"The Rights of God" # 37

Christ and the Rights of the Father (continued)

This is the negative side to start with. The positive side, however, is in the fact that God now had such a Man, that somebody was there, a Man on this earth, in Whom the rights of God had been completely kept, Who could say: "Not My will, but Thine." In other words: "I don't want to live an earthly life as I want to my liking, but a life in full subjection and dependence on God. Not I, but God!!" Paul writes in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, at verses 14 and 15: "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that One died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him Who for their sakes died and rose again."

Let us express that in the shortest way possible for all of us: From now on I live for God! Nothing outside of Him, everything for Him. This is the way in which God comes to His rights. With reference to Jesus, this was the meaning of His baptism.

"And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.' "

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' "

Then the devil taketh Him up onto the holy city, and setteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto Him, "If thou be the Son of God, cast Thyself down: for it is written, 'He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.' "

Jesus said unto him, "It is written again, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord Thy God.' " Again, the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, "All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me." Then saith Jesus unto him, "Get thee hence, satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve' " (Matthew 17:4-1-10)

We see the Lord taking this stand from the beginning and from that moment everything had to be in agreement with this foundation. This means testing. That is why the road from the Jordan led to the desert. He fasted for forty days and forty nights. Then He was hungry" (Matthew 4:2). A state of physical weakness is always a good prerequisite for temptations from the enemy. The devil selects his occasions in such a way that they seem to promise success. He would have little to hope for, had he come forty days earlier, when Jesus stood in the full power of Him Who had spoken from an open heaven: "This is My beloved Son." When, however, circumstances seemed suitable to him, he questioned the sonship of the Son of God with the word: "If Thou are the Son of God..." A promising position for the enemy! A person who is close to dying of hunger and thirst, for whom something has to happen quickly, if he is to stay alive! At that moment the devil attacks. That is temptation.

Do we not have the right to dare to do something for the sake of staying alive? The enemy whispers to us: "If you don't do it, you will die." For us, however, everything should revolve around the issue, without which nothing existed for the Lord Jesus: to persevere in dependence on the Father for as long as He wants.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 38)