In Jesus Holy Name January 26, 2025
Text: Luke 4:1-2 Epiphany III Redeemer
“The War against the Desert Fox”
At the beginning of WWII, the Germans pioneered a new form of mobile armored warfare. It is referred to as the Nazi Blitzkrieg. The famous commander of the 7th Panzer Division during the African Campaign, and then the 1940 invasion of France, was Erwin Rommel. His leadership of German and Italian forces in North African established his reputation as one of the best tank commanders of the war and earned him the nickname “The Desert Fox”.
The Desert Fox created tank tactics that included using combined ground forces, speed, deception and terrain to surprise and overwhelm enemy forces. The largest tank battle was in Kursk, Ukraine involving some 6000 tanks, 2,000,000 troops and 4000 aircraft.
When General George Patton counter-attacked Field Marshal Rommel in World War II, Patton is reported to have shouted in the thick of battle: “I read your book, Rommel!! I read your book!” He knew the German leader’s strategy and planned his moves accordingly.
After Jesus was baptized the Gospels tell us that Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where for 40 days He was attacked and tempted by the devil to disobey God’s plan of salvation. The tactics Jesus used were the words of Scripture to defeat the “Wiley Fox called the devil in those 40 desert wilderness days.
The book of Revelation tells us that some time after the creation of the world a war broke out in Heaven between the angels of God led by Michael and Satan. Satan, the fallen angel and the demons who supported him were cast out of heaven and down to earth. John writes: “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, is he who leads the whole world astray.” (Rev. 12:7-9) "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." 1 John 3:8 ESV
John, in the book of Revelation, also reminds us that because the Devil failed in His attempt to kill the infant Jesus and later after his failed attempt in the wilderness to tempt Jesus to disobey God’s plan for humanity’s salvation, “he went off to make war against …those who keep God’s commandments and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.” Revelation 12:17)
I love the way Mark has chosen to explain this Cosmic War on Earth. His words are short and to the point: “This is the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” The Messiah as arrived. After his baptism, Mark writes, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days the “cosmic battle” between God and Satan continued to play out through the life of Jesus.
Philip Yancy writes: “like single combat warriors, (we watch) two giants of the cosmos converged on a scene of desolation.” In the wilderness. (The Jesus I Never Knew p. 70)
Friends, Satan knew very well who Jesus was. The events in the wilderness were Satan’s 2nd attempt to deflect the Savior from His mission. When Satan’s temptations in the wilderness failed….Jesus returns from the wilderness and engages in His third battle.
The engagement happens in a synagogue in Capernaum. (read Mark 1:21-24) You see, they, the demons, thought this was the “final judgment of God explained in Revelation 20 when they would be destroyed in the eternal lake of fire. They knew …“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil”.
Only Luke and Matthew provide the details of the temptation. Jesus is driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. There Satan himself tempted the Son of God to change the rules and achieve the goal of salvation by a dazzling, short cut method. Our eternal destiny as human beings hung in the balance.
Jesus ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry. He was vulnerable. A physical need needed to be met. And so the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. It’s a quick fix. Notice the word “If”…. In other words…. “Are you really God’s son?” it was a challenge to His eternal identity.
The temptation was a reasonable response to Jesus’ hunger. He had power over nature. And stones were abundant there in the wilderness. He could use his extraordinary gifts to meet his physical needs. In other words… Satan is suggesting: I know who you are… “you don’t want people to starve do you?” You can solve all the world’s hunger problem…let me help you. In other words… just use your power and you can solve world hunger. “If you are God, then dazzle me. Act like God.”
But Jesus knew that was not what he was sent to do. He was sent to do the work of His Father. He was to complete the promise of the angel to Mary and Joseph. Do you remember: “you shall give him the name Jesus because he will save His people from their sins….. He will be “Emmanuel….” God with us. So, Jesus answered, (First Tactic) “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Having failed to tempt Jesus with his stones to bread routine, the devil takes a different tact. He leads Christ up to a high place and shows him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he says to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
We just witnessed a peaceful transition of power from one President to the new President. The temptation to power can easily over shadow the call to serve. Few people can resist being handed the power of a committee chairmanship in the US Capitol, or in a corporation. Will they weigh the cost to their integrity or will the desire for power shade their ethical and moral core? You have to wonder how many politicians have been willing to bow down to Satan in order to achieve such dreams of adulation and power.
Now imagine, Satan comes and offers Jesus the power to rule all the nations of the world. Imagine the status, the adulation, that would come with ruling over all the kingdoms of this world?
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
The devil then leads him to Jerusalem and has him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he says, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
And Jesus answers, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Again, notice the response of Jesus. Satan…I am the Lord God…don’t test me Your Creator… For I will return on the last day and you will be cast into the burning fires of Hell…
You do understand, don’t you, that this was exactly what Satan was doing? He was testing Jesus. That is what temptation is. It is a test. Fail the test of temptation and you become even weaker spiritually. Pass the test and you become infinitely stronger.
Temptations are almost always based on our own legitimate wants and needs. Desire for food, desire for human intimacy, or desire for approval from others. These are normal, perhaps even innocent, desires, but they do at times make us more vulnerable to temptation.
The devil does not plant foreign temptations into our mind. The devil has never tempted me to kill my enemies or to sleep with my neighbor, because those temptations would be so far removed from my own code of ethics. But the devil might plant a judgmental thought in my mind, especially if I’m having trouble with so and so. Then his temptations will encourage me to take it to the next step. The result? Gossip springs from my lips. It is an attempt to destroy the other’s character.
John Piper, theologian and author, states that sin "gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be more happy if I follow it.” Gossip for example gets its power by persuading me that I really “am better” than that other person just down the pew. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier.
Notice that in each of these temptations was an offer to make Jesus fulfilled or happier. He is tempted but passed the test with flying colors. AAAH! But that is not the end of the story. Look at the words of Luke, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him UNTIL AN OPPORTUNE TIME.” Satan wasn’t finished with Jesus. “Nailed to the cross Jesus would hear the last temptation repeated as a taunt. Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us.” But there was no rescue, no miracle, no easy, painless path for Jesus to save others, quite simple, he could not save himself and us.” (Philip Yancy The Jesus I Never Knew. P. 73)
None of us ever gets to the point where we are beyond being tested.
"But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own evil desires."
Temptations are necessary… they teach us several things…
· They aren’t there to weaken us, they’re there to make us stronger
· They aren’t there to make us bad, they’re there to make us better
· They aren’t there as a penalty, they’re there as a privilege to prove ourselves to God
· They’re there to strengthen us for God’s purpose
James says (1:2), "Whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing…" When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone, but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.”
Through His life, His Temptation, His suffering, His death and resurrection Jesus offered His perfect Self as the only acceptable substitute for our broken commandments. When Jesus had completed all that the prophets had promised He would do, He went to the cross in our place to take on His shoulders the wrath of God we deserved. Then in God’s gracious love He transferred all of the holiness and righteousness of Jesus to each person who has accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.
This is the meaning of the “sign” when Jesus changed water meant for the Jewish purification rites at the wedding in Cana. Jesus is all the purification we need. So Paul writes; God now sees each believer as “holy in His sight, blameless, and free from accusation “pure by the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus. ( Colossians 1;22)
Then in a victorious moment, three days after His lifeless body was placed into a borrowed stone grave, He rose from the dead. In that moment Satan’s grip of the fear of death was removed from the human heart, providing to us the open door to heaven. As Paul writes to the Christians in Rome. We have peace with our God. Friendship has been restored.
