STUDY THEME: ONE SOLITARY LIFE: THE LIFE OF JESUS
UNIT 3: INTRODUCING JESUS: "VICTORIOUS LIVING." 
MATTHEW 3:13-17; 4:1-4, 5-7, 8-11.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MATTHEW 3. 

Today as we begin this new six-session unit I want to introduce you to my
friend Jesus. We will do this by examining key events in His preparation
for and during the early part of His ministry. These key events include
His baptism and temptation. His first miracle in Cana of Galilee, His
conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well, His healing of an
official's son, His reading of Scripture in the synagogue of Nazareth,
and His selection of His disciples.

This introduction to Jesus allows us to better know who He is and how we
relate to Him in discipleship. Now, meet my friend Jesus!

Today's lesson on Jesus Baptism and temptation includes two of His most
critical human experiences. On the one hand, by baptism Jesus openly
identified himself with the prophetic ministry and vigorous moral and
spiritual movement of John the Baptist. On the other hand, He fought and
won a moral victory over temptation within His own life, so that He could
later disclose that Satan had "no part" in Him. Both were tremendously
significant events, for by them Jesus was prepared outwardly and inwardly
for his Messianic Mission. 

There's an old story about a general whose name was Alexander the Great.
A soldier during a battle was caught up in terror and made an unsoldierly
retreat. When his running was finally halted the general confronted him
and asked his name. "My name is Alexander, sir." The officer's reply was
quick: "Change your ways or change your name." 

How does one live up to his name? Call him Jesus "For He will save His
people from their sins." Name Him Immanuel, "God with us." If the eternal
God, the supreme personal Spirit, should decide to become man, how would
He behave incarnately? What does the Scripture mean: "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the
Word became flesh." Did it really happen? 

If God became a man He would thereby limit Himself. To suppose that God
was only posing as man or putting on a show of false humility is totally
unacceptable. But if He really became man He would be subject to human
frailties and temptations. This would relate Him as a man to other men.
What sort of man would the God who created man become? To what would He
commit Himself?   

And so the baby was born, was reared in a godly home, developed through
adolescence, and achieved young adulthood. He was about 30 years old when
He began to teach. He was mature physically, mentally, and spiritually.
We can look back and see His commitment and suppose that it was
inevitable, but were there problems He faced, questions He asked, doubts
He expressed? Insofar as His name was concerned, there must have been
hundreds who bore the name Joshua, for this is the Hebrew equivalent of
the Greek Jesus. We may be certain that His family and friends spoke
Hebrew (or Aramaic). How was He to "save his people from their sins?"

1.PLEASE READ MATT. 3: 13-17.

Matt. 3 begins, "In those days." It was approximately A.D. 26/27 when
Jesus realized the time for His public ministry had arrived. At the set
time the King came from privacy into publicity. From the quiet seclusion
of the years spent in Nazareth, He came to inaugurate his work and assume
His office. Therefore, He traveled from Galilee to a spot near Bethany on
the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. Six months of John
the Baptist's ministry passed, and now for the first time in 18 years
Jesus appeared in the Gospel story. 

How did Jesus know His time for baptism had arrived? Never before in all
history, prior to John's baptizing, had any Jew submitted to being
baptized. The Jews knew and used baptism, but only for proselytes who
come into Judaism from some other faith. Now for the first time in their
national history the Jews realized their own sin. Never before had there
been such a unique national movement of pentenance and of searching for
God. This was the very moment for which Jesus had been waiting. 

Recognizing his own sin or feeling unworthy, in Vs. 14 John tried to
deter Jesus. John said, "I need to be baptized by you." John did need the
baptism that he had preached back in Vs.11that the Messiah would give.
John was so amazed that Jesus asked for baptism from him that he asked in
Vs. 13, "Do you come to me?" No wonder John shrank from immersing his
sinless Companion! Why should the Perfect One be baptized at all? And if
there were reasons, surely angel hands were none too pure to perform the
holy act.  The Greek of John's words can be translated: "I have a need to
be baptized by You, and You come to me?"

Mark and Luke do not mention the conversation in which John resisted the
idea of baptizing Jesus. Undoubtedly Matthew saw its inclusion as helpful
in answering the question concerning why it was necessary for a sinless
Savior to submit to an act that was interpreted by John as an
acknowledgment of repentance for sin. Jesus interpreted His baptism in
light of the will of God for Him.  

John had been preaching repentance, and his baptism was the baptism of
repentance. We ask with wonder and amazement, Why should Jesus be
baptized with the baptism of repentance? Again, John did not question
Jesus concerning His repentance, as he had others he baptized. The life
of Jesus was absolutely sinless. If He were not sinless, then we have no
Gospel. All the value of His dying depends upon the virtue of His living.
Why, then, did the Sinless submit to a baptism of repentance?

There are several reasons we can suggest as to why Jesus was baptized.
First, it was the right thing to do according to God's will. Second, it
was a way of giving divine approval to John the Baptist's ministry.
Third, it was a way for Jesus to identify with the sinners He came to
save. Fourth, and most important, the manner of Jesus' baptism signified
His commitment to a mission of salvation that involved His death, burial,
and resurrection.

John's baptism was by immersion. We read of Jesus coming out of the
water. Although John's baptism focused on the forgiveness of sins,
Christian baptism signified the way in which God in Christ made salvation
possible. Death, burial, and resurrection are pictured in Christian
baptism. By being baptized, Jesus committed Him self to a ministry that
would be climaxed by His death, burial, and resurrection. The people did
not realize this at the time, but after His resurrection, Jesus taught
this to His disciples.  

Baptism is a means of affirming ones identification with God and His plan
and purpose for their lives. Here we see the King identifying Himself
with the people over whom He is to reign. 

God's affirmation or stamp of approval came in both visible and verbal
form. As Jesus came out of the water, heaven was opened, and the Spirit
of God descended like a dove on Him. The verbal blessing came through a
voice from heaven. Thus Jesus was anointed as prophet, priest, and king.
He was sealed by the same Spirit as the Holy One of God, who alone could
meet the need of a dying world. Audibly the Father declared His delight
in His Son. In John 8:29 Jesus said, "I do always those things that
please Him." Thus the Father ever found His joy in contemplating the
perfection of His son. This was the true anointing of the King.

In Ps. 2:7-8 we read "Thou art my Son: this day have I begotten thee. Ask
of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." 

Jesus, God's Son, being baptized....the Spirit of God descending like a
dove...and the voice from heaven shows the presence of all three persons
of the Trinity. The voice from heaven affirmed, "This is my Son, whom I
love; with him I am well pleased." In Luke's account in Luke 3:22 the
address of the words from Heaven are more personal: "Thou art my beloved
Son; in whom I am well pleased."  

The voice appears to cite a combination of two passages from the O.T.:
Ps. 2:7 ("you are my Son.") and Isaiah 42:1 ("in whom my soul delights").
The Psalm describes the Lord's anointed king while the prophet describes
the Lord's Servant. The one is in praise of the monarchy which God
ordained for Israel; the other portrays God's Servant as gentle,
persistent, and just. The mission of Jesus was to be a fulfillment of
both ideals. An ideal king would be God's Servant ministering to God's
people. As "Son" of God He is praised. As "servant" of God He ministers. 


Thus in baptism He assumed responsibility for sinning men; by the
anointing of the Spirit He was crowned and empowered; and by the Divine
Voice He was attested God's King, set upon the holy hill of Zion. The
psalmist in Ps. 2: 12 said "Blessed are all they that put their trust in
Him." The Father's pleasure in Jesus arose from Jesus' beloved status
along with the beginning of His formal ministry. Jesus, in John 6:27
speaking of Himself said, "God the Father has set His seal on Him." Thus
He was anointed as Prophet, Priest, and King, and sealed by the same
Spirit as the Holy One of God, who alone could meet the need of a dying
world.

Matthew's Gospel directs our attention to His anointing as King. Mark
emphasizes His prophetic office, and John presents Him as our Great High
Priest. Speaking of His Father in John 8:29 Jesus said, "I do always
those things that please Him." 

Peter, while speaking in the house of Cornelius, the Gentile Centurion,
in Acts 10:38 said "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit
and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the Devil, for God was with Him." 

Jesus baptism pointed to His mission-to give His life as a ransom for
sinners and to be raised from the dead. Baptism is a means of affirming
one's identification with God and His plan and purpose. When people
identify with Jesus in Christian baptism, they are expressing a
commitment to obey God's plan and purpose for their lives. And, as we
shall see, Christians will be tempted, as Jesus was, in various and
subtle ways to reject God's way. And again as Jesus, Christians should
resist temptations. 

2. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 4: 1-4.

The temptation of Jesus took place, if we may trust tradition, on Mt.
Quarantania, west of the Jordan, across from Jericho, a very forbidding
and desolate wilderness. The Wilderness of Judea extended from South of
Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. It is the bleak, barren region where the
eastern Judean Mountains slope down 4000 ft. to the lowest region on the
earth's surface, the Dead Sea (1,275 ft. below sea level). The wilderness
setting provided a real test for the character and inner strength of a
man.

Jesus had just been baptized and immediately thereafter, the Spirit led
Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Mark 1:13 says that during
Jesus' stay in the wilderness His only companions were the 'wild beasts."
It was there, alone, that Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights and
wrestled with temptation. You do not need to go to Israel to have a
wilderness experience. The wilderness is any lonely place where we do not
have the support of friends or positive influences. In the wilderness we
can easily lose our directions and lose sight of what is really important
to us. It was there that Jesus faced the question that every man at some
time is faced with, "Who am I." Jesus had to come to grips with this
question: what sort of Son would He be? This event was chronologically
and thematically connected to the spiritual high of Jesus Baptism. 

J. Wilbur Chapman says "Temptation is the tempter looking through the
keyhole into the room where you are living: Sin is your drawing back the
bolt and making it possible for him to e enter." Temptation is not sin.
It would lead to sin. John Bunyan wrote, "Temptation provokes me to look
upward to God."

Biblical history is frequently interrupted for periods of 40 days or 40
years while the angels wait to see whether God's redemptive work has
succeeded. For 40 days they watched the rains fall while Noah's ark
carried its cargo of life through the floodwaters. For 40 days the
Children of Israel waited at Mount Sinai. Then for 40 years they wandered
it the wilderness. For 40 days Elijah fasted at Horeb. 

Now again, the angels were holding their breaths while Jesus wandered,
tired and hungry, in the wilderness, going one-on-one with Satan. Would
Jesus be able to resist the tempter's deceptions, or would the Father's
hope and pride turn to disappointment. While the Gospels are silent upon
the matter, it cannot be doubted that the Spirit, which urged the Lord to
the conflict with Satan, strengthened Him for it and carried Him through.


The purpose of the Spirit leading Jesus into the wilderness was not to
entice Him to do evil. Rather, the purpose was to develop the depths of
Jesus' commitment and the clarity of His understanding by confronting Him
with alternatives to God's will. In this loneliness He was confronted by
the temptation to turn from His chosen course and go an easier way. 

The word "temptation" may mean to put to the test, to make trial of; from
this, it moves on to mean "to allure, to entice a person to evil, to
invite to evil." The Oxford English dictionary has one definition that
fits today's lesson almost perfectly: "To incite to evil with the promise
of some pleasure or favor."

Jesus identified with us not only in His baptism, but also by being
tempted. Though the Spirit led Jesus to the place of temptation, the
devil performed the temptations. What Satan places before us as a
temptation, God can use as a test that will build our faithfulness.    
I believe the possibility of sinning was open to Jesus. He was wholly
human and wholly God. He could have sinned but He chose not to. 

Vs, 2 confirms the result of Jesus fast...He was hungry. We are reminded
again that Jesus was both God and Man.. As a man Jesus experienced the
same physical needs we experience. Just then the tempter approached with
the first temptation. God willed that Jesus be a suffering-servant
Messiah, a road that would lead to a cross. Satan offered Him a shortcut.
Which way would Jesus choose? 

In comparing Jesus' temptation to that of Adam and Eve it is of interest
to note the areas in which the devil tempted them. "Gen. 3:6 says "And
then the woman saw that the tree was good for food (physical appetite),
and that it was pleasant to the eyes (aesthetic nature), and a tree to be
desired to make one wise (ambition), she took of the fruit therefore, and
did eat, and gave unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

Vance Havener described the three temptations of Jesus as the temptation
of the bread business, the show business, and the politics business.  The
temptation offered in Vs. 3-4 suggested that Jesus use His power for His
own benefit, something He never did. He would multiply loaves for others
but not for Himself. 

This temptation may also have had another dimension. Jesus was probably
considering the nature of His ministry. If He could turn stones to bread,
He could meet the needs of the thousands of hungry people. He could
attract an instant following. Wouldn't it be a good thing to make bread
for all who were hungry? 

The temptation was to turn aside from His divine calling to do something
that was in itself good and beneficial. But that was not His calling, and
Jesus would often have to turn away from doing good to do the best. He
would not feed the multitudes or heal all the sick; his calling was to be
the Messiah. 

Another implication from Satan's statement is, since Jesus was the Son of
God, what would happen to His redemptive mission if He starved to death
at the outset. So Satan was suggesting that instead of being a
suffering-servant Messiah, that Jesus be a "Bread Messiah." After all the
Roman Emperors controlled the people of Rome by giving them free bread.  

In resisting the devil's temptation Jesus quoted Deut. 8:3. Jesus did not
deny we need bread. But He affirmed that we need more than physical
bread. This is the theme of John 6. Physical bread can sustain physical
life, but spiritual, or salvation life, feeds on God's Word. With this
truth from God's Word, Jesus turned aside the initial temptation. 

The second temptation was in the realm of Jesus' aesthetic nature. He was
challenged to do the unusual. Let us call this "the temptation of the
spectacular."

3. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 4: 5-7.

For the second temptation, the Devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, to the
pinnacle of the Temple. Jesus is again being tempted to test His identity
as God's son, but this time in public. This temptation, like the first
one, called for action based on Jesus' certainty that He was indeed God's
Son. A difference was that Jesus this time was challenged to presume that
God would break the laws of nature to protect His Son from harm. Did
Jesus need to know at this time how far God would go to keep His only Son
from injury or death? 

As with the first temptation this one is stated in a conditional sentence
that implies that the reality of the condition is assumed: if you really
are the Son of God show the world who You are. Do something dramatic and
irrefutable. Claim the promise of Scripture and call down angels to keep
You from falling. 

Jesus answered the first temptation with a word of Scripture. Now the
Devil was quoting Scripture back to Jesus. He quoted a portion of Ps.
91:11-12. Always check to see if a person is using or abusing the Bible.
You can be certain the Devil never tells the truth. Yet, as seen here, he
quotes from Scripture.

Jesus ministry fulfilled other passages of Scripture: why would He not
fulfill this one also? Whereas Jesus quoted law: Satan quoted poetry, as
if it were law. His quote was out of context. I once heard someone say
that a text without a context is a pretext. That was certainly true when
Satan ignored the context of Ps. 91 and completely missed the true
meaning. He took a beautiful poetic promise of God for His people and
used it to induce Jesus to perform a rash act. Furthermore, Satan quoted
only that portion of Ps. 91:11-12 that suited his evil purpose. Satan
sought to force Jesus to crowd God into a corner and to act contrary to
His will.   

What would be wrong with Jesus putting on a show, entertaining the
people, if it would draw them to Him? Matthew did not tell us why Jesus
refused to jump from the highest point of the temple, but we can
recognize several good reasons. First, He would not put God to a test.
Second, He would not use the power of the Spirit to impress others and
thereby win a popular following. Ministering to human needs, teaching a
new standard of righteousness, and eventually giving His life in
obedience-these would be the marks of Jesus' ministry.

Jesus responded to the second temptation with another verse from Deut.
Deut. 6:16 "Do not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted Him at
Mas'sah." In Ex. 17: 6 God commanded Moses to strike the rock with his
rod. Water came forth from the rock. Thereafter, they called the place
MASSAH or MERIBAH because the people put God to the test there.

The third temptation is related to ambition. Jesus had come to win the
world to Himself. The Father's will was that He do so through His
crucifixion and resurrection. Again Satan offered Jesus a shortcut. Let's
call this the "TEMPTATION OF POWER." 

4. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 4: 8-11. 

This last temptation is climatic. It leaves a strong impression. It is
characterized by both a panoramic view and a wide application. 

The Devil took Jesus to a high mountain for the third temptation and
showed Him the kingdoms of the world. The Devil promised Jesus that if He
would fall down and worship him, he would give Jesus all that He could
see. By worshipping Satan, Jesus could gain the kingdoms of the world,
and avoid taking the way that led to the cross. That certainly sounded
easier than dying on a cross.  This temptation claims that the end
justifies the means. It says, "It doesn't really matter how we achieve
our ends because we are doing God's work. It is a holy cause, and
anything we do is all right." 

God expects us to have room only for Himself in our lives, and Jesus
reflected that in His answer.   
 
Jesus responded to the third temptation with yet another reference to
Deut: Deut. 6: 13, "Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your
oaths in His name." The meaning here is that Jesus knew He could not
serve God and bow down to Satan. He was declaring His resolve to serve
God and honor Him with all His life. This was the most important decision
Jesus ever made. It set the course of His life. It is also the most
important decision any of us will ever make. 

In the temptation experience, Jesus faced His own identity and examined
the different directions His life would take. Who was He and what should
He do? Those are issues we all wrestle with. Jesus responded to
temptation with words of Scripture. Obviously Jesus had spent hours
meditating over the Scriptures. He had committed these words to memory.

Thus with all the odds in his favor, Satan assaulted the Son of Man with
the greatest possible force and ingenuity. But on every ground he was
baffled and beaten, and in every temptation Jesus was true to His
mission. He now exercised His authority over Satan by telling him to
leave. James 4:7 says "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 

Matt 4:11 says that as soon as the temptations had ended God's angels
came and ministered to Jesus. Jesus had rejected the worldly way offered
by the devil. He chose to walk the heavenly way that led to the cross,
through the empty tomb, to the glorified throne at the Father's right
hand. As the crucified and risen Lord He said in Matt 28:28, "All power
(authority) is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

The theme of Revelation is the victorious Christ. The climax of the book
is found in Rev. 11:15. Literally it says, "The sovereignty of the cosmos
became that of our Lord (God) and of His Christ, and He shall reign as
sovereign unto the ages of the ages." Unto the ages of the ages is the
strongest phrase of eternity. 
 
NEXT SUNDAY FROM JOHN 2 WE READ OF THE FIRST OF THE 7 SIGNS OR MIRACLES
THAT ARE RECORDED IN THE BOOK OF JOHN. 
A.V. DAUGHERTY                   1-21-2001