Invocavit – Sunday 18 February A✠D 2024
✠ Psalmody: Psalm 91:15a, c, 16;91:1-2, 9-10, 13;91:11–12;91:1, 2, 4a
✠ Lection: Genesis 3:1-21;2 Corinthians 6:1-10;St. Matthew 4:1-11
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. This is what happened in the Garden when the serpent of old deceived our first parents. The devil is a created being, so taking on the Creator head-to-head in a battle of opposing strength or might is obviously, even in a fallen angel’s eyes, foolish with no possibility of success. In order to wage war against God, he knew he could only do it on one battlefield; not one on which swords, spears, tanks, or bombs are wielded, but on one where words are the weapons. For words sway hearts and upon the heart of man is where Satan focuses his war against God and he does it by words. To whose words do you listen? If they are not clearly God’s, then they are clearly the devil’s, because your life does not and will never exist in a state of spiritual neutrality, truce, peace, or ceasefire between you and the forces of darkness. All words have an origin.
It is good to know the devil’s prime tactic, but also his aim, his goal. If we engage in battle with an enemy whom we know seeks to target us in a specific area, then it is wise to be aware of the area that is in his crosshairs so that we might bolster our defenses and be on our guard. Adam and Eve both let down their guard and the tempter craftily exploited it by means of doubt by attacking God in the heart of those two whom He created in His image. One of the aspects about their relationship with the Creator that the serpent caused them to doubt was their identity. God had created everything out of nothing. On the sixth day, He created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And He gave them dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. God set them over it all by His good order; yet all, including them, was still under Him, for He alone is God. He defined this identity, their identity, as His own creation for whom He provided all things, and it was good; Him, Creator; them, the created.
The titles used for this same serpent in the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness reveal what the evil foe was up to back in the Garden. In St. Matthew’s account, he is called the devil, meaning slanderer, because he was a liar and a murder from the beginning. Where we now pray that God’s Name be kept holy among us, the devil’s evil desire has always been to profane it, especially among man, by tempting us not to believe God’s Holy Word and not to lead godly lives according to it. He is called the tempter because tempting those made in the image of God to sin is his ploy, knowing that the wages of sin is death. He cannot overthrow God head-on, but he can tempt you unto eternal destruction. Every temptation has that aim and goal. He is called Satan, meaning accuser, because no matter your struggle, he will accuse you with the aim of causing doubt of identity. If you are “too pious” and “don’t have enough worldly fun” as a Christian, then he will accuse you of being stodgy and uptight. C’mon, doesn’t God Himself want you to be happy? Then, just do what makes you happy. He won’t really be displeased by it. And when your sin is heavy upon your conscience, the accuser’s lies are also there to accuse you of being unforgiveable, because how could a true Christian do what you do? He’s all too happy to accuse you in whatever way serves his ploy to destroy you.
Adam and Eve had a perfect identity. They were in perfect paradise, perfect bliss, perfect harmony between created and Creator, but they were tempted to doubt their identity and to want what wasn’t theirs, thinking it to be good, pleasant, and desirable. Hence, all mankind fell in Adam’s fall, yet God planted the Seed of Promise by His Word into the bloodline of the fallen. Flowing out from the corrupted Garden was a scarlet thread that wove down through time from one generation to another, eventually making its way to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, also called Israel. It is from him that the nation arises, is fruitful and multiplies in the land of Egypt where his sons dwelt, coming under eventual slavery, yet the thread still intact and pressing toward the fullness of time.
What God did for His people, and what they didn’t do for Him, colors for us the picture of Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. Context helps, so think back to just last month when we had the text immediately preceding today’s Gospel where we remembered Christ’s baptism. There, He passes through the water and comes out as God’s Chosen One. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Where in the life of the people of Israel in the Old Testament do we see them passing through water, being identified as God’s Chosen People, and being led by God into the wilderness to be tested by Him? In the Exodus. And what happened in the wilderness? God tested them, not to lead them into temptation or to cause them to sin, but to put their faith in Him to the test as all faith that is possessed by sinful people is in need of having done. We need God’s affliction. We need God’s chastisement. We need God’s refinement so that sin and wickedness may be burned away and we stand precious and purified as is done with gold and silver. God tests His people so that their true faith may be seen before Him, by Him; so that it may be seen by Him and so that they may see the genuineness of their faith themselves. The devil, the world, and the sinful flesh are always, always opposed to true faith in us being revealed through affliction, through repentance, through godly living. The people of Israel were tested and repeatedly showed that they were unfaithful. They sinned by doubting God, failing Him, despising His Word, seeking to have for themselves what He says is not only not good, but what will destroy them. They rejected their identity in God by listening to voices that were not His, whether they be that of the devil or of their own sinful desires or both. They failed in the wilderness. And our lives are mirrored in theirs. We fail in the wilderness in how we offend God and heed not His Word.
As thus, we look for a Champion. We need a Champion. We need a Valiant One. To point us to Him, recall that upon a certain battlefield entered, for Israel, an unsuspecting, lowly in appearance, eighth son of a Bethlehemite keeper of sheep named Jesse. The humble shepherd son was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking, chosen and anointed by God to be king. He was David. He went out to the wilderness with confident faith in God’s Word, confronted the enemy Goliath, and crushed his head. Who shall go for you? Who shall be your greater Champion? Who shall enter the battlefield and crush Satan’s head, defeating the Goliath of your sin and death that you not only fear but embolden? Who shall enter into the murky waters to purify them for you that you may be washed clean in them? Who shall be led up by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? Who shall be the One with Whom you identify? Your eternal identity exists in only one answer, and He is a good One, the Best, the Most High God in your flesh. He is none other than Jesus Christ. As the true Son, He is the whole nation of Israel reduced to One. He received John’s baptism as the representative and substitute for the people. He passed through the waters and came out as God’s Chosen. He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, not to be tested by God, but for the purpose of being tempted by the Devil. That’s going on offense. That’s plundering the strong man’s house. That’s confronting your greatest enemies, sin, death, and the devil, head on and not only proving His faith and righteousness to be pure, but establishing an eternal identity that cannot be doubted or questioned. The devil tried to do so when he repeatedly said, “If You are the Son of God…” Do not fall for the slanderer’s, the tempter’s, the accuser’s crafty seeds by which he seeks to make you forget or doubt your identity in Christ Jesus the Champion. Your identity in Christ neither gives you freedom to live in fleshly satisfactions of whatever way it craves, nor does it give you reason to despair that you are too sinful to be forgiven. Your identity in the Christ into Whom you are baptized, Who won the battle over Satan in the wilderness, and eternally in the crucifixion, is one of a repentant, godly life that has faith and peace in sins forgiven. This is what Jesus has won for you and of this you may be sure, because Jesus is Victor over Satan on behalf of the nation Israel, doing what they did not, and ultimately on behalf of all people, doing what we could not. When you are tempted, remember your Champion. Remember your Savior. Remember your baptism, identity, and salvation in Him
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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