The Teachings of Jesus: 4 weeks in the Life of Christ (Day 2)

Friday, March 21st, 2008
by Justin

Matthew 3:13-4:11 (NIV)

The Baptism of Jesus
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

Matthew 4

The Temptation of Jesus
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

5Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6″If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
7Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9″All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[d]”
11Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Why did Jesus get baptized? And the answer isn’t “So that He would give us an example,” like we use with our kids. John was offering a baptism for repentance. This is the baptism that Jesus then partakes in. So what did Jesus have to repent of? He says in v. 15 “let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill righteousness.” But Jesus is righteousness. How do your fulfill something that already is?

To fulfill righteousness is to put an end to unrighteousness. The people getting baptized were “repenting for the forgiveness of sins.” Luke 3:3 says that John was “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” So then Jesus came to fulfill the baptism and would then die for the forgiveness of these sins. The baptism was a symbol of being washed clean from their sins. Something that would need to keep being repeated. Jesus put an end to this baptism by fulfilling it so that repentance would no longer be valid outside of Jesus from this point forward. Believing in Him would change everything.

The temptation of Jesus then is an extra important. John just finished telling everyone that Jesus was the Lamb of God that would take waway the sins of the world. Satan needed to put an end to this fast. Jesus has been in the desert for 40 days and nights and he is hungry and thirsty from fasting, really weak and Satan attacks like a lion stalking a youth, weak water buffalo.

3 times Satan tries to get Jesus to fall.

• 1. Fall in His humanness. v. 4:3
• 2. Fall in His divinity. v. 4:6
• 3. Fall in His spirit. v. 4:9

Satan’s defeat was the beginning of the end of His reign on earth. There’s a new King in the House and He is Jesus!