Chart: God's Revelation of Himself to Mankind

The purpose of this diagram is to show the progression of God's revelation of himself to mankind beginning with nature and culminating in Jesus Christ.

Things that wiggle

"Snake, big snake!" yelled my oldest son one day last fall as he came bounding though the front door of our house.

Soon thereafter the serpent lay in edge of the yard with his rather juicy head buried in the dirt just a few feet beyond. Now, a headless snake is a dead snake (obviously) but a headless snake still wiggles. This started me to thinking...

Way back in the book of Genesis, right after Adam and Eve pulled that fiasco with the forbidden fruit, God showed up. In response to God's inquest, Adam blamed Eve for his sin, Eve blamed the serpent and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on.

Then, as God delivered his judgments on all of the participants in mankind's original sin, a curious thing happened. In one sentence the serpent  (Satan)  realized the finality of his defeat and humanity realized their hope of a Deliverer. To the serpent God said,

"And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15 NKJV).

Now back to my snake, where this train of thought started.  My dead rattler was still wiggling at least four hours after I shot him. More than once Satan is referred to in the Bible as the "serpent", and the quote from Genesis is prophetically referring to Jesus Christ's defeat of Satan at the cross. Satan is defeated, but he does still wiggle. If you step on his tail you might get slapped around a little, but that doesn't mean you're whipped!

If you are a Christian, you have overcome Satan through the blood of Jesus Christ. Don't forget this!  Ultimately the Christian's victory is assured! As horrible and horrific as the cross was for Jesus, it was far worse for Satan! Jesus suffering is equated to a bruised heel as compared to the skull crush delivered to Satan.

Take heart friend, the snake may wiggle still, but he is very much defeated!

"...so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." Hebrews 9:28 NKJV

Jesus strikes back.

I have simplified this as best I can. It may still be a bit tedious, but I think it will be worth it.

    The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the baptism and temptation of Jesus. The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us that he immediately left the Jordan River after his baptism to spend forty days fasting in the Judean Wilderness. At the end of those forty days Satan came to him to  tempt him.

    The first temptation overcome by Jesus was a challenge by Satan for Jesus to use his divine power to satisfy the desires of his own flesh; that is, to transform stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. In the second, Satan took him to the pinnacle of the temple and (using a misquotation of scripture) challenged Jesus to throw himself from the top of the Temple and land safely at the base. In the third temptation, Satan shows Jesus all of the Kingdoms of the World and offers to surrender them all to him in exchange for one thing that Satan wants above all else; that is, worship.

    The Gospel of John is the most unique of the four gospel accounts. We sometimes use chapter one as an account of Jesus baptism and anointing by the Holy Spirit. Technically it is not. It is a record of John the Baptist's dialogue with priests and Levites about his role in the kingdom of God. In this dialogue John the Baptist is recounting  the baptism of Jesus which had occurred a few weeks prior. The next day, after this dialogue, Jesus returns and John the Baptist makes a public proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah.

Here is what I find so interesting.

    In the wilderness Jesus repelled the temptations Satan brought to him, and upon his return Jesus begins a counter attack against Satan in the very same venues in which Satan had declared war.

 Counter attack #1: Transformation

   Three days after Jesus has returned from his wilderness experience he is at a marriage in Cana of Galilee. It is here that he performs his first miracle: he transforms water into wine...not privately for himself but publicly for the benefit of others. This act manifests his glory and causes his growing band of disciples to believe on him. There is no mention that he prayed over the water. There is no mention of the Father or the Spirit in this passage. This was an autonomous divine action by the Son of God.

Counter attack #2: The Temple

    A few days later he attends the Passover in Jerusalem. He enters the Temple and promptly throws the merchants and their livestock out. This marked his entrance into Jerusalem (and particularly the Temple).   His zeal for holiness is unmistakeable. His entrance is not self aggrandizing, rather, he openly chastises the merchants for polluting the house of the Father.

Counter attack #3: Nature of the Kingdom

    The third item of interest come from the next chapter, John chapter 3. While Jesus is in Jerusalem, a young ruler named Nicodemus comes to him by night to consult with him. Jesus immediately reads his heart and begins to discuss with him the nature of the Kingdom of God, and emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation.

1. Bread and wine are both symbols/types of the suffering of Christ. Satan tried to corrupt these symbols, Jesus reinforced them.

2. Satan tried to turn the Temple into a circus and Christ into a clown. Jesus cleansed the temple, and left the resurrection as his calling card.

3. Satan bargained with the kingdoms of the earth in an attempt to elevate himself. Jesus reveals the depth of the sacrifice of the Godhead so that he might give men the key to the Kingdom of God.

The wilderness temptations were not solely and attack on the Son of God, they were an attack by Satan on the Godhead as a whole. Notice the emphasis on each person of the Godhead in the progression of events. The Son, the Father and the Spirit are all emphasized in turn.

Additional thoughts...

...on throw yourself from the pinnacle

The challenge here was to make a spectacle of himself in the temple by doing something supernatural, and in essence trade his mission of salvation for a carnival act.

...on worship me and I'll give you the kingdoms.

Essentially Satan was offering Jesus a way around the cross. In exchange however Satan would be allowed to exalt his throne to the level of Godhood. by the very act of worship, Jesus would have been acknowledging Satan as a superior . [cf. Isaiah 14:12-14].

...on John 3.

 It is in this dialogue that the much quoted John 3:16 occurs (for God so loved the world...etc.), but we also see that in this passage the wilderness experience is still very fresh on his mind, for he says,

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." [John 3:14-16]

I, for one, have enjoyed this study. Hopefully it will inspire you as well. Blessings.