Full Circle, Part II

Each of the scriptures Jesus quoted (we read them in Part I) were part of a larger context of the Covenant that God revealed to Moses. The Covenant said that God would protect and direct His children with a fierce love; their part would be to obey His commandments. Jesus would fulfill the salvation plan of God by inaugurating the New Covenant, which meant His utter obedience to God in everything He said and did:

• Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. (John 5:19-20 NIV)
• For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. (John 12:49 NIV)

He would then hand over His life and die on a cross.  The New Covenant meant His blood must be shed to satisfy God’s requirement for cancelling sin.  Philippians 2:5-8 puts it so well:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (NIV)

Wow. We stand in the New Covenant of His love. He dwells in us and we dwell in Him.

That is how Jesus lived and how we are to live. The desert will always be there, as long as we walk on this planet. Satan will try to convince us that the desert will never end; that we will wander there forever. Wrong. Even the children of Israel had an expiration date on their wandering. Jesus left the desert after a certain period as well. We will leave it at some point as well.

God is not trying to punish us; He is disciplining us with His love. Why? He greatly desires for us to be His disciples. In fact, “discipline” and “disciple” both have the same root. (Merriam-Webster)

God’s love for us is fierce. If that seems odd to put “fierce” and “love” together, watch a mama bear with her cubs. You get the idea. He loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us. That’s fierce love. His love for us has no bounds and He will do whatever He can to draw us to Him.

So, spiritual warfare comes down to perspective. If we trust that we are fiercely loved by God, Satan will test/tempt us to believe any thing but that:

• Satan wants us to lose faith in God’s love and see our desert as punishment.
• Satan wants us to see a lack of bread as abandonment.
• Satan wants us to see devotion to God as one-sided and useless.
• Satan wants us to see the desert as the only home we deserve and we will not be able to leave.
• Satan wants us to work without God, thinking that He is too slow, too uncaring, too busy, too self-absorbed to be concerned about every aspect of our lives.
• Satan wants us to be afraid of what God requires, insinuating that we will have to bear the burden of obedience on our own power and strength.
• Satan wants us to question His Word, for how can a Book written thousands of years ago be sufficient for the challenges we face today?
• Satan wants us to focus on him and his power, forgetting that he is a dog on God’s leash and someday he will be judged and cast away forever.
• Satan wants us to think the desert is all there is; those still waters and green pastures are just illusions and that God delights in the sufferings of humanity.
• Satan wants us buried in doing good works, being so busy for God that we don’t have time with God. Satan uses guilt to motivate us. We do, do, do and then end up resenting God. That’s what Satan wants. He wants us to forget that we should only do what God orders, just like Jesus did when He was here on earth. Works without God’s power and direction are empty. Soon, so are we.
• Finally, Satan wants us to think God is non-existent; He has left the universe; He’s AWOL; He’s powerless and out of touch. Satan wants us to resign ourselves to his ugliness and our defeat as the only reality.

The only answer to all these lies? JESUS.
The only power we need to overcome? JESUS.
The only perspective we need in the desert? JESUS.
The only power we should draw on? JESUS.
The only love that endures and empowers? JESUS.
The only answer to life? JESUS.
The only answer to death? JESUS.
The only way to axe fear, doubt, pride, sin, anger and hurt? JESUS.
The only truth? JESUS.

The spiritual battle is not fought with what you know, but with WHO YOU KNOW.

Amen!