in some unknown part of the great Wilderness of Judea, which includes the whole slope of the central mountains to the Jordan. Tradition places it in the region north of Jericho and west of the Jordan, called Mount Quarantania, "the Mount of the 40 days."
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:9-10
1. Public Consecration of Jesus
v 9 ... "It came to pass in those days," while John was preaching and baptizing in the Wilderness.
v 9 ... "Jesus came from Nazareth" His home, where He lived till He was about 30 years old, to the place where John was baptizing, at Bethabara, near the Jordan.
First – Consecration by Baptism: "And was baptized of John in Jordan" (v 9). Matthew 4:1-11 gives the fuller account. Jesus presented himself to John as a candidate for baptism. John would have hindered Him as not belonging to the class of people whom he was calling to repentance: "I have need to be baptized of thee," I am the imperfect one that needs repentance; and comest thou, the Sinless One, to me to be baptized? But Jesus answered, "Permit it to be so no, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." It was the right and wise thing for both of them to do. For it made Him one, and made Him appear one, with the human race as far as a sinless being could be one with sinners. What was duty for them was duty for Him. There were two parts to John's baptism: (a) the renunciation of sin, and (b) the consecration to righteousness. Jesus had no sins to be forgiven, but He could place Himself by His baptism, as wholly opposed to all sins and wrongs, as entirely consecrated to righteousness and the holiness of the kingdom of heaven. He did what all men ought to do, placed Himself publicly before the world as belonging to the kingdom of God, and everywhere and always opposed to the kingdom of Satan. It is not true, as is sometimes said, that Christ professed religion only by His life.
Second – Conscious Enduement with the Holy Spirit: "Coming up out of the water" (v 10) and praying (Luke) for the human nature of Jesus needed continual support from close communion with His Father.
v 10 ... "He saw the heavens opened," 'rent asunder,' a new revelation of His close connection with heaven for His work on earth. All the eternal forces of God were close at hand to aid and sustain Him, even when the veil of sense hid them from His eyes.
v 10 ... "The Spirit like a dove, descending upon him." The Holy Spirit descended not only in the manner of a dove, but in the bodily shape of a dove (Lk. 3:22), in order to give visible impression that would strengthen and enforce the fact of the invisible reality. The dove was the symbol of the gentleness of the power of love, by which Jesus was to gain His victories. His power lay not in the storm and earthquake and fire, but in the still, small voice. The greatest of all known forces are silent and gentle in their working like the light, like gravitation, of whose power falling mountains and the crash of worlds are but visible and small manifestations. Such gentle forces produce moral changes in the world.
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:11
Third – The Assurance of Divine Approval: "A voice from heaven" (Mk. 1:11), the first of the three times, at three crises in the life of Jesus, when this voice of assurance came to Jesus,
v 11 ... "Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus God endorsed Jesus not only to the Jewish nation, but to His own consciousness. A citizen of a little country city, a worker at a carpenter's bench, without wealth, or rank, or social power, or civil office, or church authority, for Him to undertake to transform the world! To overthrow empires! Nothing but the absolute assurance that He was the Son of God, that God endorsed Him, that He was doing God's work in the power of God, could enable Him to enter upon His Mission.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 4:1-11 (also read Mk. 1:12, 13; Lk. 4:1-13)
2. Temptation Test
The Underlying Principles – "In all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tired he shall receive the crown of life" (Jas. 1:12). "Lead us not into temptation" (Matt. 6:13). "Put on the whole amour of God" (Eph. 6:11).
v 1 ... "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit ... to be tempted of the devil." The one right and best and necessary thing for Jesus to do at this time was to go into the wilderness away from man to settle the many questions that must arise and be settled before He could enter upon His work. Because it was wise and necessary the Spirit led Him there. Whether Jesus knew just what was to take place there, we do not know. But the Spirit knew. And Jesus obeyed the Spirit's guidance.
But Jesus has taught us to pray the Father: "Lead us not into temptation." How does this agree with the Spirit's leading Him into temptation? – (a) There is no way of growing good, and strong, and useful without undergoing temptations, and gaining the victory over them. (b) Anyone who goes into temptation for the allurement in it, because he loves the attraction, or walks into it with no high moral motive, but in his self confidence that he can resist it – such a one is already more than half fallen. Therefore, the wise and good man prays that God will not lead him into temptations. (c) Jesus was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness because that was the place of duty, of necessary preparation for His work, and not because He wanted to be tempted. Temptations were there, in this wicked world, and were necessary for Him to meet and overcome. It was not His duty to run away, but to resist, fight, gain the victory. The allurements of a temptation are nothing more than the means by which the test is applied. They are never the temptation itself, never the main issue. This distinction between our possible attitudes toward temptation runs through our whole life.
Temptations and Tests: Satan tempts; God tests. What is the difference? – It lies in the purpose of the trial. Satan tempts in order that men may fall. God tests in order that men may gain the victory and be strong and good. God uses Satan's temptations, changing them into tests. Obstacles are things to be overcome and we should act upon this saying every day of our lives.
Character Forming through Temptation Tests: Every human creature, in virtue of the very make- up of his moral structure is necessarily and everlastingly tested by a tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The duel with evil is one that no person can escape, and yet win the celestial heights. All who would become strong and useful must gain their power largely through victory over temptation. It is true that the soul builds itself larger mansions. It is a chief factor in education. Men gain victories only through battles. They cultivate courage through things that test courage. They grow in faith through the things that try their faith. They learn business by taking the risks of business. People without trials and temptations are always failures. The reason is that every temptation not only presents a man with an opportunity for choice, but compels him to make a choice. And choice is an act of will, and character is made by acts of will. The will makes the brain and makes the man. The will is the ranking official of all in man. Self-possession implies the capacity for self-restraint, self-compulsion and self-direction; and he who has these, if he lives long enough, can have any other possession he wants. It is this fact of the creative power of choice that shows us how temptation, which always demands a choice between good and evil, is so necessary in building up character, and character in its largest sense is the man.
Christ's Temptations: His Temptations were all in connection with His work as the Messiah; and ours are like them because it is in view of our own future course of life that our temptations come, and our choices are made. Jesus had to meet the question regarding how He should accomplish His work as the Messiah.
His goal was plain, but by what way should He reach it? – The popular expectation was of a great and glorious worldly kingdom, of which Jerusalem should be the capital, and the Jews the rulers. With their victorious armies they would conquer Rome, subdue all nations. The prophets depicted the Messianic age as one of material prosperity, political emancipation, and imperial dominion for God's chosen people, though always conditioned on obedience to God, which condition the people were apt to overlook. What course should Jesus take? Should He seek first this glorious outward kingdom, or give Himself up to making the people good, with outward glories far in the distance. All the temptations were concerned with this choice.
The Tempter: Satan was the tempter, but in what form did he come? – Jesus was "tempted like as we are." Hence it is not at all probable that Satan appeared to Jesus in bodily form, unless it was as an angel, a plausible stranger. The picture of a fire-breathing dragon, or as one wearing a human form equipped with huge bat-like wings, horns, tail, and webbed feet, or as a monster with tail, claws, and horns, are mere allegories and symbols to make Satan's real nature apparent and the impression deep. Such a Satan actually before us could never tempt us. Temptation is always disguised. It comes as an angel of light. It makes evil seem good. Satan often tempts by visions of blessing which conceal his selfish purpose and hides his hideous features.
The devil comes out of fashion, but never out of business. No Sham Fight, But a Real Battle – Jesus had a battle to face, against temptation. He could have yielded; He had the same possibilities as we have. Whatever else our Lord shall be to us, He shall not be a counterfeit man, exposed to counterfeit fire, a mere stage fire, a man played upon by harmless sheet lighting, and never moving amid the dreaded bolts and forked flame. His shall not be the sham fight, and ours the actual struggle, or He can be no leader for us. He himself suffered being tempted. He felt the real heat of the fire, the fascination of the real seduction. Jesus of Nazareth had the real devil to meet and the real battle to wage, and the garlands on his noble brow were noble won. The moral battles are just as real as the visible clash of arms between great armies; and they require the same qualities in order to gain the victory, and call forth the same virtues which are admired in them.
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:2-4; 5-7; 8-10
3. Three Great Temptations
In order to understand the three great temptations which are now described, it is necessary that we see clearly three things in respect to each of them.
First: The Allurement – What it was that made the act so intensely desirable to an innocent and holy person like Jesus. Second: The Wrong – The wrong in doing what was proposed. Third: The Means of Victory – The same for Jesus as for us.
First Temptation: "Had fasted forty days and forty nights" (v 2). This is stated to show the intensity of the temptation to turn stones into bread. There is no difficulty about the length of the fast. Fasts of 40 or 30 days are quite common among some. The longest fast we are aware of was 72 days.
v 2 ... "He was afterward an hungred." He had been sustained by His mental absorption, but now the tide of hunger rolled back upon Him like a flood. This was Satan's psychological moment.
v 3 ... "The tempter ... said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." The first allurement was intense hunger for something to eat. Hunger, even in its most terrible intensity, is perfectly innocent, and the desire to satisfy it in all honest ways is right and holy. It is a duty to eat, and fit one's self for life and God's service. The second allurement was the desire to be assured that He was the Son of God, by some tangible proof. If He could turn stones into bread He would know that He had divine power. All doubts would be at rest. The third allurement was that it would be an easy and quick way of bringing in the worldly kingdom, He could attract multitudes, He could feed armies, He could bring the kingdom the people were expecting.
The Wrong in Yielding: (a) Lay in satisfying His hunger in such a way as to destroy His power to help the tempted, for had He done so, He would not have been tempted like as we are. (b) It would have been contrary to the very spirit of His kingdom as appears in the story of His life, "not to be ministered unto, but to minister." (c) It would have brought in a worldly kingdom, instead of a spiritual, and made His mission of saving men a failure. The means of victory was through an appeal to the Word of God and the principles He laid down.
v 4 ... "Man shall not live by bread alone" Deuteronomy 8:3: All the Scriptures Jesus quoted on this occasion were from Deuteronomy. The reference in the quotation is to the Israelites' bitter complaints of the manna. God can give other kinds of food in His own time and way. There are other and better ways of satisfying hunger than by wrong doing. There is something higher, better, more needful than earthly food, even obedience, faith, love, character, righteousness. Jesus refuses to work a miracle which God has not willed, in order to effect what God has willed.
Modern Applications: Our bodies and souls are full of desires, appetites, hungers, which are innocent in themselves, but which we are tempted to gratify in wrong ways, Satan's ways, in contradistinction to God's ways. This is the essence of most sins of the flesh, which work disease and death, as intemperance, gluttony, and social vices.
Second Temptation: "Taketh him" (v 5), probably in spirit, or vision – a picture that would be familiar to Jesus.
v 5 ... "Setteth him on a (the) pinnacle," or rather 'wing' of the temple. One of the two wings, probably the southern, which was the higher. The roof was flat, and surrounded by a balustrade. From it one looked down 600 feet into the valley of Hinnom, or to a lesser depth into the crowded court of the Temple.
The Allurement: "If thou be the Son of God" (v 6), as you think you are, prove it, prove it to yourself and to the people. "You speak of trusting God; well, here is a brilliant act of trust for you." Take the course which will make the people receive you as the Messiah.
v 6 ... "Cast thyself down" into the court of the temple into the midst of the worshiping crowds and you will be welcomed as prophet and king. "Reveal thyself by royal act and gesture Descending with the bright triumphant host Of all the highermost Archangels, and about thee as a vesture The shining clouds, and all thy splendors show Unto the world below" (Longfellow). What a charming vision was present to His mind, of united people breaking from the Roman yoke. No long delays, no fierce conflict, no awful rejection by His beloved nation, no ages of slowly transforming the nations, but immediate triumph for the truth, God's kingdom bursting upon the earth in sudden and unspeakable glory. For It is written (Ps 91:11, Septuagint version). He quotes this passage, and misapplies it, to show that Jesus could do it safely. Many an evil comes from misapplying Scripture. The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
The Wrong: Satan had two strings to this bow. If Jesus had tried the experiment He would have been killed, and that would have ended His work. On the other hand, it was tempting God by a false and unwarranted use of the promises, making Himself an object of supernatural care, exempted from obedience to natural laws, and hence not subject to the same laws as men. Again, it was disobeying the Scriptures defining what the Messiah should do. It was defying God's way for the coming of His kingdom. It would have destroyed the whole value and power of His salvation, gaining Him subjects, not children; outward homage, and not new hearts. It would have rendered impossible the true and blessed kingdom of heaven, in a morally transformed world.
The Means of Victory: Jesus met the temptation by a right use of the weapon Satan had used against Him – the simple statement that the act was wrong; and no right cause can succeed through wrongdoing. He found His answer in the Scriptures.
v 7 ... "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Thou shalt not twist and misapply a promise, and then demand that it be fulfilled in your way or else you will proclaim that God is untrue. He was willing to face peril of death, when God willed that He should do so. He will leap from a pinnacle or face the Roman legions, or go to the cross, if God wills. But He refuses to do it, because anyone dares Him to.
Third Temptation: "The devil taketh him up" (v 8), probably in vision or imagination, as there is no mountain from which can be seen with the natural eye ...
v 8 ... "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." Not only the splendid courts and cities like Rome, but the kingdoms of literature, art, and culture in Greece; the barbaric pearls and gold of the Orient; and possibly a vision of the future, with its glorious civilizations, with its redeemed peoples, fulfilling all that the prophets foretold, or John in Patmos saw of the new heavens and the new earth. It surely was Satan's masterpiece.
v 9 ... "All these things will I give thee." In a measure Satan did have these things. Christ later called him the "prince of this world." On everything he had stamped his seal. The trial of the serpent was over them all. The kingdoms were ruled largely according to Satan's principles.
v 9 ... 'Will I give thee.' I will use all my influence and power to make you the greatest worldly king, like Alexander or Caesar.
The Allurement: The vision must have been very attractive to Jesus. The appeal was to His noblest feelings and highest motives. Satan offered Him at once, without waiting long centuries for wrongs to cease, the very things He had come on purpose to gain. There will be no slow and painful process, no conflict, no persecutions, no great self-denials, no martyrdoms, no soul lost; but the new era, the good time coming, will burst at once into noontide glory over all the earth. Jesus came to vanquish Satan, and lo! he would surrender himself; he would withdraw all opposition.
The Wrong: When Satan revealed the condition on which this glorious vision could be realized, then he himself stood forth in his true devilish nature, as if touched by Ithuriel's spear in Milton's picture of the temptation in the Garden of Eden – the spear that made whomsoever it touched throw off all disguises and stand forth in his true nature.
There is nothing weaker than the devil stripped naked: "If thou wilt fall down and worship me" (v 9). Not a bald act of bowing down before the Devil, which would repel even a common sinner; rather such an act of worship as men give when they worship the almighty dollar, by loving it better than God; as they worship success, by placing it before duty; as we make idols of pleasure, fortune, honor, rank. Christ was to give up His spiritual kingdom for a temporal; His spiritual power of love, for armies, and palaces, and outward honors; His converting the world, for a ruling of the world – a real act of worship of Satan, practically acknowledging him as supreme, and really leaving all souls unconverted, and, therefore, under the dominion of Satan. The real salvation of the world, the real kingdom of God, the will of God done on earth as in heaven, would have all been swept away, and with these would necessarily go all the best things of this world.
The Means of Victory: "Get thee hence, Satan," (v 10) for by this proposal Jesus recognized the tempter.
v 10 ... "For it is written (Deut. 6:13), Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God." The first and great commandment. There is none other worthy of worship. If God does not rule the world, there can be no lasting good, nothing truly happy, nothing successful, no kingdom gained – except by making God first and chief, a real worship of God as supreme. Though denied by many, still the only way the ideal world or the Golden Age can ever know universal peace, happiness, and brotherhood, is by seeking first the kingdom of heaven. This is as true of individuals as of nations. The prayer "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" must always precede "Give us this day our daily bread." The state of the world today is a proof that the best things of this world flourish best where there is the most Christianity. The lesson of this temptation is that we must refuse seeking gain or any desirable end for ourselves by wrongdoing, such as riches by dishonesty or lying; votes or honor by cowardly conformity, or concealing our principles; or attempting to advance of the church by trickling to bad, rich, or by any wrong method or means.
Scripture Reading: Mark 1:11
4. Victory
No greater victory has been recorded in the history of man. The song states, "This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song."
v 11 ... "Then the devil leaveth him," vanquished. Luke adds, "for a season." The great assault was over, but Satan did not give up his hopes, as was seen at Gahsemane, at the cross, and at the feeding of the 5,000 when the people would make Him king.
v 11 ... "And, behold, angels ... ministered unto him." Gave Him food, as in the case of Elijah (1 Kin. 19:5); and at the same time companionship, sympathy, and the assurance that God and heaven were on His side.
