In the Wilderness

Matthew 4.1-11: Wilderness Victory (1)

Pray Psalm 95.1, 2, 6.
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Sing Psalm 95.1, 2, 6.
(Tidings: O Zion, Haste, Thy Mission High Fulfilling)
Come, let us sing with joy to God, our Savior!
Let us with joy to Him, our Rock, bow down!
Come now before Him, grateful for His favor!
Let joyful psalms break forth from all around!
Refrain v. 6
Come let us worship, kneel to our LORD;
worship our Maker: Father, Holy Spirit, Word.

Read Matthew 4; meditate on Matthew 4.1.
Meditate on the word, “wilderness”. What would it be like?

Prepare.
1. Where did Jesus go after He was baptized? How did He know to go there?

2. Why did He go there?

Meditate.
This has to be one of the saddest passages in all of Scripture: “It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Now it came to pass in the fortieth year…” (Deut. 1.2, 3). The generation of God’s people whom He delivered from Egypt died in the wilderness, after forty years of wandering in disobedience. They gave in to their lusts; failed to believe in the promises awaiting them in the land of Canaan; grumbled and complained about being hungry and thirsty; disrespected their anointed leaders; took up idols of various kinds; and tested God in many other ways. In short, they failed their test. Jesus would recapitulate their tragedy, but with a totally different outcome.

After His baptism, Jesus “was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness”. The wilderness was a frightening place, inhabited by wild beasts and demons, and offering nothing of sustenance to any who might venture there. The wilderness is a symbol of the world under the devil’s dominion. For thousands of years, the devil and his minions had spread lies and nurtured miseries over all the earth, all in an attempt to mock God and, capture His throne. But all that was about to change.

Jesus marched into the wilderness with one multi-faceted purpose: To wrest from Satan all his dominion; to establish the irresistible authority and power of the Word of God; to bind the devil and his ilk before beginning the plunder of all his possessions; and to claim the promise of the promised land for all the groaning and travailing world. He had come to bring the Kingdom to the wilderness of the world; and He possessed the fullness of God’s Spirit and skill in wielding God’s Sword to achieve these aims.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“For forty days and nights I shadowed Him.
Just why the Spirit drove Him to this grim
and desolate place was not clear to me, not
at first, that is. The longer that I thought
about it, though, the more I came to see
that there were parallels between what He
was led to do and what the people who
had covenanted with the Lord went through
so many years ago. For as He thrust
them out into the wilderness, to trust
in Him for all their needs—a gloriously failed
experiment—so now His Son availed
Himself of this grim solitude, this place
of fasting and privation from the face
of God. What lesson did the Spirit lead
Him here to learn? Was there some pressing need
for Him to meet, some preparation to
fulfill, or obligation He must do
before He would be ready to begin
His bold attempt to overthrow both sin
and me? I puzzled on these questions as
I watched Him growing weaker from His fast.”

So begins Chapter IX of Satan Bound/A Theology of Evil.
Satan, the epitome of evil and lies, even fooled himself.
He mistakenly thought he could unseat Jesus, reclaim Him, as it were, for his nefarious purposes.
But the father of lies, lied to himself. 
Otherwise, why even attempt this ridiculous exchange in the wilderness, 
unless he at least half-heartedly believed it would prove successful?

Satan may be deceived, but God is not.
“The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth.
The LORD laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming…
The LORD knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever…
But the wicked shall perish; and the enemies of the LORD, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away” (Ps. 37.12, 13, 18, 20).

Jesus, always victorious, bound Satan: at His birth, during His life, by His death, through His resurrection, and now as He reigns upon earth and in heaven.

Jesus has never lost a small skirmish or an epic battle against His enemy. Nor will He ever.
His victory is secure. Now and forever.

It is only with the workers in the Kingdom that problems arise. Small skirmishes are lost, and occasionally we are vanquished in epic battles—both personally and corporately. But it does not need to be this way. We are called to be victorious. We know and live in the truth; our enemy does not.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. 
And His commandments are not burdensome. 
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. 
And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn. 5.3-5). 

Escape the wilderness—as Jesus did—through the Word of God. 
It is living, active (Heb. 4.1), and has “irresistible power and authority.”

Reflect.
1. What “wilderness” experiences have you had? How did you go through them?

2. Why do you suppose God leads us into such times of deprivation and desolation?

3. How can you encourage a fellow believer who is floundering in the wilderness?

The Lord does whatever is necessary for our salvation by both acting and being acted upon. He submitted himself to being led up there to wrestle against the devil. Now we should not be troubled if, after our baptism, we too have to endure great temptations. We should not treat this as if unexpected but continue to endure all things nobly, as though it were happening in the natural course of things. John Chrysostom (344-407), The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 13.1

Pray Psalm 95.3-11.
As you go out into the wilderness of the world, into your Personal Mission Field, listen to and listen for the voice of the Lord, to use you for His Kingdom and glory.

Sing Psalm 95.3-11.
(Tidings: O Zion, Haste, Thy Mission High Fulfilling)
Great are You, LORD, a King above all nations.
All of earth’s depths lie hidden in Your hand.
Yours are the mountains, Yours the sea, You made it;
You by Your hands created the dry land.
Refrain, v. 6
Come let us worship, kneel to our LORD;
Worship our Maker: Father, Holy Spirit, Word.

You are our God, we are Your sheep, Your people:
Speak, LORD, and let us hearken to Your Word.
Let not our hearts grow hard through sin, and feeble,
as when our fathers sinned against You, LORD.
Refrain

Long years You loathed that wicked generation,
who in their hearts, rebelled against Your path.
Them You forsook, and kept from Your salvation;
them You subjected to Your fearsome wrath.
Refrain

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

For a closer look at what happened in the wilderness of Judea and what that matters so much, order a copy of our book, Satan Bound.

Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast continues readings from If Men Will Pray. Our Crosfigell teaching letter begins a new series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column begins a new series on the Church. Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.