Jesus Baptism

Jesus Baptism & Temptation

according to tradition, the site where Jesus was baptized was located at/near the point of Elijahs ascension (Wadi el-Charrar)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

The Wadi el-Charrar

Friday, August 19, 2011 Friday, August 19, 2011

Setting the Stage

Tidings of the wilderness prophet and his wonderful announcement spread throughout Galilee. . . In Nazareth it was told in the carpenter shop that had been Josephs, and One recognized the call. His time had come. Turning from His daily toil, He bade farewell to His mother, and followed in the steps of His countrymen who were ocking to the Jordan.
Desire of Ages, 109

Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee [Nazareth, see Mk 1:9] to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is tting for us to fulll all righteousness. Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came
Friday, August 19, 2011

up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Why Was Jesus Baptized?

Jesus did not receive baptism as a confession of guilt on His own account. He identied Himself with sinners, taking the steps that we are to take, and doing the work that we must do. His life of suffering and patient endurance after His baptism was also an example to us (DA 111).
Friday, August 19, 2011

The Temptation & Victory

Friday, August 19, 2011

The Context
. . . When Jesus entered the wilderness, He was shut in by the Fathers glory. Absorbed in communion with God, He was lifted above human weakness. But the glory departed, and He was left to battle with temptation. . . For forty days He fasted and prayed. Weak and emaciated from hunger, worn and haggard with mental agony, . . . Now was Satans opportunity. There came to the Saviour, as if in answer to His prayers, one in the guise of an angel from Heaven. He claimed to have a commission from God to declare that Christs fast was at an end. . . (DA 118)
Friday, August 19, 2011

Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. 4 But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, and, In their hands they shall
Friday, August 19, 2011

bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the LORD your God. 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me. 10 Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve. 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Nature of the Temptation

The enticements which Christ resisted were those that we nd it so difcult to withstand. They were urged upon Him in as much greater degree as His character is superior to ours. With the terrible weight of the sins of the world upon Him, Christ withstood the test upon [1] appetite, upon the [2] love of the world, and upon that [3] love of display which leads to presumption. These were the temptations that overcame Adam and Eve, and that so readily overcome us (DA 116-117).
Friday, August 19, 2011

IF
Temptation 1: And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. (4:3) Temptation 2: Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, and, In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. (4:5-6)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Signicance of If
1. Relationship to words: This is my beloved Son. . . (Matt 3:17) 2. Signicance of If 3. Compliance = Acceptance

It Is Written
Temptation 1: But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Temptation 2: Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the LORD your God. Temptation 3: Then Jesus said to him, Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.
Friday, August 19, 2011

Satan: Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, If You are the

see/compare Gen 3:1

4. Questions how God views you 5. Temptation of selfjustication

not without a struggle. . . (DA 119)

6. Jesus not to work a miracle for Himself. WHY?

Friday, August 19, 2011

Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, and, In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Signicance of It is Written
1. authority of Scripture (canon) 2. Relationship to Scripture & victory

Signicance of It is Written
3. Satan also uses Scripture: It is written

When assailed by temptation, look not to circumstances or to the weakness of self, but to the power of the word. All its strength is yours (DA 123)

As Jesus before used the word of God to sustain His faith, the tempter now uses it to countenance his deception (DA 124). How did/does Satan use Scripture to deceive?

Friday, August 19, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

Faith vs Presumption
Faith is in no sense allied to presumption. Only he who has true faith is secure against presumption. For presumption is Satan's counterfeit of faith. Faith claims God's promises, and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises, but uses them as Satan did, to excuse transgression. . . It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the conditions on which mercy is to be granted (DA 126)
Friday, August 19, 2011

Lessons to Be Learned
1. Satan attacks at weakest moments 2. hunger, thirst, loss, death not to deter us from a thus saith the Lord 3. inability to control appetites & passions = ! mental/moral capacity

Friday, August 19, 2011

Nature of Christ
Satan had pointed to Adam's sin as proof that God's law was unjust, and could not be obeyed. In our humanity, Christ was to redeem Adam's failure. But when Adam was assailed by the tempter, none of the effects of sin were upon him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing the full vigor of mind and body. He was surrounded with the glories of Eden, and was in daily communion with heavenly beings. It was not thus with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to cope with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the inrmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation. . . . our Saviour took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear which He has not endured (DA 117).

Notable Quotes
In our own strength it is impossible for us to deny the clamors of our fallen nature. Through this channel Satan will bring temptation upon us. Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human being, to take advantage of hereditary weakness, and by his false insinuations to ensnare all whose trust is not in God. And by passing over the ground which man must travel, our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome (DA 122-123)
Friday, August 19, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

Notable Quotes
The tempter can never compel us to do evil. He cannot control minds unless they are yielded to his control. The will must consent, faith must let go its hold upon Christ, before Satan can exercise his power upon us. But every sinful desire we cherish affords him a foothold. Every point in which we fail of meeting the divine standard is an open door by which he can enter to tempt and destroy us (DA 125).
Friday, August 19, 2011

Notable Quotes
"The prince of this world cometh," said Jesus, "and hath nothing in Me." John 14:30. There was in Him nothing that responded to Satan's sophistry. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. So it may be with us. Christ's humanity was united with divinity; He was tted for the conict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature. So long as we are united to Him by faith, sin has no more dominion over us. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to lay fast hold upon the divinity of Christ, that we may attain to perfection of character. (DA 123)
Friday, August 19, 2011