ON THE VANGUARD

JESUS AND FORTY
“Then the Spirit led Yeshua up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Adversary. After Yeshua had fasted forty days and nights, he was hungry.”
Matthew 4:1-2

We are on our final day concerning the number forty, even though the season of Teshuvah is just now getting under way. I am sure that this term will come up a few more times as the season progresses. But today I want us to look at the number forty, and how it relates to Jesus, Yeshua. There are two specific instances relating our Savior with this number, and my goal is to look at both. However, in both I think you also will see that this number is in fact related to the testing and trials that we have learned it to relate to.
We start with the events following Jesus’ baptism. Matthew 3 concludes with Jesus coming out of the waters of the Jordan and having the Spirit come upon Him as a dove, and the voice of the Father declaring His pleasure in His Son. Then in chapter 4, we are told that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Before we go on, let us define a few words in the Greek concerning this portion of scripture. First, I think it is good for us to define ‘wilderness’. In the Greek this is EREMOS, meaning a solitary, lonely, or uninhabited place. Second, let us define ‘tempted’. This is the word PEIRAZO in the Greek, and its meaning is one of a trying to see if a thing can be done, a malicious test, or a testing for the purpose of determining quantity and behavior. In short, then, we see the Spirit leading Jesus into a solitary time and place to determine through the malicious tactics of the enemy just what Jesus was made of. When offered the ‘things’ of this world, would Jesus buckle under the pressure, or buckle up in character?
After a time of forty days of being tested, with the enemy offering food, safety, and the kingdoms of this world, and all the while Jesus overcoming each temptation with the Word, the enemy left him alone (Mt 4:11). I would like to point out real quick the relationship between this event and the words of James 4:7. When we resist the enemy, he will flee. It was in this season, these forty days, that the enemy wanted to see what Jesus would do. In His weakness, the enemy probably expected Jesus to give it to the temptation. Yet He held His ground and fought the Word the enemy knew with the truth behind the Word that Jesus knew. Let this also be a reminder to us in our times of testing that God’s Word remains our weapon.
Lastly, I want us to look at Acts 1:3. Following the death of Jesus we read that He appeared to the disciples and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive over the course of forty days. As we just read, Jesus Himself was tested for forty days, and now we see that the disciples were being tested for forty days. The fact that Jesus had to convince the disciples it was Him speaks volumes. Yet Jesus gave proofs, TEKMERION, the assurance that He was surely and plainly known with evidence to support Himself. In these forty days following Jesus’ victory over death, He made it His mission to prove that He was the fulfillment of Scripture.
So what does this say to us? Perhaps over the past few days as you’ve been reading these devotionals you have seen yourself. Maybe you have realized that you are in a time of testing. I am convinced of it in my own life. Just yesterday I was out fishing with my children and on the way home we stopped for lunch and a little waltzing around the shopping center. Things were going well and we were all enjoying ourselves. When I went to put the key in the car to come back home, however, nothing happened. Right away, as if on cue, my daughter starting crying about never getting home again and my son started yelling at her about her crying. My reaction, for once, was laughing. I knew right away it was a test. I calmly looked back at my daughter and said, “Let’s stop crying and start praying.” We prayed for peace, for help with the car, and for any expenses related to the fix to be affordable. I am happy to say we are home and it was only a dead battery. I believe, however, that God was watching me to see how I would react. I am convinced He was determining my attitude toward Him in this situation. Maybe you find yourself able to relate these past few days because you too are in that season. Let us then fix our eyes on Him, give no ground to the enemy, so that we pass this test and enter into the forty-first day and the joy that awaits.