NT Framework - He didn't Cheat!

Indeed He could have cheated and solved His problems by using his divine attributes, but then He would not have lived by faith as we need to and He wouldn't have qualified as our Savior.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Welcome And Lesson Setup

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Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy

Angelic Conflict Over Nations

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it.

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So let's talk a little bit about the conflict, the angelic conflict in the Old Testament. What was it like? Well, we've already discussed it. We've been through these doctrines. So in the Old Testament, the conflict was in the spiritual realm between fallen and unfainted fallen angels that warred against one another for power above the nations. We use Daniel 10 as a great example. This angel trying to break through to get a message to Daniel, and he got hung up in the airspace over Iran for what ended up being 24 full days. And he had Michael, the archangel, come along, and together they fought off this demon, and he was able to get through with his message to Daniel. So you have this conflict occurring in the spiritual realm above nations. The most serious target in the angelic conflict of the Old Testament is the Messiah. In other words, destroy the Messiah at his birth. This is the um this is the main goal of Satan in the Old Testament, to destroy the Messiah at his birth.

Pharaoh And A Threatened Promise

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We have uh, for example, the story of uh the Hebrew midwives in the book of Ex uh of Exodus. You know, and the Pharaoh says, kill all the baby boys, right? And um these midwives say, Oh, we're not gonna, we're not gonna kill the babies when they're you know come out of the womb. And so finally he set his Egyptian soldiers over it, and they were to go and you know murder every little baby boy. And uh there was one couple that hid their little baby boy in a little ark and floated him down the Nile River, and he was rescued. It turned out to be Moses. But um, so there are a number of uh obviously it's obvious at that time that Satan felt threatened that perhaps the one that was being born at that time was gonna be the Messiah. And so he was trying to destroy the Messiah. Moses wasn't the Messiah, but he was a picture of the Messiah. He was a deliverer, he delivered them from Egypt, but he didn't deliver them from the power of sin, which is what Christ does for us. But he was threatened. He doesn't know when he's coming. See, that's the whole point. Um you remember when the kingdom, the the line of David got so thin

Protecting The Davidic Line

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that there was only one rightful heir to the throne, a little boy king named Josiah. And he got hidden away in the temple for a number of years. So Athaliah wouldn't murder him. Why did Athaliah want to murder? Well, because Satan was working through Athaliah to destroy the Davidic line so there'd be no Messiah. How does the New Testament open?

Herod And The Birth Plot

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After you have the virgin birth there in Matthew chapter one, you have Matthew chapter two. There's a story of Herod the Great. And uh the Magi come looking for him in Jerusalem, and he gets word of all this, of course, and he he sends his uh soldiers to destroy every baby in in around Bethlehem that's two years old and younger. Why? Was that just Herod, or was that Satan behind Herod working through Herod to destroy the Messiah at his birth? See, so this is the main goal of Satan in the Old Testament is to stop the Messiah from coming into the world, because the Messiah, the Messiah has to be a genuine human, and this is what he's trying to stop. If he can stop this, he can stop salvation, because then there's nobody who's a human who can die for humans, right? And so this is his main goal during the Old Testament, is to stop the Messiah from coming into the world as a genuine human. And of course, he failed to kill him through Herod the Great, right?

Satan Changes Tactics After Baptism

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So this introduced a problem. Satan doesn't know who he is until, strangely enough, he's baptized by John the Baptist and he's lit upon, and the words come forth from heaven, you know, my beloved son. He doesn't know until that point. So all those years in Nazareth, when he was growing up as a boy, Satan didn't know where he was or who he was. But he knew that he had failed at this point now to destroy him. And so now he's in big trouble because now there's a person in the world, a real human, who has the possibility of living by faith and dependence on God to produce obedience, which would enable that individual to be restored to Adam's original rule. And that would mean that Satan is dethroned and a member of the human race takes back over control of the earth. So this is the behind-the-scenes like schemes and plots and issues that are going on in the Bible. This when this happens, and Satan, or Jesus is born and he gets through all the attempts in his life, and now he's entering his ministry under John the Baptist, at this point, Satan has to fundamentally alter his tactics. I mean, he can't he can't do things the same way anymore. So now there was a genuine human in the world, he could possibly live by faith and dependence upon the Spirit of God and produce obedience. This would earn him the right to regain Adam's lost rule. Satan was still, of course, the God of this world, but he's very threatened now. And so at this point, what is he going to do? Well, first of all, he wants to cause him to sin, because if he sins, he's just like Adam, and that's it. Okay, game over.

Luke 4 And The Temptation Strategy

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So there's going to be the temptations. But one of the chief temptations, in addition to just causing him to sin, is to get him to utilize his divine attributes. That way, no genuine member of the human race actually lives by faith and produces obedience. Instead, he borrowed from his divine attributes, and so he would be cheating, so to speak. So part of what's going on in the temptations, let's just turn there to Luke chapter 4, is that not only is he cause it trying to tempt him to sin, but he's trying to tempt him to utilize his divine attributes. That way he can't restore what Adam lost. Because he's not really functioning as a genuine human, you see. And that's our whole point with the life of Christ is that in the life of Christ, he has to 100% of the time entirely live by faith in dependence upon the Spirit of God in order to produce obedience. That's what he has to do. This was part of his mission. His mission was more than just coming and dying for the sins of the world. Yes, he came to do that. But it's more than that. His mission was more than just coming and offering the kingdom to Israel, and of course, in light of their rejection, then being crucified. It's more than all that. His mission was more than to come and you know heal the lame and make the blind see, which just showed basically his credentials, you know, who he really was, that he was the Messiah. But part of it was to be the test pilot for the Christian way of life. The test pilot to be to show us that the Christian life can actually be lived successfully. So uh Luke chapter 4, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan. This is after he had been baptized, right? Now Satan knows exactly who he is. See, he did not know. He did not know. I mean, the guy lived about 30 years walking around, and Satan didn't know who he was. Okay, because he's not omniscient. And so he's being led around by the Spirit in the wilderness. Now he knows because of the John incident, for 40 days being tempted by the devil. Most people think he was only tempted for you know three temptations after 40 days. No, he was being tempted for the entire 40 days. But now we come to the end of those 40 days, and it says he ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, he became hungry. Yeah, you think? Um and the devil said to him, and here we have what are typically called the three temptations. Through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, boastful pride of life, these three avenues. He uh works on all three of these. The devil said to him, Okay, if you are the son of God, and obviously Satan understood that son of God is a term that means he's equal with God. So Satan has better theology than Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. Uh if you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. I mean, because somebody who's less than God cannot tell a stone to become bread. I mean, they can, but nothing's gonna happen. Uh and Jesus answered him with scripture. It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone. In other words, what he's saying is men cannot live on just physical sustenance. They have to depend on God. And what was Jesus saying? I'm gonna depend on who? My father. I'm gonna depend on him. In my true humanity, I'm gonna depend on him.

Where To Watch And How To Help

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Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.