The order of things

[Angelina1239]

Reading Matthew Chapter 4, the order is interesting. Jesus baptised, tempted by the Devil, begins His ministry.

A point here, After being so sorely tempted, Jesus returned home to Nazareth and Capernaum. That makes such sense, He went home to be with His family and recover His strength and balance perhaps? Those are just my own conjectures, based on what the gospel states. Jesus was God and yet human, with the limits that that entailed. Like us, He got tired and depleted by trials. He needed rest and comfort in familiar surroundings as each of us do after facing trauma. Our Lord had had 40 days of fasting and been up against temptations from the greatest enemy of God and of us all. So, after that He forged ahead to begin journeying and preaching far and wide.

Do we not find it similar in our Christian path? When baptised we face jealousy from the chief enemy. We find ourselves tested and we use prayer and scripture to sustain ourselves. When we are buoyed up by our lord, we are freed to spread the Good News of the Gospels.

Is this a familiar path to you? I must say I have faced far more deeper testing after becoming a Christian. Perhaps because I am now aware of spiritual warfare.

 

[atpollard]

In the Book of Exodus, the people left bondage in Egypt and were immediately led into the WILDERNESS for 40 YEARS to be tested and proven (reveal what they are made of: purified). They were led there BY GOD.

There is an immediate parallel between Israel (the nation) and Jesus (the True Israel). There is an immediate test. There is a wilderness. It is GOD that leads them/Him/us to the wilderness to be tested. There is 40 - years or days. Enough time to do what must be done.

A quick lesson from Psychology. Let’s assume that you were terrified of spiders. A psychologist would not advise you to just avoid all spiders. A psychologist knows that the only way to defeat the power something has over us is to face the thing that we fear … once confronted and defeated, it is powerless against us.

Satan did not go looking for Christ as Christ hid in the wilderness. It was the SPIRIT that led Christ into the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus went looking for Satan because Satan was hiding in the wilderness from God. Remember the story of Job … God does not fear satan, Satan obeys God. Jesus came to the earth to BE TEMPTED -yet without sin, and to DEFEAT sin and death and Hell and the grave. Jesus started HIS MINISTRY with His baptism proclaiming His arrival. His next action was to search for that which men fear and to face it down - destroying its power.

Satan did not attempt to defeat Jesus and fail. Jesus went looking to defeat Satan and succeeded.

THEN it was time to carry the victory back to mankind.

 

[Angelina1239]

So, thinking upon this, does Satan come looking for us?

 

[atpollard]

So, thinking upon this, does Satan come looking for us?

As God commands him to.

One of my all time favorite stories is that of Joseph. Starting with Jacob acquiring his wives, one loved and the other unloved. Then the RUTHLESS competition to win Jacob’s favor through childbearing with sons nothing more than pawns in a chess game played by adults - markers used to keep score (if you want an eye-opener, research what each of the children’s names actually means). So Joseph is born into a family of sons of his mother, sons of his mother’s slave, sons of the hated wife, and sons of the hated wife’s slave. Us against three them. The generational hatred was strong enough that they debated whether to kill their half-brother or sell him into slavery to at least make some cash from him.

The hand of God was directing EVERYTHING that happened to Joseph. While Satan may have had a part to play in every step of the journey … whispering in the ears of the ‘brothers’, arranging events with Pottafer’s Wife, the forgetfulness of the courtier … it was GOD that was unfolding His plan. A plan to transform a generational curse of lies and loveless and dysfunction into a new family bond of forgiveness and humility and love.

The WORK of Satan was the tool in the hand of God to bring about the refining change that transformed what was into what God saw COULD BE. “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” - Genesis 50:20

 

[Spindle4]

So, thinking upon this, does Satan come looking for us?

Straight answer, Yes, hence these exhortations:

• Eph 4:27 Do not give place to the devil.
• Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
• 1Pe 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (9) Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
• Jas 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Also
1Th 3:5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.
2Co 11:2-4 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (3) But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (4) For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

 

[atpollard]

However, let us never fear or despair, because … “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28

(I believe that the original Greek for “all things” really means “all things”)

… but don’t take my word for it, see what Paul said:

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10​