Mark 1:27 - Want Revival? Accept God's Authority

The Verse

Mark 1:27 The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching--and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him." (NIV)


My Paraphrase

Compelled by amazement, the people asked each other, "What just happened? Is this a new teaching that actually holds water? He even has authority over demons!


My Thoughts

I like that the text says, "The people were so amazed that they asked each other." In other words, their amazement spurred on an ensuing discussion. In other other words, this was a tough crowd. I imagine these men as self-proclaimed intellectuals that didn't just buy the first thing that was thrown at them (and probably not the second, third, or fourth either). However, after an amazing event like this, they needed to vent and debrief each other. "Did you see that?" "What just happened?" Whereas perhaps a more Spirit-driven (and some would term: simpler and more ignorant) synagogue would have been amazed and praised God and skipped the discussion.

(This is not to say skepticism is without merit. I just mean that there is a chasm of difference between a skepticism fueled by the Holy Spirit and one that is complacent and arrogant.)

But what caused this intellectual complacency? Simply: They were used to hearing watered-down, lackluster reading and teaching. They were the congregation who would come to church out of obligation, or need for a social life, and sit self-righteously in their seats while demonized men ran rampant in their midst. No one ever did anything about the demons because no one ever felt it was within his/her wheelhouse. No one was was empowered because the teaching they received was bland and non-compelling. This sounds so much like churches today, it makes me sick. How many congregations are told that the miracles of the Spirit were only for "then" and not now? How many church members reduce the Holy Spirit to a glorified Jiminy Cricket and that believing He is more than that is a direct ticket to Crazy Town? How many of them are taught to be so skeptical when they hear of modern miracles that they end up robbing themselves and others of blessing and testimony? This synagogue was clearly suffering from the same lies because they obviously hadn't done a thing to fix their supernatural problems. . .Yet--and here's the kicker--they were actually living right in the middle of the biggest "then" that there ever was! That should tell us something. I've heard so many atheists and non-believers with the argument "Well, I'd believe in God if He actually came to earth and physically talked to me." Is that really all it would take? Because, guess what, He already did that and people still chose not to believe in Him! Which should show us, logically, that the problem doesn't lie within God manifesting Himself or not, but within humanity who either chooses to accept or reject the manifestation! 

It's called free will, People. 

So this congregation, who under normal circumstances would have been silent (and probably asleep from boredom), saw this miracle and were revived and awakened to the point of dialoguing and asking each other about Christ. (I've been, granted, pretty hard on these people in this post so far, so I'll let up on them now. I don't mean to dismiss the fact that they were talking about God, and talking about God is great.) This was new for them. This was good for them. They hadn't done this before. They were finally witnessing something in church that warranted an after-party of discussion. 

Jesus got them talking.

And this, Class, is the truest definition of revival. Christ's authority compelled what was formerly dead to come to life--instantly. Shaking the foundations of mere belief and reforming it into the structure of true faith. This is what repentance looks like: A change of mind. Their minds were changing from the obligation and rules of their current Scriptural interpretations into the freedom and live-giving power of which the Scriptures had been speaking all along. 

A man had been freed from possession, but revival was the bonus miracle.



They asked each other, "Is this a new teaching?" According to Solomon, there is nothing new under the sun. However, it wasn't the concept but the perspective that was brand-spanking new to them. They had heard of demons being cast out many times in the stories of old. However, what they didn't realize was that casting out demons was a power that any person with faith in God could have. Apparently, a lie had been perpetuated and believed that either none of them could actually cast out demons--so no one ever tried--or that only a select few past prophets could have done it, and that's it. God was closed for business otherwise. 

With that in mind, do you see how absolutely mindblowingly revolutionary this event was now for these people? When a lowly carpenter's Son, and Friend of working-class fishermen--a Nobody among nobodies--came along, he not only taught but performed this exorcism with all the authority of God Himself? 

I mean. . .I'd be talking too. . .In fact, I am! Ha!



Looking back at verse 22, we see that the people were initially amazed at His teaching authority, but what sets them over the edge, to the point of discussing it all, is this verse 27. "He even gives orders to impure spirits." In other words, He is a great public speaker, but much more than that--His speaking commands demons. 

This should encourage all preachers and teachers of the Word. Your message can have ultimate authority. When you put aside your own agenda-driven ego and pick up God's Authority, you will become a force to be reckoned with. Notice too, if you really want revival in your church: It's not the pyrotechnics of the exorcism that spurred revival; it was the authority by which Christ did these things. Authoritative messages stir up revival. Authoritative sermons bind the enemy. Authoritative messages change the face of history.

Mark 1:26 - A Tantrum of Demonic Proportion

The Verse

Mark 1:26 26 The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.


My Paraphrase

As the demon came out, he threw a big tantrum, shaking the man and shrieking.


My Thoughts

Lots of things to note in this verse. My main question: Why did Jesus allow the demon to make such a scene? I mean, He's Jesus, right? If He has power to calm a storm, surely he can cast out a demon perfectly and quietly--no muss; no fuss, right? Well. . .since we know Jesus is perfect, we can assume that this was the most perfect way to cast out a demon. There are plenty of reasons that Jesus didn't completely silence the demon outright, so read on. 

(1) To sober us to the severity of demonic stronghold. The shrieking and shaking could have been directly related to the strength of the dependence that the man had in the demon. When Jesus cast it out, the demon had been so deeply embedded into the man that in coming out, shaking and shrieking were inevitable. Jesus allowed the scene so the on-lookers (and readers like us) could learn a lesson on the severity of strongholds.

(2) To give us a heads up that exorcism is not something to take lightly, nor does the enemy go quietly. If demons make a scene in front of God Himself, than we can expect at least the same when we confront them. This doesn't need to intimidate us, and we can go ahead and realize that a big noisy scene is par for the course.

(3) To create a witness and testimony. If the demon had gone quietly into the night, the rest of the synagogue could have assumed that there was really nothing wrong with the man. They could have explained the miraculous away. Sometimes, people need a "show" in order to "get it."

(4) To illustrate that actions have consequences. It was the man that had allowed the demon to come in in the first place. Demons don't just inhabit willy-nilly. They only come in when invited either directly by occult invitation or indirectly by sin. If you are going to make a self-destructive and disobedient choice, you can expect some "violent shaking" when God removes it. That's a scientific anomaly called "cause and effect." Did God pull the Israelites out of horrible fates time and again? Did the prodigal son get to return to his father with full forgiveness? Yes, but look what it took--what pain they had to go through--to get there. Bottom line: If you want the path of least resistance, don't create resistance! This is exactly why we are called to peace (Colossians 3:15).

(5) To prove demonic disregard for human life. Demons don't care about you. All they care about is torture and destruction. Even at their last contact with you, they are going to do all they can to stress you out, scare you, shake you, and hurt you. So. . .turn your life over to God and stop living for yourself. Otherwise, you're only hurting yourself.

(6) To show that demons are spoiled brats. Think of the brattiest child in the trashiest of Wal-Marts throwing the biggest tantrum you can picture and know that doesn't even compare to the fit a demon could pitch! Even the most unruly child still has a conscience somewhere deep inside (having been created in God's image, after all). However, a demon cannot and will not ever operate within moral standards. (Incidentally, think about the tantrum Satan will throw when he is finally cast into hell for eternity--"Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth" doesn't quite cover it!) A being becomes a spoiled brat when he/she lacks gratitude for a position or situation, yet feels overwhelming entitlement. Satan himself said, "I will be like the Most High" thinking his former appointment as heaven's worship leader as something he'd gotten of his own volition. No thankfulness whatsoever. Talk about bratty entitlement! Demons are just spoiled angels. Remember that everything you have is a gift from On High: your house, your job, your talents, your intellect--the second you take credit for these things is the same second you open yourself up for bratty, demonic influence!

(7) To prove that demons operate out of fear and intimidation. The fact that they put on such elaborate shows during exorcism is sort of their last hurrah of incurring fear in people. Since all they know is fear and intimidation, their demise includes screaming and shaking to the very end. However, this also shows how stupid they are. It's like, you know what? You can scream and shake all you want, but you're still getting defeated! The demon's little charade may have amazed the onlookers, but it didn't take Jesus by surprise. It shouldn't take us by surprise either.

(8) To further emphasize Jesus' Messiah-ship. You'd think demons would be smarter and not bring so much attention to Jesus being God's Chosen, but they are true idiots. Go ahead and scream, you're only furthering the Gospel!



This brings up one last point. . .Wouldn't you think that the demons and the devil would have recognized Jesus as the Messiah? And. . .honestly, they probably did. Here's the thing though: 

(9) This tantrum proves that demons had NO IDEA WHAT "MESSIAH" MEANT. Clearly they didn't. Every time they see Him they say, "If you are the Son of God..." or "What do you want with me/us?" I mean, listen. . .If you'd seen God create the universe from nothing, felt His wrath as he threw you out of heaven, plus had seen all the Old Testament miracles firsthand, do you really think you'd ever say "If" to Him or try to intimidate Him? Those are tactics that work on men, not God. They had no idea that the Messiah was Him...like with a capital "H"! No one did! Remember how the Bible says that Jesus was "of no reputation" (Philippians 2:7-9) and that if we looked upon Him, we'd never "esteem Him" as anything important (Isaiah 53:4)? Revelation and all that hadn't been written yet and demons don't know the future. I don't think they even get an inkling of Jesus being God Himself until at least chapter 5. . .so. . .stay tuned!  

Mark 1:24 - The Stupidity of Hell (A One Act)

The Verse

Mark 1:24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”


My Paraphrase

"What are you going to do to us, Jesus?  Will You destroy us?  I know you're God's Chosen One!"


My Thoughts

(If you are just tuning in, I am doing a verse-by-verse study of the Book of Mark, and it helps me to think when I reword the verse. I'm not suggesting that my paraphrase is Scripture or anything. It's a little Bible study tactic I learned from a Priscilla Shirer simulcast.)


 So many things in this verse and where to begin. . .


So first of all, whenever I have read this verse in the past, I tended to read it as though the demon had all the information that we do today. (Just like how I used to read the temptations of Jesus as though Satan actually knew with Whom he was dealing in verses 12-13. . .You know what? Go here if you don't know what I'm talking about.), so I used to think that maybe the demon was being sarcastic like how Goliath was all, "Am I a dog, that you come at me with a stick?" (I Sam. 17:43)  Like. . ."Is this tiny person supposed to scare me?  I'm so much scarier!  Bwahahaha!"  


When I was little, I used to be really scared of demons, so I think that now--even as an adult--I have just given them too much credit.  Honestly, I think the demon in this verse was just going on whatever information Satan was able to give him from his "Temptation of Jesus." 

Which, honestly, was not much.  During "The Temptation," Jesus hadn't done any miracles.  He hadn't tried to fight.  He hadn't tried to prove Himself.  All He had done was to withstand temptation--which, granted, had exceeded most Old Testament men's decisions (Think: David and Bathsheba, Noah and his daughters, King Saul and. . .everybody....*cough*) 


So here's how it probably went down: Satan tempts Jesus.  Jesus withstands temptation.  Satan concludes, "This Guy must be at least a prophet--and a good one at that. . .But is He that blasted "M" word?. . ."  Remember, it's the Messiah that he has been trying to thwart all the way since the Garden of Eden, so any prophet up to this point has been fair game.  (Talk about being a nervous wreck!  Satan has known this Messiah to be his undoing for millennia!)  

So, anyway, Satan gathers his minions (Like. . .the actual definition of the word.  Not the adorable one-eyed yellow rip-offs of the Aliens in Toy Story. . .). Satan tells them, "Okay, Guys. This Man needs constant surveillance--I couldn't even crack Him!"

Obligatory gasps.  

"What in bleepity-bleep is Yahweh up to???"  Satan notices one demon in the crowd that didn't gasp.  He's too busy playing Words with Enemies on his cleverphone.  

"You!"

All hell is silent as all eyes fall on this demon.  His buddy next to him nudges him.  He shoots his buddy a look of death and then realizes the situation.  He is mortified.  His cleverphone zips out of his hand and up onstage onto Satan's podium.

Satan looks at the phone, holds up his fist to smash it, stops at the last second, and then starts speaking. . .patiently, yet through his teeth, "Since you obviously have a lot of time on your hands, you will go to that synagogue, and when this Jesus starts preaching, I want you to FINISH HIM!"

The demon whines, "But, Sire!  It's not fair!  I'm only second level!  I haven't even been given grave wandering rights yet, let alone execution ones!"

Satan, hot with (self-) righteous anger, yells, "Oh my...G-Gog and Magog!!!" grabs a lightning bolt from his stack, and is about to hurl it at the demon.  Just then, the guy on Satan's left taps his shoulder, whispers in his ear, Satan turns to listen, after two seconds pushes him away, looks back at the demon in question, and waves his hand. "Okay, so.  Whatever.  Avada-Kedavra! Boom! You have them now, Okay?"

Another frantic tap to Satan's shoulder.  More whispering.  Lots of pointing and "No"-nodding and hands making an "X" like, "Not the best idea with this one. . ."  Satan looks perplexed, smacks his forehead, and whispers under his breath, ". . .So hard to find good help these. . .ever. . ."  He looks up realizing he said that into the microphone.  To the crowd he says, "Just another perk of running hell.  Am I right?"

The crowd laughs nervously, thankful for a little tension release.  

Satan turns back to the demon with feigned composure, "Can you. . .inhabit?'

The demon says, "Yes."  Buddy nudges him again. "...Sir!"

"Can you intimidate?" 

"Probably. . .Like. . ." The demon furrows his brow stupidly, "That means yell, right?"

Satan rolls his eyes, "Yes. . .Yell!. . .Wave the guy's arms!  Froth at the mouth!  The regular routine!"  Satan grabs the podium with both hands trying to restrain anger, "I mean...anti-Christ!  Do I have to spell it out for you???  Just get him to reveal His plan!. . .If you can, do the--" Just then a thought pops into his head and he begins pacing onstage as he brainstorms,  "Here!  I know what to do!--I can't believe I didn't think of this before!  When I had my one-on-one with Him, I kept qualifying His title with an 'if,' as in, 'if you are the Son of God,' and that didn't work, because it was too easy to brush off!  It wasn't in-your-face enough!"  Satan stops pacing, looks at the demon, and starts wagging his finger, "What you need to do is look Him right in the face and, as eloquently as you can, get him to divulge His secrets!"   

"But how--" Nudge. "--Sir?"

At this point, Satan ignores the demon's ineptitude because he is so excited with his super intelligent plot, "Try calling Him. . ." He puts a hand to his chin and then releases it, "The Messiah!--No, no, that's not grandiose enough. . .Try, 'The. . .The Holy One of God'!--Yes!!!--and see where that gets you!"  Satan claps for emphasis and then crosses his arms, standing tall,  "If you puff Him full of smoke and flattery, maybe that will trip Him up!"

The demon slowly repeats the words, calculating how they feel in his mouth, "The. . .Ho-o-oly Wu-u-un of G--"

Satan interrupts, "--But remember!  Be eloquent!. . .Remember what you learned in 'Inhabiting an Atheist Professor' class!"

The demon looks a little confused, but says "Uh.  Okay. . .Right. . .Yeah."  Then, his face changes to spoiled boredom and he says indignantly, "I can do it.  Okay?  Whatever.  Can I have my cleverphone back now?"

Satan lifts his fist upward and shakes it as he yells, "Intertestiment-tennials!!!"

---------------------------------------

So the demon leaves, finds someone easily inhabitable in the synagogue, and finally the big day comes.  He's confident.  He's rehearsed his speech a thousand times. . .or at least twice.  He has bullet points.  He has rebuttals.  He even has pauses for laughter.  The whole shebang.  So he gets his guy to sit down in the midst of the crowd.  He's ready.  He's golden.  Then Jesus comes in.  All of a sudden the demon is struck with a strange overwhelm.  His guy's heart rate goes up.  Just be cool, he whispers to them both inside his guy's head.  Jesus starts preaching.  But His words are like nothing he, or his guy, have ever heard before.  Such authority.  Such amazing grace.  So. . .truthful.  All of a sudden, the demon starts losing his bullet points. . .Wait.  What was point one?  Was it, "How can there be a loving God if there is pain and suff--?. . .Errrrrr was that point two?. . .Was it. . .Wait. . .Evah. . .No. .. Evo. . .lu-tion?--No, no no! That one doesn't come for another 1800 years!!  His guy's palms start to drip from sweat.  Wait. . .What's my name again?. . .Not your name, Stupid! Mine!  Just then Jesus looks right at him, he panics, and the guy's leg straighten.  He's up.  Oh no.  Everyone is looking.  No going back now.  And he blurts out,

"What do you want with us, Jesus?. . . .To destroy us??" . . .Wait. . .that wasn't right!. . .Idiot!  Just keep going.  Oh!  I remember now,  "I know who you are!  The Holy One of God!"  Yes!  There!  At least I did something right!--err--wrong. . .?

And then his guy thinks to himself, "Well, that's it for me here.  Guess I better see if they're hiring in Damascus!"


[Aaaaaand. . .Scene!] 



Okay, I'm pretty sure that's not how it went. . .


Still, how completely gauche and pedestrian is it to blurt out "Why are you here??? To destroy us???"  Seriously.  Giving away the punch line before the joke is even told?  No class at all.  How can you scare Someone who clearly scares you and fills you with such paranoia?  


The stupidity of hell. 


Lastly, look at this demon's tactic:  He tries to intimidate Jesus by "blowing His cover."  It's like he's taking the glasses off Clark Kent and everyone is supposed to gasp in horror or something.  "I know who you are--The Holy One of God!!!"  This, of course, is what is so hilarious about that statement: In trying to "out" Jesus, he is actually helping to solidify Jesus' Messiah-ship.  How many non-believers became believers that day just because of this demon?  Answer: Plenty of them did.  (Spoiler Alert: Skip ahead to verse 27.)  Way to go, Satan.  Playing right into God's hands.


As per usual.


That's the thing about Jesus, Y'all.  You can tell me that Jesus was just a good man, and that He's nothing special.  So why do demons react to Him like this, then?  Why do people who reject Jesus reject Him so much? 

In the words of Billy Shakespeare, "Methinks thou dost protest too much. . ."

Mark 1:12-13 - Satan Has No Clue

The Verses (NIV)

Mark 1:12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, 13 and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted[a] by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.


My Paraphrase

Immediately the Spirit sent Him to the wilderness for 40 days. He was tempted by Satan. He was among dangerous animals, but angels took care of Him.


My Thoughts

(In case you are wondering why I paraphrase the verse first, it just helps me to think more about the verse if I have to write it in my own words--even if it's pretty much the same thing.)


First of all, we see complete obedience to the Spirit's command. He is baptized and He immediately goes to the wilderness. No hesitation. He had a job to do, but the Spirit wanted Him to fast and pray first--before starting His ministry. So He obeyed. I bet a huge portion of us Christians have never even thought about fasting for answers to dilemmas in our lives. I know I barely ever do. It's hard not to eat. I have a huge prayer request right now where someone dear to me is making a huge life-long mistake, and reading this verse really convicts me about fasting about it. If we want God to mean business in answering our prayers, can we not just forgo a little bit of food every now and then to show that we are totally relying on Him?

We look at His situation--no food, no human contact, in a desert--going, "That sounds awful!" especially since, not only was he being tempted by Satan himself, but there were also a lot of wild animals that could attack at any second! It's like, this poor guy can't catch a break! But that's just the point. The Spirit calls us to be dangerous, not to be comfortable.  Jesus didn't feel sorry for Himself.  We can assume that He "counted it all joy" like James tells us to, because the Father--in the prior verse--just said He was well-pleased with Jesus. The actions Jesus took brought Him (and as a result, us) joy. 

I heard a great teaching once by Pastor Dennis McCallum explaining this temptation by Satan. We take for granted that Satan knew everything about Jesus, but Satan is actually extremely limited. For one thing, he isn't omniscient, so he doesn't know everything. If we look at the facts that Satan was privy to at the time, all he really knew was that this Guy was some kind of "higher David"--another of "God's men." With that in mind, the temptations themselves make a lot more sense. For instance, if Satan knew who Jesus really was, why would he have offered Him all the nations of the world? Jesus created every nation, for heaven's sake! All Satan knew was that he had successfully tempted past "God men" with fame and glory and had made them fall. If he could just now get the greatest of them to fall, what a delightful feather in his cap! 

However, Jesus passed all tests and came forth as gold, which: brought further glory to God (glory which, incidentally could not have been brought had Jesus not had temptation); salvation to us (It's not just Jesus' death that brought us life. Every test He passed proved His perfection and the newness of life he offered.); and total befuddlement to the enemy (Satan never saw it coming, and by "it" I mean the crucifixion bringing salvation.)!


I never noticed the part about the wild animals before.  According to my Archaeological Study Bible, back in the day, there were many wild animals in that part of the world (remember Sampson and the lion carcass?). I just never thought about how Jesus had so much to deal with out in the wilderness. However, in the midst of Satan and the wild animals, we see that God did send angels to take care of Him.  I wonder if they talked or if they were invisible as they are to us today. Either way, it's worth remembering that even in our darkest times, God still sends us His attending angels. We don't need to pray to them or anything like that (Speaking to anyone invisible--except for God--is a bad idea.)! Still, it is nice to know they are there. 

In another gospel, one of Satan's temptations was for Jesus to throw Himself off a building because Satan wondered if the angels would actually save Him. Obviously, they were there and they probably would have, but that would have been showing off and Jesus isn't a show off. It would also have been indulging Satan, and. . .for obvious reasons, Jesus wasn't going to do that! Lastly, it would have been testing God--expecting God to do a magic trick in the event of doing something stupid, potentially suicidal, and disobedient.

The Truth About The Father of Lies

I'm not sure why this came into my head, but maybe it is a word for someone.

Father - n. any male ancestor, especially the founder of a race, family, or line; progenitor. (www.dictionary.com)

God is our Heavenly Father. That means that we are His children and we are made in His image. It means we inherit His power and glory, and he wants to take care of us. God's Word is Truth and he wants us to know the Truth. God's power is not dependent on us. He will always have supreme power whether or not we do, but because He loves us as children, He bestows it on us if we ask. God is everywhere and all we have to do is call out to Him.

Satan is the "Father of Lies." That means from the first lie that he spoke into existence in the Garden of Eden, all subsequent lies are in his image. Satan fancies himself as high as God, but he isn't. He's a fake god. Therefore his lies are fake versions of the truth. Satan's power is great and so is the power of his lies; however, the power of lies IS dependent on us. Without our belief, he and his lies are powerless. Satan is not omni-present, so he has to rely on his seed to do his work for him.

Here are some more thoughts:

1. Satan is far stronger than humans, but his might is totally incomparable to God's.
2. Satan is limited. He doesn't have time or the ability to attack everyone personally.
3. God is not limited. He can care for everyone at any time, anywhere.
4. It only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to bring demonic oppression crashing down.
5. God never speaks guilt or disappointment into your life.
6. Satan doesn't want you to accomplish anything, so he uses his lies to tell you that you can't or makes you feel foolish for trying.
7. Satan doesn't want you to be loved, so his lies tell you that you can't be, or else they make you look for love in the wrong ways.
8. If a person speaks evil into your life, he/she is buying into a lie. Therefore you need to pray for him/her, not hate.
9. If you feel oppressed, thank God that you are His child and that you have the victory.

Satan: The Clever Idiot

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Mat. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-14

Above are two parallel passages about Christ's temptations in the wilderness. If you ever went to Sunday School, you are familiar with this story: Christ is in the wilderness for 40 days and receives three temptations from the Devil.

Teachings of this story tend to focus on two things: (1) that Jesus was in a weak state (hunger) from fasting yet did not give into temptation, and so therefore He is an example to us of passing a hard test with shining colors, and (2) that when we are tempted, we have but to quote Scripture and that will make the temptations go away.

I'm being kind of flippant, I realize, and my purpose is not to offend anyone. If those two points are all you get from this story, then you have probably gotten a good thing to some extent: We should use Christ as our example, and we should memorize Scripture. However, I think there is much more to be gained from this than the surface teachings. I am not trying to be esoteric here, but when I looked at this passage for myself the other day, I felt like I needed to share what I learned, because it all hit me like a ton of bricks.

First of all, let's look at where this story happens in the chronology of Christ's life. Both passages happen right after John the Baptist had baptized Jesus. Not only that, but God Himself had openly hailed Jesus as His Son, proclaimed He loved Him, and He was pleased with Jesus.

This is interesting because the last time God had said He was pleased with something was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. God looked at what He created and said that everything was very good. Maybe this is not worth bringing up, but . . . I just think it's interesting that God is similarly pleased with perfect things--both in the Garden and then with Christ.

Since the beginning of time, God has made a way for us to please Him. Originally, He created man without sin, so that pleased Him. But after sin, man had no way to please God, so what did God do? He gave the pleasing Person of Himself to us: Jesus (Phil 2:5-11).

Now, this is something really important to think about, what I'd never thought about before, and what jumped out at me when I was studying these passages: At the start of both Matthew 4 and Luke 4, Satan now had conclusive evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. I mean, of course He knew that the Messiah would be born sometime around the time Christ was born, because of Daniel's 70 Weeks--a prophecy that, strangely enough, you don't hear preached very often today, yet is a prophecy that conclusively points to a date around A.D. 30-34 as the time that the Messiah would be "cut off, but not for Himself" (Daniel 9).

Jewish scholars of that age all knew about this prophecy and other similar prophecies or else Herod wouldn't have freaked out so much when the wise men told him about the star (Matthew 2). Everyone knew a Messiah was due to come around the time Christ came, yet no one really had any idea how it would happen (Anna and Simeon at the end of Luke 2). This is why movies like Monty Python's Life of Brian are funny to only the uninformed. Sure, it seems funny for a bunch of ancient people to be expecting a Messiah all at once, but . . . like . . . they were, so it's not actually that funny. (It's like saying: "Knock knock" "Who's there?" "Red" "Red who?" "Red Apple! Hahahahah!" It's not funny because apples are red and it's not even a play on words. You would hope that no one over the age of seven would say something as sub-juvenile, because below seven it would be cute, but over seven you'd start to wonder if the kid had mental problems . . . Frankly, I think seven is pushing it.)

People were expecting the Christ to come at this point in history. They even asked John the Baptist if he was the Messiah. This is also why there are a few men recorded in history at this time claiming to be the Christ, but the only one that held any validity was Jesus, which was why the Gospels were written in the first place. People of that day all knew of Jesus first-hand, but what about the generations to follow? The Gospel writers didn't want people to get confused over a different Messiah (Jn. 20:31).

If you read all the prophecies about Jesus' coming, you will see that they kind of fall into two groups: a Suffering Servant, and a Coming King. Some people thought this meant there were going to be two Messiahs, and you can see why, because kings and servants are so utterly opposite one another--especially back then. Most people disregarded the suffering prophecies entirely. I mean, a suffering servant doesn't seem Messiah-like at all. No wonder none of the disciples understood Jesus when He blatantly told them over and over, "I'm going to be put to death soon, and then I will rise from the dead." (Mk. 9:31; Mt. 16:21). It doesn't make sense for someone who will ultimately conquer evil to suffer and die, so we can understand the disciples confusion. Of course nowadays, Christians realize that the prophecies point to two times that Christ has and will come to earth: first, the Servant; next, the King.

So the obvious question is why did God make these prophecies so open to interpretation? The answer I once heard a pastor offer is that God knew that Satan was and is a Bible scholar. This makes perfect sense. God specifically presents His prophecies in such a way that those with open eyes can watch for them and realize them when they happen, and so that the Devil and his followers will be completely baffled. The Devil is really clever. He knows His Bible better than any Jew or Christian. He knows the signs, he just doesn't know where they point all the time. Why not? Because fortunately his arrogance completely blinds him up until the point that it is too late for him to do anything about it. For instance, the point I just made about Jesus' telling the disciples that He would be killed. He told his disciples this in confidence, but when He talked to the masses He always said that they would destroy "this temple" and in three days He would raise it again (Jn 2:19). Of course Judas, even though he was a disciple and ostensibly on the inside, had dealings directly with Satan (Lk 22:3; Jn. 13:2), but this didn't give Satan any more information than he already had, and probably confused him even more. If Satan had ever realized what Christ was going to do, he would have done what he could to stop Christ from dying on the cross. As it turned out, Satan played a HUGE role in actually sending Christ to the death that would atone for sin. . . which is the kind of irony that I find hilarious.

Now, with all this in mind, these passages seem ten times clearer to me. Why did Satan tempt Jesus with bread, falling from the temple, and kingdoms of the earth? Simply this: because He thought Jesus was coming as a reigning King and could be flattered into failure--not just to get Jesus to fail in a moment of weakness. I have various reasons for believing this.

First of all, as I've already mentioned, God had basically hung a big blinking neon "Messiah" sign on Jesus at his baptism. Jesus was now out in the open and on display. So Satan had no more reason to wonder who the Messiah was. I'm sure he'd had a pretty good idea that He was Jesus because of the angels, shepherds, wise men, star, and the "I have to be about My Father's business" episodes. But if there was any doubt as to Jesus' being legit, the baptism pretty much put it to rest. (Probably another and better conclusion would be to say that God simply didn't let Satan near Jesus until this point in the wilderness.) Anyway, Satan knew how easy it had been to get Adam to fall. I mean, Jesus is the Son of God, right? Does that mean He's going to be as consistent as God or can He be tripped up like Adam? Would he almost crack like Job? You wonder these things when you are Satan. (This shows that the 100% God and the 100% man conundrum is hard for the spirit world to fathom too, so don't feel bad if you can't wrap your head around it. You are a created being, so it's hard. I know. That's why God gives us Biblical prophecy and faith.)

Both passages talk about Jesus being in the wilderness for 40 days and nights and how hungry He was. I have heard many pastors focus on this so that they could point out that the evils of this world are so strong and that we should never underestimate the power of the Devil, because even Christ Himself had to struggle and fight against temptation. However, I find that point to be completely extra-Biblical. Jesus wasn't weak because He was hungry. He was hungry because he had no food in His system. There is no way Jesus was weakened in this situation. In fact, science has shown us that after an extended period of time of fasting, the body actually stops desiring food. But besides that and the point that is so often missed is that Jesus was fasting on purpose. A Christian doesn't fast by mistake. He fasts for the express purpose of spending time alone with God (or maybe for health reasons . . . but still there is a purposeful reason). This was a time of spiritual strengthening.

How do I know He wasn't weak? Because He shows no signs of being weak. He doesn't skip a beat after Satan offers each lie. He doesn't falter or hesitate or consider Satan's ramblings for one second. After all, the only time in the Bible when we see Christ in a stressed out, perhaps faltering state is in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was sweating, "as it were, drops of blood" (Lk. 22:44) and asking the Father to "let this cup pass from Me." Even then, He wasn't weak. A weak man does not deliver Himself into the hands of the enemy to be slaughtered. So to say Jesus was somehow in a state of weakness in the wilderness, disgusts me to say the least.

Okay, so now let's get into the temptations themselves. I find some strange things when I study these temptations. Something especially odd is that there seems to be an obvious temptation missing. Think about these two words: "Temptation" and "Man." What pops into your head? Probably something like "lust" or "sex." However, none of Satan's temptations have to do with sex--at least not on the surface. It seems kind of weird of me to bring this up, and this is where I hope I'm not being esoteric, because no one can prove anything based on what Satan didn't say to Jesus. I just find this omission really interesting. If I had been Satan and Jesus had actually been in a weakened state, I would have appeared as a beautiful woman, because the success rate of the temptation working would have been so much more likely. Who really knows. At the very least, in my mind, this omission further negates the whole "Jesus being in a weakened state" theory. We all know what men can do in a moment of weakness--it's cliche--and Satan didn't even bother with it. Be that as it may, I realize the lack of a sexual temptation is not a great point, because it's actually a non-point; I just find it interesting.

Actually, before I leave this sexual temptation conundrum alone, I want to make one more point about it. Satan is the Father of Lies. He's not the Father of Fornication. He uses lies to tempt people into sins that he is almost 100% sure they will give into. He probably knew that fornication would never work on Christ since Christ views marriage as a picture of Himself and the church, and so he went for temptations that would be more compelling to a potential King wandering in the wilderness without food.

. . . Okay . . . Enough speculations.

As foolish as it would be for Satan to appear as a beautiful woman, the three actual temptations seem extremely foolish as well. I'm going to point out their foolishness first and then I will tell you how Satan was actually pretty clever.

The first temptation was for Jesus to turn the rocks around Him into bread. How stupid is that? First of all, wouldn't that have occurred to Jesus, Creator of the Universe, within the 40 days prior to this temptation? As I've said, Jesus' purpose was to make Himself physically hungry so He could become spiritually strong. In other words, He was in something of a more focused spiritual state than if He'd been physically full.

So why did Satan offer such a dumb temptation? Well, first of all, Satan doesn't understand the strength of the Holy Spirit. If he did, he never would have thought himself capable of being as great as God (Isaiah 14). All Satan can see is physical and emotional strength and weakness. Look at his tormenting of Job. He was 100% sure that he could get Job to curse God if he made his life a living hell, but it didn't work because of the strength of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the person of God who works directly with our faith; we give Him a little, and He does a lot. He does this great lot for our sakes, but most importantly so that He will receive glory through us even though we are sinners (Rom. 8:12-17).

So imagine a Being who doesn't just have that "mustard seed" of faith, but rather is the Culmination of All Faith; then imagine Him being full of the Holy Spirit. That's not really a Force to reckon with, is it? . . . Yet, Satan did, because he is not wise. Still, you have to hand it to Satan. Jesus was 100% man, so I guess tempting Him with bread was worth a shot. However, Jesus didn't even blink an eye, so Satan had to try something else.

(Now, if you read both passages, you will notice that the second and third temptations are switched. [By the way, I am going to explain them in the Matthew order]. Why is that? If the order really bothers you, please study the texts and let me know what you discover. Currently, this order problem doesn't bother me, because I think that in God's sovereignty He knows that the order of the temptations is not important. I mean, that has to be the answer because Luke wrote his book after Matthew, and Luke would have read Matthew's account before writing his own--especially since Matthew's account was first-hand and Luke had never met Jesus. The point of Luke's book was to inform his friend, Theophilus--which is an honorary title and probably denotes that this friend was some kind of educated person [especially if he had the ability to read this letter]--and would not have made that big of a mistake in a letter to an educated person, so there is little to no reason to think that it even is a mistake. [Look, just read Luke 1:1-4. He explains himself better than I am here, anyway. He's a doctor for heaven's sakes . . .] Therefore, the point is not the order of the temptations, but rather the fact that the temptations had no effect on Christ.

[This is yet another reason why I don't hold to every word of the Bible being somehow mystically perfect. The Bible has proven glitches in it--the end of Mark, the story of the adulteress in John, etc.--but those mistakes never destroy the message as a whole. However, you can only see that message if you read the Bible systematically--applying every verse against every other verse in the Bible. If there is a verse that negates your interpretation of another verse, then your interpretation needs to be reworked. Likewise, it does no good to nit pick semantics when there is a bigger picture. That's how cults start.])

Since Jesus proved Himself stronger than physical hunger, Satan had to try something else. Perhaps if Jesus were coming as a King, He had the arrogance of a king? All earthly kings that Satan knew had high opinions of themselves. Since Jesus' arrogance was (and is) non-existent, this temptation failed too, but let's delve a bit into this second temptation and see exactly why it is so foolish.

I mean, think about how stupid it was to tell Jesus to jump off a building.

You know? I've always thought that was a dumb temptation even when I was little, because why would Jesus even need angels to protect Himself? Jesus could have flown by Himself. Jesus could have landed soft as a daisy. He could have fallen, brushed Himself off, and then walked away. I think this really just shows Satan to be the father of the unsaved theologians of the world. They have all this Biblical knowledge, yet . . . they still somehow reject Christ, because they read the Bible with blinded eyes. He, like those theologians, just wanted to show Jesus that he knew the Bible inside and out in hopes of intimidating Jesus. Satan has the knowledge of a scholar, but the brains of a five-year-old bully when it comes to application of that knowledge. I think Satan figured on one hand that if Jesus did it and the angels did save Him then He was indeed God, but if he wasn't God, Jesus would at the very least kill Himself (?!). Why anyone would think Jesus would be dumb enough to fall into that obvious trap, is beyond me. Even the Pharisees and Sadducees came up with more thought-out ways to stump Jesus.

This is such a big let-down to those of us expecting more from Satan, because his first lie to humanity was so intelligent! Start out speaking truth, flatter the hearer, and then mix in a little white lie. Fool-proof. No doubt Satan was hoping that jumping off the temple would flatter Jesus. I mean, the temple was like the biggest, most well-known structure in Jerusalem. Of course jumping off it and surviving would be huge proof one's Messiah-hood. This is might work on other humans, but doing tricks wasn't Christ's purpose.

The third lie is the dumbest of all. Here, Satan tells Jesus that he will give Him all the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus will bow to him. This is totally stupid for three main reasons. First of all, God created all the kingdoms of the earth by and for Jesus (John 1) . . . so Jesus already owned them. However, maybe Satan was talking about the parts of the kingdoms that Jesus didn't own? Maybe he was telling Jesus that He could have all the sinful pleasures of the world? But what would a Man who spends most of His time at the right-hand of the Almighty want with transient worldly treasures? Stupid. Lastly, and the dumbest of all, is that the qualification for gaining these kingdoms was prostration before Satan. So . . . if Jesus had worshipped Satan, this act would have made Satan not only master of Jesus, but also supreme master of all the kingdoms that he had just promised to give Jesus--so Jesus would actually gain nothing and lose everything. Grrrrrreat. Any five-year-old could see right through this plan! This seems to be the cheapest and most unlikely attempt of all for Satan to get Jesus to fail. It causes one to wonder if maybe Satan made these temptations up at the last minute . . .?

Now, I can't just leave it there, and I hope you realize when I'm being "tongue in cheek," because Satan is actually, in fact, not an idiot. So why did He offer Christ such stupid temptations? Well, I believe that Satan was testing Jesus--not to get Him to crack in a moment of weakness--but to see exactly of what Christ was made. He wanted to see what he really was up against. Any information you can gain about your enemy will potentially help you to know how to attack them later. The really funny thing is that Jesus didn't give him much to work with! I mean, all of these temptations would have had potential if Jesus were indeed a mere man. All three of Satan's temptations had worked on real men before. Men eat when they are hungry, so Satan tested Christ's physical endurance--(see: Esau's Birthright). Men like to show off, so Satan tested Christ's humility (see: David Counts his Fighting Men). Men like to get power the easiest way possible, so Satan offered Him ultimate power for one small act of failure (see: The Fall of Man).

Also, maybe Satan was actually smarter than it seems. Maybe he was playing the fool so that Jesus would get over-confident and fail? Maybe he was fronting stupid arrogance in hopes that Christ wouldn't see his real motives? Either way, it didn't work.

I think this story is really the fabric of the point C.S. Lewis made in the Screwtape Letters. Temptations of this world are actually ridiculously foolish because we have been offered so much more from God. Demons don't realize this, so they tempt us with what they do understand. This is why we should read our Bibles. On the surface, this story shows us that a memorized Bible verse can go a long way in fighting Satan, but that's not what makes Satan go away. I mean, Satan knows Bible verses too, but he leaves Jesus alone after a mere three temptations?! Is his leaving really because Jesus threw three in-context Bible verses at Him? I mean, when you talk to someone of a different faith, do they ever leave you alone after you quote three Bible verses? No. So that's not the real point here. Satan didn't leave because of the verses Christ quoted. He left because, well, for one thing, Jesus commands Him to leave (Mt. 4:10 "Go Satan!. . ." and Lk. 4:12, ". . . you shall not put the Lord your God to the test."). Satan, whether he wants to admit it or not, is actually a slave to Christ's commands and had no other alternative but to leave. But besides that, I think the reason Satan left was because Christ wasn't acting like the conquering hero he was expecting and this puzzled him. Luke 4:13 says that he left until he could come back at an opportune time. This denotes that he had enough information to think about, he was probably frustrated because nothing was working like he'd hoped, and he needed time to rethink some things . . . Also, and this is just my opinion, but I'm pretty sure that Satan was petrified after he saw what he was up against. I'd get out of there as soon as I could too.

Now let me get back to why I don't like the use of Bible verses as some magic wand to fight temptations. First of all, I don't think that memorizing Scripture is bad. It isn't bad; it's good. It's the Word of God. Is there anything better with which to fill your mind? Absolutely not. However, this does not mean using the Bible as a big debate forum with which to cut people down to size. Yes, Hebrews 4:12 says that the Bible is a two-edged sword, but in context this verse is saying that God's Word is Truth so much so that it can cut through the most skeptical of hearts, change lives, and has staying-power throughout history. It is not, however, telling us that we should run around using Bible verses as holy hand grenades. That is immature at least and malicious at worst.

Have you ever been in a debate with someone where you both just hurled verses at each other? If you want this experience, find a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon. If all you do is hurl verses, you end up not getting anywhere. You are both hurling verses and no one ends up backing down, because each side is more interested in one-upping the other rather than helping the other side to find Truth. Trust me; I've (ashamedly) been there, done that. If the interpretation of this story is merely that we should fight the Devil with Bible verses, then why does the Devil, who is sooooo much stronger than we, leave after only three verses? I mean, discussions I have with mere people last much longer than three.

The main and final reason that Satan left Christ after three temptations (which Lk 4:13 kind of leaves room for perhaps more than three, but still...) was because Christ had a perfect understanding of what His Father had to offer and what the world had to offer. Everything versus nothing. There was no reason for Jesus to crack. This is why Jesus is our example in this situation. Yes, it's good to fight temptations in our minds with a Bible verse, but that's not what gives God glory (Obviously just quoting Scripture alone doesn't give God glory because Satan does it!). God is glorified when we realize that ultimately there was no reason for Jesus to give in to temptation because temptations are empty traps, so there is no reason for us to give into them either. C.S. Lewis said it best: "Choose the world and you get nothing. Choose Christ and you get Him and the world thrown in" (paraphrased).




addendum:

Something else occurs to me when reading this. Both passages refer to Christ having the Holy Spirit with Him before Satan enters the scene. Also, He tells Satan that "You will worship the Lord your God, and Him only will you serve." Now thinking about us Christians, it makes perfect sense why we should not worship anyone but God. Of course worshippers of a deity would probably only worship that deity . . . but a Christian especially should, because by bowing before another god, he is actually making the indwelling Holy Spirit bow before another god! Therefore, anyone who says they are a Christian, yet worships another god, is obviously not a Christian because the Holy Spirit cannot worship anything lower than Himself! (This is not to say that we shouldn't treat people of other religions with respect! There is a huge different between respecting someone created in God's image and worshipping a false god.)