An Example from Jesus
On Sunday we observed that the Life of God is conveyed to us as “Light,” which is given to us in Scripture.
But in order to benefit from that Life and Light, we must absorb the Word. That is, we want to understand the “author’s intended meaning” and the connection of that teaching to our lives.
Jesus is described in Scripture as The Word, The Life, The Light. Jesus Himself is what we hope to absorb when we absorb Scripture.
Therefore, the way that Jesus interacted with the Bible will be instructive for us. (We want to absorb how Jesus absorbed Scripture!)
Jesus regularly debated Scripture with scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees. And He left them speechless, so great was His understanding of the Word. Jesus truly absorbed Scripture the Best.
Here’s an example: Matthew 4 tells the story of when Jesus was tempted by satan. It’s a master class in both how to read the Bible (Jesus!) and how to not-to read the Bible (the devil).
First off, satan says—to someone who’s fasted for forty days!—“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”
Jesus replies by quoting a verse: Deuteronomy 8:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Why has Jesus been fasting? The Spirit led Him to, yes. But notice that this verse from Deuteronomy was on His mind. This might be that Scripture through which Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to fast. (Mat 4:1)
I wonder if Jesus is fasting as an application of this verse. For what does this verse teach us? This verse teaches us about what makes a good life. It says, true life involves more than getting, having, and hanging onto “bread.”
What better way to absorb this verse than to take an extended break from eating bread, and “live by” the Words of Scripture? Perhaps Jesus is fasting because He wants to experience the life that comes exclusively from the Words of God.
But is there more? What else might this text have taught Jesus?
Through this experience of fasting and meditating on Scripture, the Spirit, by the Word, teaches Jesus this:
That being physically alive (that which bread sustains) is not the primary feature of true life. There is life other than that which is given by bread, beyond it, greater than it, and more essential than it.
That’s the life we need. And that’s the life God supplies, through His Word.
Do we not see this lesson in Christ’s life? He absorbs this and applies it. He lives and He dies the way He did because He trusts that the true source of life is God, not bread.
Life is not mostly or best experienced in physical health and strength, or fame and power, or pleasures and provisions. Life is mostly and best experienced from God, as absorbed from Word. So Jesus regularly, repeatedly, forgoes the marks and trappings that people associate with “good living”—including, ultimately, the “good living” of staying alive for as long as He could have. Jesus follows God’s Word, trusts God, all the way through.
And what does Jesus find, in the end? Life. “Fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore.” (Psa 16:11)
Jesus lived—truly, ultimately, eternally—by the Word of God, and not by bread.
[If you have time to read through Deuteronomy 8, you’ll see the context Jesus had in mind, and why He focused on these words from Deuteronomy 8:3.
Deuteronomy 8 is a warning. God says, “When you get into the Land of Promise, don’t forget My Word. Don’t then think that you got for yourself what you have, or that what you have is all you need. What you need is Me. What you have are blessings from Me. So what you need most, then, is not bread but My Word. You need My Word so you don’t forget and so you do remember Me and rejoice.”
Israel failed to enter the land and hang onto it. They didn’t heed the warning. They thought, enough bread means enough life! They forgot that we need God’s Word to truly live. So, in Jesus’ day, they were waiting, in Exile, for Messiah.
Messiah was going to have to succeed where Israel failed.
So what was Jesus doing in the wilderness for forty days? He was reflecting on Israel’s failures. He prayerfully absorbed the truths of God’s Word that He might rely on God through all things. He heeded the warnings. Jesus did rely on God. And so we are saved.]
Here in Christ we have an example. Of what it means to honor and obey the Word. Of what it means to get victory over temptations by the Word. Of what it means to be made strong by the Word. Of what it means to trust the Word and live, and live, and live.
If we need strength, if we desire victory, if we lack “life,” let us lean into the Word, and handle it rightly
.
Holy Spirit, lead us, as You led Jesus, using Scripture, to the strength, the power, the humility, the wisdom, the love, the freedom, and the life which Jesus enjoyed during His earthly ministry, as we go about our earthly ministries. By Your Word, fill us with all we need for everything we face. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Photo by Abhishek Chandra on Unsplash