Welcome to season three of Love in Context. This
season, we're exploring the life of Jesus step
-by -step and uncovering what his story teaches
us about loving God and others. Here on Love
in Context, we're all about having real conversations
about how to live out that love in practical,
everyday ways and understanding the Bible in
its full context. We're so glad you're here.
Let's dive into season three of Love in Context.
All right, welcome back. Love and Context with
Benjamin Edwards and Les Kronk. It's good to
see you again. Good to be here, Ben. Yeah. And
if you're on YouTube, you also will see him.
And he is looking just as young as, honestly,
as long as I've known you. I'm trying to stay
that way. That's kind of not fair. I actually
went to school with your kids. Yep. Yeah. So
he looks good, doesn't he? Retired man. He's
living the good life. Staying healthy. Yeah.
I just do want to brag on you a little bit, though,
because Les retires, and, like, as soon as he's
retired, he has, like, 1 ,000 people coming after
him for consulting gigs. Yep. So you know that
you're good at your stuff, that the second you
retire, they're like, hey, you want to work again?
Yeah, well, it's not bad when they say, charge
us whatever you want because we need you. There's
an open door there. Yeah. You just have to be
careful. Summer in Alaska, you cut into your
fishing time. That's what I'm worried about right
now, yes. So we've been in life of Jesus, and
you were actually with me last week when we talked
about John the Baptist preparing the way for
Jesus, and we talked about baptism, we talked
about mikvah, and so coming out of the Spirit,
coming and descending on Jesus and remaining
there, he goes out into the desert. Right. Right,
and so there's going to be this portion of temptation.
So I thought before we actually read the story,
I'm going to give some high -level... cultural
perspective things. And then we'll read through
the story and have some conversation about it.
Good. All right. So, uh, the wilderness in, uh,
in Hebrew is, is mid bar, mid bar. And it's,
um, I think I've talked to you about like Hebrew
groupings that shepherd wilderness, God's voice.
They're all going to be related in the same word
family, uh, because you go to hear God's voice
in the desert, in the desert. Right. Israel was
tested, refined during their 40 years in the
desert. And he talks about that. Moses talks
about that in Deuteronomy. And I believe it's
Hosea. God says to the prophet Hosea, he says,
I led you like a bride in the desert. Right.
So to God, this time is not the same as like
we think of wandering in the desert. It's something
significantly different. It's actually a time
of getting to know God and about us knowing God
and God knowing us. It's a time of stepping apart
from the chaos of life into a quieter place.
And if you think about, like we've talked about
how Sinai is kind of like this wedding ceremony
between Israel and God, right? The desert's their
honeymoon, right? It's where you learn to trust
each other. And sometimes not. That's not exactly
what you'd think of as a honeymoon, the wilderness
area. Matt, that's only because you live in Alaska.
If you lived in Israel, you'd probably be like,
yeah, let's go to the desert for our honeymoon.
Probably. Oh, man. So it's a place of physical
desolation, but spiritual dependence, right?
That's the wilderness. So Jesus is going to spend
40 days in the wilderness, and this is going
to parallel to Israel's 40 years. I want to keep
that in our heads because there's a lot of things
that are going to be paralleling the Old Testament
here. repeatedly I have said, and we've said
through this podcast, Jesus is Torah made flesh.
So there's going to be a million things going
on in his life that are going to be echoes from
Torah. It's one of the reasons we started our
series in Torah before we got to Jesus. Because
it makes this year so much easier. There's going
to be connections to Moses and Elijah. Fasting
for 40 days and finding themselves in the wilderness,
which is also going to be important because Jesus
is going to be stepping in as a second Moses.
And people are also going to be like, are you
Moses? Come back. Are you Elijah? Also Mount
Transfiguration. Who's there with him? Yeah.
Moses and Elijah. Yeah. These are pictures that
are meant to be coming up over and over again.
So in Jewish thought, the wilderness is a place
of testing and purification, and it's a place
of divine encounter and provision. such as manna
in Exodus 16. And then Jesus' retreat echoes
these themes of trial and encounter. Now, he's
going to meet a guy in there we call the Satan,
the devil, right? The Satan, by the way, it's
interesting, in the Old Testament and most of
the places that you find Satan's name in the
scripture, it's not Satan, it's the Satan. The
Satan. The Hebrew word Satan actually means adversary
or accuser. Okay. Right? And so in the Old Testament,
Satan appears in texts like Job 1 -2, Zechariah
3, 1 -2, as a figure who tests the faithfulness
of individuals. Now, by the second... I can speak.
By the second temple period time, Satan was increasingly
seen as a personalized figure of evil. This is
really emphasized strongly in books like 1 Enoch.
Okay. Right? But that is not necessarily the
perspective in the Old Testament. The Satan is
kind of like this. He's actually in the heavenly
host, and his job is to go and accuse and test
and see what people are doing. And that, by the
way, that pushes up against like Christian ideology
sometimes because people are like, oh, I don't
know if I like that. I was like, well, that is
what the thought was. And so you have to understand
where the thought came from and how we got to
where we are. And because of the Satan, so people
would look at in Jewish tradition, righteous
individuals were often tested by God or external
forces to prove their faithfulness. So you have
like... Abraham in Genesis 22, Job in Job, well,
the book of Job, right? They're actually put
in these positions to be faithful to God, and
it's not always necessarily just because they're
not having to prove something, but it's actually
changing something in them. In them. Right? And
this is something we're going to talk about as
we go through here, is that trials, tests, are
not about proving your worth. It's about actually
increasing your worth. In other words, changing
who you are and forming who you are and who God
wants you to be. That's going to be really applicable
later when James talks about consider it a pure
joy whenever you face trials. Because these trials
are actually going to help you become something
you've never been. Right. Right? Which is difficult.
It is a difficult time, but having experienced
that, it takes you to where God wants you to
be. Yeah. So all three of the Synoptic Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are going to talk about
this story. We're going to be reading out of
Matthew. So if you want to check out Mark and
Luke, there's small differences, once again,
having to do with the linguistic and perspectives
of what they're trying to talk about. All three
of them talk about being led by the Spirit. And
I think this is really important, especially
when we talk about there are people who listen
who are Pentecostal, non -Pentecostal. That's
totally fine. But we all recognize that the Spirit
does work. And I think that it's important to
see. Jesus is baptized, the Holy Spirit comes
and rests on him, and then from that moment,
he's led by the Spirit. Right. Right? And so
Jesus is led by the Spirit. All three Gospels
say he's led by the Spirit to this place. Right?
If Jesus Christ, God made flesh, thinks it's
important to be led by the Spirit of God... How
much more for us. Right, exactly. It becomes
really important, like when you were here for
prophetic, when we were talking about the prophetic,
it was, why is it so important for us to hear
the voice of God? Right. Right? Everything flows
from that. Yeah. So let's jump in here. Let's
read the story all the way through here. It's
starting, I forget exactly where that is. It's
Matthew chapter 4, starting in verse 1. Then
Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40
days and 40 nights, he was hungry. Imagine that.
Yeah, I know, right? Listen, it would take me
a lot less than 40 days and 40 nights. The tempter
came to him and said, If you are the Son of God,
tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered,
It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God. Then the devil took him to the holy city
and had him stand at the highest point of the
temple. Real quick here. Where's the holy city
for people listening? It's Jerusalem. So he's
in Jerusalem. He has been transported to Jerusalem
to the highest point of the temple. Right. Which,
if you've seen the temple, is on top of the Holy
of Holies. Yeah. Okay. Just helping people picture
this. Foundation, yeah. So he's on the highest
point of the temple. If you are the Son of God,
he said, throw yourself down, for it is written,
he will command the angels concerning you, and
they will lift you up in their hands so that
you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Jesus answered him, it is also written, do not
put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the
devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
All this I will give you, he said, if you will
bow down and worship me. And Jesus said to him,
Away from me, Satan, for it is written, Worship
the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the
devil left him and the angels came and attended
him. All right. This is a short section with
a ton of meaning. Yes. So I want to point out
there's three places that he gets confronted.
And so I want to specify something I was talking
about earlier. I think that if you think the
devil is a specific entity, that is entirely
appropriate. But I also want to make sure that
we're not misunderstanding what's going on in
the Old Testament. That the role of the Satan
is not just a name, it's a title. It's a title.
In other words, his job is to accuse and to tempt.
This is his job. And it's important for us to
know that when we're actually running into these
things because later they're going to say things
like the devil's job is to come in. Still, kill,
and destroy. Right? Because you're supposed to
pull away from the character of God. It's to
accuse you of being away from the character of
God. Okay. So the Satan, Satan in this circumstance,
the devil, goes and takes Jesus, and he first
talks to him in a wilderness. So what do we say
about wilderness? It's a place you go to meet
God. It's a place you go to meet God. Right?
Yep. Then he takes him to the top of the temple.
The temple. Which is the place where heaven and
earth intersect. Gotcha. Right? And then he takes
him on a very high mountain. Have we ever heard
of a very high mountain in the Old Testament
before? I think there might have been one where
some tablets were carved out. Yeah, and so these
aren't accidental places. These are places of
extreme significance, like the desert, the actual
temple where heaven and earth meet, a very high
mountain where you can see everything, but it's
also somewhere close to where God is, right?
Especially in ancient understanding. So Satan
is actually taking Jesus to the most... Religious
places. Religious sites. And so if we were to
do that today, and I'm just trying to make up
some things, so something that had extreme significance
to believers today, let's say he took us to the
Jordan River, right? And he took us to, well,
probably still the temple area, right? The temple
area. He'd take us to the empty tomb, take us
to Calvary, right? Like these are places of extreme
significance, right? And so the first thing he
does is he talks to Jesus, who is hungry, totally
tracks. Yep, totally does. What's the longest
fast you've ever done? Zero food, 10 days. Yeah,
I don't think I've ever even done 10 days. I
think I did like five or six, and then I had
to start eating basic food. I am weak. My will
is much stronger, but my flesh is so much weaker.
It's a challenge. It certainly is. I have not
fasted ever for a significant period of time
where you get like 20, 30, 40 days. But I have
friends who have done that. And one of the things
that they talk about is like, while physically
you may not be strong, you actually gain a significant
amount of mental clarity. You do, and I've fasted
lengthy times for selected important items in
your life. You find something that is a huge
distraction in your life and set that aside,
and it would be challenging for many people to
put your phone down and not touch it for a while.
There are things that really are distractions
in our lives. How dare you look at my phone when
you say that? They're great tools. Ben, you could
put your phone down. I could. You're right. I
could. And the reason I'm bringing this up is
that it is not a moment of weakness. This is
not a time of weakness that the devil comes to
talk to Jesus. It's actually at the height of
his strength, right? It's actually at the height
of his strength that he comes and he actually
engages him on this. But he immediately goes
to a physical commodity, right? Now, in the wilderness,
by the way, these three temptations is what I'm
going to call them, tests. are actually mirroring
tests that Israel went through in the desert
and that ultimately they struggled with. God
still had patience with them, but ultimately
they struggled with and failed because they failed
to trust God in those situations. And Jesus is
coming in as Torah made flesh, as a representative
of Israel, and he's going to flip this on its
head. So the first thing is bread in the desert,
hunger, thirst. We've talked about this a lot,
but Israel really struggled with this one. They
were hungry and they doubted his provision. Why
did you lead us out into the desert so we're
going to die? Right? And then so much that they're
like, we should get rid of this Moses guy. It's
his fault that we're here. He had it good back
in Egypt. You remember that slavery back there?
That was awesome. We had food. We had food. And
nothing else. Yeah. You know? And ignore the
fact, of course, that Pharaoh literally threw
all of her baby boys into the river. Ignore the
fact that we were only valued for what we could
produce. Ignore the fact that they stopped giving
us straw for bricks. Ignore all those things.
I'll ignore those. The hard times, it seems easier
to forget those. In those positions, when they
grumbled, God provided manna, teaching Israel
to rely on him daily. That's Exodus 16, by the
way. Deuteronomy 8 .3, which is Moses' I'm going
to call it final diatribe to the second generation
that's going to go in and take the land, right?
Reminding them of what has happened. He says,
man does not live on bread alone. Remember this.
Man doesn't live on bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God. All
three of Jesus' responses are going to be from
the book of Deuteronomy. I think that's significant
because this is the declaration that Moses is
giving to the people before they step into the...
Promised land. And what is Jesus about to say?
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is here. Is
here. You're about to step into something. Yeah.
Right? And so Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 3, stepping
into God's provision and refusing to use his
divine power for self -sufficiency. And he steps
in and succeeds or maybe elevates where Israel
struggled. And I'm not going to say the word
fails because I don't think that every time you
mess up, it's a failure. Right. you will learn
something about who God is and learn something
about who you are with God. They struggled with
manna. Yeah. But they ate manna and they learned
the system and God provided and they got that.
Yeah. But it was still a test. Yeah. It is, and
it's interesting that Satan is testing Jesus
with something that... God ultimately did. Now,
of course, God didn't turn stones to bread. He's
made bread come down from heaven, but it's a
very similar thing. God provided bread in the
desert. Now Satan is offering to provide bread
in the desert. I feel like there's something
that'll preach there, right? That just because
it's offering you something that God also offers
you doesn't mean that it's going to be good for
you. Satan actually wasn't necessarily providing,
offering bread in the desert. He was challenging
Jesus to create it. Just like God created manna
from heaven, he said, you can create bread from
these stones. Did God really say? Right? Did
God really say? Did God really say, going back
to Genesis, didn't God say that you have the
authority to turn stones into bread? Yeah. Come
on, Satan. Yeah. Your tricks are getting old.
Yep. Right? So the second thing, he goes and
he takes them to the temple, and he challenges
them to throw himself off, citing scripture.
Citing the Psalms, which by the way, we've talked
about this before, but Psalms, there is good
theology in Psalms, but Psalms ultimately are
an expression of love and adoration to God or
expression of human emotion and worship to God,
which means that sometimes there are things in
the Psalms that shouldn't be taken literally
as things you're supposed to do. I've gotten
pushback on that, and I remind people that there
is literally a psalm that ends with, happy is
the man who gathers his children and bashes their
heads against the rock. This is not a divine
command for us to go and do. Not something literal.
It is showing the gambit of human emotion from
rage to love to adoration to lament, like all
these different places that you have. And it
is something that is necessary, and I think it
is a necessary expression before God. I struggle
sometimes in the way that we pray and talk to
God because everything is always so polished.
It's always so like refined, you know? And I
remember, I remember I was praying one time and
I was frustrated and I was like, we were praying
with somebody and I was like, and God, I'm just
pissed off about this. And somebody was like,
well, you can't say that to God. I was like,
yeah, cause he doesn't know. Yeah. right? You
know what God wants to know is He wants to hear
who, like, He wants me to be real, because He
can do something with that. No, I'm totally that
way. I've told God there's still, I will say,
losses in my life, people that we've lost that
I don't understand, you know? And I said, God,
I'm still mad about that one. Doesn't mean, you
know, I believe any less in God, but I'm mad
about that, and I've told God I'm mad about it,
but I also trust Him implicitly, and so I can
let it go. We talked about this. Spencer and
I, it was in our first season of our podcast.
When James was four, he told me that I did not
love him. And you know why I didn't love him?
He had to brush his teeth. Yeah. He yelled and
he screamed. He's like, you don't love me. You
don't know what love is. And you know what? I
was frustrated, but also I was like. You're still
going to brush your teeth, bud. It's going to
happen. And sometimes people, they have this
idea that if you raise your voice at God, if
you talk to him. And I was like, you know what
the worst thing is, is when somebody is upset
and they won't just talk to you and you know
they're upset. Right. And like, I mean, you're
a father. Wouldn't you rather your kids just
talk to you even if they're upset? If you're
arguing with God and yelling at God, at least
you're talking to him and he'll listen and he'll
respond. Yeah. So he quotes scripture, quotes
the Psalms. I got off on a really long tangent
there. It's easy to do. Good one though. He quotes
the Psalms and he says, hey, Psalms says you
can jump off this and you'll be fine. Well, at
Manasseh in the book of Exodus, Israel tested
God by demanding water and then complaining about
the water that they did get. And then... This
water tastes like a rock. This water tastes bitter.
It tastes nasty, right? And so they're asking,
they asked this question, they said, is the Lord
really among us or not? That's 17 .7. Because
they didn't like the water that they got. Is
the Lord really here? Right. There's water coming
out of this rock. Yeah. But is he really here?
You know, and it's a struggle because like...
God provided them water from the rock, but warned
Israel against testing him. And Moses is going
to recall this once again from Deuteronomy. This
is where Jesus quotes from. He says, he recalls
this failure. He says, you shall not put your
God to the test as you did at Manasseh. Right?
This is Deuteronomy 6 .16. Jesus steps into that
same issue that Israel had. And he says, I'm
not going to test God's care and provision. I
know that it exists. I know that if I fell off
of here, he's got my back. I don't need to do
it to prove it to you. Right? And unlike Israel,
Jesus trusts God without having to prove it.
Quick, this is another rabbit trail, so it is
what it is. At this point, they've been listening
to me long enough, they know I'm going to get
on a rabbit trail. It is, when we talk about
God moving in prophetic and powerful ways, I
don't know how many people have come that don't
know Jesus, and they say, well, if he would just
blank, right? Yep. I'd believe. Yeah. And then
something dramatic happens in their life, and
they're like, oh, man, lucky me. Yeah. Right.
Right? And people always, they're like, well,
you know, I want to tell a very specific story.
And this is actually a good friend of mine who
is actually in the process of learning how to
follow Jesus now. But at the time, right over
the head. Yeah. Right? They were hitting ends
meet, and they did not have the money that they
needed. in order to pay their rent. So they were
in the process of getting moved out of their
place and they were going to not have their place,
you know, in two days. And they needed, um, I
can't, it was like $250, which, you know, if
you don't have any money is significant. That's
a lot. Yeah. You know, and I called Tara and
I said, Hey, I think we can step in and do this.
I think we have the wiggle room in our budget
to not put ourselves in trouble at this point.
Um, this is by the way, when we were much younger.
Um, and, and so I went and I said, Hey, um, this
is for you. I don't want this back. Just go take
care of what you got going on. And prior to actually
coming to them, they said that they had prayed
and asked God for help. And then they're like,
I'm so glad you stepped in and did this. And
I said, well, you should really thank God. They're
like, well, God didn't do anything. Yeah. And
I'm like, okay. Other than Inspire Ben. Other
than Inspire Ben and Tara speak to us that we
can step in and actually fill this gap. You're
correct that God did not form money out of air,
right? But he did use his people to go and do
those things. And I think people sometimes forget
the miraculous nature of hospitality and love,
right? That's right. That's what we're here to
show and share, and there's so many ways to do
that. And I agree, and I was tempted to go down
that similar rabbit trail when you brought that
up, because I've seen too many cases where services...
want to focus on signs and wonders to impress
people with God. And I'm all about signs and
wonders. Me too. No question, but... I've seen
too many awesome things that God has done. Yeah,
I've seen them, I've experienced them, felt them,
and I know that, but that's not what it is to...
It's not what changes lives. And well, in every
sign and wonder, if it doesn't lead to... an
invitation or a step into the kingdom of god
like i mean it meets people's needs so i never
want to pretend like it's wasted correct right
because um paul's gonna say you planted a seed
so and so watered so and so harvested like okay
so regardless like you're you're doing the work
yeah i was like but if if it's not if people
are just seeking the gift and not the gift maker
yeah right it's problematic yeah because the
gift maker is inviting you to a different kind
of life And the miracle and the prophetic is
connecting you to that person. Yeah. And that
person is going to radically change who you are.
Yep. All right. So I just, by the way, I just
love that Jesus actually says is he actually
uses the Greek word. I'm going to have to read
this really closely because I don't read Greek
very well. Ekparazo. Ekparazo. That's how I'm
going to say it. If somebody is a Greek reader
and they're like, that's not right. Send me an
email. I'm sorry. Yeah. But it actually means
to provoke or challenge. And it's actually forbidden
in Jewish theology. Okay. You can't provoke a
challenge from people. So the devil doesn't actually
just say, hey, he's actually provoking a challenge,
similar to the Israelites going, prove it, God.
Yeah, prove it. I know you just gave us bread
from heaven. Prove it. Yeah. Which is just crazy.
Exactly. It's like, you're going to prove this
bread just came from heaven? Going back to this
idea of people talking about, well, God just
has to prove to me he exists. And I was like,
you breathe in, you think, you reason, you have
family, you have a life, you have a house that
you sleep in, and you need God to prove it? Yeah.
Come on, man. Yeah. You know? Sorry. Come on,
dude. It could be. guy or gal. So I'll use dude,
but that is gender neutral there. Yep. All right.
So then we go to the third one and then Satan
offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. If
you will bow down and worship him. So this, we
hinted at this earlier, this is going to connect
to Sinai, very high mountain. And Israel struggles
because I, when's the last time you read that
story? It's interesting because God initially
invites Israel to consecrate themselves. At Sinai.
And then he says, okay, it's time for you to
come up the mountain. And the people are afraid.
Yeah. They see the thunder, they see the fire,
and they're afraid, and so they don't want to
go up the mountain. The invitation was always
for all of Israel. All of them. All of them.
They were afraid, and they said, hey, Moses,
why don't you go up there? Right? Why don't you
go up there? And then later they're going to
complain, like, who made you mediator between
us and God? Right. You did. You did. You did.
You had the invitation to come up here, and you
didn't. And you didn't. And you didn't. And because
you didn't, Moses goes up the mountain, which,
by the way, he's 80 years old at this point,
which I just love this. He goes up this mountain,
which is like a three -mile trek. And then he
has to go. He receives the commandments. He's
there for 40 days. Then he has to go down the
mountain. He sees what's going on. He has to
go back up the mountain to talk to God. And I'm
like, poor Moses, man. He's going up and down
this mountain like crazy. I'm planning on doing
that when I'm 80, but we'll see. Yeah, we'll
see. So they're like, we're too afraid. We're
not going to go. You go up into the mountain.
You speak to God, and we'll accept what you have
to say. So they don't get to hear directly from
God because they're not willing to go up the
mountain. Right. They're too afraid. Boy, that'll
preach all day. Yeah. Too afraid of the presence
of God. Too afraid of the presence of God that
I'm never going to actually hear from him. Yeah.
And so a lot of times in our churches today,
a lot of us hear revelation from pastors and
from people who read the Bible and insight rather
than ever actually learning to hear the voice
of God ourself. Yeah. Which, by the way, I'm
not doubting. Moses was still a great leader,
had good things to say, important things to say.
Yep. But God wanted his people to be in communion
with him. That's right. And they said no. No,
we're okay with that. So he's on the top of this
mountain. And while Moses is up there, the people
go, man, guy's been gone for a while. What are
we going to do, Aaron? And he's like, well, I'll
tell you what, bring me all your gold. And he
throws it in the fire, crafts a calf. And he
says, hey, this is the God who brought you out
of Israel. After all the miracles that they've
experienced and they lose. focused that quickly.
They, at this point, they've walked through the
Red Sea. They have received bread from heaven.
They've received quail. They've received water
from a rock. I believe at this point they've
actually had a fight with the Amalekites and
just whipped their butts. Yeah. Right? So they've
done all of these things. With God. With God.
And then they go there and then they heard the
voice of God and they were so afraid of it they
sent up Moses. And by the way, the thunder and
stuff is still on the mountain. It hasn't gone
anywhere. Right. They're still at the mountain
and they go, Yeah, this thing that we created,
this is what brought us out of Egypt. This thing
that we created. Okay. Can we poke at some people?
Oh, yeah, please. A lot of times there's a tendency
when people are successful in work, right? Because
you had a successful career. I would say that
you had a very, very successful career where
you say, you know, my life that I have. The fact
that I can care for my kids, I can give to my
community. It's something that I built. Yeah.
Something that I did. Yep. I know, and I think
you know, that every success we have is because
God gave it to us. My success is because the
relationship I had with the Lord. And because
we took the things that God gave us and we put
them into practice. Correct. Now, what I don't
want to hear... take that because I think people
take that snapshot and then they say, well, if
I just go and trust the Lord, then I'm going
to have success in business. No, you're going
to have success into that which he calls you.
Right. Right. It might be caring for the homeless.
It might be parenting. It might be, you know,
a good example. We have somebody in our church
who does foster care. Right. And that might be
your life. Yeah. Or you might be called to be
the best barista in the world. Right. Somebody
who shares the love of Jesus and the Holy Spirit
with every cup of coffee you pour. And that was
the key. I would just reflect on my own career.
I was in management of a lot of people, but my
focus wasn't on necessarily all the big picture
management. It was helping each individual be
successful in who they were created to be. and
helping them excel, because as they grew and
gained confidence, I always joked and said, it
makes my life easier. If you guys all do a great
job, then my job as a manager is much easier.
Well, and so Satan takes him up here, and he
confronts Jesus with something that, by the way,
I feel like we don't realize how often we're
actually confronted with this. Worship me. Turn
your attention to me. Bow your head to me. Whether
it be your job, your insurance that takes care
of your health, your 401k plan, I don't care
what it is. Even your family can become this,
right? Because you place them above God rather
than God to them. And he says, if you do this,
man, you're gonna have everything in the garden.
Now, if you eat that food, you'll be like God.
Adam and Eve, you're already Like God. You know
what's good, you know what's evil, and you're
made in his image. You just don't get to define
for yourself what's good and evil. Right. If
you bow down and worship me, Jesus, you'll have
everything. I already have everything. Yeah.
And because of that, I bow down and give praise
to the Father. Right. And I worship him only.
Thou shalt have no other gods than me. Because
I know everything comes from him. Every single
thing. Every breath, every tear, every laugh,
every cry. It's all sustained inside of the world
that he spoke into existence. Right? Now, of
course, Jesus cheats a little bit because he
was there. Yeah. He really knows. He's not interpreting
this. He's not interpreting this. He was there.
But he says, go away, Satan. Yeah. It's written,
Deuteronomy. Moses knowing this. Worship the
Lord your God only. And serve him only. Because
if you don't get this right, nothing else is
going to be right. Period. In the Roman Empire,
earthly power was often tied to worshiping pagan
gods or an emperor. The Greek word for worship
here is proskunio. It means to bow down, symbolizing
submission. And Jesus' refusal emphasizes that
worship belongs only to God. By the way, this
is not the last time Jesus is going to say something
like this. It's just not going to be about Satan
next time. It's going to be about Rome. Yeah.
He's going to take a coin. He says, whose inscription
is on this? Right. Why don't you give to Rome
what's Rome? By the way, never give to Rome what's
God's, which is you. Powerful. Powerful statement.
Yep. Real powerful. So after this, the, uh, after
these three temptations, the angels come and
they minister to Jesus. Um, by the way, this
is a great connection back to Elijah being cared
for after, uh, Mount Carmel. Yep. Right. Exactly.
Um, in his case though, he's, uh, he's hungry
and he's depressed and he's like, Oh, what's
holding me? And he's like, tell you what, Elijah,
take a nap. Have a snack. It will be okay. Have
a cookie and a nap. Cookie and a nap. That's
a grandpa speaking right there. Oh, man. The
Malakim, which is the Hebrew for the angels,
are understood in Jewish tradition to be God's
messengers who step in and help people in times
of need. let's talk about like what I think are
three big takeaways in here. Three, three big
takeaways. Jesus steps in here in this conversation
as a, as a second and he's a second Adam, right?
Right. There's a lot of these mirroring from
the garden, right? He is the second Moses and
Israel, right? He is like, in a lot of cases,
like a second David, right? He's stepping in
and he's the second, like he's the greater of.
That's what the book of Hebrews is going to talk
about a lot. Adam was tempted in a lush garden.
Jesus, though, was tempted in a barren wasteland.
Right. Right. But like Deuteronomy says, like
Israel did, Jesus goes in the desert. He confronts
the devil, takes three tests and says, no, that's
not who we're going to be. Yeah. That is not
who we're going to be, nor who God wants us to
be. That's how we're supposed to come out of
the desert. And each of us has a wilderness at
some point in our lives. And understanding the
purpose of that wilderness is so key with God.
And it's not necessarily hard times. It's quiet
times. There's so many different facets of what
we could see as a wilderness in our lives. Sometimes
I wonder about this story. I was like, this story,
yes, it parallels Israel. what is this for Jesus?
Because like we talked about, he has to grow
in knowledge and favor, just like anybody else.
That is this experience when he steps out, he's
like, he already knows, but now he experientially
knows what it means to stand against temptation.
Yeah. Right? Right. Like to stand in the face
of something like the devil, the accuser, a heavenly
host of some capacity that we don't completely
understand. Right. Right? Somebody who is like
their entire being is around testing whether
or not you actually mean what you say you mean.
And being very, having thousands of years of
practice of tricking people. Yep. And testing
people. Yep. He was good at it. He was good at
it. Still is. Yep. In fact, one of the things
that I was, the second takeaway is actually that
the devil misuses scripture, which by the way,
still happens today. Very much. It's why knowing
the voice of God and knowing your Bible and then
the narrative of what God teaches is really important.
In context. In context. That's where so many
misunderstandings come from. And I think you've
done a very good job in this podcast and other
teachings on... building that context. No! That's
very important. I'll take it. Well, and it's
such a difficult thing because I was having this
conversation, and I think I wrote about it in
something. But when you start with the premise
that God is angry, you're going to massively
misread Torah. Now, I don't want to misspeak
because there are portions in Torah where God
gets real frustrated. Real frustrated. But the
overall narrative throughout Torah is that God
loves his people. The overall narrative of the
Old Testament is God loves his people. And his
patience endures like decades. And there's so
many cases of forgiveness and repentance and
patience on God's part that he just continually
brings Israel back to himself. It's crazy. Sometimes
people will be like, well, yeah, but there was
this king and then this king that he dealt with.
And I was like, those were 40 years apart. Yeah.
It sounds to me like God has a lot of patience
and love. It's almost like that whole thing of
love to a thousand generations and punishing
to the third. A thousand is a lot bigger than
three. It sure is. It's significantly bigger
than three. But Satan preys on not only things,
and I was going to say accusation, temptation,
preys on things that are desires, right? Oh,
yeah. Physical. Power, emotional, spiritual.
But beyond that, it often uses things that we
are quasi -familiar with. Right. And it's just
twisted enough. Yeah. Right? Now, the flip side
of that that I think is worth mentioning just
briefly is that every person who does not view
Scripture the exact same as you is not the Satan.
Correct. Right? It's okay to have some disagreements.
There's a reason why we talk about things show
up in like a creed, for example. Like these things
are really important. But outside of that, everybody
has different experiences with God. Everybody
encounters his word differently. And also God
works differently in all of us. He sure does.
That we have a way to find unity in spite of
the fact that we don't agree. Correct. Right?
That's huge. The last thing here is it says that...
I want to talk about the fact that this is not
an isolated event where Jesus is going to do
what the devil wants and it's gone. It says that
he leaves him for another opportune time. That's
actually in Luke. Oh. Right? Luke 4 .13, it says
the devil leaves him for a more opportune time.
Right. When would that be? I don't know. Crucifixion
is definitely going to be one. Yeah. You know,
it turns out that when you're being beaten and
whipped and nails through your wrist and can't
breathe, that's... Probably a time that you're
not thinking straight. Yeah. It's an easy time
to be tempted. And yet on the cross, we talked
about this. You and I preached together before
Easter. Jesus preached a sermon through quoting
the text. Yeah. Quoting Psalms. Yeah. The Son
of God in his crucifixion quotes a Psalm. Yeah.
But it's not a Psalm of testing. It's a Psalm
of deliverance. Deliverance. Yeah. Yeah. That's
cool. Yeah. So much so. Just thought about that
just now. Yep. So I think the, like for us is
like recognizing that when we trust Jesus, we're
stepping into something greater than ourselves.
Right. And we're trusting something greater than
ourselves. We're not, we're trusting his finished
work, his complete work. We don't have to complete
it. We just walk in his step. Right. But temptation
and the things around us are going to try to
get us off track, are going to use things that
are familiar with us, even up to the Word of
God. Yes. One of the things I think is interesting,
since I started posting this podcast and blogs
and different things that I've been doing, I
get a lot of reels of Christians, right? And
the things some of these people say about each
other. Yeah. I was like, man, take a breath.
That's right. That's not what Christianity is
supposed to be about. It's not at all. It's amazing
how often people think that they need to defend
God. Yeah. He's been doing it just fine. He literally
spoke it all into existence. He doesn't need
you to defend him. Right. The last rabbit trail,
I promise. Sometimes James, my oldest, will try
to defend me to my youngest. Okay. Right? No,
dad told you not to do that. Dude, I got this.
Right. You don't need to step in. I got this.
I got this. You know? You know that from raising
kids. I sure do. You're like, no, you don't need
to micromanage them. I got this. I am in full
control of what's going on here. Right. But you
don't understand. They're doing this. No. I got
it, kid. Yeah. I got it. We're good. I can fix
this one, God. Just listen to me. That's our
story. Oh, man. And then the last thing is, is
that as you follow Jesus, there's going to be
situations where you're going to completely nail
it. In the desert. Yep. And there's going to
be other times where you completely botch it
in the desert. But one of the encouragements
we have from Israel is they got mad at Marah,
but he gave them water at Elim. Yeah. They didn't
trust him in the bread, so he gave them bread
and quail. Right. They didn't, you know, and
there was the golden calf, and Moses comes down
and he... breaks the commandments. When he goes
back up, God makes him new tablets. Yeah. God's
patience is great. He's a God of redemption.
Yeah. He's a God who, and when you're walking
as a kid after him, you're going to trip and
fall. And he's like, all right, I got you, bud.
Let's stand up. Yeah. The only thing I'm not
going to let you do is sit there and wallow in
your, in your pity. And that's so huge. Cause
that's, that's where we struggle the most as
we, we make mistakes sometimes continually and
we lose, trust in that forgiveness. We just think,
because as a human, I don't have that level of
forgiveness that God does unless I lean on him.
And it's been challenging. God will push that.
I definitely have a lot more love and forgiveness
for my kids than I do for my brothers. Yep. Yeah,
and I love my brothers, but let's be honest.
We got more love and forgiveness for our kids
than we do for our brothers. Yep, yep. But following
Jesus means having the same love that he has
for us for each other. For each other. Whew,
that's a tall order. It's a big one. All right.
Well, I think we'll, we'll close it there. And
I appreciate you being here again, uh, sharing
with us from your, from your schedule. Uh, once
again, I'm gonna let people know if you are listening,
I do have a book coming out in May 15th. It's
probably out now because I think this one's not
going to post to like June something. So May
15th, it was released, uh, hardback softback
and audible. And I'm looking, I might post it
on Spotify too. Uh, I have the rights to do that.
So, um, but the, uh, But, yeah, so beautiful
chaos, infinite love, talking about raising kids
and understanding that, oh, snap, I might be
God's kid. Yeah. Right? And this is way different
than I thought. And there's a lot of parallels.
A lot of parallels. A lot of parallels. And,
oh, one more fun thing, and this is probably
going to be in the next couple of months, but
Spencer and I. teased earlier that we were turning
our Torah series into a series of books. The
Genesis one is done. Uh, we've been proofreading
it and, uh, that'll probably get released in
the next few months if people want to go and
engage that a different way. If some people are
like, man, your audio originally was not very
good. Yeah. Read the book, read the book. Now,
the funny thing is about that is that, uh, the
next step is actually to record the audio book
of a book that I wrote from the podcast dialogue,
which is just, it feels like, at some point,
like Inception, right? Yep. Yeah. And I'm reading
that book, and I will highly recommend it. Ben
does an excellent job of a very encouraging explanation
of things that we don't all understand in Torah.
Yeah. All right, guys, you have a good one, and
we'll see you next week. Well, you'll see us
next week. We won't see you. And that's a wrap
for today's episode of Love and Context. We hope
this conversation encouraged you and gave you
fresh insights into how we can better love God
and others through the powerful truths of the
Bible. We'd love to hear from you. Send your
questions, thoughts, or suggestions to loveandcontext
at gmail .com. Your feedback means the world
to us and helps shape future episodes. Stay connected
with us on social media for updates, behind -the
-scenes content, and additional resources. You
can find us on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and
Facebook at LoveandContext. Love and Context.
Be sure to hit that follow button and join our
growing community. Thanks for being part of the
Love and Context family. Remember, love is at
the heart of it all. Until next time, keep seeking
wisdom, embracing love and living out your faith
in today's world.