Really?

The Pinnacle

When Jesus was taken to the pinnacle of the temple by Satan during the wilderness temptation, the test was to throw himself down so that the angels would catch him. Think with me for just a moment, what a sight that would have been. This unknown carpenter from a little useless town of Nazareth standing at the edge of the massive cliff, jumping off. If no one noticed that, I am sure the legion of angels carrying him safely to the ground would have garnished some attention. And upon his landing, then what? Instant recognition. There would not have been a person for miles around Jerusalem that did not hear of the amazing occurrence. Those who didn't believe, they would have come to meet the man for themselves.

But why not? Why did Jesus refuse? The easy answer is the Devil asked him to do it and we know Jesus would never listen to the devil. But wait just a moment. Jesus was a man, God for sure, but a man too. He had not eaten for forty days and was at the point of bodily injury and starvation. Why, because the Spirit, that is his Father's Spirit, led him to do so. This was a training session in obedience for the Son, a next step in the road to the cross. However hard the wilderness may have been, it was not what the cross would be.

Jesus must suffer and obey the heavenly Father as a man, no divine privilege here, no supernatural scapegoat, just the fortitude and will of a man to obey perfectly his Father's will. That is why we could not do it. I would have broke. "I take the easy way, give me a bread loaf from that rock cause I am about to die." But not Jesus, he trusted in his Father's provision and endured in obedience, even when the circumstance was extremely hard.

So what does that mean for us. Well, simple. If Christ was willing to endure a forty day fast in the wilderness just because his Father told him too, what will you endure. We bail quick when it doesn't seem right. We retreat when things don't make sense. Do you think that it would make sense to you if God asked you to go to the wilderness and not eat for forty days. Most of us would rationalize and say obviously I didn't hear from God. Including me. Not Jesus, that is why he is the Messiah. That is why he has the authority. He is the obedient Son who is blessed by God.

Jesus knew the Father better than any of us ever will. Follow his lead, emulate his example and endure in obedience. The Father knew best for Jesus, and his obedience provided salvation for all who are in Christ. What will your obedience provide?

The pinnacle was not to be the temple mount. The pinnacle was obedince unto death, even death ona cross. There and only there, all the world may see and believe.