We now turn to the one more formally recognized as the Son of God, that being Jesus of Nazareth. Naturally, when we read in the New Testament about the Son of God, it is Jesus that is the being referenced, and we therefore see Him as the last Adam, as something of the embodiment of Israel in His being cursed with the exile of death but then blessed with a restoration to life, and as the king of Israel (the Messiah) that demonstrates discernment and desires the just rule of God over His people. Therefore, we know Jesus as the Son of God, at least partially, within the context of the vision and concept of son-ship as it is presented throughout the history of Israel. If we do not understand and take seriously this history, and in so doing realize at each step of the way in the revelation of His son, that God is taking steps to assert His just rule over His creation and to destroy the works of the devil, thereby revealing His love, then we will not be able to make proper sense of Jesus’ mission.
Jesus, of course, when He is understood to be Israel’s Messiah, is also understood to be the physical embodiment of Israel’s God, as indicated by the prophets. He is thence also the revelation of love of God. In the accounts of His life that are presented by the Gospel writings, we see Jesus alternately taking up the various mantles of son-ship that had been worn by the sons of God that had preceded Him. His time of testing in the wilderness following His baptism is highly demonstrative of this, and it is two-fold. In it, He demonstrates a congruity with Adam.
Utilizing Mark’s account, we find that Jesus has been set forth before men, presumably by God with a voice from heaven, as “My one dear Son,” in whom the Father takes “great delight” (Mark 1:11). In accompaniment, it is said that the Spirit descended on Him like a dove (1:10). This coming of the Spirit upon Jesus, strangely enough, puts us in mind of the record of the Gospel of John, when Jesus, after the Resurrection, appears to His disciples, “breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (20:22b). It seems odd to make this connection here, but it is difficult to avoid doing so. However, this will be quite instructive for us a bit later on, when we finally are able to consider the full impact of the statement that “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). In turn, Mark’s record causes us to consider the account of Adam in Genesis, when God “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (2:7b). So the experience of the Spirit coming upon Jesus, together with the proclamation (revelation) of Jesus as God’s dear Son, is analogous to the story of Adam, as God breathed into Him the breath of life, thus animating Adam for service by way of His power.
The analogy does not stop there however, as Mark goes on to inform us that “The Spirit immediately drove Him into the wilderness,” where Jesus spent “forty days, enduring temptations from Satan” (1:13b). Though Mark does not go into detail concerning those temptations, we find that Matthew and Luke do. Three temptations are recorded. In the first, Satan tempts Jesus to turn stone into bread. Second, Jesus is tempted with rule over the whole of the world, if He will but worship Satan. Thirdly, Satan suggests that Jesus make a grand display by throwing Himself down from the top of the Temple, suggesting that God would intervene to rescue Him. In the first and third of the temptations, interestingly enough, Satan’s challenge is prefaced by the words “If you are the Son of God” (Luke 4:3,9). So Satan’s challenges to Jesus come within the context of whether or not He is the Son of God.
These temptations, and the written record of these temptations, reflect upon a time at which a messiah is expected. This messiah would be the son of God, in that he would be Israel’s king, but he would also be the Son of God, in that it was believed to be the case that God would take upon Himself human flesh in order to personally intervene on behalf of His people, establishing Israel’s rule over the nations. As Israel’s king therefore, this meant that God was going to establish His own physically present rule over the whole of the world. So when Satan tempts Jesus, what He is tempting Jesus to do is to take a shortcut to acclimation as king. He could turn stone into bread, and with such a miraculous demonstration, prove Himself to be the messiah, and therefore immediately hailed as king. We see that such would be a reasonable expectation on the part of Satan, because when Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fishes, the people attempted to come and make Him king by force, causing Jesus to quickly withdraw into isolation. Jesus knew that there was only one way for Him to ascend to the throne, in which He would be recognized as God, and that was going to be the path of suffering on an altogether unlikely cross. That is why Jesus refutes Satan’s insistence to worship him in exchange for earthly rule, and why He also rejects the idea of putting God to the test by casting Himself from the Temple to force a miraculous rescue that would have the likely effect of an immediate elevation to the throne of Israel.
What does this have to do with Adam? Well, where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. When Satan tempted Adam with being like God, we know that Adam acceded to the temptation. When Satan tempted Jesus with the opportunity to show Himself forth as God, Jesus refused. Subtle to be sure, but here, in the wilderness, Jesus destroyed a work of the devil. By holding on to the fate of suffering, love was on display.
No comments:
Post a Comment