I know that these verses cannot be applied to our Lord Jesus in precisely the same way as they apply to us, but there is a parallel. And what we read in Matthew 4 might be used as an illustration of Ephesians 6 – or is it visa versa? At this point, I don’t know if we will have individual messages on each of our Lord’s replies, or if today’s two lessons will cover them sufficiently. Whichever way the Lord leads, I trust that you are paying attention. Especially tonight, because I’m not sure how logically these thoughts will fall together.
Beginning a couple weeks ago, I had intended for us to think about our Lord’s use of the Word of God. With each of Satan’s attacks, Christ parried the blow with the Word of God. “It is written;” “again it is written;” “Get thee hence Satan, for it is written.” It was as I thought about Jesus’ defense that my mind returned to Ephesians 6 and Paul’s description of the Word of God as “the sword of the Spirit.” Our scripture describes a duel between Christ and Satan. The Devil attacked with words, corrupted logic and a few visuals. But the Lord parried those attacks with the sword of the Spirit – quotations from the Bible. It was a sword fight – a fencing match.
Not too long ago I read two of Alexandre Dumas’ “Three Musketeers” stories. There were dozens of sword-fights in those books, and I began to wonder why the bad-guys ever decided to fight with the four heros – there was no way that they could ever win – the Musketeers were too good. Years before that, I had watched a few Olympic Fencing matches. I have to admit that I didn’t really know what was going on, but I was impressed. Many of those matches were over in a flash, but some seemed to go on for quite a while.
Christ Jesus was fencing with Satan; this was a sword-slashing duel; but it didn’t last very long. Blending Matthew 4 with Ephesians 6 and thinking about dueling, I can see a few lessons for us to consider.
Remember that Christ, as the Son of God, had powerful resources available to him for this fight. There is a scene in one of the Indiana Jones movies which always makes me laugh. An attacker menacingly approaches Jones expertly swinging one or two huge swords. It looks like the man knows what to do with his weapons, and Indiana doesn’t stand a chance. But our hero slowly shakes his head, pulls out a huge hand gun and shoots the man. Satan came to the Lord with words and temptations, against which our Lord could have pulled a 60 caliber handgun. He could have called ten thousand angels, many of which were already there on the scene. He could have dissolved the Devil into a pool of demonic acid with a single word. He could have called down a divine lightning bolt and fried that wicked one. But he didn’t do anything like that. What Christ Jesus did was something that anyone of us could do, provided that we are prepared.
But of course, our Lord didn’t need to prepare in the same way that you and I need to prepare. In His humanity, did Christ have to memorize the scriptures in order to have them at the tip of His tongue? Assuming that He did, because He had laid aside certain aspects of His deity…. Assuming that He had to study and to memorize, was it as difficult for Him as it is for us? Could He have quoted Hebrew chapter and verse references, if they were called for? I don’t know, and I suppose that it really doesn’t matter, as far as we are concerned. As for us, it really does matter, and our preparation is important and difficult.
The Word of God is described as “the Sword of the Spirit.” It is a hammer with the capability of breaking to pieces the stones that Satan referred. The Word of God is a fire, with the ability of keeping the wild beasts at bay. “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” But hammers are heavy, and more than a couple dozen swings will tire an arm unless it is exercised and trained. Watching those Olympians, fencing with one another, proved to me that they had spent thousands of hours in practice. And it might be a little scary to lift up a blazing torch to ward off the attacking bear.
There is only one way to know the Word of God well enough to defend ourselves against Satan, a demon or even an ordinary heretic. We have to read it, and read it often. And we have to regularly hear it preached and hear it taught. Sunday School, Sunday Morning, Sunday Night and Wednesday nights are not too often. In fact they are not often enough. We have to memorize the scriptures to be able to quickly recall them at the moment of crisis. And the truth is – none of us are applying ourselves and training well enough to be able to face this kind of crisis very often. Not only do we need to memorize, but we need to constantly review what we have memorized. I know, because these things are true of me. We need to admit that we are not ready to face the attack of Satan. Preparation and practice are a part of a victorious sword fight.
Just for fun, the other day I looked at a web-site listing fencing terms. I was surprised to see how many there were. Most of them are a limited to their sport, just as some words are dedicated to my hobby – philately. But some of them have crossed over into more common conversation.
Isn’t this what we see the Lord Jesus doing against Satan in the first two temptations? The Devil attacked – “command that these stones be made bread.” “Cast thyself down,” and force God to send His angels to catch you. The Lord parried the thrust – “the coup de pointe” – by using the Sword of the Spirit. “He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
This is perhaps the greatest advantage given to us through the Word of God, when we are tempted to sin. We do not have to give in to that temptation. And in most cases we have Bible verses which deal with that precise thrust against us. Are there any scriptures which condemn lying and liars? Yes there are. Can you think of one off the top of your head? If you were tempted to lie in order to get out of an embarrassing situation, could you think of such a verse? And speaking of embarrassing situations, isn’t embarrassment directly related to pride? Are there any scriptures which deal with pride, telling you that your pride is not really worth defending? Are there any verses which you could use to combat the temptations of greed and lust? What about protection or warning against immoral thoughts? Are there any scriptures? Are there scriptures which might strengthen you against hypocrisy? Once again Satan is encouraging you to be jealous of another person. Do you have a means of parrying that thrust? And now you feel your anger rising; you are being filled with hatred; can you think of a scriptural response? Maybe the temptation is as simple as enticement to eat a third piece of pie. Do you have an answer?
I have deliberately not given you scriptures by which you could parry these attacks. It’s not because I don’t want you to have them, but because, I want you to think and to work. As I say, I don’t believe that any of us are as well-defended as we ought to be. None of us know the Bible as well as we should know it.
And I say again that our great defense is in knowing the Word of God. Remember that the Bible is called the “Sword of the Spirit.” The Bible is not a talisman, or a good luck charm, hung around our necks like some silver cross or garlic. Knowledge of the Word of God, and use of the Word of God, brings us into fellowship with the Lord. It’s not our brain, our study, or our strength which can give us victory over the temptations against us. There is victory only in the Lord. But its through the Word of God that we draw on the strength of God. Christ could have used His own deity to defeat Satan, but He chose not to go that route. He parried the thrusts of the Devil with a tool that the Holy Spirit had given to Him – the scriptures. And we have the same sword available to us.
One of the things that we see in the temptation of Christ, is that despite his abilities, Satan is still an egotistical fool – overcome with his own sin and self-importance. The Bible describes a confrontation which lasts only three rounds. I would have liked to have seen a twelve-rounder or perhaps a sixteen-round championship fight. The first two aspects of his attack were logical and sincere attempts to bring our Saviour down. What if Satan had gone on and moved from the pinnacle of the temple, to the house of Mary in Nazareth, and he attacked a woman whom Jesus greatly loved? I have no doubt but that Christ would have responded in some Biblical fashion, completely without sin. But isn’t it true that we are often vulnerable to sin when people we love are somehow involved? I could conceivably see Satan try to attack Christ using pride just a bit more than he did. “If you are the Creator of the Universe, why don’t you create something unique and new?” He might have tried a different kind of lust than that one about all the kingdoms of the world.
I’m sure that with a little imagination, the Devil could have extended this fight far beyond three rounds. But the foolish devil went straight for the “coup de grace” – the death kill. “Coup de grace” is actually a rather silly term. It speaks of a “mercy killing.” Rather than try to weaken our Saviour with an extended conflict, he went straight for the jugular. “The devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” This was Satan’s primary target – His foremost goal is to be worshiped as God. Even if Jesus’ nod, bow or genuflection was as shallow as the average Roman Catholic’s, coming from the Son of God, it would have been considered a mortal wound.
But this attack, as useless as it was, was more than Christ could tolerate. It was not that He was too week to parry it away. You might say that it so angered Him, that He couldn’t keep Himself from a “counter-riposte.” He counter-attacked driving the point of His sword directly toward the enemy. “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Christ wasn’t going to spend another moment in combat with an enemy as blasphemous as this.
And with that the confrontation was over. “Then the devil leaveth him.” Please remember that Christ could have as easily squashed Satan as He could have an ant. God has a purpose in leaving Satan in this world. That is clearly seen in that he will not be destroyed before the Millennium. There is a purpose in releasing him following that thousand years of complete divine dominion. Satan could have been sliced to ribbons by the attack of the Saviour that day, but that would have been contrary to the purpose of God. And yet, Jesus was filled with enough divine emotion to put an end to the controversy. “You are out of here Satan.”
And again, the sword that Jesus used to drive the enemy away was the Word of God. And we have access to the same epee, the same sword which Christ Jesus used. Yes, His arm is more powerful, His eye is more clear, and His speed is infinitely greater than ours. But that does not mean that when we need His power and speed, they will not be there.
The key to the fight, as far as we are concerned, is our training and our relationship to the Instructor. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”
Here in His temptation, Christ Jesus teaches us the way to have victory in our own lives.