You Wait Upon the Lord by Holding to His Word

Invocabit – Lent 1

Genesis 3:1-21; Hebrews 4:14-16; Matthew 4:1-11

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Jesus is baptized. That had just happened. The Father spoke from heaven, “This is my beloved Son,” and then immediately, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. And the devil is questioning, “If you are the Son of God” (Matt. 4:3). See what’s going on here. Satan is attacking what the Father declared in Baptism. And it’s the same for you, dear baptized. It’s the same for you. Every temptation you face in this life, every doubt, every suffering satan brings, is at its core, an attack on your Baptism. When you long for what you know is sinful, you are believing that something is better than the life God gave you in baptism. When you find yourself in agony, causing you to question God, that is doubting your Baptism. When you wonder if you are truly forgiven, you worry about tomorrow, you fear death… all of it is an attack on your Baptism. 

That’s why it’s so important for us to consider the temptation of our Lord at the entrance to the season of Lent. And there, in that temptation, we see Jesus in three ways: As our Example, our Champion, and our Helper. 

First, He’s your Example. That should be obvious. Jesus shows you how to resist your sinful flesh and resist the devil. This is how it’s done. But the first temptation seems odd, doesn’t it? “Command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matt. 4:3). Why would that even be sinful? Since He’s the Son of the Father, since He already satisfies the desires of every living thing, why not take bread when He’s hungry? Bread isn’t evil. It’s considered a blessing to have bread, a good gift. So why shouldn’t Jesus have the good gift of bread? This is why, very simply, the Father had not given Him bread.

Fine, Jesus trusts the Father. So satan takes Him to the top of the temple, where He can show that He trusts the Father by throwing Himself down. And here again, the temptation is to have something good: Trust in the Father. It’s not evil to trust God. But again, the Father had not given Jesus the vocation of jumping off buildings. He is to trust in the things God has given to do. 

But notice that the devil doesn’t come at Jesus with vicious attacks or violent temptations to sin, but with simple, everyday, good things. Should that not be a warning to us? Don’t expect satan’s temptations in your own life to be wild and shocking. When the evil one musters all his might to attack the Son of God, of all the things he could bring against the Christ, he brings bread. So look for satan to do the same in your life. He will use small everyday blessings to shake you, to get you to mistrust your Lord and look to yourself. That’s how he works. He takes the goodness of marriage and says you can have that good gift outside of where God gives it, in lust. He takes the blessing of children or family and makes you think you have to stress and worry over them, rather than trust the Lord. He points you to dying loved ones and tells you to fall apart. Grieve as if you have no hope whatsoever and hold on to the blessings of this world at all costs. Satan would have you strive after that which God has not given you. 

But your example, Jesus, shows you to wait upon the Lord. He shows you to wait upon the Lord, and then He shows you how. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matt. 4:4). It doesn’t look like the Father will provide for Jesus. It looks like God doesn’t care, as if God has abandoned Him. Still, Jesus holds to the Word. That’s not shocking to us, but it should be. The Son of God does not defeat the devil with His own power. He could summon the might of the universe against satan, but instead, He simply holds to the Word of God, the very same weapon you are given in this fight. 

This is what we need to see at the beginning of Lent. For you will face the temptations of satan. It will look as if the Father is not giving you what you need, so you should just do what you want. No. This is what we need to see: Jesus, your example, waiting upon the Lord by holding to the Word. Do that. Hold to the Word of God that says you are baptized. 

But we’re in trouble if that’s all Jesus is doing in our reading. If He’s just being our example, if that’s it, then we’d be lost. What does it matter that Jesus shows us how to do it, since we can’t stand against satan in the first place? Thankfully, He’s not just your example, but also your Champion. When your Lord faces down the devil, He does so in your place, as your Redeemer and Deliverer. 

When satan brings attacks to our ears, we cannot help but sin. We’re corrupted by just hearing the temptation. We don’t even have to engage in it. We don’t have to run headlong into sin. Just considering it defiles us. But not Jesus. He is tempted in every way you are, but without it defiling Him. We can’t imagine how this works. How can it be a real temptation for Jesus? He finds sin disgusting. So how can He even be tempted to sin? If someone were trying to get you to lick the bottom of their shoe, you wouldn’t think that is a temptation. We don’t want to lick the bottom of someone’s shoe. It’s disgusting. Jesus finds sin disgusting. And yet, somehow, confronted with sin that disgusts Him, He suffers real temptation. In fact, He suffers every temptation, but it doesn’t corrupt Him. 

He stands where Adam and Eve failed, where you have failed. Where you’ve given in to worry and doubt and forbidden desire, Jesus resists. When it looks like there’s no relief, it looks like the Father has abandoned Him to distress, Jesus somehow still believes the Father to be good, and so He waits upon the Lord by holding to the Word.

The last temptation shows how desperate satan really is. You can see that because he tries to tempt Jesus with the desire for glory, of all things. “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (Matt. 4:9). It’s breathtaking how audacious he is. He’s offering all things to the one who holds all things in His hands. This shows that the devil doesn’t really understand what Jesus wants. The Son of God hasn’t come for earthly glory. That’s what satan desires. So out of desperation, the devil just blurts out what he really wants: “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” 

He doesn’t know what Jesus wants. If he did, he would have offered to open the gates of Hell. Satan would have shown Jesus all the souls of men. He would have shown Jesus you. For that is what your Lord truly wants. That’s what Jesus has come to get. For you, the Son of the Father will starve in the desert, He will embrace the scourge, carry the cross to Golgotha, and gladly pour out His own blood, to pay the price for you. You don’t have to overcome the old evil foe. Your Lord already has. For you fights the Valiant One whom God Himself elected. And make no mistake, He holds the field forever. 

Jesus is your example, and Jesus is your Champion. But Jesus is also your Helper. 

He has not left you to fight against the devil on your own. Listen to the way the book of Hebrews describes Jesus in the wilderness. This is what it says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest… For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:17-18). That’s Hebrews 2. Hebrews 4, our Epistle, explains it this way: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Now, because that is true, because Jesus was tempted as you are, now, it says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16). 

This is important because you know the sins you struggle against. Let’s not pretend. You are inclined to desire what God has not given you. You’re drawn toward it, and you know what those sins are. Times like this, right now, when you recall the cravings of your heart, the way you’ve treated your neighbor, whatever you’ve coveted, the things you tend to fret over in life, when you think of your sin now, you’re mostly disgusted by it. You’re ashamed of your sin, and rightfully so.

But Jesus also knows your sin. He knows the temptations you’ve faced, your weaknesses. And you tend to think that, knowing all that, Jesus would be repulsed by you. Or you think that maybe you should come before Him somewhat embarrassed, sheepishly. You know what you’ve done, and you think of yourself approaching that altar with shame. But what does the text say? What does it say? After telling you that Jesus sympathizes with your weaknesses, He has felt your every temptation, after that, you are not told to approach God with shame or to stay away from Him until you’ve done a better job resisting the devil. No. You’re told to “draw near to the throne of grace” with what? With confidence! Confidence that here you receive mercy. Here you find grace to help in time of need. It’s not a question; maybe you’ll receive mercy and grace, maybe you won’t. No. You will. For Christ is your Helper. 

He intercedes for you with His own blood, that you should not cower before Him, but approach with all the assurance of heaven itself, as He says to you, His baptized, “Given, shed for you.” That’s how we enter the season of Lent, waiting upon the Lord by holding to His Word.

In ☩ Jesus’ name. Amen. 

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.