Then Jesus returned to Galilee, full of the Holy Spirit's power. Soon He became well known through out all that region, for his sermons in the synagogues, Every one praised him. when he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on Saturday, and stood up to read the scriptures.
The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, and he opened it to the place where it says: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach the Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessing to all that come to him, ready to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. " These Scriptures came true today!
Jesus was directed by the Holy Spirit to his contest with the devil. After his baptism in the Jordan river, he is led by the spirit into the desert, a location reminiscent of the wilderness through which Israel was guided by Moses. the temptation lasted forty days and; this again reminds one of the forty years Exodus from Egypt. the forty days which Jesus spent in the desert are the origin of the forty day period of lent. During these forty days Jesus fasted.; He ate nothing and so he was very hungry. The devil seizes on this situation by suggesting to Jesus: " If you are the Son-of God, tell this stone to become bread." The devil is not so much challenging Jesus to prove his divine Son-ship as to temp him to use the son-ship for his own selfish purpose: by providing bread for himself. Jesus responds by quoting a portion Deuteronomy 8:3: ( Yes he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to both you and your ancestors. he did it to help you realize that food isn't everything, that man does not live by bread alone, and that real life comes by obeying every command of God.)
These are the words Moses addressed to Israel.The next temptation is of a political in nature. The devil led Jesus to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. Then another test: " I will give you all the authority and splendor that you see if you worship me." As the Son-of God, Jesus had almighty power; And he overcomes the Satan with a quotation from Deut. 6:13. "Worship the Lord your God and him only." We are to use the word of God to be winners over the temptations which come from Satan. Jesus won victory over Satan by using the sword of the spirit,
( which is the of word of God) to resist temptation of the devil. The defeat of the devil in the desert is not the end of the story. But, the devil would continue various tests in his earthly ministry.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the spirit. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up and on the Sabbath day he went to the synagogue, as was his custom, and he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet "Isaiah" was handed to him, which we heard earlier in the text. Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. The first few verses of John are among the most popular in the Bible: In the beginning was the "Word", and the "Word" was with God, and the "Word" was God. The words fairly leap off the page. as you begin to read God's scriptures, you feel you have entered a new level of God's truth in Jesus Christ. In the beginning of Johns Gospel through the word (God) speaks of Heaven which is the popularity within detail about a life beyond the grave. The promise of Heaven as Christ promise in John 14:1-3.; " In my Father's house is many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; and when you are ready I will come and take you there." ( Jesus is no liar).Heaven is a glorious city, a country, God's kingdom, paradise. Because of the warm image that is found there: Heaven is a home. We need a home, instead of a picture of a cold grave. We Had a home in Eden. But "Sin" caused a loss of that home and ever since, the human race has wandering,. We think of Cain, who killed his brother and was condemned to a life drifting. He had no home. In Genesis 11, we find men trying to create a city in which homes could be established. But, the men of Babel were in opposition to God, and God scattered them.
With the coming of Abraham we find a new heartening element. To be sure, God's first dealings with Abraham, was to take him from his home.- it was a sinful place filled with Idols, and Idol worshipers. But in the place of the home he lost, God promised Abraham a new place.: The land I will show you (Gen. 12:1). But even though Abraham was brought into the promised land, even though his descendants settle in large numbers, it was ultimately inadequate, because he looked forward to a heavenly home.
We don't know much about heaven except that is where Jesus is, and we shall be with him. When we talk to children, they want to know where heaven fits in. Was it between the stars? Was it beyond them? The only valid answer, was that heaven is where God is, and Jesus went to prepare a place for us. ( plays right into John 14:3).
This is the focal point of Revelation 5. It speaks of four and twenty elders, the angels and a vast amount of other creatures from everywhere, in the universe These being mention, not for descriptive
purposes, but because each bore testimony to Christ. and thus served to show how he is prominent. The four and twenty elders praised him with song. " Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and by thy blood, didst ransom men for God. from every tribe and nation and tongue and, has made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.(vv 9-10). then the angels gave their testimony " Worthy is the lamb who was slain (Jesus), to receive power and might and glory and blessing (v 12). Last the remaining creature joined in: "To him who sits upon the throne and to the lamb be blessing honor and glory and might. For ever and ever!" That is a Christian destiny. Remember Heaven is where God is. It is his presence, and that's what makes it Heaven. The words of Jesus were a comfort to the disciples and are precious to us. They were going to lose Jesus for a time, but he told them one day they would be united in his father's house. Heaven would be their home because they will be with Jesus. Remember in heaven we will know our family and friends, relatives God was explicit, and those who died in the Lord before us, " and we are not afraid, but are content to die., For then we will be at home with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:8). home at last
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