Community Bible Church

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Learning The Lessons Of The Desert

So, we continue our journey through the book of Matthew. We now come to the place of Jesus temptationsor testings depending on which way you translate the Greek word peirazo. The word itself can mean either temptation or testing, and I personally believe gives us a clue about what Matthew is trying to teach us with this episode from his gospel. In fact, it is surprising to me that with all the messages preached from this text, the one major message about which Matthew is commenting is nearly universally ignored. And yet, it is understanding this centraldare we say original messagethat unlocks the depth and meaning for us today. So, why would I say that this word peirazo gives us a clue to the meaning? Lets talk about that for a minute.

There are certain words in the bible that can be equally translated into two or three words. In these situations, it is often the surrounding context and other bible verses that help us know which way the word should be translated. If we look at what the Bible says about God in the area of tempting people, we see that the book of James says, When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. (James 1:13) Now, this is significant, because we know that it is the Spirit of God that leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted. In addition, if we understand that the desert is a place of testingnot only for Jesus but for Israel as wellthen it...