The Wilderness Walk Leads to Paradise :: Matthew 4:1-11

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[Introduction]

Lent is our season in the wilderness ... our season among the wild things. 

1.

Immediately after Jesus was baptized, the Spirit led him into the deep, dark, dry place called the wilderness, the desert (v 1). The Gospel of Mark also tells us that this is the place with the wild beasts (1:12). Scripturally speaking, as a waterless place, this is where unclean spirits wander restlessly. You won’t normally find the Son of God here, but today it’s where he needed to be. The Israelites, you will remember, were in the wilderness for forty years after God rescued them from the hand of Pharaoh, set them free from slavery in Egypt and to be tested. Jesus was there for forty days and nights (v 2), setting you and me free from your bondage to sin. The Holy Spirit had led him there immediately after his baptism to be tempted by the devil (v 1). 

We can describe the temptations Jesus faced as materialism, egoism, and spiritualism ... lusts of the body, mind, and spirit (vv 3, 5, 8) ... but we will never truly understand how overwhelming those three actually were for Jesus. I wonder if the most challenging temptation he faced wasn’t the more subtle question of who he really was ... True God and True Man. You might recognize that temptation of Christ this way ... If you are a Christian, then prove it. 

Of course, we could all just try to forget all that ... blissfully looking the other way ... acting like we have control over our lives, that we can make a decision to come to Jesus (SC II 3), and that our good works and worship will prove we deserve a place in paradise. But we are in the wilderness with the wild things. And the temptations of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh are overwhelming.

Never quite happy with our lot in life, with our home and our worship, and being perpetually certain that we are saved simply by virtue that we were baptized ... just like the Jews think they are saved simply by being chosen ... we all are, by nature, beasts trapped in the wilderness. And we will die here without help from above. And that REALLY should scare you. 

2.

Of course, that is not the way it was meant to be. When God created everything, he saw that it was all very good. He planted the garden for us and gave it to us to enjoy its fruit ... the fruit of harmony, of abundance, and of communion with God. There were no wild beasts there to threaten us ... there was neither sin nor death ... we didn’t know anything about the wilderness. 

But Satan’s word has been luring us away from the light into the night ever since and we reject it. You heard him again today ... asking the woman ... with her man right by her side ... Did God really say? (Gen 3:2). And we’ve been questioning the Word ever since ... adding to it (Gen 3:3), subtracting from it (v 6) ... blaming God, blaming each other ... saying the devil made me do it ... just like the man and the woman. The result is ... we’ve been dying with them ever since. We’ve been cast into the wilderness to sweat the big and small stuff alike. But God does not desire the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11). He desires all to be saved (2 Tm 2:4). 

3.

So he sent Jesus where we are. In his baptism that fulfilled all scripture, we saw Jesus standing in and with the water. We saw the heavens opened to him. And we saw the Holy Spirit descending upon him. We heard the Father announcing that Jesus is his son, the beloved, in whom he is well pleased. We saw the Word of God connected with the water, as well as the Holy Spirit working through the Word. And we now know the water of Baptism has become a washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

In our Baptism, our absolution, and our feasting at his altar, the Father does the same with us ... giving us his Word, cleansing us, nourishing us, delivering the forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He has opened the heavens to us, declaring that he is well pleased with us. 

As Paul reminds us in Romans 6[:3-5], We who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. And few things make God more well pleased. 

This baptism now saves you (1 Pt 3:21). This baptism clothes you in his righteousness (Gal 3:27). It unites you with him and one another so that we can enjoy his feast and never hunger or thirst again ... even when we are in the wilderness. As Paul said in Galatians, Colossians, and Ephesians ... It is now no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us (Gal 2:20) ... You who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us (Col 2:13) ... He has sanctified you, cleansing you by the washing of water and the word (Eph 5:26). Yes ...

JESUS HAS PASSED THROUGH THE WATERS OF HOLY BAPTISM INTO THE WILDERNESS TO BRING US OUT OF DEATH INTO ETERNAL LIFE

4.

Despite that grace applied to me ... from time to time ... I’m still in danger. If the devil can tempt Jesus, he most certainly will tempt you, dear Christian. He knows I would much rather be strong, wild, and free than humble, obedient, and a servant to all. 

That’s true for you, too, isn’t it? 

In the wilderness ... the tempter’s lies urge us to indulge in our physical desires, our emotional desires, our spiritual desires. He tempts us to forget that when we call ... YHWH (Our Father, Our Lord, Our Triune God) will answer because he is on our side ... and therefore, we have nothing to fear (Ps 118:5-6). He tempts us to think that we need our own bread to live. He tempts us to think it’s perfectly OK to test God by holding back the first-fruits ... by grumbling about the gifts he provides ... and to stop worshiping the Lord our God and start worshiping ourselves ... thinking that he will overlook our sin just because we are baptized. 

5.

It is therefore for days like these that Lent was made. Jesus is leading us into eternal life.

So let us enjoy this pause in the wilderness until Easter. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to graciously lead us and guide us ... knowing that our Heavenly Father gives all we need for this journey ... that his only Son and his means of grace will lead us to the cross and the empty tomb and into eternal life.

With this understanding, suddenly, Lent is not only forty days in the wilderness, but it is a quarantine ... which you should know comes from the Latin word for “forty”). It is a forty day quarantine set aside for our redemption and our healing from a toxic world. 

Take refuge in the Word of God. Give up your envy and apathy. Slow down. Stop. Pray. Move away from the constant rush to fix everything you can’t control. And approach the throne of grace with confidence because Jesus has already conquered the devil’s temptations, not as an example, but to give you victory and rest before you enter the Promised Land ... in Jesus’ name.

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