Day 5
Memory Verse – 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Each day this week we have seen the story of God’s perfect creation being marred by sin, and His people finding themselves in deep water – literally! Still He never leaves them there, but consistently, through the presence of His Spirit, provides a way back to new creation and order. Still, the people are never content to remain in his rest (Noah) and deliverance, (Joshua) but time after time they succumb to the temptation of the enemy to seek their own pleasure and assert their own authority. Perhaps this theme resonates in your life?
Today we look back to day one when God saw the propensity of His creation to fall into sin, and He made a covenant to one day send a Messiah who would, once and for all, come through the chaotic waters and bring new life, and this time there would be no fall for this Man!
Read Matthew 3
We have all the pieces of our story here! Jesus entered the chaotic waters of the Jordan to be baptized. John the Baptist came declaring that the Kingdom of God – the ultimate of new creation – was at hand, and his job as a baptizer was to prepare the way for this kingdom and make a path for the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and Fire. Remember, the presence of the Holy Spirit brings life and creation!
And here He comes! Jesus, the One God told Adam and Eve to expect in Genesis 3, the Deliverer who draws God’s people out of the chaotic waters into life and rest, arrives on the scene to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. And the Holy Spirit hovers on Jesus as he is drawn up out of the waters – then God speaks! (Remember Genesis 1?) The Kingdom of God has come! A new Eden, a new promised land, new creation has come!
But first….remember what has always followed creation and salvation? Sin. The very people who were delivered out of the waters onto dry land fell into temptation to fulfill their fleshly desires and usurp the God ordained authority and order. Every. Single. Time. Until…
Matthew 4: 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Immediately after His baptism and the declaration that the Kingdom of God has come, Jesus was tempted. He was tempted to eat and fulfill His fleshly desires, and He was tempted to take authority from God and use it for His purposes, just as Adam and Eve, Noah and Ham, and Abraham and his descendants had been tempted and succumbed. BUT – Praise the Lord – for once we do not see a fall follow deliverance through the wates! Jesus resisted the temptation of the enemy, and chaos was defeated! Jesus came down the mountain ready to start His ministry which would destroy all the works of the devil and bring life and salvation everywhere He went!
And what does this mean for us? Well, we are not Jesus. And while Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, and HIs death on the cross provided the ultimate new creation for us, we still live in a world marred by sin.
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness
Jesus came to earth, came through the chaotic waters to bring the Kingdom of God to us, resisted temptation, died to save us from chaos and bring us new life, resurrected from the dead and ascended to heaven, and then He sent His Spirit to live with us! The Spirit who was present every time chaos is conquered and new life is created, dwells in you today!
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you,then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Hallelujah, we are raised to new life with Christ by His Spirit, AND we are, through the Spirit, given everything we need to resist the temptation to fulfill fleshly desires and usurp the authority and order of God in our lives. We can finally carry out the covenant responsibility to be fruitful, multiply, (see Acts 1:8) and care for creation. We can be a blessing to the whole world, just as God told Abraham we would be. And chaos, disorder and every evil thing that opposes God and His creation is defeated in the name of Jesus and through the presence of the Holy Spirit! Yahoo!