If You Are The Son Of God...
Read Luke 3:23-38
"...the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."
In the Gospel of Luke 3:23-38, we can read the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth according to Luke's discovery. It looks as if he combined some of Joseph's family tree with Mary's. In Mary, Jesus is linked to King David, in Joseph Jesus is adopted into Solomons linage. In both cases Jesus picks up the kingly right to the throne. At this point in the gospel of Luke, Jesus is about thirty years old. And we can see mainly the geneology of Jesus' mother, not Joseph, though it lists Joseph as the supposed father of Jesus. This linage traces Jesus' bloodline through Mary to both David and Abraham. And even further to Noah, and then all the way back to the beginning with Adam "the son of God".
Jesus was the 77th generation from Adam "the son of God."
So... right off the bat, that means that everyone of us is related to Jesus of Nazareth, since all of humanity finds it lineage in Adam. We all relate to him literally. And isn't it also interesting that following his baptism by John the Baptist, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil." (Luke 4:1-2)
It's interesting to me because of what the Devil tempts Jesus with.
Or I should say, what he challenges him with.
Luke 4:3
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
So immediately we think about the devil tempting Jesus in his hunger. But what I immediately see is a challenging question as to whether or not Jesus is who he thinks he is. Is he the Son of God?
We just saw in chapter three that he is of the bloodline of Adam and in fact everyone of us is also. And we saw that Adam is called the son of God. Why does the devil challenge that? Certainly his demons never do, in fact they typically immediately admit who Jesus is out loud when he comes upon them. So, I find it interesting and strange at the same time that the devil asks "if you are the Son of God".
What does it mean that Adam is the son of God? God was Adam’s Father I suppose, in the sense that he created him and breathed life into him. He found his beginning in God. He did not come from any human father, but directly came to life from God Himself, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And therefore, so do all of mankind, but through the seed of mankind passed down through many generations of men and women starting with Adam. But still all of this is of God's doing. God's Spirit gives life to all creation. Even the devil. There is no question to that reality unless you intend to create doubt about the existence of God himself. And maybe that's the devil's game.
And now we've come to it. The real reason for Satan's challenge. And the real reason for all these genealogies. There needs to be a protestation of this reality. Every human being who loves God, and who serves him, must give protestation as to their belief that they are of the lineage of Adam, who is the son of God. It's important because if you cannot wrap your head around that one fact of life, all the rest of what we believe and do becomes the work of the devil.
Jesus doesn't fall for the devil's doubts about who he is. So the devil gives him that ground and moves on to challenge Jesus' legal authority to do the things he does.
Luke 4:6-7
and (the devil) said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours."
Well first of all, who "delivered" this to the devil?
Mankind did when they compromised their inheritance.
He's offering Jesus authority over the kingdoms and lands of mankind throughout the earth. Something he believes is his to give, simply because he's stolen from men through cunning and deception. But as far as God is concerned, these things are not and were not ever the devils to give. From the beginning God bequeath the earth to mankind, not to any angels, holy or fallen.
In the beginning God created the earth for mankind. Later he gives them dominion over all the earth. And then he curses the earth because of their rebellion. And later again, several times actually, God makes a covenant between Himself and mankind to bless them and make many nations of them for His glory, not man's glory or the devils. Never does he offer dominion on the earth to the devil. This the devil steals from mankind throughout all those seventy-seven generations he's been stealing this inheritance from them. And here he is again trying to steal Jesus' birthright.
Luke 4:8
And Jesus answered him, "It is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve."
So okay, obviously Jesus can't be moved on this claim about his kingship founded in the beginning through Adam. The devil can't tempt him into selling out for a supposed easier path into kingship. All he had to do was submit and compromise his name. Call himself king through the devil. And all this sacrifice would be done.
And so, now one more time the devil returns to the original challenge as to Jesus' bloodline authority.
Luke 4:9
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here"
And then Satan quotes from the Old Testament scripture Psalm 91:11-12, in the same manner that Jesus does...
This is the devil speaking scripture:
Luke 4:10-11
for it is written,
"He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone."
And Jesus fights against the misuse of the scriptures with more scripture. In rejecting these temptations he remembers the words of the Scriptures.
Luke 4:12
And Jesus answered him, "It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’"
Each time Jesus rejects the temptations of the devil by quoting Scripture from the book of Deuteronomy which is the fifth of the Books of Moses in which Moses addresses the promises of God to the people of Israel. So it's very interesting that he chose that very book to uphold the promises of God in these moments, when the devil challenges those promises from God and his covenant with mankind.
Luke 4:13
"And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until a more opportune time."
The result of this wilderness experience is that Jesus reaffirms and asserts his claim to all of humanity. He restores the claim to the kingdoms of mankind to God. Though the devil continues to prowl the kingdoms, the authority to judge them belongs to Jesus. The authority to redeem them is Jesus' authority. The authority to make them his children is Jesus' birthright. And the authority to eternally curse the devil and all his followers is also His.
And so having worked out whether or not he is The Son of God, organically, historically, and legally...
Luke 4:14-15
"Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all."
But that's for next time...