God planted in Genesis all the seed-truths that gradually were developed little by little throughout the Bible by many writers, and harvested in the book of Revelation. Since Matthew could be considered the genesis of the New Testament, it also should also have seeds that grow and also become harvested in the book of Revelation. Since the Old Testament depicts in picture form all the spiritual realities and the New unveils the realities themselves, it can be said that Matthew contains the development of some of the things that are depicted in Genesis.
For example, in Gen. 1:26 we are told that God determined to make man in His image with His dominion to rule over the earth and all that was created in it. In Matthew we are introduced to a Man who is actually in the image of God and who does rule over all the spiritual rulers and authorities and the things on the earth. Whatever He said and did expressed, explained and defined God. He had rule over every demon He encountered. He ruled over the storm that the evil spiritual forces used to try to kill Him at sea. And He ruled over the devil while He was being tempted.
It would seem to follow then, that the devil's temptation of the Lord Jesus would be the same kind of temptation that the enemy used to defeat Eve since Jesus was the second Adam who had come to defeat the enemy. The first man, Adam, was defeated when he ate the tree of knowledge of good and evil and became separated from God. The devil's goal was to defeat the Lord using the same tactic. If we can see how Satan came to Eve and to Jesus, we will see how he comes to us with the same temptations.
Eve was tempted in three steps. First she was tempted to do something without looking to God as her source. Second, she was tempted to be like God and third, by eating the tree of knowledge, she worshiped the devil since the reality of worship is to drink or eat spiritually. (John 4:10,24; 1 Cor. 12:13) Today, to eat the tree of life is to "eat" Jesus. (John 6:57, 63) What we eat is what we worship!
After the Lord Jesus was baptized and entered into His ministry, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He was tempted with the same three things that Eve was tempted with. Satan tempted Him to do something apart from His Father, to leap off the temple in order to demonstrate that He was God and to worship the devil so as to rule the world.
In the first temptation, the devil tempted Jesus to turn the stones into bread and eat since the Lord was very hungry after His 40 days of fasting. But the Lord said that man does not live on bread alone but on ever word that proceeds out of God's mouth. The Lord was saying that our Father must be the source and initiate everything we do. Father is the proper source of all we do and say. When we eat the words that come out of the mouth of God and are “partakers of the divine nature,” (2 Pet. 1:4) we will abide in Christ. Out of that abiding we will actually be in the will of God but not by our own effort. "It is God who works in us both the willing and the doing." (Phil. 2:13)
The devil suggested to Eve that she could become like God by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. In religion many want to do something to be like God, to be a great speaker, a successful evangelist, or to do many works of power, healing the sick and even raising the dead. Jesus was tempted in the same way. The devil took Him to the pinnacle of temple and told Him to jump off. The temple was the gathering place of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. To and to jump off and float down in front of them all would have demonstrated that He was indeed "like God" and He would have been great in their eyes.
But Jesus said that man should not tempt God. Father does not want us to be great in religion. He wants us to be nothing. Man always wants to be greater than others. In principle this is to want to become God by your own effort and ability. It is an insult to God. In effect you become your own idol. It is an abomination to our Father. Jesus said that if you want to be great, be the least and serve others. (Matt. 23) The only one who is great is Jesus Himself and even He became the least, dying the death of a slave on the cross. (Phil. 2:5-8)
The continual argument among the Lord's disciples was, "Who is the greatest among us?" The Lord attempted many times to help their concept telling them that the greatest would be as a little child. (Matt. 18:1-3). He told them not to call anyone teacher, master or father. (Matt.23) Although Paul was an apostle who had been called by God, he considered himself a bond slave to God and to the churches. The religious concept is that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers are all above the other saints. This is up-side-down. If anyone is this kind of gift to the body of Christ, then that one should realize the he is a slave to the Lord and to the church. To realize that you are a slave of out Lord Jesus Christ is to have a spirit of humility and meekness and not to assume that you know more and are superior to any brother or sister. Oh, the subtlety of the self. We reek with pride and superior feelings. Even we may feel that we are superior to others because we are so humble! How deceived we are without the Lord's light.
Eve was deceived to think that she would fulfill God's purpose and be in His image and have dominion over the earth by eating this tree's fruit and therefore knowing what was right and what was wrong. Then she would always be able to make the right decisions and express the righteous God. I felt the same way many years ago when the church-life was so glorious and prevailing, and the taste of the Spirit was so sweet and enjoyable. How my subtle self deceived by the devil, took the credit for the Lord's presence and through my pride offended the Lord and I lost it all. I was as Eve, deceived. Then I fell to attempting to please God by self-effort, doing what I thought would please God and not once realizing that I was living by the tree of knowledge and not by the life of my Lord Jesus.
Eve, by eating the tree of knowledge, received the life of that tree which is sin. Rather than being free to really express God, she became enslaved to sin. Sins reality is to simply be independent from the life of God. This inevitably leads to the expression of the very life of Satan. Jesus said in John 4:24 that our Father is seeking true worshipers who worship in spirit and truth. Eating and drinking the Spirit is the reality of worship. If we "eat" anything that is not the flesh and blood of Jesus, we are worshiping something other than the true God. There are those who have discovered that they are able to live in their spirit and experience Christ. They have found the reality of having their soul divided from their spirit. (Heb. 4:12) They are those who have learned to drink the Spirit. (1 Cor. 12:13)
When we see what Jesus' reaction to the world was, should realize what ours should be. Any ambition for a position, whether it be in religion or any other worldly organization is an abomination to our God. His intention for is not to go up, but rather to go down, to be nothing, and allow Him to be our all. He is the leader, the Father, the teacher and the Lord. The church does not have leaders. She has brothers who are older in the Lord who are the real bond-slaves, who "equip the saints unto the work of the ministry and unto the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12) God's intention is that all the members of the body function to carry out the Lord's goal on earth.
Almost all the Christians have succumbed to one if not all of these temptations. The entire Christian world is ripe with doing all kinds of things, "ministries", and projects that have been initiated out from themselves because they had a good idea for God. How much is done here in this country by the power of the Spirit? Everywhere you look you see big mega-churches that operate solely on the principles of the world. On top of this, haven't many of us become our own little gods? How much of our living is sourced from the spirit. Are you daily partaking of His divine nature so that you experience the growth that is described in 2 Pet. 1:1-12?We are not on earth to gain the world. 1 John 2:15 tells us that the world is composed of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This is the same temptation with which the devil tempted Eve and the same with which he came to the Lord. It is the same with us. He always comes with the same temptations.
The lust of the flesh is to do something out of the self, out of your own source, for God. The lust of the eyes is to look good in the eyes of others and the pride of life is to gain position in the world-system. Not only is this true in the secular world but even true in the religious world. When a young person is saved and shows signs of ability, are they not all encouraged to become a leader of some kind, to go to a Bible training facility and become a minister or missionary? How many are helped to become nothing and learn to know Christ in their inner being so that He would be the source of their Christian life and work?
In speaking of the lust of the flesh, John is not mainly talking about the sinful works of the flesh that are described in Galatians chapter five. Here he says the lust of the flesh not the works of the flesh. The word translated "lust" in our versions, simply means "desire" in the Greek. The desire of the flesh is to improve itself, to work for God, and to please God by its own effort. This is more fully explained in Romans 8. There, Paul says that the mind-set of the flesh is death and the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. In the context of Romans 6-8 the flesh is attempting to keep the law to please God and cannot do it. The answer is that Christ has done it and is doing it in us if we don’t fall for the devil’s temptation to do something by our own effort.
The world’s way is that through education, hard work and self-improvement so that you can get rich and have whatever you want. This is called the American Dream. In the Christian world it is the same. It seems that the American Dream has been brought into the churches. Most of the churches today have this purpose driven philosophy. By using the ways of corporate America they become mega-churches with large congregations, huge physical facilities and a great deal of money.
In contrast, the Lord in Matt. 13:31-32 describes the kingdom of the heavens as a mustard seed which grows into a big tree. In nature the mustard seed is very small and will grow into a small bush. In the Lord’s story it mutates and grows into a big tree in which the birds of the air make their nests. The birds of the air represent the demons and evil spirits. (Rev. 18:2) The Lord’s church was supposed to be "small" but a living organism to produce food for people just like the mustard bush. However, today, in the western world, the church has become a great tree full of evil “birds.” These birds deceive people especially with worldly thoughts of doing something to please God. This kind of worldliness is legalism and will end up in death. This is why so many Christians, unknown to themselves, are so wretched, miserable, blind and naked.
His kingdom is one of life not of outward rule. This is the reason that John in 1 John 3:23 says that His commandments are to abide in Him and love your brother. If anyone abides in Him he will, by the life of Christ, love his brother. To hate your brother is the proof that you are not abiding in Him. To want to be a leader who is above and a ruler of others is a thought of the world and is not love. Love builds up others. It does not desire to rule and manipulate others. Jesus desire was to be food and drink to people not to be their king in the worldly sense. We Christians are to be the same, to minister and feed one another Christ as their life supply.
Our attitude should be clear. Beware of eating anything but Jesus so that you do nothing out of your own effort. Avoid any attempt to be popular and run from ruling others. Remember, only the life of Christ spontaneously lives this way. Be careful that you don't make these principals laws for yourself or they also will become part of the tree of knowledge and kill you. Our salvation is to eat and drink Jesus and daily submit to His will through His life.
1 comment:
Hey, Dave. I'm a new Christian and have decided to blog about it. I'm looking for like-minded bloggers to share with, and your site looks pretty cool. These posts are well thought out and very long - I can't imagine how much work you must have put into them.
Post a Comment