"Not knowing whither he went."
“There came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts.” Mk. 1:11-13. “Then Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan…. And in those days He did eat nothing.” Lk. 4:1,2.
Just as Noah was baptized by the worldwide flood, and Israel was baptized in the Red Sea and the Jordan River at flood stage, (1Cor. 10:2; Rom. 6:4.) so Jesus was baptized, not because He needed cleansing, but because He chose to go through all of our experiences with us. “Suffer it to be so now,” He said to John the Baptist, “for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Matt. 3:15.
Similarly, Christ was driven into the wilderness in order to experience all that His people have had to experience there. “By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many.” “He was numbered with the transgressors.” Is. 53:11,12. As Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert, so would He for 40 days. Just as they were tested there by Him, so would He be tested there by His Father. He was the God of the Old Testament: a God of fairness and humility. When He had the opportunity, He would submit to the same harsh realities His people had been burdened with. From the beginning, He was prepared to suffer worse than they ever had to suffer. In fact, at that very time His people were wandering in the heat, He was suffering because of them. He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8. If we only knew what He has gone through as our intercessor with our Father. But He did it all to show us the Father. In all His responses during the emergency of sin, He never failed to reveal His Father, our great God of love and care; not only for us, but for the rest of the intelligent universe.
So how does Christ’s experience as a man relate to us? The Spirit calls to us and we see the possibility of something better. We look at all the dead ends this sin-filled world has to offer and finally hate it all. At that point our only option for hope must come from something other than this world. We finally look to God and pour out our souls to Him and He immediately comes to help. Away go the desires for the addictive substances and practices, and suddenly we know God is real. Now we also want everyone else to know. “Hey everybody, you should see my friend, Jesus!” We have been baptized by the Spirit and know that we are God’s beloved child.
But then comes a dry period. Whether it is inevitable is not clear. But after the dramatic deliverance by God, we often lapse into a lonely separation from Him. He isn’t so near as before. Before, we were eating and drinking in the fellowship and assurances of His love and care. Now we are fasting. As Jesus said, “Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the Bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the Bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” Mk. 2:19,20.
In this instance, Jesus was literally with the apostles and later taken to heaven to be our heavenly High Priest. After He left them, they had to walk by faith in a different way than before, and life became tougher. So we see a hungry Peter praying on a rooftop, seeking that nearness to Christ; we hear of a Paul who keeps under his body for fear of being a castaway. We realize the thirst of John the revelator who basked in the vision of Jesus, after sixty years absent from His wonderful presence.
But how so in our personal experience? Does Jesus manifest His power in a special way to first gain our trust, and then leave us to live off of His word and our daily experiences? Is it all to toughen us up? If not, then why the long period of emptiness after first coming to Him?
In my experience, after knowing of Jesus’ love and acceptance, the thrill of all that slowly died away, much to my sadness and chagrin. I clung to that past experience until the very last vestige of it slipped from my desperate clutches. I felt like the unclean spirit in Christ’s parable, walking through dry places and seeking rest, but finding none. Jesus, however, had gone before me, undergoing every last bit of the trial, and victoriously pulling out of it with faith. How did He do it? Isaiah gives us a clue. “Butter and honey shall He eat; that He may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.” Is. 7:15. He didn’t make my mistake of living so heavily off of the good feelings of being born from above. He steadily maintained His relationship with His Father by faith through the written Word and prayer. But now He can advocate for me in my failure to hold onto God like He did. And evidently some small root of faith did remain in me, for I am still with Him. That thin, hair-like root of response to His grace was my only salvation. He did not let it go unnoticed and kept a good eye on my flounderings.
Finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel. I had trudged along, not knowing how I could ever find relief—just existing. But in the end, I came out of the “slough of despond” and eventually saw light again. It was like a baby after it is born, that must lay around awhile before he gets a mind of his own. Now I have a special confidence in God that I wouldn’t have had without that long, parched period. Now I can thank God for it, and I can likewise encourage others who are passing through it. Like the psalmist wrote, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Ps. 40:1-3.
Now I know something of what Paul meant when he said, “Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:3-5.
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10:35-39.
“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” Heb. 3:14.
“Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be save.” Matt. 24:12,13.
Just as Noah was baptized by the worldwide flood, and Israel was baptized in the Red Sea and the Jordan River at flood stage, (1Cor. 10:2; Rom. 6:4.) so Jesus was baptized, not because He needed cleansing, but because He chose to go through all of our experiences with us. “Suffer it to be so now,” He said to John the Baptist, “for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Matt. 3:15.
Similarly, Christ was driven into the wilderness in order to experience all that His people have had to experience there. “By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many.” “He was numbered with the transgressors.” Is. 53:11,12. As Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert, so would He for 40 days. Just as they were tested there by Him, so would He be tested there by His Father. He was the God of the Old Testament: a God of fairness and humility. When He had the opportunity, He would submit to the same harsh realities His people had been burdened with. From the beginning, He was prepared to suffer worse than they ever had to suffer. In fact, at that very time His people were wandering in the heat, He was suffering because of them. He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8. If we only knew what He has gone through as our intercessor with our Father. But He did it all to show us the Father. In all His responses during the emergency of sin, He never failed to reveal His Father, our great God of love and care; not only for us, but for the rest of the intelligent universe.
So how does Christ’s experience as a man relate to us? The Spirit calls to us and we see the possibility of something better. We look at all the dead ends this sin-filled world has to offer and finally hate it all. At that point our only option for hope must come from something other than this world. We finally look to God and pour out our souls to Him and He immediately comes to help. Away go the desires for the addictive substances and practices, and suddenly we know God is real. Now we also want everyone else to know. “Hey everybody, you should see my friend, Jesus!” We have been baptized by the Spirit and know that we are God’s beloved child.
But then comes a dry period. Whether it is inevitable is not clear. But after the dramatic deliverance by God, we often lapse into a lonely separation from Him. He isn’t so near as before. Before, we were eating and drinking in the fellowship and assurances of His love and care. Now we are fasting. As Jesus said, “Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the Bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the Bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come, when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” Mk. 2:19,20.
In this instance, Jesus was literally with the apostles and later taken to heaven to be our heavenly High Priest. After He left them, they had to walk by faith in a different way than before, and life became tougher. So we see a hungry Peter praying on a rooftop, seeking that nearness to Christ; we hear of a Paul who keeps under his body for fear of being a castaway. We realize the thirst of John the revelator who basked in the vision of Jesus, after sixty years absent from His wonderful presence.
But how so in our personal experience? Does Jesus manifest His power in a special way to first gain our trust, and then leave us to live off of His word and our daily experiences? Is it all to toughen us up? If not, then why the long period of emptiness after first coming to Him?
In my experience, after knowing of Jesus’ love and acceptance, the thrill of all that slowly died away, much to my sadness and chagrin. I clung to that past experience until the very last vestige of it slipped from my desperate clutches. I felt like the unclean spirit in Christ’s parable, walking through dry places and seeking rest, but finding none. Jesus, however, had gone before me, undergoing every last bit of the trial, and victoriously pulling out of it with faith. How did He do it? Isaiah gives us a clue. “Butter and honey shall He eat; that He may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.” Is. 7:15. He didn’t make my mistake of living so heavily off of the good feelings of being born from above. He steadily maintained His relationship with His Father by faith through the written Word and prayer. But now He can advocate for me in my failure to hold onto God like He did. And evidently some small root of faith did remain in me, for I am still with Him. That thin, hair-like root of response to His grace was my only salvation. He did not let it go unnoticed and kept a good eye on my flounderings.
Finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel. I had trudged along, not knowing how I could ever find relief—just existing. But in the end, I came out of the “slough of despond” and eventually saw light again. It was like a baby after it is born, that must lay around awhile before he gets a mind of his own. Now I have a special confidence in God that I wouldn’t have had without that long, parched period. Now I can thank God for it, and I can likewise encourage others who are passing through it. Like the psalmist wrote, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Ps. 40:1-3.
Now I know something of what Paul meant when he said, “Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:3-5.
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10:35-39.
“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” Heb. 3:14.
“Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be save.” Matt. 24:12,13.
posted by David | 8:08 AM
2 Comments:
Good commentary- I greatly enjoyed this and can relate to your experience on so many levels.
You, me, and many others, even Pilgrim in his progress to the celestial city. All of God's people, everywhere and through all time, have travelled with Israel in the wilderness, and Jesus never left their side, despite all their unbelief. Thanks Trailady, I'm glad you liked the post.
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