The Life of the Messiah

Judean Wilderness

His Temptation

Clearly, it was not possible that Jesus could enter on His Messianic mission without opposition, and for Him that opposition would come from God’s ancient enemy, Satan. The Spirit of God put Jesus in harm’s way by pressing Him to an area where there would be no food and no help. No ‘manna in the  wilderness’ for Him. Nevertheless, He was able to meditate upon Israel’s wilderness   experience and understand that only reliance on God would get Him through as it did in getting Israel to Canaan. Indeed, this very thought would be His defence against the first temptation.

It is Matthew and Luke that give us most  information. In both accounts, the first    challenge is to turn stone into bread. Taking the “shield of faith … to quench ….the fiery darts of the wicked one” Eph.6.16)  and “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).  Jesus countered the attack with a quote from the T’nach:  “It is written,  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”  The passage from which the quote was taken is in Deuteronomy, chapter 8.  “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed  you  to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”  Observe the highlighted words.  “The Lord … led you … to test you. … He allowed you to hunger, … that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord”.   

The Messiah, recalling the events of the 40-year wilderness experience of Israel, and comparing them to His 40-day wilderness experience, concluded that in a similar manner the Spirit of God had led him there to test Him.  It was God Himself that permitted, nay required Him to be hungry. To yield to the insinuation that He would benefit by stepping outside the revealed will of God would have alienated Him from His Father. As the last Adam He would have failed in a similar manner to the first Adam. What Satan did not include in his calculations was the fact that performing the will of God is both physically and spiritually nourishing.  Jesus Himself speaks of it at another time when He was again hungry and thirsty, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). Since His  condition  was  in  the will of God, to seek to alleviate His hunger would put personal comfort above the purposes of God, and equate to disobedience of the command of God.  Jesus understood that His  experience was not simply the enmity of the Adversary but also a test from God, as to whether He would keep His Father’s commandments, do His Father’s will.  The quote from the Torah was enough to close that avenue of temptation while at the same time assure His Father of His commitment to the task at hand.

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The Life of the Messiah (Continued)

Jesus in the Wilderness (His Baptism)

When the day arrived for Him to be revealed to Israel as their Messiah He left the family home and His workplace for the last  time and went out into the wilderness, along with many other Israelites to be baptised of John. Not for the same  purpose as them for He    needed no baptism of repentance as John’s initial reaction revealed, for “John tried to   prevent Him, saying, “I need to be  baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” (Matt. 3:14) However, He had been led of the  Spirit to  be baptised by John for several reasons.

The first was to signify the acceptance of His Messianic mission, for the only hope for these repentant sinners that John was baptising was for Jesus to die in their place. This meant His identification with them, and this He did by joining them in John’s baptism.

The Scripture also makes us aware that Jesus, who had fully embraced the limitations of the incarnation was strengthened in His mission when He received confirmation that taking on the form of man did not limit His relationship with His Father. The Father’s voice testified: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)

A third reason for the baptism was it presented the perfect opportunity for John to be reassured regarding his own ministry and identify Jesus as the ‘greater’ who was to follow Him. “I did not know Him,  but  He  who  sent  me  to  baptize  with  water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:33–34)

In addition, the Spirit of God used the baptism to signify a break   between the private life of Jesus and His new public life as Messiah. But that new public life could not begin until His diabolical foe was confronted and resisted. The Spirit of God having descended on him in the form of a dove, soon ‘drove’ Him further into  the wilderness, into a more inhospitable region, to be tempted of the Devil (Mark 1:12) and there to defend His recently  confirmed status of ‘Son of God’.

Next Time: His Temptation

The Life of the Messiah

Jesus in the Temple (Continued)

The Temple Courts



When Mary and Joseph realised Jesus was missing from the group of returning pilgrims, they retraced their steps back to Jerusalem and made their way to the Temple where they found Him. When they chastised Him for remaining behind without their knowledge, His response was unexpected. He said, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)  These are the first recorded words of the Saviour. It is the first indication that He was aware of His mission. It will be ‘His Father’s business’ that will occupy Him the rest of His life. We have confirmation of this in the many indicators given to us during His public ministry. He constantly spoke of the will of the Father. For example John 5:30: “… I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” and John 8.29,30 “The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”  The staggering information is, of course, that the will of the Father, that is ‘the Father’s business’, involved His death on the cross, identified in such verses as John 10:17,18 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father”. Jesus fully accepted, nay fully embraced, His place in the eternal plan of redemption. “Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”  (John 18:11)

So Jesus, having attended His first Passover after becoming a son of the commandment, saw the lamb slain, questioned the Temple authorities regarding the sacrificial system, and declared He was “about His Father’s business” (His first recorded words). At His last Passover, He was the Lamb slain. He laid down His life as commanded by His Father and so, in respect of His Father’s business, He could declare to men, angels and demons – “it is finished” (John 19:34) (His last recorded words before He died).

Next Time: Jesus in the Wilderness

The Life of Jesus of Nazareth (Continued)

Jesus in the Temple

At 13 years of age Jesus was taken to the Temple – it was an important event for Him. He had come of age and although there was no Bar Mitzvah then He was considered a ‘son of the commandment’, which meant that He was responsible for His own sins (not that He had any). In previous years His part in the Passover celebration would have been confined to the home. As a young boy He would have been permitted to ask the pertinent questions at the Seder, that is, questions like ‘why is this night different from all other nights’, but now as a son of the commandment He was allowed to accompany His step-father to the Temple for the Passover ritual.

Joseph would either have brought a lamb, or more likely bought a lamb in the Temple. In the latter case they would have gone to the Beth-Moked gate where Joseph would have paid in shekels of the Sanctuary for a lamb specially bred for Passover. The receipt he was given would be exchanged later for an animal that had passed inspection (i.e. was without blemish and spot) and had been washed in the pool of Israel. The lambs thus cleansed were brought through the northern gate and housed in the pens located in the northern extensions.

When the time for the Passover ritual arrived the Passover lambs were then brought through the Tadi gate (the Lamb’s gate) across the intervening courts (including the court of Israel) into the court of priests where Joseph and Jesus, along with many other faithful     Israelites, were waiting. When they presented their receipt as proof of purchase they received their lamb. When instructed Joseph killed the lamb and the attending priest captured some of the blood in a specially designed bowl made of silver or gold. This vessel was then  passed along a line of priests until it reached the priest on duty at the great altar who would dash the precious red liquid below the red line.  Joseph was required to perform other duties also, like fleecing the lamb. Finally, when all was done in the Temple, Jesus and Joseph returned with the lamb’s carcase and fleece to where they were to  commemorate the Passover. There the lamb was roasted and the   celebratory meal enjoyed.

Attendance in Jerusalem was only compulsory on the first two days of the Feast, that is the day of the Passover (14^th Nisan) and the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15^th Nisan). So it was, that Joseph and Mary along with others that had travelled from Galilee, began their journey home. It was  customary for the men to travel as a group and the women as another group, one company at the head of the caravan and one at the  rear. It seems Joseph thought that Jesus was with Mary and Mary thought Jesus was with her husband. At that time they did not realise that Jesus had remained behind in Jerusalem.

On the half-holy days of the Feast (the days from the 16^th Nisan on) members of the    Temple-Sanhedrin came out on to the platform to teach. During these teaching sessions the    public were permitted to ask questions. It seems Jesus  remained in Jerusalem to take full advantage of this rare opportunity to quiz those that served in the Temple.

What questions did He ask? What comments did He make? We are not told – all we know is that “all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.” (Luke 2:47)

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The Life of Jesus of Nazareth (Continued)

The Redemption of the Christ Child

The court of prayer where the rite of purification took place
and where the redemption money was paid.

There were three requirements at the birth of the firstborn son, which applied to Jesus since he was a son of Abraham and a son of David. He would need to be circumcised at least seven full days after the birth – Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, the day when he received his angel-given name of Jesus (Yeshua). This signified an acceptance of the privileges and obligations of the Abrahamic        covenant.  Then there was the payment of the redemption money – that would be at least thirty full days after the birth. In addition, Mary would need to attend at the Temple for the rite of purification. This could not take place until at least forty full days had elapsed  after the birth. So some six weeks after the shepherds had seen the Shekinah glory of God, the mother and step-father of the baby,     identified by heaven as the Messiah, went up to the Temple to fulfil their obligations - the offering of sacrifice for the purification of the mother, and the payment of money for the redemption of the first-born. Luke records: “And when the days of her purification … were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)” (2:22,23) This was done for the first-born but not for the children born afterward. And it was not done for all first-born unless ‘the first-born were fit for a priest’.  In Jewish writings (Berakhot 8:1) they distinguish between ‘a first-born fit for inheritance’ and ‘a first-born fit for a priest’. That is, if the first-born should be in any ways maimed, or defective in any of his parts, or had any kind of spot or blemish in him, this laid no bar for his  inheriting but yet made him unfit and incapable of being consecrated to God. The infant Jesus was physically without blemish and without spot. It is likely that the purification of Mary would take place first.  

She must have enquired the price of pigeons (the offering of the poor) and made the payment by depositing the sum in the appropriate chest in the Treasury.

Then, at the time of the evening offering (3.00 p.m.) Mary attended at the platform in front of the Nicanor door where the priest (after     having offered the appropriate number of sacrifices) would sprinkle each of the attendees with water into which had been mixed the   ashes of the red heifer. About that time a godly man, Simeon, entered the court of prayer, held the child in His arms and declared the baby to be God’s Messiah.  This man was not only a student of the     Scriptures and therefore aware of the timing of the coming of Christ, but also a godly man who had received an  indication from God that he would not die until he saw Him (Luke 2:25,26).  Standing in the court that held the four giant menorahs, He took up the Holy Infant in his arms and prayed, ““Lord, now You are letting Your servant     depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring       revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”” (Luke 2:29–32) In the shadow of the Temple furniture that was designed to represent the light and glory of God, Simeon declared that Jesus was to be the ‘light of the world’ and the ‘glory of Israel’. The prophetess, Anna, likewise declared Him to be her Messiah.

The centre gate is the gate of the firstborn

Exiting the court of prayer and walking along the side of the Temple buildings, they made their way to the gate of the first-born. There  Jesus was formally presented to the priest. Two benedictions were said – one for the law of redemption and one for the gift of a firstborn son. Then the redemption money was paid acknowledging God’s claim over the firstborn of Israel. In this way the ‘parents’ of the Messiah had come to the Temple and offered Him to the LORD and received Him back again. Mary had fulfilled the requirement of the Law and was now ceremonially clean and so could partake again of the sacred offerings, and the Messiah had been identified as the    Redeemer to all who would look to Him – both Jew and Gentile.

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