Category: devotional

The Last Will Be First

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Matthew 20:16

So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Much of the conflict between Jesus and the religious leadership in the last week or so of his earthly ministry centered around his words regarding the people of Israel. When Jesus entered into Jerusalem, he should have found a people who were repentant, who had changed their ways, who had prepared for the arrival of the messiah. Instead, he found price-gouging in the temple and religious leadership that told people to be quiet when they spoke Jesus’ praise. And when Jesus began to speak of the notion that the kingdom of God would soon be for all people of any nationality who will come to him, this was more than his religious opponents could bear.

In Matthew 20, Jesus tells a very familiar story. It all involves a landowner who hires workers for his field, some at the beginning of the day, some at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 11th hours. When the workers came to receive their pay, it turns out that all who came received the same day’s wages. Some complained, but all were truly blessed. The owner declared it to be his right to do with his money has he pleased.

In context, this is a parable about the kingdom of God. The people of Israel believed themselves to be of a higher rank than the unclean, gentile nations. But God was about to turn the world upside-down. Because the Israelites were refusing to receive their Messiah, God, in accord with the mystery of his eternal plan, was about to build his kingdom in Christ to include all nations. And no matter how unhappy this made the Israelites, God has every right to bless all the nations with his grace as much as he wants.

Assuming you, dear reader, are a gentile by birth, this should give you great hope. The last will be first, and the first last. Jesus wants you to know that your place in God’s kingdom has nothing to do with your nationality. Your place in God’s kingdom has nothing to do with your skin color. Your place in God’s kingdom has nothing to do with the century in which you were born. Your place in God’s kingdom has to do with one thing only: your position as either in Christ or not. If you are in Christ, you are in god’s kingdom and will receive all the rewards of a kingdom citizen. If you do not know Christ, regardless of any rank you think you have, you will have none of God’s eternal rewards.

Some live in places where they can really get what feels like a lot done for the kingdom. Some live in places where doing anything that honors God is a major risk. Some live in places where worship is easy. Some live in places where worship is ridiculed. Some live during a time of great spiritual peace. Some live in times of great spiritual upheaval. Some live in their land’s cultural majority. Some live as cultural minorities. Praise God that, in Christ, last and first and first and last are all the same. God’s grace is for all who will run to Jesus for life and mercy.

The Love of a Warning

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Matthew 16:11-12

11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees taught falsehoods, but in very different ways. The Pharisees were both moralistic and legalistic. Legalistically, they held to a sort of faith that appeared to embrace righteousness before God through personal obedience. Moralistically, they also were given to adding commands to the actual word of God, making laws and standards that God did not make. In contrast, the Sadducees were the theological liberals of the day, men who denied the supernatural, did not believe in the afterlife, and used religion as a platform for social power.

When the Savior gives us a warning, we want to pay attention. In Matthew 16, Jesus encountered the Pharisees, and he refused to bow to their demands to give them a sign to prove his identity to them. Then he turned and told his disciples to watch out for the leaven of these men. The disciples, for a moment, got hung up on an issue of bread, but Jesus made it plain that he was talking about the teaching of these religious leaders. And both groups of false teachers, because of their positions, turned away from Jesus.

The immediate context here would tell us to be guarded against people who would take our hearts and minds away from Jesus. Whether it is through moralism, straight legalism, or liberalism, we must not allow anybody to come between us and the Savior. Jesus has revealed himself perfectly in the word of Almighty God. We dare not reject him because his ways are not ours. We dare not demand of him signs fitting our desires to prove himself. Jesus is God the Son, God in flesh, greater than all.

Hold on to what Jesus is doing here and see his kindness to his disciples. Even as this is serious, it is so very loving. Jesus warns his disciples to watch out for false teaching. Jesus knows that, during his earthly ministry as well as in the years to come, there will be people who will seek to turn mankind away from a loving trust in Jesus and his word. There will be people who try to make knowing God about our fulfilling religious requirements or keeping religious laws—legalism. There will be those who try to tell us that they can help us know God better if we will just accept rules that are stricter than or different than those God actually requires—moralism. And there will be those who tell us that the supernatural elements of the faith are simply figures of speech, illustrations, pointers to the deep truth of God wanting us to improve ourselves—theological liberalism.

Friends, when somebody teaches the truth about Jesus, embrace that truth. When somebody tries to teach you something beyond Scripture, something that points you away from Jesus, watch out. And when you hear this warning, let it remind you of Jesus, the kind Savior, lovingly warning his disciples against being influenced by the most well-respected and the most politically powerful men of his day. Thank God for a Savior who loves us enough to warn us against danger.

Worth Everything

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Matthew 13:44-46

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

When Jesus describes for us the kingdom of God, he pairs a couple of beautiful pictures. The kingdom is like a treasure or a pearl of great worth. When a person finds it, he will eagerly let go of everything he owns if only he can have that treasure.

We need to answer for ourselves an important question. Is Jesus correct? Does he know what he is talking about? Is he telling us the truth? If not, then none of this matters. If so, then this information is the most important information ever.

If the kingdom of heaven is as valuable as Jesus has told us, then nothing we think, nothing we own, nothing we do, nothing we want is as important. If this treasure is as great as Jesus has made out, then nothing we go through, nothing we give up, nothing we lack matters in comparison. We want this treasure.

What changes if we believe the Savior? Perhaps we are a little less drawn to the treasures of this life. For what do people around us give themselves? Many work hard for vacations, financial security, pride, comfort, self-actualization. But if the kingdom of heaven is our treasure, while we do not stop living in this world, we will not live for this world. We will give ourselves to know the Lord, to love his people, to honor him in our families, to magnify him in all things. Even more, we will set our hearts on the kingdom to come. We will strive to spread the gospel. We will long for something far better than that dream vacation or that perfect house. We will long for the return of the Savior, for a world set right under his rule, for the final defeat of sin, and for the paradise that is eternity in the presence of the Almighty.

What do you treasure? Stop and think. What do you complain about not having? What do you worry yourself about getting? Where do you sacrifice time and energy to excel? Examine yourself and ask if your focus looks like that of a person who has sold off everything to buy the field in which is the treasure.

Honestly, as I write this, I’m not wanting to stir up a bunch of guilt in you or in me. Instead, I am wanting to remind us of the greater thing. Jesus is worth it. Jesus is the treasure. Knowing Jesus and glorifying Jesus for eternity is worth our lives in the here and now. The person who sells off his property to buy a field with a treasure is not regretting the loss of a single item. Instead, he is looking forward to the treasure to come. May we long for Jesus and for his kingdom to come like that. It is good. It is worth it.

Something Greater

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Matthew 12:6-8

6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

As a parent, I often have known ahead of time when my kids were about to make a bad decision. I’m not here thinking about a harmful bad decision, but simply a wrong choice. As an example, I have been with my kids at a restaurant specializing in wonderful burgers fresh off the grill only to watch a little one ask for chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese. Don’t get me wrong, chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese are yummy things. Just, in comparison to a place that specializes in better food, these things feel like a wrong choice.

If you know what I’m talking about here, you also know the parental frustration that comes with watching your kids choose something lesser when something better is available. They Pick frozen chicken nuggets when steak is at hand. They choose the weird emo of anime when a solid show is available in its place. When they get older, they choose to eat next to nothing for dinner and then forage for a snack at bedtime. They choose to listen to any modern music over things produced decades earlier—music that is obviously superior since, decades earlier, at least musicians played actual instruments.

In Matthew 12, we see that there is a lesser and greater differentiation happening as Jesus speaks with the Jewish religious leaders. These men are in conflict with our Savior, trying to find ways to accuse him related to allowing his disciples simply to pluck and eat handfuls of grain on the Sabbath. Interestingly, instead of pointing out to them the rules in Scripture related to gleaning, Jesus reminds the religious of the fact that priests in the temple have to work on the Sabbath, and it is completely allowable. He reminds them that David, when his men were hungry, in a time of great need, ate ceremonial bread that was off-limits for them, and God did not condemn them.

Then in verse 6, Jesus says a thing that, had they understood it, would have rocked the world of the religious teachers. Jesus tells them that something greater than the temple had arrived. Stop and consider the incredulity that the religious men must have faced. What could be greater than the temple? The temple was the center of Jewish life. The temple was the place where God lived among his people. The temple was the place where atonement was made for the sins of the nation. What could possibly be greater than the temple.

Then, in the following verses, Jesus reminded the religious that God is big into mercy, including in his Sabbath commands. Perhaps a solid and faithful religious teacher would have remembered that, when God gave the Sabbath command in Exodus, he explained it as a memorial of his acts in creation. However, in Deuteronomy, the Sabbath command includes an explanation of its purpose as an act of kindness for the servants in your household. Either way, Jesus would have knocked their socks off again by telling them that he is in fact Lord over the Sabbath. Jesus is the God who made the Sabbath, not someone subject to it or in need of it.

Tie those two statements together. Something greater than the temple is here. The Lord of the Sabbath is here. These are the Savior talking about himself. What does he mean? Both the temple and the Sabbath are parts of the Jewish religious experience which are signs that point to Jesus. The temple is a shadow of the work that Jesus would come to accomplish. The Sabbath is a shadow of the true rest that Christ will give all who are his.

In the temple, a priest enters a little mini picture of the throne room of God with blood to offer to God as an offering to ask him to forgive the people and not to destroy the nation. That is a little picture, a foreshadowing, of the real plan of God. Jesus, God the Son, would soon enter the true heavenly throne room with his own blood to make real, total, final atonement for the sins of all he forgives. Jesus did not need an earthly model of the mercy seat. Jesus would atone for us on the true, heavenly, mercy seat of God. Jesus did not enter with the blood of an animal, but with the infinitely worthy blood of the Son of God. Jesus is greater than the temple. Jesus is the purpose toward which the temple pointed.

Similarly, Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath. On the one hand, this reminds us that the Sabbath also points toward something greater. If mankind was left to ourselves, we would somehow have to live out true and total perfection to earn our way to God. This, of course, is an impossibility since our representative head already failed on our behalf and we too all have failed in Adam and in our own lives. We cannot work perfection, no matter how hard we try. Sabbath reminds us of a rest to come, a resting from that fruitless effort, as God grants us salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ. Sabbath also foreshadows heaven, the true and final rest we have in the presence of God forever if we have his forgiveness. And, just as amazing, Jesus claims to be Lord of the Sabbath. Only God is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus claims to be greater than the Sabbath by letting us know he is the God who gave the command—which is far greater than the command itself.

Something greater is here. Something greater than the temple and greater than the Sabbath is here. Do not miss it. Do not make a wrong choice. This is way worse than picking frozen chicken nuggets at a steakhouse. To turn away from Jesus to try to embrace anything less is an eternal, soul-destroying error. But to hear Jesus, to understand that he is the substance toward which the shadows point, to realize that he, in his mercy, invites you to be under his atonement and to receive his eternal rest, this is glorious. He is the greatest greater there is. To turn from him is infinite folly. To receive him is infinite joy.

Do you Believe the Claim of Jesus?

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Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Do you believe Jesus? I am not asking if you believe in Jesus, I am particularly asking if you believe Jesus. Do you see his words as true? Is he honest? Does he know what he is talking about? And all who are Christians would say that, of course we believe Jesus and his words.

Look then at the beauty of the close of Matthew 11. Jesus tells us about himself. Jesus tells us about following him. Jesus tells us about what he is like and what he has for those who come to him. And the invitation and description are glorious.

Jesus puts out a call to those who are weary, burdened, heavy-laden. Jesus speaks to those who are worn down by life. Jesus cries out to the one who is in desperate need of help, of relief, of rest. Like lady wisdom in the proverbs calling on all the simple to come to her for safety, Jesus calls on the tired to come to him.

And Jesus says that he will give rest to the weary. Grab on to that for a moment. I know that Paul tells us that he buffets his body to make it his slave, not being lazy but actively honing his spiritual skills. I know that Jesus sends his disciples out as sheep among wolves into a world that would eat us for lunch should it get the chance. I know that the author of Hebrews talks about us resisting sin to the point of shedding our blood. So I am not grabbing onto some sort of odd Keswick theology calling us to “let go and let God.” But just stop and hear Jesus. Jesus says that he will give the weary rest. And I believe him.

Part of resting in Christ is knowing that you no longer have the burden of being perfect to be welcomed into God’s kingdom. You cannot fulfill the covenant with Adam. You cannot obey perfectly and earn life. No descendant of Adam, under Adam’s curse, can do so. That burden and that task, they are not yours. You can let go of that and rest.

But in this section of Scripture, Jesus has also been talking about the pains and pressures of living in this lost world. John the Baptist was in prison. John’s disciples had come to Jesus to ask him if he really is the promised one. Nearby cities are condemned by Jesus for their lack of faith in the face of miraculous evidence. Hard people are attacking God’s kingdom. In the light of that hard world, Jesus says that he gives rest to those who come to him.

Jesus describes himself as gentle and lowly in heart. There is a kindness to Jesus. There is a sweetness to Jesus. There is a mercy in Jesus. There is a welcoming, loving ease to Jesus. Think about it. There are some people in our world who are just hard to be around. To spend time with them is work. You feel that you are always on the edge of being criticized, being mocked, being put upon. There are others who are easy to be with. You can relax. You can rest knowing that they know who you are, they know your weaknesses, they know your own hurts and fears, and they are not going to pile on. Jesus claims to be that latter kind of person. Jesus is welcoming, gentle, humble in his own heart toward weak ones who will come to him to find rest.

Jesus is gentle, but no wimp. Jesus is gracious, but not at all compromised. Jesus looks to the one who will come to him for rest, and he grants true rest, true friendship, true love, true adoption into his family. He will let us under his yoke, a gentle one, a light one, and he will walk with us toward the righteousness that he credits to our account. He will sanctify us. He will help us change. He will not let us stand still in our sin. But he will give us rest even as he moves us away from evil and toward the righteousness without which no one will see God. Jesus will make it easy to call him Lord even as he walks with us through a persecuting world. And we will have true rest, as Jesus will never fail. He will be victorious. He will rescue his own. He will rule as King forever. And he welcomes all who come to him to rest under his glorious rule and his gentle heart.

Thoughts from a Familiar Healing

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Matthew 9:20-22

20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

It’s been too long. Nothing can be done. You just have to live with it. How many of those are the thoughts that the woman of the verse above thought and heard day after day?

Matthew 8 and 9 are chapters that include the Savior just being Jesus, just healing, just showing kindness. Even the particular event above is tucked into the middle of Jesus going to do the impossible. While the Savior is walking to a man’s home to raise his daughter from the dead, his path is interrupted by a woman who did not want any attention. All she wanted was relief. She believed that Jesus had the power to heal her. So she reached out, touched his garment, and found wholeness.

The woman who was healed had been suffering for twelve years. Stop and hear that again, twelve years! For more than a decade she bled. I get upset if a cold lasts for more than a few days. The suffering of this lady had to feel like a lifetime’s worth and then some.

And Jesus had the power to heal her. When she touched his garment, she was immediately and completely made well. No brokenness of this world is too much for Jesus. No disease is so big he cannot heal it. No problem is so huge he cannot solve it. No struggle is so great he cannot overcome it. He is the God who made the world. Nothing in the world can overcome him.

And take note of the fact that, in some people’s minds, the action of the woman could have made Jesus ceremonially unclean. In the Jewish religious system, one was not to touch a woman who was bleeding. One might assume that many of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day would have shunned the woman out of fear that her sickness would corrupt them and prevent them from being able to enter the sacred spaces in the temple. Not Jesus. This is the same Jesus who reached out and touched a leper to heal him. Jesus could never be made unclean. He is holy. And Jesus was not afraid to be touched by a person in pain.

One of my joys in doing this read through the gospels is seeing Jesus. Jesus is wonderful. Sinners wanted to be around him. This was not because Jesus compromised with them. But Something about the Savior made even the lost want to be his friend, to know him, to hear his words. Jesus helped. Jesus healed. Jesus loved the unlovely. Jesus also showed kindness to those society thought was strong—the man he was walking with was a somebody, not a nobody, in society. . Christian, for all of our doctrine, truth that we love and most certainly should teach and protect, let us not stop marveling at the Savior himself.

Trusting Wile in the Storm

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Matthew 8:23-27

23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” 26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Traveling across a sea that is a few miles wide should, hopefully, be an uneventful experience. But when the Lord wants to teach us something, there is likely to be something unique occur. That certainly was the case here.

The storm came. Jesus was sleeping. That the Savior slept shows us the authenticity of his humanity. God the Son truly took on humanity in order to come and be our Savior. This was no play-acting.

When the disciples woke Jesus, the first thing the Savior did was rebuke them. Why? What about waking Jesus demonstrates a lack of faith on their part? The disciples should have understood that Jesus had a mission that he would accomplish. Nothing in the universe could have prevented Jesus from living the perfect life he came to live, dying on the cross, and rising from the dead. Nothing could keep Jesus from Saving the people he came to save. Nothing at all.

Then Jesus spoke to the storm, calmed the sea, and proved his true deity. No man has the power over wind and wave. But we think back to creation. There, God spoke, and things came to be. God spoke, and the world that was covered in water saw the waters pull back and dry land appear. Here, Jesus speaks, and a storm stops, and waves die down. This is the true God and true man who has what it takes to be the promised one and the Savior.

Response: Lord Jesus, I worship you, God the Son. You control the wind and the waves with your voice, by your power, for your glory. I thank you for taking on flesh to be the Savior. I also ask that you will help me to have the faith that the disciples lacked on the boat. Help me, I pray, to remember that you will accomplish your mission in all things. I cannot stop you. I cannot hinder you. I must trust you and know that you will keep me, as your own, and do with me your will.

A Response to Anxiety

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Matthew 6:31-33

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We live in an anxious age. How many people do you know who are on antianxiety medication? How many are speaking with a therapist regarding anxiety? We have so many things that would bring us fear and worry.

Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in global causes of fear. The economy in the US is plummeting. Many were terrified in 2020 and 2021 for medical reasons. All we hear or read in the news related to the border crisis, the fall of Afghanistan, or the Russian invasion of Ukraine all cause a good deal of discomfort.

How great is it, then, that we see the Lord Jesus, in his teaching on living as a citizen of God’s kingdom, call on his people not to worry, not to be anxious? Specifically, Jesus tells his people, beginning in Matthew 6:25, not to worry about what we will eat, drink, or wear. Do not let yourself fret regarding the future and your provision. His reasoning is simple. God feeds the birds. God clothes the flowers in the fields. And we are worth far more to God than are they. Thus, if God cares for things as small as birds and flowers, he will surely care for his people.

God knows our needs. And God calls on us to seek not those needs, at least not first. We are to seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. We are to have our lives and our hearts hungering for the Lord and for that which magnifies him. And when our hearts are set on God, we will not fear this world.

Consider the simplicity here. Just imagine that your heart truly hungers and thirsts after righteousness. You want Jesus. You want to be like Jesus. You want to act like Jesus. You want every step to magnify Jesus. You want to glorify Jesus. You want to love his word. You want to share his gospel. You want to see his glorious return. The more you want these things, the more you set your life toward these things, what will happen to your anxiety? If you know Jesus and therefore know that you who trust in Jesus are fully accepted by him, fully made part of his family, fully guaranteed eternity with him, you will not fear. What can this world take from you?

Jesus tells us that the gentiles, here meaning the lost and not merely an ethnic component, seek after food, drink, and clothing. They are terrified that they may not have the money they want, the clothing they want, the jobs they want, the vacations they want, the health they want. But Jesus says this is not the way of his followers. To follow Jesus is to love him, desire him, find satisfaction in him, trust him.

One beauty here is that this type of thinking is not a mere command to stop worrying. Yes, stopping worry is good and right. But we do not tend to kill anxiety with a direct thrust of willpower. We defeat anxiety best, according to Jesus here, when we have our focus changed. When we are deep in the gospel, turned toward the Lord, loving him and his kingdom, this is when our fears will be conquerable.

A response: Dear Lord, help me this day to desire you above all things. Help me to seek first you, your kingdom, and your righteousness. Give to me a true hunger for your ways. Let me trust in you totally. I know you provide for the flowers and the birds. Surely you will care for me and for my family. Please, Lord, show me your goodness that I might better rest in you. Please forgive me for allowing myself ever to be anxious about this life. My hope here is only in Jesus and in your great grace.

Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness

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Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

As he opens the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out for us a series of blessed attributes that belong to those who are genuinely citizens of the Kingdom of God. Here in verse 6, we see that those who truly belong to God hunger and thirst for righteousness. The result is soul-satisfaction.

Why this grabs my attention is the verbiage. Why hunger and thirst? What does that look like? What does that feel like?

We know, in simple terms, what it is like to hunger for food and thirst for water. I think many of us know what it is like to have a similar set of drives for other passions. Perhaps your hunger is for fame or acknowledgement. Perhaps it is for sexual gratification. Perhaps your thirst is for security. But I think we understand those words tied to things well beyond food.

Thus comes the question, how do we hunger and thirst after righteousness? Something has to change in us so that what we want, what we deeply desire, is not merely physical. We have to have our desires shifted so that we do not hunger for sin. We have to learn to desire that which our flesh does not naturally seek. We have to want the Lord and his righteousness.

What makes you long for righteousness? For me, the times I most want righteousness are when I am surrounded by others who also love the Lord. I find that I desire righteousness more the more I am around people who are unashamed to love the Lord, to speak his word, to share his gospel. I want righteousness more the more that I taste of it. And I am turned from righteousness the more I allow my thoughts and my heart to dwell on things that are unimportant.

A Prayer: Lord, by your mercy, please grant me a hunger and thirst for righteousness. I know that when you are my desire, you will satisfy my soul. I know that when you lead my heart, joy abounds. I know that there is life in your presence. Please, Lord, grant me an unashamed, uninhibited love for you and your word. Help me to be eager to share the gospel so that I might honor you, love others, and have the joy of knowing you better.

Jesus Succeeded Where Israel Failed

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Matthew 4:1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

The 3 temptations hurled at Jesus by the devil in Matthew 4 are fairly familiar to New Testament readers. The devil tried to get Jesus to make bread from stones, to leap off the temple, and to bow to worship him. All three of these, had he given in, would have been failures. But what more is happening?

In this passage, Jesus is succeeding where the nation of Israel in the wilderness wanderings failed. It is significant that we see Matthew, who cites Old Testament Scriptures prodigiously, emphasize that Jesus was in the wilderness. The picture, if we think Old Testament, is Israel in the Exodus wandering the wilderness for 40 years.

The call to turn stones to bread is a call from the devil for Jesus to use his own power in his own way for his own physical provision. Israel failed at this in the desert. When God commanded Israel to gather manna, people disobeyed by gathering too much or by gathering on the Sabbath when gathering was forbidden. In other places in the wanderings, the nation sinned against God by not trusting him to provide or by grumbling against his provision. At the border, after the spies were sent into the land, the nation refused to trust God enough to go in and take the land starting with Jericho. One might see that, in this instance, Jesus relies on the provision of his Father without complaint where national Israel did not. Jesus succeeds where Israel failed.

In the second temptation, the devil attempts to get Jesus to cast himself down from the high point of the temple, a nearly 400-foot drop according to some. This is a call to get Jesus to stop seeking to do the work he was sent to do in the way God sent him to do it. It was a call to try to get Jesus to take a lazy and easy way out, forcing the hand of god. Jesus refused, as he would not put God to the test. Of course, in the wilderness, Israel failed here. There were people who demanded that God provide for them beyond the manna. Others presumed upon the Lord and tried to go and take Jericho even after God had forbidden them from entering the land after their refusal to trust him. If the first temptation was a temptation not to trust God to provide, this second is a temptation to force God’s hand by stepping out where God did not command. Jesus again succeeded where Israel failed.

In the third temptation, the devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would simply bow and worship him. In the days of the Old Covenant, one of Israel’s greatest failures was idolatry. The nation turned from the Lord and bowed to statues that represented demons. Jesus, of course, would not worship anyone but the Lord God. Jesus succeeded where Israel failed.

God called on the nation of Israel to be his people. He gave them a set of commands to obey, commands that were not burdensome. As a nation, they would not and could not obey. They could not work their way to God through obedience to ordinances.

Where the nation of Israel did not live up to the commands of God, the Savior did. Where Adam did not keep the command of God, Jesus did. Where you and I have never lived up to the commands of God, Jesus has.

In order to be saved, we need two things: a paid penalty and a perfect righteousness. We need the penalty for our sin to be paid. For us to try to pay the price for our sin, an infinite offense to an infinitely holy God, we would spend eternity in hell. But Jesus, the infinitely worthy Son of god paid that price on the cross. We also need perfect righteousness to enter the presence of God. But we have failed. Jesus has succeeded where all people have failed. And the Lord will count all who come to Jesus as possessing the record of Jesus’ righteousness. Thus, Jesus pays the penalty for our sin and grants us imputed righteousness, counting his perfection to our account, so that we can be in the presence of god in heaven in perfect joy forever. This forgiveness and gifted righteousness is for all who will come to Jesus in faith and repentance.