THE GOD-MAN LIVING

MESSAGE SEVEN

THE FIRST GOD-MAN’S LIVING
FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS

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Scripture Reading: Matt. 22:15-46; 26:57-68

OUTLINE

4. In His ministry:
   2. His temptations:
      2. During His ministry—Matt. 22:15-46:
         1. The tempter’s intention—to ensnare Him in His words—v. 15.
         2. By the Pharisees with the Herodians—vv. 16-22:
            1. 1) The Pharisees were the fundamentalists of Judaism.
            2. 2) The Herodians were the political party under King Herod for Roman imperialism, usurped by the Pharisees in tempting the first God-man.
            3. 3) They tempted Him by asking whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar, the emperor of Rome, trying to catch Him as one who was against imperialistic Rome—v. 17.
            4. 4) He asked them to show Him the coin for the tribute. When they showed Him, He asked them whose image and inscription were on the coin; they answered, “Caesar’s.” He answered them, “Render then the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar and the things that are God’s to God.” He defeated them in their plot—vv. 18-22.
         3. By the Sadducees—vv. 23-34:
            1. 1) The Sadducees were the modernists at their time in the Jewish religion, not believing in the resurrection.
            2. 2) They tempted the first God-man by telling Him that among them there were seven brothers who married one woman consecutively. Then they asked Him whose wife this woman would be in the resurrection. He said that they erred and did not know the Scriptures nor the power of God, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. He taught them that God as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob is not the God of the dead, but of the living. By this He muzzled their mouths—vv. 23-34.
         4. By a lawyer of the Pharisees—vv. 34-40:
            1. 1) A lawyer of the Pharisees, knowing that the first God-man muzzled the mouths of the Sadducees, tested Him by asking Him which is the great commandment in the law—vv. 34-36.
            2. 2) He answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” By this He conquered them also—vv. 37-40.
         5. The first God-man turned the test to them—vv. 41-46:
            1. 1) He tested them by saying, “What do you think concerning the Christ? Whose son is He?” They answered, “David’s.” He said, “How then does David in spirit call Him Lord [Psa. 110:1]...? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son?”—vv. 41-45.
            2. 2) Not one of them was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone from that day dare to question Him anymore—v. 46.
            3. 3) The Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, and a lawyer of the Pharisees tempted the first God-man with questions concerning Roman imperialism, the belief of the Jewish religion, and their creed, thinking that they could ensnare Him, but He defeated them all by His wise and subduing answers, which led them to consider the person of Christ who, not the political and religious things, was their real need.
            4. 4) When He tested them with the person of Christ, they did not have the adequate knowledge, knowing Christ only in His humanity as the seed of David but not in His divinity as the Lord of David, who will sit at the right hand of God (Psa. 110:1). Eventually, He muzzled all their mouths and won the victory in the mutual testings.
      3. At the end of His ministry—Matt. 26:57-68:
         1. In the time of His being judged by the Jewish Sanhedrin after He was arrested by the Roman authorities in the night—vv. 57-58.
         2. They tested Him about several things so that they might put Him to death, but He answered nothing—vv. 59-62.
         3. Eventually, the high priest tested Him concerning whether He was the Christ, the Son of God—v. 63.
         4. He answered, “You have said rightly. Nevertheless I say to you, From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power [Psa. 110:1] and coming on the clouds of heaven”—v. 64.
         5. The high priest tore his garments and said that He had blasphemed, and the Sanhedrin considered that He was worthy of death—vv. 65-66.
         6. They spit in His face and beat Him with their fists, and others slapped Him—vv. 67-68.
         7. In the last temptation of the first God-man by the high priest usurped by Satan, the high priest’s test was in principle the same as the devil’s in the beginning of the temptations, tempting the first God-man to assume His divine position as the Son of God and ignore His human position as a man—Matt. 4:3-7.
         8. The first God-man, knowing the stratagem of Satan, in His answer again did not assume His divine position as the Son of God but strongly stressed His human position as the Son of Man to shame Satan and annul him by His humanity.
      4. In conclusion, all the temptations by Satan and his usurped instruments present us a vivid picture that the first God-man behaved stately within the limit of His positions according to His dual status of God and man. His wisdom, His honesty, His faithfulness to God, His sobermindedness concerning His position and status, and His conquering and subduing ability, all were shown in this ugly portrait of His enemy Satan, the devil. The actual result of the temptations by the opposers of the first God-man did afford a chance for Him to unveil to them the person of Christ in full, that He is both God as the Lord of David, their respected father, and man, a seed of David, who will sit at the right hand of God (Psa. 110:1). Such an all-inclusive Christ was the real need for their life, but what a pity that they were blinded by Satan and became ignorant of their real need so that they despised Him, forsook Him, and sentenced Him to death by crucifixion! (Matt. 26:66-67).