Theme: ‘The
time of testing in the desert.....’
Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was led by
the Spirit into the desert, an area of many square miles of desert and
scrubland to the South of Jerusalem, led
into the unforgiving, hostile territory with its extremes of temperature –
freezing cold at night, and desperately hot during the day. It was there, the
gospel tells us that Jesus faced great pressure, in a time of great testing,
and sifting, by the Evil One.
Last week, the gospel showed
us Jesus ! on the mountain
top ! It is there that we see His true glory. Through the gospel we were
allowed to glimpse, along with the disciples, the glory and power of Jesus, as
the Son of God.
The radiant light there on the
mountain top, allows us to catch a glimpse, of the majesty, the glory, the
beauty of the living God in Jesus.
but now,
the gospel shows us the lowly One, the Man of Sorrows.
Jesus the
Servant of the Lord.
Here in the desert, Jesus
faces a deep conflict, a spiritual struggle. Short days before, among the
milling crowds, at His Baptism which marked the very beginning of His work, the
Spirit came down upon Jesus, and the Father’s voice spoke declaring in loving
affirmation, This is my Son whom I love, with Him I am well pleased . Now the
Evil One, far in that desert place, in great subtle power, tries, tests, Jesus,
saying to Jesus: If you are the Son of
God….. . We may not understand
clearly how this all happened but the gospels make clear, a spiritual struggle
of great importance took place in that desert place. And from the gospels we
learn that this deep conflict, spiritual struggle centred
round one single thing.......... Jesus calling to serve His
Father in absolute holy faithfulness...........as the lowly Servant of God.
All three tests that the Evil One puts to the Lord Jesus centre round
this......... and this alone,
The calling of Jesus to serve
His Father as the lowly Servant of God,
in
absolute holy faithfulness...........
“I have come,” says Jesus, “not
to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me”,
that
is what is being put to the test.
“He humbled Himself and became
of no reputation”
That is what is being put to
the test.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us that there were
three tests. In each test, the Evil One tries to undermine, to destroy, to
question, Jesus’ calling to serve His Father in absolute holy
faithfulness...........as the lowly Servant of God, and so to deflect or destroy
His life and work............ The
Evil One - says again and again ‘If, if,
if you are the Son of God’ and puts before Jesus other ways of working, of
living.
The first test:
Far out in the desert, we read
in Exodus 16, when the Israelites journeyed generations before, there was
bitter complaint from the people, to Moses. The whole community grumbled
against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to Moses and Aaron, "If only
we had died by the Lord's hand in
Utterly rejecting this, the
first test of the Evil One, Jesus is unshaken, undeflected
from His calling to serve His Father ...........as the lowly Servant of God in
absolute holy faithfulness. “I have come,” says Jesus, “not to do my own will
but the will of Him who sent me”,
The Second Test takes place on
a tower high up above the
In the third test Satan shows
Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Perhaps this is one of those moments that
arrive in the world, when the time is ripe for a new leader, for a new empire. There
is a place for the man of the hour to fill it. This is what Satan puts to
Jesus: why not use the moment, grasp it, grasp the
power to achieve great things ? Look how much could be done, by taking power,
building an empire, bringing the peoples of the earth into the kingdom. The
Word of Jesus here is: Worship the Lord
your God and serve only Him. In the
third test of the Evil One, Jesus utterly rejects what is put to Him, and is unshaken, undeflected from His calling to serve His Father ...........as the lowly Servant of God, in absolute
holy faithfulness. “I have come,” says Jesus, “not to do my own will but
the will of Him who sent me”,
What does this mean ? It means this, that Jesus rejects the way of the
world, of power, coercion, force. Instead, the Lord Jesus
has chosen the way of a servant……….. the lowly servant
spoken of generations before by the prophet Isaiah, who will wait upon God, to
know His will, whose kingdom will grow through the power of the Spirit. The way of Jesus, the Servant way, to gather the scattered sheep, to
reach out to the outcasts, to meet with sinners, to seek and to save the lost.
The way of the Cross.
Now perhaps we can see those
dreadful forty days in the desert, as not simply a time of testing........ but the wonderful victory of Jesus Christ over the Evil One
and the powers and forces of evil............ Look through the Old Testament,
and when the time of testing came – you will find that Moses disobeyed God, the
prophet Elijah’s great strength failed him in the desert, King David grasped at
the worldly power given to him and it ended in disaster, all these at the
critical moment, failed. When the time of testing came the people of
But now look at Jesus, as the gospel declares. In those terrible days of
severe testing, Jesus remains - unshaken, undeflected
from His calling to serve His Father ...........as
the lowly Servant of God, in absolute holy faithfulness. “I have
come,” says Jesus, “not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me” And
the victory is His.
Victory.
The Battle of Marston
Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, the Scottish Covenanting army under the
Earl of Leven and the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax
and the Earl of Manchester faced the combined might of the
Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquis of Newcastle. The
battle started at four in the afternoon, when the Royalist army launched a huge
attack on the right flank of the allied army of Scots and English, causing
great confusion. They also began an attack on the centre of the Scots and English
army......... and within the hour, as regiment after regiment failed, under the
pressure of battle, soldiers from the allied covenanting-parliamentarian army
were streaming away in disorder across the countryside. However, one Scottish
brigade was left, and for long hours it stood absolutely firm against three
charges made against them by the royalist forces. In the course of those hours,
the tide of battle turned - the regiments behind them now had time to regroup. Oliver
Cromwell and his men
mounted a new fresh attack on the royalists in the moonlight. The
battle was won.
In the time of testing, Moses,
Elijah, King David, even
failed,
collapsed under the pressure. But Jesus, as the gospel declares, in those terrible days of severe testing, Jesus
remains - unshaken, undeflected from His calling to serve His Father ...........as the lowly Servant of God, in absolute holy faithfulness. “I have
come,” says Jesus, “not to do my own will but the will of Him who sent me” And
the victory is His.
There is so much more that
could be said,
but
let me close with this............
Jesus, the One who trusted in
God, has
triumphed over the grave, has been raised to life,
and
so - His victory is complete ! The New Testament proclaims that God has exalted
Jesus, the man of sorrows, the lowly Servant, to the highest place in heaven.
The One who trusted in God, has triumphed over
the grave, has been raised to life,
and
so - His victory is complete!
What does this mean for us ?
Well, there are times in life when we
come under great stresses and pressures, which test us to the very limits, but the
letter to the Hebrews says a very beautiful, wonderful thing about what this
means for us ........
Because Jesus himself
suffered when he was tested, he is
able to help those who are
being tested. Therefore, fix your thoughts on Jesus. When the time of
testing comes, we have a Saviour who was tested
Himself, beyond any limits we can understand, He is willing, and able to help us, the Bible declares, when that
moment comes.