Author: Yskander Arquimides Saucedo

Mathew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

The language of hungering and thirsting is allegorical toward a deep desire or want for something. It would be contextually inconsistent to apply literal food or literal water to the filling of those who hunger or thirst. The first beatitude was instrumental in setting the context of the fundamental matter when Christ said, “blessed are the poor in spirit.” Giving us the understanding, that the foundation of topics being spoken of are in a spiritual sense. The second beatitude was a pronouncement of blessing on those who mourn. Also in the spiritual sense of mourning over our desperate condition of sin in which we realize will only be comforted in the deliverance from it by Jesus Christ through His salvific grace. The third beatitude pronounced the blessing and inheritance for those who are meek in character, which implicated someone who has a low temperament, humble, and one who is not vengeful but instead trusts in the Lord to take vengeance for the personal wrong doing of others to them. It is important to realize that this spiritual character of meekness follows from the first two beatitudes, and cannot be achieved without first being humbled. This humbleness or humility cannot be achieved without the first beatitude of someone recognizing how poor we are in spirit. We are all born with spiritual deadness, or spiritually dead. Remember that in Genesis 2:17 God warned Adam, that if he ate of the forbidden tree he would die on that very day; and so it was that Adam did die on that day in a spiritual sense, and everyone born from Adam after that day are all born in with the same spiritual deadness that God decreed. We are born spiritually alienated from God and cannot see the kingdom of God as spoken by Christ in John 3:3 where He told Nicodemus that unless one is reborn of the Holy Spirit of God miraculously no one can see the kingdom of God. This is meant not only in the sense of not able to enter into the kingdom of God in Heaven, but also in a spiritual sense unable to “see” meaning understand the kingdom of God, which time after again and again the kingdom of God in the Gospels are analogous of the Gospel of Christ or even Christ Himself. Therefore, we are spiritually poor because we are spiritually dead. It is when we realize that we are naturally spiritually deprived of the richness of Christ when we finally cry out to our savior Jesus Christ and confess, repent, and be baptized. A quick warning should be mentioned here for those who are or may become preachers of God’s mighty word. Never ever preach confession unto Christ without repentance from sin and being baptized. To do so would be to preach an incomplete Gospel, and an incomplete Gospel is no Gospel at all.

Secondly, when someone finally realizes their spiritual depravity; it has a natural effect of feeling remorse and guilt over your sins. This is the mourning spoken of in the second beatitude. This is what leads us to repent of our sins. These spiritual properties in the Christian lead to humility, which is a quality of meekness. Chronologically once these three characteristics are given by God’s grace it builds in man the desire for righteousness, which providentially leads us to the fourth beatitude.

In the fourth beatitude Jesus said, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Sadly it seems that it is the minority who thirsts for the righteousness of God. The majority would rather bloat themselves with sin; only to lead to their ultimate ruin and becoming an absolutely detestable thing for all eternity in hell.

Job 15:16 reads: How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinks iniquity like water?

The disobedience of God, which is sin by definition, is an abominable thing. Man is born in sin and is therefore a filthy creature, who as the Prophet Jeremiah said our best good dead are as a filthy rag to God. Because we continually go back to our sin as natural as drinking water; not knowing or understanding the gravity of spiritual defilement we are getting ourselves into.

What is this righteousness we ought to hunger and thirst for? Certainly it does not consist of any worldly factors such as; earthly water, pleasures, or riches. Furthermore we know Christ would not be alluding to the carnal issues of life as He said in:

John 6:27 Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give to you: for him has God the Father sealed.

If we look at Easton’s Bible Dictionary for a definition of righteousness; it directs you to the word justification which means, “A forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, (think of a judge now sitting at his bench ready to decree a sentence) by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. (This means that God pardons all who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats those who believe in Christ as righteous as if it were the believer of Christ who was credited for obeying all of God’s commandments found in God’s law). In addition to the pardon of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law.”

Righteousness then is the obedience of all God’s laws flawlessly from the beginning of life until the end of life. Is there anyone born who may obey all of God’s commandments? No all are born in sin and will sin until the point of death. So no man may ever be righteous. Therefore our justification, which is the forgiving, or the pardoning of sin is impossible. We are not worthy of justification unto eternal life, but instead we are worthy of condemnation unto eternal death and destruction. For those who do not understand this doctrine of imputed righteousness; they may not have noticed my oxymoronic statement when I wrote, “Righteousness then is the obedience of all God’s laws flawlessly from the beginning of life until the end of life.” It is an oxymoron because if one is obedient without breaking God’s law, then there is no sin, and if there is no sin, then there is no need for death. There was only one ever born of a woman without the seed of man transferring or imputing the guilt of Adam on a child, who was Jesus Christ; born of a virgin from the Holy Spirit of God, not by Adams curse; so therefore there was no Adamic guilt passed down to Christ making Him innocent and free from sin. Jesus Christ therefore lived a life of perfect obedience to God’s will and law; was therefore unworthy of death. Christ never sinned, so He should have never been put to death, but for the sake of redemption God the Father predestined Christ to death on the cross so that on the cross Christ may become sin by God imputing our sin on Jesus, and transferring the righteousness of Christ on those who would believe in Christ which then justified the sinner who was worthy of death, now forgiven by God and declared guiltless and righteous as if the sinner fulfilled the law of God flawlessly.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I began defining righteousness by asking rhetorically what righteousness is, but for the sake of proper perspective we also need to ask, who righteousness is? The answer to that is Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days – 17 these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ!

The Old Testament is full of signs, figures, types, and shadows that point to the Messiah. Jesus Christ was all those things; in fact before there were any of those shadows pointing to Christ, Christ already existed from eternity. Reality Is Jesus Christ. The Jews knew these things from the Old Testament and still rejected the prophesied Messiah. They attempted to fulfill righteousness by their obedience to God’s law for justification. They did not realize the righteousness of God who is Christ standing before them to fulfill God’s righteousness for them. This is evidently seen in:

Romans 10:3-4 For they (the Jews) being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.

If you believe in Jesus Christ; righteousness toward the law of God has been fulfilled for you. God does not judge us on getting into Heaven by our righteous deeds because we have no righteousness to offer God since we sin. God looks at our faith in Christ and justifies us into Heaven based on the righteousness of Christ credited on our account. Unfortunately there is seemingly an innumerable amount of religions in the world which gives a false sense of righteousness. Some teach false God’s and some teach a false Jesus, but what all false religions of the world have in common; is they all attempt to be justified by God by their own deeds which will never gain them access to heaven but only to hell. Christianity is the only religion in the world whose justification for mankind is based not on the righteousness of men, but on the righteousness of someone else; Jesus Christ.

I want to show you how serious of a doctrine and concept this is. Listen to what Jesus said in:

Matthew 22:11-13 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he said to him, Friend, how came you in here not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is an extremely scary illustration of judgment given by Christ. This is a side of God and Christ the modern American Pastor does not preach about because they are so concerned with a numbers game, which always leads to compromise. It is a misconception to believe that the success of a Gospel preacher is measured by the numbers in his church. The success of a Gospel preacher is measured by the amount of conviction of sin, repentance, sound doctrine, and revelation of Christ is instilled in the hearts of whoever attends; the numbers do not matter whether they are few or great. The numbers are not our concern as preachers; that concern is of the Holy Spirit. Our concern as preachers is to make sure we have our theology squared away.

In relation to the wedding feast; Jesus Christ is the King who comes in to see His guests. In the wedding there was a requirement for any guest to attend; that requirement was a wedding garment of a particular sort. The garment required to enter the wedding feast is the righteousness of Christ. We are allowed into the wedding feast, which is a type of our union with Jesus Christ as Christ is the Husband and we His bride. The righteousness of Christ is given to us to wear as a garment. Let’s consider a few passages in relation to wearing the righteousness of Christ as a garment.

Job 29:14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Revelation 19:7-8 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

Christ approaches a man not wearing the appropriate attire and asks why he is not in the proper clothing. The man can think of nothing to say. This is because man cannot justify himself by anything he says or does. Such will be the case of every man who stands before the Lord on judgment day; utter speechlessness as they lay prostrate on the floor before absolute holiness, when mans arrogance will finally be destroyed to nothing and the full acknowledgement of his sin will be revealed to mans conscience, and he will know at that instant moment that he deserves only death from this Holy King. Jesus said to the servants not to the guests; the guests represent those who come to believe in Jesus Christ as their God and savior, the servants are His angelic hosts and servants in Heaven. He calls them to bind this trespasser by hand and feet. Does this sound like a weak feminist king to you? Christ was meek in life because it was required of from Him by God the Father to fulfill His purpose on earth and to be our example of what kind of conduct we should have in character. But Jesus Christ as King and Judge is a strict one. Call on Jesus Christ now while He is full of love and mercy, so that you may know Him as savior; or else ignore Him and you will meet Him as judge. Christ calls His servants to tie the trespasser and cast him into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; and of course we know this place to be none other than hell.

Now that we have an understanding of justification and righteousness; having an understanding that Jesus Christ is our righteousness. If we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, then we ought to not only desire to obey God’s commandments, but we ought to desire Jesus Christ Himself. We desire to obey His commandments not to gain access into heaven, but we obey God’s commandments because we love Jesus Christ for what He did for us; for saving us from the outer darkness of hell. Furthermore our thirst for righteousness is only quenched by Jesus Christ Himself for He is righteousness. Remember what Jesus Christ told the Samaritan woman at the well?

John 4:13-14 Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and 38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, “From within Him will flow rivers of living water.”

Anyone who does not have Jesus Christ as their righteousness will continually thirst for his own. We without Christ will never have our thirst quenched because the natural body thirsts for sin continually. The more we are prolonged throughout life without repentance the more and more we fall deeper into the claws of sin until it consumes our very soul. We give into our death as the scriptures saying drinking iniquity like water. But for the one who has given His soul over to Christ; our souls have now been regenerated by the Spirit of God. Our natural thirst for sin is still tempting, but the rivers of life which flow out of Christ give us the strength to endure and overcome. As we are continually seeking the water from Christ by; worshiping, praying, studying, and fellow shipping with like minded believers; our new thirst is being quenched until we reach glory in the Kingdom of God where our thirst will finally be quenched for all eternity.

Until then do not be discouraged as we desire for the water of Christ in a world where it seems there is a famine thereof. The righteousness of Christ on earth seems to be a scarce quality, but such a concept is not true because the Gospel of Christ has penetrated all nations of the earth, just as Christ told His Apostles go and spread the Gospel of Christ throughout all the nations. It must be realized that the Gospel of Christ being preached in all nations suppresses evil, and exalts the righteousness of Christ. Since it is true that we have been filled with the righteousness of God, then let us go out and spread this righteousness we covet every day. Let us forever have the desire as King David did in:

Palms 63:1 O God, you are my God; early will I seek you: my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.

Matthew 5:3-5 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The simplest concept we can think of when being blessed by God is being happy. Being happy is a result of the highest blessing God gives, and that highest blessing is salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. Nine times Jesus Christ declares a particular people as blessed. Nine conditions are given by Christ as requisites, characteristics, or indicators of being blessed. For the past three Wednesday’s we have been studying Psalms 1:1-3 where those verses providentially reads very similar to Christ’s first 11 verses of His sermon. Just as Jesus begins by saying blessed are those who fall under category A; so does Psalms 1:1 start with Blessed are those who do not follow the pathway of subject A. We discovered in Psalms 1:1 that the word blessed is attributed to those who are believers of the true God and Christ; never is it attributed to those who do not believe in God. This is obvious by scriptures such as;

Ps 65:4; Eph 1:3 Blessed are those whomever God chooses.

Isa 51:2; Rev 19:9 Blessed are those whomever God calls.

Matt 16:16; Matt 16:17 Blessed are those who know Christ.

Ps 89:15 Blessed are those who know the Gospel.

Further scripture implies and explicates blessed are those who are not offended at Christ, those who believe in God with faith, those who’s sins are forgiven, those who God credits as righteous apart from their own good deeds, those who God disciplines, those who suffer for believing in Christ, those who trust God, those who fear God, those who hear the word of God and obey it, those who take pleasure in obeying the commandments of God, those who keep God’s commandments, avoid the wicked, endure temptation, watch against sin, rebuke sinners, watch for the Lord, die for the Lord, have part in the first resurrection, those who favor the just, the righteous, saints; and furthermore the scriptures continue from old to New Testament testifying that it is only the people of God who fall under the category of being blessed. Not to sound redundant from other studies, but I will again mention that this is not to be confused with God’s general goodness, grace and mercy given to all of humanity such as giving unbelievers the material things needed to sustain their life’s such as; homes, vehicles, or more wealth than perhaps the believer of God. Wealth and material things are not indicators of being blessed by God unless you are a believer of God. To declare an unbeliever as blessed because he seems happy or has wealth is to make a miss application of the word blessed. For example; in this very chapter Jesus said in:

verse 45, for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

We see here an example of God’s universal goodness to humanity, which causes the sun to rise and fall every night and morning; and the rain to fall on all humanity. These are elements needed for our health and sustainment, as the sun and rain are relative to seasons. Without these elements from God it may be impossible for believers and unbelievers to produce anything from agriculture to economics. We may also view this in a gospel sense, in that Christ is the Sun that illuminates His wisdom throughout all the earth with His revelation, and rains down on all nations His marvelous Gospel; which gives us our spiritual nutrition to sustain our eternal life and life on earth, for we do not live by physical bread alone, but by the very word of God. Also, just as the rain falls all throughout the earth; so has the Gospel of Christ rained on all nations and is a blessing to those who repent and believe, but to those who will not repent and believe; the Gospel becomes their vindication for eternal punishment. What that means is that when the Gospel is preached and man refuses to believe; God’s punishment of sinners is vindicated, or justified by the means of the preaching of the Gospel when man hardens himself revealing his inward hostility toward the Gospel of Christ. That is true anthropology if you have ever heard it.

One final assertion on the word blessing is needed to be understood. The word blessing is thrown around very loosely these days. The word has lost its significance as a consequence of miss application. If you accept that the word blessed is applied only to the believers of Christ, as scripture seems to implicate; then is it just to say God bless you to an unbeliever? I would reply that it depends on how you phrase it to the unbeliever. The Christian must remember what the mind of the ungodly is like. The sinner does not think after the things of God. Scripture reveals that the natural man is inwardly hostile toward God; so when a Christian says “God bless you” to an unbeliever, the unbeliever is not thinking of God, but instead miss applies the word blessed to his own lusts. The Christian has to consider how the ungodly may perceive being blessed by God, more than likely he is thinking “yes if God exists I hope he does bless me with a nice car, or a two story house on a hill, or a six figure a year paying job; or he may scoff at the idea of the existence of God. That being said, I do not believe it is wrong to wish blessings to an unbeliever, but we would have to be careful how we phrase it; therefore, be specific such as; “I hope God blesses you with His salvation,” “I hope God blesses you with repentance of sin,” “I hope God blesses you with the revelation of His son Jesus Christ,” or things of that nature, why? Because considering all the scriptures the word blessed is in reference to; that would be the proper application, proper perspective, and proper perception of the Christian mind.

In verse 3 of Matthew we see Jesus Christ following in the same artistic language of the Old Testament by proclaiming blessed are the subjects. Jesus Christ said in verses three through eleven; blessed are the poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, those that hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those persecuted for righteousness sake. These are the characteristics of those who are subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven, those who have acknowledged and surrendered their own will to be made subject to the will of God. Consequently Jesus Christ attributes a reward to each characteristic by saying we will be given the kingdom of heaven, we will be comforted, we shall inherit the earth, we shall be filled with the righteousness we hunger and thirst for, we shall obtain mercy, we will see God, we will be called the children of God, and again we shall be given the kingdom of heaven; and in addition, for those who suffer for the sake of Christ; our reward in heaven will be great. All this considered ought to motivate all to repent of their sins and follow Christ to the end of the world.

1. Poor in spirit: obviously no one inherits the kingdom of God because they are financially poor. Just because someone lives his life as homeless, or in poverty does not guarantee their selves a place in God’s kingdom; in other words poverty does not merit salvation. Instead; according to 19^th century American Baptist pastor and professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, John Albert Broadus; the Jews had a high esteem for wealth in the Messianic Kingdom. Jesus Christ was declaring the contrast by stating it will be the poor in spirit who will inherit the kingdom. The poor in spirit does not exclude those who are impoverished financially, just as it does not exclude the wealthy, but the theological concept is those who are irrespectively poor or wealthy, must realize that it is the spirit who all men are born with are destitute of the spiritual nourishing of God. In context of this chapter it also coincides with humility. Being poor in spirit requires of ourselves to realize that we are, as a result of our sinful nature; spiritually worth less than we naturally expect ourselves to be worth. Those who think of themselves to high, haughty, and arrogant are characteristics of sinful pride, and not one of a Christian character worthy of the kingdom of God.
2. Blessed are they that mourn: It seems contradictory to say blessed or happy are those that mourn. Mourning is usually related to sadness and weeping. Yet Christ relates it to a sense of happiness. This second statement closely relates to the first. This is not mourning over the natural events of the misfortunes of life, though our Lord does give comfort for those things as well. This mourning ties with spiritual poverty in the sense that the one mourning has a realization of the inescapable inward sin in them-selves. We Christians mourn because we are incapable of fully obeying God’s commandments. We desperately desire to please God and naturally fail every day until it brings us to our knees with tears; partly in fear for what God can do to our souls, but primarily because we thank Him for His grace and faith he gave us to lead us to repentance and yet we return the favor with daily disobedience. We mourn as we see the sufferings around the world as a consequence of sin in every man. We mourn because we understand the eternal calamity that awaits those who do not repent. Consider the warning from Christ, who warns those who do not mourn over their sin, but instead are happy in it.

Luke 6:25 reads: Woe to you that are full! for you shall hunger. Woe to you that laugh now! for you shall mourn and weep.

Sadly the un-repented man will mourn, but mourn from the agony of hell. But for us who mourn over our sin now; we are blessed and take comfort in our Lord and the Holy Spirit who was given to us as our comforter and savior. We are comforted that our distressful sin has been forgiven by the resurrection of Christ. We are comforted by the promise of eternal life promised to us as the Lord ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us in God’s mansion. We can look forward with comfort and hope for the day when; as it is written in

Revelation 21:4: God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

3. Blessed are the meek: In my study of meekness I found no greater exhortation to this word, and I felt I could not do better than one of my favorite theologians John Gill; who in defining meekness wrote; “ (those) Who are not easily provoked to anger; who patiently bear, and put up with injuries and affronts; carry themselves courteously, and affably to all; have the meanest thoughts of themselves, and the best of others; (who) do not envy the gifts and graces of other men; are willing to be instructed and admonished, by the meanest of the saints; quietly submit to the will of God, in adverse dispensations of providence; and ascribe all they have, and are, to the grace of God,” (Gill). No greater representation of meekness may be found in any other than Jesus Christ; who made Himself subject to disrespect, abuse, torture, and death without allowing His anger to be raised as result of humiliation. Christ said in:

Matthew 11:29, Take my yoke on you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.

Sin has distorted the concept of meekness in making us seem unworthy of masculinity by allowing someone to wrong you. In the world allowing someone to disrespect you without taking vengeance for it at that inflicting moment would not give you respect, but instead you will be looked upon as someone worth less than a man; someone who allows himself to be treated in a degrading manner and not fighting back as a result of fear. There are many negative and degrading words invented to label this category of man. Yet the scriptures have a contrast view. The Apostle Paul says in:

Romans 12:19, Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.

Again the Paul says in:

1 Corinthians 6:7 The fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Of course there are some practical issues with these suggestions. We as imperfect creatures can only tolerate abuse to an extent. Unless your life or family is in immediate danger then let it go. If your shoes were stolen, then let the Lord have His vengeance. Christ said if we abide by this we shall inherit the earth. Why would we want to inherit the earth? The earth is full of imperfections and sin that we are called to set ourselves apart from. We who look forward to the separation of the flesh to be with our God in Heaven may not at first understand what Christ meant by this. But the earth that Christ meant is not the world as you and I know it. It is believed that Christ was alluding to the new earth at the Lord’s return. Also, Christ is alluding to:

Psalms 7:37 which reads, But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

For the Jews who understood the covenantal history between God and the His people; they understood this to be an allusion to the land of Canaan. It was in Genesis 18:21 where God promised Abraham and his descendants all the lands including the land of the Canaanites. This Promised Land by God represents the favor of God on His people. For those of who are obedient to the Lord there is inheritance and favor to be had from the God. It is His pleasure to give us everything we need to fulfill His will in our lives. It is His pleasure to give to us the commodities that we desire so long as they do not become distractions. Nevertheless, it is not the physical things of this earth we ought desire as an inheritance; this earth belongs to God as it becomes the footstool of Christ as He reigns. The Promise Land we Christians ought to have our minds fixated on is none other than Jesus Christ. Christ is our Promise Land given by God. Christ is our ultimate inheritance and expecting anything beyond Jesus Christ is as foolish as expecting to reach the horizon beyond what your eyes can see. Do you not know what you have in Christ? Everything you need is in Christ. There is no need to want anything else, and though we have urges of having nice cars or motorcycles; these are matters we need to control and have discipline over because what profit are they to the ministry of God? If the Lord has blessed you with nice things then enjoy them, but there is no room for boasting about them because you will not save a soul by doing so. The immature Christian will boast around an unbeliever; showing off his Corvette the Lord gave him, and thinking it may attract the unbeliever to the kingdom of God, nonsense. Men are saved by one thing and one thing only; belief in Jesus Christ by the preaching of the Gospel. If you recognize Christ as your inheritance, you are wealthy beyond the limits of your imagination. The Apostle Paul said in:

1 Corinthians 3:20-23 And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your’s; 22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your’s; 23 And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

Also Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.

 

Objective: The objective of this argument is to exalt the will of God in comparison to the will of man to the glory of God. That God may be glorified and increased while man is humbled and decreased. To provoke the human mind to realize that God is supreme over all of existence including the immaterial things such as thought or will; using a logical form of argument known as the Socratic Method. As a result it serves that man may realize how utterly and desperate the sinful will of man is dependent on the sovereign, supreme, fair, merciful, graceful, loving, and holy will of God.

 

1. Is the will of man free? Yes
2. Can man choose to do whatever he wills to do? Yes/No
3. Is the will of God free? Yes
4. Can God choose to do whatever He wills to do? Yes
5. Is the will of man subject to the will of God? Yes
6. Is the will of God subject to anything? No
7. Am I correct in stating then that, there is no will superior to the will of God? Yes
8. Am I correct in stating then that, the will of man is inferior to the will of God? Yes
9. Then since God has a free will, and He can choose to do whatever He wills, and His will is not subject to anything else because His will is superior than anything in existence; then the true definition of free will is to be absolutely superior without any subjugation to anything existing with the ability to do whatever the will desires. Does this definition coincide with the premises written above? Yes
10. Then since the claim is that man has a free will but man’s will is inferior and subject to a superior will; man cannot choose to do whatever his will desires because of the mere possibility of a superior will who man is subject to may check and balance what man chooses to do according to the superior will of God.
11. Does man have a free will? No
12. Does man have a will? Yes, but it is not free because man is not God.

• Man does have a will with the maximal efficient ability to choose left or right.
• Man does not have a will with the maximal efficient ability to choose wrong or right.
• If you do claim to have a will with the maximal efficient ability to choose wrong or right, then stop sinning for the rest of your life.

After the final temptation of Christ in the wilderness the Devil departs from the presence of the Christ. It is important to realize and remember that though this was the last temptation in the wilderness, it may have not been the last temptation given to Christ from Satan overall; Luke 4:13 reads:

and when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

This may imply until a better opportunity presents itself, which ought to be a reminder to all of us who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ as our master and God; that our adversary the Devil is constantly thinking of ways to tempt us to fall into sin and away from Christ. Remember that Satan may not know who truly belongs to Christ, and just because someone says they believe in God, does not necessarily mean they acknowledge Christ as their God. Even the Devil and His angels believe in God, and they tremble at the name of Jesus Christ, but yet they do not love and worship Him; the same may be said about the religious hypocrites all over the world.

At some time perhaps during Christ’s 40 days of fasting and temptation; John the Baptist was thrown into prison by Herod to silence him for accusing Herod of marrying his brother’s wife Herodias; not because she was a widow, but while his brother was still alive; which makes Herod guilty of fornication, adultery, and incest under God’s law. While imprisoned by Herod; John the Baptist meets his death as the first martyr of Gospel preachers. Scripture implies in Matthew 14 beginning in verse 3, that Herodias provoked her teenage daughter to seduce Herod into murdering John the Baptist, and so it was that Herod severed the head of John the Baptist and presented it to Herodias on a dish, just as she requested. We see here an example of the desperate state of man when their dark sin is exposed in the light. As a result of our sinful nature we would rather keep our sin and guilt in the dark in order that we may not face our shame and public humiliation. We see also what we as sinners are willing to do if given enough power to hide our sin. Instead of repenting of our sins we are willing to murder those who would expose our sin publically or even privately. Let it not be so among us; may we all repent and turn from our evil deeds while we are living under the grace of God; before meeting God in our spiritual body un-repented and in danger of meeting God as the judge of our sin.

It was after hearing of the imprisonment of John the Baptist that Jesus went through Galilee and Capernaum preaching His Gospel and calling men to repentance in the manner of His forerunner and Cousin John the Baptist. In His travels He found Peter, Andrew, James, and John who He called to become His disciples. It was taught by Theophylact of Ochrid, an 11^th century bible scholar from Constantinople that Peter and his brother Andrew were disciples of John the Baptist and were taught by John the Baptist concerning Jesus Christ, from this we may infer that Peter and Andrew had some recognition of Jesus when they were called by Christ personally.

Let me digress a little into some Gospel exposition. Jesus said to them “follow me and I will make you fishers of men” this was an allegory to their professional jobs as fishermen now called to a higher purpose in Christ to gather many men with the Gospel of Christ being thrown out as a net to catch as many men as possible. Jesus said in:

Matthew 13:47 the kingdom of heaven is like to a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.

The allegory is a very interesting one in the sense that when the net is cast into the sea; he who casts it never knows what fish or how many he will catch if any at all, and also that when the net is cast the fish will always attempt to resist the net. In essence that is the reality of Gospel preaching. The preacher casts the Gospel message into the air unknowing who may respond in a positive or negative sense, or if any may respond positively to the Gospel call of repentance at all. But when the Gospel is preached to the multitudes, men would naturally rather avoid anything that pertains to the true things of God as a fish swimming away or against the net. Consider:

1 Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The natural man is the unbeliever who does not receive what comes from the Spirit of God. “Neither can he know them” implicates the lack of ability to receive the things of God because men naturally are not inclined to the spiritual things of God. Some may say well some may believe if they see physical evidence like a miracle; I would remind them of:

John 12:37 Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him.

Traveling further He found James and John who were also brothers in the same profession as they were mending fish nets with their father. Jesus perhaps gave them a similar spiritual proposition as He did Andrew and Peter, and both brothers immediately left their ship, and their father to follow Jesus Christ. The profession these four men were in was a busy one. In the case of James and John assisting their father in the business was a noble duty. To assist our parents in any way possible is always honorable, impressive, and pleasing to the Lord.

Colossians 3:20 reads: Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord.

Something else relevant about these men being busy is that when the Lord found them they were working. So it should be when our Lord returns again, that when He comes He finds us busy doing God’s work. That we may be found laboring in the study of His word, laboring in the preaching of His Gospel, laboring in whatever task our master has entrusted us with, or laboring at least to figure out what mission it is that God wants us to achieve in this life for Him, to the glory of God.

At this point Jesus is currently leading an element of four Soldiers with Him through Galilee until Jesus finds Phillip, who in return finds Nathaniel, as it is written in the book of John. The book of John is the only book which records the Marriage in Cana where Jesus turns water into wine; which is also credited as Christ’s first miracle. The claim of turning water into wine being the first miracle may seem perplexing when trying to figure out the chronological order of events since the Gospel books of Matthew and Mark do not record the marriage in Cana, but instead record the finding of disciples and then immediately Christ begins to preach, heal, deliver demons out of people throughout Galilee, which are signs and miracles; while the book of Luke goes from the temptation of Christ, no finding of disciples and immediately into miracles in Galilee. Considering this makes it seem as if turning water into wine was not the first miracle, but instead making it seem as if the healings in Galilee were the first order of miracles followed by turning water into wine, which could not be the case because it would not fit the context of the book of John in the marriage in Cana. The book of John records the incarnation of Christ, His baptism by testimony of John the Baptist, immediately going into the finding of half of Christ’s disciples; which in the book of Matthew and Mark only four are recorded to be found; no temptation of Christ is recorded in John, no preaching or healings recorded in Galilee, taking us immediately into chapter two of John of the miracle of turning water into wine, and then Jesus takes His disciples as He starts preaching the Gospel and performing more miracles throughout Galilee as His testimony to all around Him that He is the Messiah.

The only way I could reconcile this paradox was to conclude that after the temptation of Christ; Matthew and Mark, Jesus went into Galilee preaching the Gospel, but not yet performing any miracles, then finding four of His disciples; Andrew, Peter, James, and John; then going immediately to the book of John chapter one where Jesus finds Phillip and Phillip finds Nathaniel taking place for two days from the last temptation of Christ because John chapter two tells us the Marriage in Cana happened on the third day. Jesus then turns water into wine on the third day from His last temptation as His first miracle. Jesus then in John chapter 2:12 departs into Capernaum; which corresponds with Matthew 4:12 where it says that Jesus went into Capernaum after His temptation. Matthew and Mark merely chose not to write about the marriage in Cana; deciding to emphasize on the miracles in Galilee instead, but in no way does it mean the marriage in Cana occurred after the miracles of Galilee as it may seem to read at first glance.

At this point Jesus is attracting large crowds from; Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea, and beyond Jordan; resulting from His preaching and people bringing Him people from everywhere to be healed and have devils removed from them. Luke 6:17 adds that people were brought to Jesus also from and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon. All these crowds that the Lord had gathered are the multitudes of people who are present as the Lord begins to preach His sermon on the mount.

Matthew 5:1-2 reads: And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was sat, his disciples came to him: 2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them.

Notice verse one reads that Jesus was sitting down when He began to preach His sermon. You will find in Matthew 13:2 and Luke 4:20 that Jesus was sitting down as He was teaching there as well; this is because the Jewish tradition was that the master or teacher would instruct sitting down, while the disciples remained standing. It also reads that His disciples came to Him. This does not mean that only the twelve came to hear His sermon. Luke 6:17 reads that a great multitude came to hear Him and to be healed. At this point Jesus had many disciples, many followers, and many students. It reads in:

Matthew 7:27 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine.

It wasn’t until John 6:66 when most of His followers left Jesus with only the 12 who remained to become His Apostles excluding Judas, who betrayed Christ.

Jesus begins His sermon in verse three of chapter five and it continues until chapter seven of verse 27. My approach in the study and deliverance is with the intention of dividing chapter five into eight segments or eight sermons, which may be delivered in the course of at least two months if there are no interruptions. The first sermon will cover verses three through twelve, which is Christ teaching on whom the blessed are, their qualities, and the inheritance of the kingdom. The second sermon will be an analysis of what it means to be the salt and light of the earth. The third sermon will be interpreting what Jesus meant by Him saying He is the fulfillment of the law. The fourth sermon will consist of Christ’s definition of what it means to kill and the introduction of the doctrine of hell. The fifth sermon is Christ’s teaching on adultery and the great analogy illustrating extreme actions to avoid going to hell. The sixth sermon will consist of two subject; one will be showing the contrast between swearing in the Old Testament and swearing in the New Testament; and Christ declaring swearing now being a thing of evil, and the second subject will be analyzing to what extent we are supposed to allow evil to be done to us for those who desire it, such as turning the cheek when we are slapped; exactly what does that mean? The seventh sermon will refer to Christ exhorting us to love our enemies, as opposed to the false prophet Mohammed who exhorts his followers to kill their enemies. The eighth and final sermon will pertain to Christ’s command to us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect.

1Chronicles 16:34-35 O give thanks to the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever. 35 And say you, save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.

Not only do we have a God who is the only God in existence, but we can say with all sincerity and certainty that He is all and He is true. Verse 34 reads to give thanks to Him, but for what purpose? For the purpose that follows from the first clause; that He is Good. I don’t think we could even fathom in our minds what it may be like if we had a God who instead of good was evil in nature. Imagine if you can, that the only God in existence were to be evil by nature. I suppose the closest being who does exist would be God’s adversary Satan. But he is no God because he was created by God.  Being created disqualifies any deity from being a god; furthermore, his end and eternal ruin and torment has already been decreed and predestined by God, because God is good.

God was good to create everything in existence. When He created the heavens and the earth; God called it good. God created the light, the sky with its clouds also known as the firmament in Genesis ch.1:6 and God called it good. The earth and the seas, the fields containing every fruit and seed, the animals and the first man, God created and called it good. One circumstance within God’s good creation He called not good was that Adam was alone, in remedy God created the woman Eve to be his wife.

Verse 34 of 1Chronicles continues and reads that, His mercy endures forever. God is good and merciful. So good and merciful that He saw the only remedy for saving sinners was for Him to manifest Himself in the flesh, abide by His own law, go to the cross guiltless but become guilty for the sake of the guilty. By His mercy He made Himself an eternal offering for us. Because of His mercy God is in heaven; patiently waiting for men and woman everywhere to repent of their sins and fall in love with His Son Jesus Christ, that they may have the Spirit of God and walk in obedience to Christ’s commandments and have eternal life with Him in heaven, as well as be reunited with our loved ones.

Verse 35 reads, gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise.

Notice the scripture reads, gather us together, that we may give thanks to your holy name, and glory in your praise. This is in reference to the people of God coming together for the purpose of worship, prayer, praise, and exhortation. This would be the same as ourselves; the Christian coming together for the same reasons, such as church and bible studies. But the fellowship shouldn’t end there. We should always desire to be around our people more than the heathen unless for the purpose of witnessing to them the grace of God.

It also reads deliver us from the heathen. In context it’s in reference to captivity, but for us we may also look at it as literal oppression of our religion, or for us who are not being oppressed; we may look at it figuratively as an overwhelming influence of the heathens around us, or our oppression under our own sin. In either case; we must praise and worship our God.

Psalms 73:25-28 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is none on earth that I desire beside you. 26 My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever. 27 For, see, they that are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.

Who have I in heaven but you? And there is none on earth that I desire beside you. Notice the love and affection for God that is expressed in this verse. The author places all things second to God. He does not speak of his family he may have in heaven, neither his family on earth; but God and Christ alone is all we need in heaven and earth; they are all we should primarily desire in this life. The Apostle Paul wrote in:

Philippians 3:7-8 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yes doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Verse 26 reads; My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.

Our flesh and our hearts fail in many respects. But the most relevant way to be aware of are the failures of our spiritual inclinations to God. Our flesh and our hearts fail us as we attempt to obey God every day. We do not pray as much as we wish, we do not worship as much as we wish, and we do not study as much as we wish. The natural disposition of our sinful nature inclines us to temptation and distraction from our God. But where we are weak God is strong and He sustains us with His grace. He becomes the strength of our heart, and He is our portion now and throughout all eternity; a portion of Himself which is given to us through the Son of God, who is our peace, our light of illumination that gives us wisdom, our sanctification, our fortress, and our rock.

Verse 27, 28 reads; for, see, they that are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all your works.

Sadly there are those who will parish resulting from their own selfish rebellion. But we who draw near to God are blessed with Christ, in whom we place all our trust in; and it is His good works that we declare to those who are lost, that they may also share in the same blessing as ourselves.

Matthew 4:9-10 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things if you throw yourself to the ground and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You are to worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”

The author Luke elaborates with more detail in Luke 4:6: where it reads, and the devil said to him, all this power will I give you, and the glory of them: for that is delivered to me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world; but are they really his to give? He said they are delivered to him; delivered by whom? He said he has the ability to give it to whomever he desires; but does he really have that authority? It seems obvious that although Satan was again attempting to manipulate the truth; Jesus knew where the source of true power and authority came from, and how much authority and control Satan really had. In the book of John; Jesus calls Satan the prince of this world three times:

John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me.

John 16:11 the prince of this world is judged.

The Apostle Paul calls Satan the god of this world in:

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.

We see that Satan is given the title of prince of the world and god of the world; but it’s important to understand how that title actually applies to Satan. Satan is not a literal prince of earth literally. Neither is Satan the god of this world in the sense of being a god. Satan is a creation from the one true God as an angel who became the leader of the fallen angels, also known as his demons. Satan is the prince and god of this world not because he has won it over from God. God is omnipotent; all powerful so therefore God looses nothing and there is nothing that is out of God’s control and you can rest your suffering on that. Satan is god and prince of this world in the sense that he is allowed to have by God a measure of influence over the evil and wickedness of the world by means of mans natural sinful and wicked nature. Consider the following verses:

Ephesians 2:1-2 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience.

The Apostle Paul is here speaking to the Ephesian Christian; showing them what their new life in Christ is in comparison to what it used to be before their spirit was renewed by the Holy Spirit of God. Notice that Paul says prior to their conversion they lived, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience. The sons of disobedience are those who do not believe in Christ and are therefore continually disobeying the commandments of God. Satan does not care about the governing the earth, or having dominion over it; Satan hates God because he wants to be God so he hates everything God stands for and wants to influence nothing by evil and chaos in order to distort every order of God peace and order; and that is what he is the prince and god of.

However Satan is limited in power and the authority he has is measured by God’s sovereign will, and praise God for that! Whatever amount of authority he may have he has it only because God gave it and God will soon remove it from Him to bring Satan’s destruction. Consider the next verses:

Jesus told Pilot in John 19:11 Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above. This implicates that the source of power given to all dignitaries to include even Satan comes borrowed from God. Remember in:

Job 1:6-12 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil? 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have not you made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. 12 And the LORD said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power; only on himself put not forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

We see from this dialogue between our LORD and Satan; that it is God who granted the Devil power over the substances of Job. It is God who restrained the Devil from afflicting the physical person of Job, and the Devil obeys the LORD’s every command. The power he has over the world is but borrowed from the LORD and only temporary.

In relation to Satan tempting Christ; perhaps the power Satan offered Jesus Christ, if Christ would have submitted to Satan; Christ may or may not have gained. This may be a theological debate, but I do not believe Satan owns the governments of the world or has been given authority to give the kingdoms of the world to whoever he chooses as he told Jesus; that was a lie from the Devil. I believe it was his manipulation to Christ so that Christ would fall and worship Satan, the temptation was that if Jesus bowed to Satan, Jesus would avoid the suffering and crucifixion that was planned by God for the Son of God. It was already God’s intention to give Christ all the kingdoms of the world; with the condition of obeying all of God’s commandments so He may be a credible ransom at the cross for humanity. Praise God.

Back to the book of Job reference; what do you think Satan was doing and currently does as he walks to and fro through the earth and walking up and down in it? 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour. Satan and his demons are constantly on the watch for whom it is they need to tempt to fall into sin. He especially considers those who profess to be Christians, but are not doers of the word of God, which reveals they may entirely be deceived into thinking all they had to do was confess and they are set for eternity no matter what.

We see then that the source of true authority, power, and control is revealed in God, and since Christ defeated Satan’s temptations; it is also in Christ. This is revealed in situations such as when Jesus commands demons to leave those whom they posses in Luke 4:36 And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.

Now at the moment of the temptation of Christ; everything that may fascinate the lust of the eyes was shown to Jesus, if He would only transfer His allegiance from God to Satan. How many men would bow the knee to the Devil at the instant of a heartbeat if all the power, riches, and woman of the world were offered to him? This is not far from reality for those who are given fortune and fame in this world. They have both directly or indirectly bowed their knees and rendered their souls over to the Devil. With abundance of fortune and fame comes the luxury of having every commodity available to feed every sinful attribute to be found in men’s carnality. When a person reaches this level of earthly glory; do you know what they call it? They declare it success; nonsense! The only thing they have been successful at is making it nearly impossible for them to humble themselves, and see their sins which necessitates a savior; and demands that they repent and obey Jesus Christ.  Remember Jesus said in:

Matthew 19:23-24 then said Jesus to his disciples; truly I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

These people have not gained success in life; instead they have succeeded in giving their souls to Satan to be tortured for eternity. Jesus said in

Matthew 16:26 for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Those who want the kingdoms of the world in exchange will give away their soul, but those want to save their soul; in exchange will give away their sin, and that is repentance.

Satan being the father of lies and the master of deceit; conveys a lie in the form of a truth. The very cunning serpent that he is makes his attempt to manipulate Christ into believing that, all Satan is in control of belongs to Satan, and there is the lie in the form of a truth. Control and authority is given to Satan, but he does not own it. What Satan was offering Jesus Christ; was already prepared to be given to Christ by God. However; the path set by God for Christ would be that of a suffering servant whose physical end would be met by torture, murder, and poverty where He would not even have money for His own burial. Satan’s temptation to Christ if He would have submitted; would have bypassed all that suffering and all the pain with the condition of swearing His allegiance to Satan by worshiping him instead of the true God. This is Satan’s ungodly desire; that all will worship him even the Son of God because Satan wants to be as God.

Christians do not lose your faith in God. No matter what type of suffering you may be going through; keep your faith in Christ. Worship your God in and out of temptation, peace, or calamity. Remember:

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him.

Finally Jesus Christ responds to Satan’s temptation for the last time in the wilderness but not for the last time overall; as it is written in Luke 4:13 that Satan departed for a season; therefore implying that the temptations from Satan were continual. In the prior two temptations Jesus displayed His patience and toleration for Satan’s insults. But now Jesus rises passionately to Satan’s revilement and addresses him personally by name, and shows him who has the true authority as Christ commands Satan to disappear from His presence. Jesus again quotes Old Testament scripture to combat Satan;

Deuteronomy 6:12 You shall fear the LORD your God, and serve him, and shall swear by his name.

Jesus rightfully adds the word “only” to the verse because Christ is the Word of God and always has been the Word of God; therefore, He can rightfully add to His word for clarity or point however He chooses because Christ is truth and cannot bring any disorder. The word fear in the Old Testament is meant in the same sense as worship in the New Testament. Just as He told Satan; the same applies to us that we are to fear our LORD God who is the same in Christ, and worship Christ and serve only Him alone.

The victory of Jesus Christ over Satan’s temptations reveals to us how it is we are to overcome Satan’s temptations, as well as sufferings. The victory of Christ reveals to the Christian that the end result of the war between the Devil and our LORD is won by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It encourages us and gives us hope and faith to keep fighting knowing that God is ultimately in control of all circumstances good or evil. Jesus reminds His followers of the importance to memorize scripture, the importance of understanding scripture in its context, the importance of recalling scripture when necessary, when to properly apply it, and how to use it in response to deceit and manipulation.

Finally Christian brothers; know and anticipate many trials and temptations in our life. This is the true life of a Christian, which we are living in a life of constant warfare. We have an enemy who perseveres in seeing our destruction. Not only does Satan seek the destruction of all humans who he passionately hates, but he especially hates the Christian; not the professing Christians because he merely mocks them because they know not their doctrine and prophets, but the living Christian who lives the word of God. It is the living Christian who is a continual threat to the kingdom of darkness because we are the salt and light of the earth. We; as we are obedient to the Holy Spirit bring true illumination to the blinded minds of the world who Satan wants to suppress; the light that radiates through the entire world from the preaching of the Gospel of Christ who is the true morning star. Consider these final verses.

James 1:2- 8My brothers and sisters,¹ consider it nothing but joy² when you fall into all sorts of trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. 5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 since he is a double-minded individual,¹ unstable in all his ways.

Matthew 4:8Again, the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.

Jesus overcame His temptation to leap from the pinnacle of the temple; tempting Him to avoid the harsh penalty He would have to endure for the sins of the world. Now from that pinnacle Satan takes Him to a very High Mountain; on this mountain Satan shows Him the glories of all the kingdoms of the world. How they arrived at this mountain from the pinnacle is as much a mystery as how they arrived at the temple in Jerusalem from the wilderness, where Christ was tempted to turn stones into bread. In my perspective it is left for our own minds to exercise and share with each other as Christian minds to determine what we think makes most biblical sense. Whether we believe Satan walked Him from place to place for me seems unrealistic, especially since Christ’s human nature was weak without food and water. Yes we may argue; well, God would have given the Son of God the strength to accomplish such a vast travel. If we critically think that proposal after what we learned last week of what it means to tempt God; such a proposal may fall under that same temptatious category. To make the argument, Christ will fast forty days and nights without food and water, then walk an unknown amount of miles to Jerusalem, then to an exceeding; which, exceeding means “far beyond what is usual in magnitude or degree,” (AED) High Mountain, and it does not matter how weak his natural human body may be, because He is the Son of God, and the Father will strengthen Him to achieve it; is to tempt your God, which is equally comparable to the previous temptation of Satan saying jump from this pinnacle, after all if you’re the Son of God then the angels charged to your protection will not allow you to die. Remember that was Satan’s manipulation as he removed the phrase “keep you in all His ways” from verse 11 of Psalms 91. Those two propositions; though they are rephrased, express the same message in different words. In either case, not to sound redundant; but they both tempt God, so in my reasoning the walking interpretation is improbable.

I can imagine someone in their minds thinking; “yes I understand, but it’s the Son of God. Surely God would make an exception for Him.” I would reply; no you do not understand. We can biblically infer from scriptures a principle; the principle of not attempting to manipulate God to perform something for us being unreasonable in our human bodies, (tempting God). For the purpose of concise argumentation and understanding, let’s imagine that the letter “A” denotes something that is unreasonable to perform in our human body, such as fast food and water for 40 days and nights then go on a hike to the top of Mount Hermon in Israel, which is 7,336 ft. Also let’s imagine that letter “B” exemplifies the Love and Grace of God. To say I will perform subject A because I am a member of subject B, therefore because I am a member of subject B, God will see to it, that I will accomplish subject A; is to manipulate God to perform something unreasonable for our carnal justification and reason, instead of God’s will and orderly purpose. We can see then that this logic does not follow that God would make an exception, and break His orderly principle for Christ, because He is the son of God, but instead because He is the Son of God it makes more sense for God to hold Christ to a more strict standard of His laws and statutes, because the weight of the sins of the world is on the shoulders of Christ.

It seems more probable then that Satan transported Jesus to the top of whatever mountain in a supernatural sense under temporary divine authority. You may remember this was the preferred interpretation from John Gill in the second temptation, where John Gill excludes a visionary temptation, but in this third temptation; I adhere to a visionary interpretation for the following reason.

Some believe, such as 17^th century theologian John Lightfoot, that there was only one kingdom Satan tempted Jesus with, which was Rome. Lightfoot claims that in those days the Roman Empire was called “all the world,” (Lightfoot). If it were true that Satan tempted Jesus with only the Roman Empire from the top of a mountain overlooking Rome in a non visionary temptation; and the scripture says Jesus was taken to an exceeding high mountain, then Satan would have to have taken Jesus to the highest point of the Apennine Mountains, where Jesus may have had a broad, high, and panoramic view of the Roman Kingdom. 18^th Century theologian John Gill quotes John Lightfoot, but disagrees with his interpretation to conclude that, Satan tempted Jesus with a visionary temptation of literally all the kingdoms of the world; not meaning as Lightfoot thought all the kingdoms as Rome. On this issue I side with John Gill.

I believe there are insoluble problems with a literal interpretation of viewing the Kingdom of Rome in a non-visionary temptation. Viewing Rome from the Apennine Mountains is not an exact and precise view of the riches and glory referenced in scripture of the kingdom, but instead the non-visionary interpretation presents a more cluttered view of the cities. Also; in the following verses 11 and 12, it reads that after the Devil departed, Jesus went into Galilee. If Satan literally took Jesus anywhere near the viewpoint of physical Rome, and then was left there by Satan; where then the angels came and ministered unto Him, Jesus would have had to walk over 3,000 miles into Galilee. In modern times that is about a 3 day car drive. John Gill predicts that Mount Lebanon may be a mountain Christ was taken to, in my research I found Mount Lebanon to be much closer than the Apennine Mountains to be North of Galilee; as well as the highest mountain near the ancient province of Syria putting Jesus about 50-60 scaled miles from Galilee, which according to scripture makes far more geographical sense.

There are no mountains high enough to get a precise view of every kingdom in the world, which adds to the credibility of a visionary interpretation. To make the temptation more enticing to Jesus, He may have had to see a detailed glorious vision of all the riches and splendor of all the kingdoms in the world at that time, as the scripture seems to support by its plurality of kingdoms in verse 8. It is true none were as glorious as Rome, nevertheless there were other kingdoms.

In support of the visionary interpretation of this temptation, consider also what is written in Luke’s account of this temptation; where it reads in:

Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

The first bible translated into the English language; Tyndale’s Bible of 1526 reads a moments of time as “in ye twincklinge of an eye,” (Tyndale). These two phrases furthermore add to the credibility of a visionary interpretation. A verse where both phrases are used together is:

1Corinthians 15:52 reads; In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. We see that these two phrases used together have a connotation of something happening at an instant. When we apply this to the temptation it can mean nothing other than a temptation from Satan given to Jesus in His mind at an instant of time, which highly makes sense if attributed to a vision.

Matthew 4: 5-7 Then the Devil took Him up into the holy city and set Him upon a pinnacle of the Temple. 6 And he said to Him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written, “He shall give His angels charge concerning You, and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.” 7 Jesus said to him, It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

Pinnacle: Pterugion – pter-oog’-ee-on.  A winglet, that is, (figuratively) extremity (top corner)

I believe this definition may be applied to the very top corner of the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem prior to 70 A.D. Both Matthew and Luke correspond with each other that it was the Devil who took Jesus to Jerusalem, and both also wrote that it was at the pinnacle where Satan set Jesus to be tempted. Easton’s Bible Dictionary claims that, “the south-eastern corner the roof of this cloister was some 300 feet above the Kidron valley. The pinnacle, some parapet or wing-like projection, was above this roof, and hence at a great height, probably 350 feet or more above the valley.” The pinnacle then or the highest part of the temple was about 650 feet above earth’s surface.

In verse 6 again Satan suggests to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God cast yourself down.” It is important to realize that this is not a command from Satan. Satan does not command the Lord to turn stones into bread, or jump from this pinnacle. Satan does not have the authority to command anything from the King of Kings, who all including every devil is subject too. Instead Satan had to approach his desire to Jesus in a more elusive manner. Satan forms his sentence with two clauses, if you are the Son of God, and cast yourself down. The only way Satan could justify his second clause commanding anything from the savior, was to make his first clause a conditional clause with the word “if.” “If you are the Son of God cast yourself down.”

Remember in the first temptation of verse 4; Jesus replies to Satan with scripture and with the common Jewish custom of introducing scripture, “it is written.” We see now Satan attempting to use the same logic as Christ; by practically mimicking Jesus in using scripture against Christ, and to give credibility to his temptation. Satan said, “it is written, “He shall give His angels charge concerning You, and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone. Satan quoted ” Psalms 91:11, 12 “For He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You in all Your ways.12 They shall bear You up in their hands, lest You dash your foot against a stone.”

Satan did two things when he quoted this passage to Jesus. First he left out “to keep you in all your ways.” Second he miss applied the context of Psalms 91:11 and 12; not to the person, who is Christ, because the scripture does concern Christ, and believers, but he miss applied it to the situation for the sake of manipulation.

To better understand this we have ask ourselves why he left out the phrase “to keep you in all your ways.” To understand this we have to look in scripture to see how it has been used throughout the Old Testament. There are sixteen verses found in the Old Testament with this phrase; the following are 7 of them.

Deuteronomy 5:33 You shall walk in all the ways which Jehovah your God has commanded you so that you may live and that good may be to you, and you may make your days longer in the land which you shall possess.

Joshua 22:5 Only, diligently take heed to do the commands and the Law which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cleave to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

1Samuel 8:5 And they said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

1Kings 2:3 And keep the charge of Jehovah your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn yourself.

Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Ezekiel 16:47 Yet you have not walked according to their ways, nor done according to their hateful deeds; but, as if it were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they were in all your ways.

Daniel 5:23 But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of Heaven. And they have brought the vessels of His house before you; and you, and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver, and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see, nor hear, nor know. And you have not glorified the God in whose hand is your breath and all your ways.

It is obvious from these passages that “all your ways” is in reference to our everyday life of practical obedience to our God as we are called to walk in His ways. In reference to Psalms 91:11; “to keep thee in all thy ways,” John Gill interprets it as; “walking and travelling from place to place, as Providence calls and directs; and in all civil ways, in all lawful business and employment of life; in all spiritual ones, as the ways of God and religion,” (Gill). John Calvin claims that Psalm 91:11 “relates to all believers, yet it belongs peculiarly to Christ, who is the Head of the whole Church, possesses authority over angels, and commits to them the charge of us,” (Calvin). Matthew Henry wrote, “They shall keep thee in thy ways, that is, as long as thou keepest in the way of thy duty;” those that go out of that way put themselves out of God’s protection,” (Henry).

The reason why Satan removed from the verse “keep thee in thy ways” is because he knew that in context it directly meant that God would charge His angels over Jesus to keep Him in all the ways of the LORD’s will. By removing “keep thee in thy ways” from  verse 11, then joining it with verse 12 reading, “They shall bear You up in their hands, lest You dash your foot against a stone,” the deceiver makes it sound as if it means that no matter what Jesus does no danger would come to Him because God has charged His angels with the safety of the Son of God. So Satan says to Jesus; if you are the Son of God jump from the wing of this pinnacle. What are you worried about? You have nothing to fear, no harm can come to you. God has ordered angels to protect you. If you cast yourself from this pinnacle; you will not die and cannot die, and all who witness your fall and survival beneath will also believe you are the Son of God, and you will not have to endure the suffering and pain you will otherwise have to bear.

Jesus Christ knew He would have to suffer and die for the sins of the world. It may have been tempting for our Lord to accept Satan’s offer by leaping off the pinnacle, which would have been extremely easier than the method God had planned for the Son of God to redeem His people. For Christ to accept Satan’s offer meant that Christ may have fallen for Satan’s scriptural manipulation, or may have been a result of cowardice and direct disobedience to God’s will. Satan removed “keep thee in all your ways” Christ knew the God would keep Christ in all the ways of God’s will, and Christ knew that death by method of suicide was not one of God’s ways.

Verse 7 Jesus replies to Satan; “It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Notice that in this situation where most of us apologists, which are those in the practice of defending God’s word; would have revealed the flaw of our opponents argument by revealing their lack of scriptural cognizance, neither did Jesus contend about Satan’s manipulation by taking a scripture out of context, but again Christ shows how important it is for us to be very familiar with His word. Jesus said again “it is written.” “Then He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 which reads;

“You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah.”

Interestingly Deuteronomy 6:16 is Moses reminding the Israelites not to tempt God the way they tempted God in history referencing Exodus 17 verses 1-7. These passages in Exodus give us a clear understanding of what it means for us to test or tempt God.

Exodus 17:1-7 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Why the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why chide you with me? why do you tempt the LORD? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, What shall I do to this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5 And the LORD said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you smote the river, take in your hand, and go. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

It may seem to us that after all God had done for Jews by freeing them from the captivity of Egypt; they would have faith that God would provide for them. They witnessed the power of the ten plagues, the splitting of the red sea following the destruction of Pharaohs’ Army; yet still they doubted and tempted the LORD. In implication they tempted God by saying, “we are thirsty, and where is God? Is He with us or not? If He is then prove it by supplying us with water lest we all die!? To demand anything from God to prove His existence or attributes to us is to tempt our LORD our God.

Remember Jesus Christ was asked to show a sign, or a miracle to the Pharisees; Jesus replied to them in Matthew 12:39 “But he answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.”

They were an adulterous generation because since the arrival of Christ, the Jews were now under the pretense of false religion. These Jews were already familiar with the miracles Jesus had previously performed, such as healings and exorcisms, but they required more signs from Him to supposedly believe, that He was the Son of God, and that was the same temptation Satan was giving to Christ; to throw Himself down from the pinnacle not merely to destroy Christ and the will of God, but to test Christ and see if He was the Son of God. Jesus told the Jews the only sign they would be given is that of the prophet Jonah. Not meaning that they would not see any more, because Christ did perform many more miracles from that point forward, but that none would be provided as result of them tempting Christ. Furthermore the sign of Jonah was a reference to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was a sign the Jews would receive for their conviction of unbelief.

As for the rest of the world no further signs need to be provided, to ask for more is to tempt God. God has provided every miracle, astronomical, historical, archeological theological and philosophical evidence to prove the existence of God to us. No other sign or miracle is necessary. But for the un-repented man who continues to deny Christ for the sake of his desire to live in sin; which is disobedience to God’s commandments, one more sign will be provided, the sign of His return to judge the wicked and cast their soul to everlasting torment. Repent of your sins now while the grace of God is still to be found in this life.

Take notice how ready Satan is with his knowledge of scripture. It may be said he knows scripture thoroughly far better than us. I would have no doubt that he may know every word written in the bible from beginning to end. Scripture says that men are saved by believing in Jesus Christ, and that alone comes by hearing and understanding the Gospel of Christ. Satan knows the Gospel and knows the Son of God, yet it does nothing to cause the slightest sense of repentance from the evil he sets to do. That is because grace and faith is not given to him by God, but only to men so they may believe in Christ. It is not until we receive that grace that we will believe. There is no hope for Satan and his demons, and they know it. They are completely predestinated in every sense of the word to the torments of God at the Day of Judgment, and their free will or lack thereof will not help them by any means at all. Nothing can turn back whatever God has decreed for them. They are completely hopeless and their time is running out. If any have need of repentance then repent before facing judgment. If you are a Christian and believe in our Lord repent even still of whatever sins we may be struggling with. It is better to go to heaven with one eye, than to hell with two eyes if one contributes to your sinning.

John 4:21-24 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. 22 You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. 24 God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.

Jesus Christ being in His human nature; just as ours was subject to weariness, so Christ was also fatigued and thirsty resulting from His traveling by foot from Judea, which may have been approximately 30 miles from Jerusalem to Samaria. When He arrived Jesus sat by the well of Jacob. A Samaritan woman arrived to draw water, and Christ being thirsty asked the woman for a drink. This Samaritan woman at that instant did not know who this man was, and in her mind was only the cultural smear between the Jews and Samaritans. She went to the well with the intention of fetching water to quench her natural thirst, she was completely unaware that she was going to leave the well not with natural water; but instead with the water of life which springs up in all believers of Christ throughout eternity. As she woke up that morning she was oblivious to the fact that she would be led to Jacob’s well by God’s will and God’s providence to meet the savior of the world by divine appointment, which she would come to acknowledge as her Messiah. That was the day that God had chosen for the salvation of that sinner. Give praise and worship to God for the day He chose for you to meet your Messiah and be saved; for you to repent of your sins, and for you to commit to the love and obedience of Christ by God’s divine appointment.

Notice in the course of their dialogue how this woman came to believe He was the Messiah. Jesus asked the woman to bring her husband; to which she replied she had none. Jesus responded that she was telling the truth, and proceeded to give her information of her private life; to which there was no way any strange man especially a Jew could have known. The five husbands she had in the past, and the man she was currently living in sin with, who was not her husband; therefore, perhaps living with him even under fornication. At this point it was not yet revealed to this woman that she was speaking to the Christ; but she did come to the realization that, at least this man was a prophet of God.

Believing now that this man was a prophet she asked a question regarding worship; where is the right place to worship? Our fathers say worship here and the Jews say worship in Jerusalem. Understand that by asking where is the correct place to worship? The inquiry of who is teaching the truth is implied. No true worshiper of God is going to worship in a place he comes to find out does not teach sound doctrine. Jesus replied in verse 21 believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither worship the Father in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem. The time was coming very soon when the worship of God was not going to be confined to one location. Christ was set to commission the preaching of the Gospel to the entire world; furthermore, Christ knew as He prophesied in Matthew 24 that the Temple of Solomon where the Jews would worship would be destroyed in A.D. 70, and not one stone would be left erected on top of another. However; Jesus still answered her question in a direct way by correcting her in her worship, Christ said in verse 22 You worship what you do not know, we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. Jesus was not neutral about proper worship. Jesus not only corrected the location of worship, but He also declared to her their ignorance of worship because the Samaritans did not worship God as the God of Israel, but instead the God of the land; which made God no more significant than any other idol of another country such as, a God of the land of Egypt. Jesus being a Jew sides Himself with the Jews and proclaims that the Jewish form of worship and location was correct.

Verse 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him.

The true worshipers are those who have come to believe and currently believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Those who worship God worship Him in spirit; meaning we do not worship God in the flesh, which is to say; we do not worship in any manner involving works with our hands, such as the Jews in the temple offering incense or the slaughter of animals in the tabernacle or temple. What this means for us is that, we do not worship God for the means of attempting to gain merit to result in salvation; instead we who are in the spirit of God worship God because He has already save us, who believe in Jesus Christ  through the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We do not need to look for the types and shadows and perform the ceremonial rituals the Jews did in anticipation of the coming Messiah. For us Jesus Christ already came, who is the true Ark of the Covenant, He is the true Tabernacle, He is the true Temple and the true Lamb who God provided to be slaughtered for the remission of sins. Jesus Christ fulfilled the covenant of God and now it does not matter the location of worship so long as we know the true Godhead as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, understand the Gospel and believe in the work of Christ with true sincerity and without hypocrisy.  We Christians worship God in Spirit and truth because unlike the Samaritans before us, and unlike those who worship a false God through vague religions of our day, and that goes for any religion of the world no matter what it is. Jesus Christ is the truth and the only way to salvation, and may God raise men in the likes of the apostles who were not ashamed or timid to proclaim that truth. We worship God in truth and spirit because we know who our God is and how to worship Him.

 

Matthew 4:5 Then the Devil took Him up into the holy city and set Him upon a pinnacle of the Temple.

There is some debate as to how exactly Satan took Christ with him to the temple. Whether they walked or supernaturally transported in the spirit, are debatable. Some theologians even believe they never physically went anywhere, but instead that Satan tempted Christ through a vision. The vision theory is perhaps the weakest suggestion. This vision would have to make Christ believe it was absolutely real for it to be tempting for Christ; which does not seem probable. John Gill is dogmatic in His stance on this issue. Gill excludes the visionary concept for a more supernatural concept. “Satan, by divine permission, and with the consent of Christ, which shows his great humiliation and condescension, had power over his body, to move it from place to place; in some such like manner as the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip,” (Gill). The passage John Gill is referring to is Acts 8:39, where the Spirit told Phillip to join himself to the chariot, where he heard the Eunuch reading the book of Isaiah, which gave Phillip the opportunity to reveal Jesus Christ through the scriptures. It then reads in verse 39 that, after Phillip baptized the Eunuch; “the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more.”

There are a couple of things I would like to bring some insight to from this passage before returning to Matthew. We see here in verse 39 the action of the Eunuchs baptism where it reads, “And when they had come up out of the water” it is consistent with all of scripture regarding baptism, that it is performed by a full submersion of the body. I am aware that Catholics and some Christians practice sprinkling and other methods not found in scripture, but it is my personal conviction that baptism should be done when the young adult is able to make an informed conscious decision, as he or she has come to believe in Christ. Also, that we ought to imitate the sacraments such as baptism and the Lord’s Supper only the way Christ and His disciples practiced them.

Secondly; the issue of Phillip being caught away or supernaturally transported away tempted me to find a more rational explanation to this verse. As a student of philosophy I am inclined to approach such issues of the supernatural as a rationalist or empiricist regarding matters of epistemology and the supernatural. Epistemology is the study of knowledge, truth, certainty, and how we come to attain it. An empiricist attempts to achieve certainty with his sensual perceptions, while the rationalist attempts to achieve certainty with his reason, logic, and rationality; which, in relation to apologetics being the defense of God’s word; I am convinced by reason and experience that the more rational, or rationalist’s arguments for the existence of God against the atheist are the stronger arguments. That being said I questioned whether it really was that God miraculously caused Phillip to disappear, or does it merely mean that the Spirit told Phillip to leave immediately and from that point the Eunuch never saw him again.

I began to look for verses where there may be similar circumstances and there is; Ezekiel 3:12-14 where Ezekiel claims God lifted him up and took him places and showed him things. There are a few other passages that are similar but not equal, because Ezekiel 8, Ezekiel 11, and 2Corinthians 12 involved God taking them for the purpose of showing them things in vision instead of being mobile. I considered Enoch, but his situation was vastly different because God took him to heaven without him dying. The author of Hebrews in 11:12 writes, “By faith Enoch was translated so as not to see death, and he was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”

Bible commentators such as; John Gill, Matthew Henry, and John Calvin believe the more miraculous interpretation of Phillip being carried away by the spirit. A mutual reason they share was so that the Eunuch would not have a chance to give Phillip money or reward for Phillips deed; also, so that his disappearance would confirm the interpretation and visit from Philip as an act of God. To this point of Phillip being drawn away before he could be offered any payment; John Calvin writes, “let the servants of Christ learn hereby to serve him freely, or rather let them so serve men for nothing that they hope for a reward from heaven. The Lord (allows), indeed, to the ministers of the gospel to receive a reward at their hands whom they teach, (1 Corinthians 9:9,) but he forbids them therewithal to be hirelings which labor for lucre’s sake, (John 10:12.) For this must be the mark whereat they must shoot, to gain the men themselves to God,” (Calvin). Calvin is explicating that a minister of the gospel should be focused on pleasing God as his reward and without an expectation of imbursement. Although it is granted that a Pastor is paid for his works by those whom he teaches; income should never be the minister’s ambition to preach the gospel. Calvin illustrates that, he who does approach ministry as a hireling or for the sake of greed, according to John 10:12 would be like a hired man to watch the sheep, but when the wolf comes the hired man runs away because he does not own the sheep, and allows the sheep to be scattered. We who are in Christ already have our reward and that reward is from the pierced infallible hands of Jesus Christ, not by the empty fallible hands of man.

Just as I was about to give up my rationalist interpretation, I found theologians with the same adherence as mine; Thomas Constable, Albert Barnes, and Charles John Ellicot takes the more rational approach. Albert Barnes a 19^th century American Theologian, Princeton Theological Seminary graduate, bible commentator, and Presbyterian Pastor wrote, “This phrase (caught Phillip away) has been usually understood of a forcible or miraculous removal of Philip to some other place. Some have even supposed that he was borne through the air by an angel . . . To such foolish interpretations have many expositors been led. The meaning is, clearly, that the Spirit, who had directed Philip to go near the eunuch, now removed him in a similar manner. That this is the meaning is clear,” (Ellicot).

Whenever God caught someone away in vision or movement it was for the purpose of giving revelation; that is not the case for Phillip, and I think it would be inconsistent to apply Elijah’s, Ezekiel’s, or Paul’s supernatural experience, and apply it to Phillip; since there is no extra revelation experience given to Phillip. Instead, I believe it is consistent in agreement with Ellicot, that just as in verse 29 the Spirit compelled Phillip to join the Eunuch, the Spirit compelled Phillip to leave the Eunuch immediately, while still agreeing with Gill, Henry, and Calvin, that it may have been for the reason of Phillip not taking any reward of currency for revealing Christ to the Eunuch. Furthermore; the word caught away in the Greek, harpazō har-pad’-zo; to seize (in various applications) catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force); nowhere does it denote any miraculous meaning, and the text of Acts 8:39 in my perception does not allow the definition to be used with a miraculous connotation.

In relation to Christ being taken to the pinnacle of the temple; there is no way to dogmatically claim how it was, that Satan and Christ arrived at the temple. We can neither confirm nor deny from scripture that they miraculously transported, or walked from the wilderness to the temple. The book of Matthew and Luke does not clarify the issue, as they tell us that Satan brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem. What is obvious is that, it is Satan who is given control; he is the initiator. Jesus Christ humbly submits to an extent, and allows Satan do try his best. Let no excuses be made for the loss of Satan; for he was allowed to try our Lord Jesus at his best, while our savior was at His weakest, and yet still Jesus Christ our champion did not fail us.

Remember that Jesus was in His human natural body with human attributes, yet without the inheritance of original sin; however, just like humans when we are at our weakest and want to give up, we need a motivating factor in our minds. Some advice given to Special Forces candidates is to get their minds motivated. Not just ready their bodies but especially their minds. To know why exactly they are there and want to become an unconventional warrior. All of those are motivating factors for the minds necessary to endure the rigorous training of becoming SF. What must have been in the mind of Christ motivating Him not to fall to these temptations from Satan? First and foremost; based on His replies to Satan, the word of God was in His mind. A full knowledge thereof; and in that word of God Christ knew that He was our representative in that trial against Satan. Not only was the Fathers will in His mind to obey, but in His mind were the sins of the world. In His mind was all the sheep that the Father was ready to bring to Him as the Good Shepherd that He proved to be. In His mind was the mission He was tasked to fulfill from the Father who sent Him. In His mind was His objective to fulfill all righteousness for the pleasure of God, and for the sake of those who cannot fulfill righteousness. We as sinners all fall short of the glory of God, but in the mind of Jesus Christ was the motivation of becoming the face of God’s glory.

2Corinthians 4:6 For it is God who said, “Out of darkness Light shall shine;” who shone in our hearts to give the brightness of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.