Friday, April 10, 2020

2020.04.10 Hopewell @Home ▫ Luke 4:1–13

Questions from the Scripture text: With Whom was Jesus filled and led, and into where (Luke 4:1)? What happened there for how long, and what did Jesus do and feel (Luke 4:2)? What does the devil now question in Luke 4:3, and what does he suggest in that questioning? How does Jesus answer in Luke 4:4? Where does the devil take Him, and what does He show Him in Luke 4:5? What does the devil offer to Jesus for doing what (Luke 4:6-7)? What does Jesus command the devil in Luke 4:8, and why? Where does the devil take Jesus in Luke 4:9, and what does he again question? What does he quote (Luke 4:10-11)? But how does Jesus insist upon interpreting these Scriptures (Luke 4:12)? At this point, what has the devil ended, and what does he do until when (Luke 4:13)?
Christ is the Son who perfectly trusts and obeys, submitting to God’s determination of when and how God will fulfill His Word.

At His baptism, the Father declared from heaven, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).  And then the evangelist reminded us in Luke 3:23–38 that Jesus came into the world to be the perfect human “son” that Adam had failed to be, and the promised son of God that God had promised to be a son of Abraham and a son of David.

Now, the devil comes to challenge that notion: “If You are the Son of God” in Luke 4:3, and again in Luke 4:9, “If You are the Son of God.”

After 40 days in the wilderness, where He was led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus is suffering from hunger. And that’s just the beginning of the suffering. We know where Peter got the idea of a Kingdom without suffering in Matthew 16:22, because Jesus gives him the same response in Matthew 16:23 that He gives to the devil himself in Luke 4:8, “Get behind Me, Satan!”

Satan offers sonship without suffering. Satan offers glory without suffering. Satan offers suffering on our own terms—not “nevertheless not My will but Thine be done” but rather, “Here’s how I want You to prove it, God.”

Praise be to God, the Lord Jesus is our righteousness, and He rejected all of these Satanic offers! And may He work the same mind in us as well: to suffer trustingly, if it comes at the hand of Him who has given us fellowship with Him in every word that proceeds from His mouth; to suffer greatly, if that is the part that He has assigned to us in the bringing of His kingdom; and, to suffer on His terms, doing whatever part He has assigned to us, and trusting that He will always keep every word of what He has promised is His own part.
How have you suffered? How much does that change God’s word to and purpose for you?
Suggested songs: ARP2 “Why Do Gentile Nations Rage?” or TPH231 “Whate’er My God Ordains Is Right”

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