The Temptations of Christ

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

[Mat 4:1-11]

Now whether this narrative is literal or not have been debated for a long time.

We can however be certain that it happened, spiritually, at the least. For Satan is a spiritual being and conversation between him and Jesus and the things seen must have occurred in the spiritual realms. Perhaps it is not unlike a dream or a hallucination.

But more importantly is the fact that Jesus was tempted:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

[Heb 4:15]

Jesus was tempted in every way.

And the tempter is Satan.

The questions then are:

Are these three temptations all the every ways of temptations, ie in these temptation are all the temptations that the son of man in the flesh will be tempted? How did the writer of Hebrews knew that Jesus was tempted in every way?

Apart from these three temptations was Jesus not tempted in other times, times that were never recorded, eg when Jesus was a boy or a young man.

On the second question, it is important to note that Jesus' sinlessness in the flesh is important—in fact essential—to fulfill the Law of Moses. For Jesus, the Son of Man, amongst other things, had to demonstrate that the Law can be fulfilled in the flesh, and also to be the unblemished Passover lamb, and the scapegoat of the Yom Kippur, to be a worthy sacrifice to take away all sins.

Of course we do not have records of every moment of Jesus' life and thoughts—we do not and cannot know every thing that Jesus saw, thought, said, or acted—to know that he did not sin for any single moment. However it was clear to the Jews themselves that God was with Jesus—for the miracles that he did and for his teachings—and that to the Jews was confirmation enough that a person is sinless and righteous, and that the Law is fulfilled in Jesus.

Further the death of Jesus on the cross, and prior to that, God forsaking Jesus, was a sign that Jesus actually died in sin—if Jesus had remained sinless, he would have hung undying on the cross, a most horrible and grotesque thing that will be.

But thank God, Jesus died.

And as he was without sin before being hung on the cross, we can be assured then that he had sin put on him. We may not know if it was the sin of the world for all peoples for all times, but it sufficed us to know that Jesus died a sinner.

And thus the Gentiles have hope too.

For the Gentiles now know that a man died and was resurrected. And so all who will die, can now believe in the God of Jesus to save them, even as Jesus demonstrated that the dead shall come to life again.

Now were the temptations tempting Jesus all and every temptations that Man can be tempted with?

First a temptation is a temptation only if one can be tempted by it. A cigarette will not be a temptation to one who does not smoke, but possibly an irresistible one to one trying to quit smoking.

We can feel and understand how Jesus being in the flesh can be tempted by food after forty days and nights of fasting. And we can also understand that Jesus was certainly tempted in all things in the flesh, all things carnal, just as we are, ie not just food, but shelter, rest, companionship, sex, etc etc. If we read the above passage allegorically, then this first temptation is a representation of one kind of temptation that befalls Man, namely that due to being in the flesh.

The real temptation here is to forgo feeding the spirit, with God's word—for we are ultimately spiritual beings too—and to seek instead to feed the demands of one's flesh. The latter is not a sin per se but mostly it is pursued at the expense or in lieu of the former. That was the sin, and not the abuse God's word to turn stone to bread nor the tending of the flesh's needs.

It is a little harder to feel the temptations in Jesus' second temptation: to throw himself off the temple and to have angels rescue him, to test God, or in principle to abuse or misuse the promises of God for other than what is intended, and in this instance, for trivial vainglorious ends.

However this may not be as uncommon or unknown to us as we think.

For many do search through the Bible and to pick out verses and promises and make claims to it, namely the attitude of "Name it! Claim it!" But we see here that just because something is promised—"It is written"—does not mean it is to be claimed in just any way. For "it is also written" elsewhere, sometimes, a higher and more general principle or intent, which may condition a specific isolated promise.

But the real temptation here is the temptation of Sonship, of being the Son of God, even as the first was due to being in the flesh, the Son of Man.

For Satan prefaced both the first and second temptation with "If you are the Son of God ..." and then went on to tempt Jesus. Whereas the first is for a necessity—something that even a wicked Father will forgive if asking was indeed a sin—the second was to abuse God's promises merely to glorify oneself as the Son of God.

So the second kind of temptation only applies to those who are Sons of God, who can make the claim that God is their Father, and who knows God hears them when they cry. Balaam's sin is perhaps from falling to this temptation, for Balaam was a prophet of God, whom God hears, and who Balaam blesses, God bless, and who Balaam curses, God curse.

But it's still a little hard to feel why the second temptation is as tempting as the the first. Why should Jesus be tempted by such a silly thing at all, something easily dismissed as a non smoker, a cigarette?

For us there is perhaps the temptation to show—or showoff—to others that God is with us, that God hears us, and we demonstrate this by flaunting God's blessings upon us, such as wealth and prosperity, or spiritual gifts, and we ask to such effects. And so we fall to this second kind of temptation.

And then there is the third kind of temptation.

Here Satan promised Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for Jesus' worship of him.

It is even harder to understanding how this can be tempting to Jesus.

Perhaps to Man to be offered even just a kingdom, can be very tempting indeed, especially when exchanged for merely the worship of Satan. And indeed many people in the world have sold themselves to the Devil, or will eagerly do so at any chance, for far less than that.

But for Jesus, firstly all the kingdoms of the world are his to begin with, and nothing for Satan to offer at all, and secondly it is destined to be Jesus' shortly too. There is only thing: Jesus have to suffer and die on the cross, to receive his inheritance and fulfill his destiny.

Indeed the pain and agony in the flesh of that death, and even more so the separation from the Father, albeit temporarily, is a daunting challenge, even for Jesus—if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me [Mat 26:39]—and we can only imagined how Jesus was tempted to bow down and worship Satan to avoid the cup God has destined him.

I call this third kind of temptation, the temptation of destiny.

And as an example, we see Abraham falling to this temptation when Sara gave him Hagar to create that promised offspring. This is the temptation of Man trying to fulfill his promised destiny—"it is written"—as he sees and knows how, and in his time as he understands time.

We are tempted to fulfill ourselves, especially more so when somehow we know it is destined. But our destiny do not justify what and how and when we go about doing it, sorely tempted though we may be—but rather we are to be circumcised, in spirit and in heart, and await in patience, longsuffering and faith, to let God fulfill us for ourselves, and in God's way and God's time.

From Hagar we have Ishmael. And then God gave Abraham the covenant of the circumcision. And Issac is the son of the circumcision—the circumcision being a sign, a reminder, when engaged in the sexual procreation act, that it is God who will fulfill for us what he has promised for us. Today we have the continuing conflict between the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Issac, and is arguably the root cause of many conflicts in the world today.

And Eve too fell to this temptation when Satan told her, "You will not surely die."

Do we, in our ordinary lives, get tempted by temptations of this kind too?

I think we do, but we may not be always aware of them, as it is so justifiable, and natural, and right to ask for and even go grab at any opportunity to do and to make happen that which we know, deep in our spirit, is ours and which we feel we are destined for. But we may be tempted and have fallen even as Abraham fell without knowing.

And so we see in the Temptations of Christ—allegorical, literal or yet something else—three types or kinds of temptations that will befall the Son of Man and the Son of God.

Are these all and every temptations?

They are certainly wide and encompassing, especially when the specific temptations are seen as representatives of kinds or types of temptations. And it is possible to fit any and all temptations we are tempted with—as we are aware of them as such—into one of these three categories. And thus we can be assured that Jesus can fully feel with and for us, being Son of Man, and Son of God.

The Beasts of Revelation (Part II)

An alternative interpretation of the seven heads on the Beast that came from the sea is that the seventh head is the Ottoman Empire, which cemented their status as the then world's sole superpower with their capture of Constantinople in 1453.

And then there is yet another alternative.

In one of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he dreamt of a giant statue with a head of gold, chest of silver, thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of a mixture of clay and iron. Its meaning was revealed to Daniel, namely that these are world powers to come, starting with the head of gold which was Nebuchadnezzar himself.

Now from hindsight of history we know that the silver chest were the Persions, the bronze thighs was Alexander the Great, and the cruel legs of iron, the Romans, which are all heads on the Beast.

And thus the feet of mix of clay and iron is also of the Beast, the seventh head.

In other words the seventh head need not be a single power but a mix of nations, fragmented, disunited, some weak and some strong, but together they rule and run world affairs.

This state of nations was certainly the case from the onset of Byzantine empire, where countless states were formed, destroyed, reformed, conquered, reconquered, sometimes friends, sometimes enemies, etc etc. And the Ottoman empire reigned in such a time, and it was simply a pre-eminent power amongst the myraid of powers, both weak and strong.

In this interpretation, we are then already in the days of the Beast himself, the eighth power.

And I will conjecture to say that this power revealed itself with the start of naval explorations by the European nations of Portugal, Spain, the Dutch and then the English, which eventually led to international maritime trade, colonisation, the rise of the maritime superpowers, namely Great Britain and the USA, and then globalisation and capitalism in this world today.

China then too could have become a maritime power, but it curtailed itself.

And the Beast came from the sea.

And then there are the ten horns on the Beast who will rule for one hour with the Beast. We are then in this one hour of these horns' reign. Who are they?

The Beasts of Revelation (Part I)

The Beast that Comes from the Sea

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.

The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.

The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.

Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.

He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.

And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.

[Rev 13:1-8]

So it has been revealed that there are eight powers that ruled the earth, as there are seven heads on the Beast that came from the sea in Revelations, and the Beast itself, and "explained" in Rev 17, and in Daniel, of which "five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come".

And the power that was at that time, was Rome.

Working backwards in time, we identified the other five fallen powers to be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and the Greeks under Alexander the Great.

Some would not count Egypt, but split the Persians into two: Medes and Persia. And then there are others who count the Roman kings instead, but I think a biblically more consistent interpretation is to match them to world powers as was explained to Daniel in his visions.

(As an aside, people in a time always try to fit all that is known into what is revealed. This may not be wise. From comparison of history and revelation, we can know what we do not know, and then we know what to see as the future unfolds, and thus our are eyes are open to see.)

And then one of these heads appear to have a fatal wound - wounded by the sword [Rev 13] - but is yet alive. Which head can this be? What mortal wound is this?

And now almost two thousand years have passed, and we are still not sure who is the seventh head, and also who is the Beast which is the eight power.

It is arguable that the USA is the seventh head (see also here), especially since the USSR imploded leaving behind a unipolar world, a situation similar to the times during the reign of the other six heads on the Beast.

(See here for another interpretation of the seventh head.)

And this seventh head has remain a little while only.

If the current financial crisis is the death knell of the USA, then will we be seeing the eight power, the Beast itself - who once was, is not, but will be - now being revealed? And is this crisis the mortal wound that John saw on one of the Beast's head?

Also that the seven world powers are heads on this beast seems to suggest that this beast is the true power empowering all of them, and that the eight power, the Beast itself, the sum of the heads and more, will be differently manifested.

It may not be a nation or any kind of superpower, even as Capitalism is a real, global and pervasive power but yet does not reside in or emanate from a person or a nation. And certainly there are no "tribe, people, language and nation" untouched by Capitalism today.

Or perhaps the Beast is something yet to be seen, something unexperienced or ever imagined in the world today, which will arise from the aftermath of this present crisis.

And there may be echoes and glimpse of such a thing already. For one of the consequences of the Great Depression of 1929, was WWII, and for that we have Hitler.

And then it is seems obvious to think that China will be the next superpower after the USA, thus the Beast itself - and its colour is red too, and its national symbol is the Dragon - but it may fall too with the USA in this present crisis.

Thus, at this moment, we can only be ever so more vigilant, and watch, and to seek out the things not seen.

And then there are the ten horns on this beast. It is not clear if these horns are distributed on the heads or are they extra protrusions elsewhere on the beast's body. It is is easier to envisage the latter. What is revealed is:

The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.

[Rev 17:12-14]

And Daniel also saw that three of these horns will fall and in its place a little horn will arise.

While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

[Dan 7:8]

From what I can see in my temporal horizon, I cannot yet glimpse who or what these ten horns might be, and even less who the three to fall can be. And also Revelation seems to suggest that these ten horns will reign in the time of the Beast itself, who will reign only "forty two months".

Going back to Hitler, as example of things to come, who persecute the Jews then, this time these powers will persecute the "chosen and faithful followers". And these are not necessarily the Christian churches as we know of these churches in the world today.

In fact the churches could be in cahoot with these very powers, namely the other Beast, the Lamb who spoke with a voice of a dragon. For not all the chosen and faithful followers are necessarily "churched". They are many who wander the earth as pilgrims, longing for a home that is not the earth.

So this is the time to watch.

And very trying times are ahead:

If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.

[Rev 13:10]

Even so as Habakkuk sat on the tower, and watched, and affirmed in faith:

Though the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails,
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen,
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Watching and Waiting

We see but not know.

We cannot know even if revealed to us.

For we see, not clearly, but veiled.

We can only watch and wait, until the veil is remove.

What is revealed is like a template, with which you use to filter your various perspectives, hypotheses, understanding and others' explanations and interpretations, of reality, even as it happens, and you know only when all fit the template, perfectly.

Then the time has come.

Until then we wait, and watch.

The Fourth Horseman

When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

[Rev 6:7-8]

Paradoxically, what seemingly is most straightforward of horsemen is actually the most mystifying and perplexing.

What can be more straightforward an interpretation than what is written, namely that a quarter of the earth shall die from the sword - which is often taken as symbolic of wars and conflict - famine, plaque and wild beast of the earth.

But a little reflection reveals something amissed.

For surely everyone dies, and not just a quarter of the earth. For God have made it explicit that man shall not live more than a hundred and twenty years:

Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

[Gen 6:3]

God proclaimed this in the times of Noah, before the Flood, and Noah himself lived up to 350 years and much later Abraham lived to 157 years. Moses however died exactly at 120 years. So it seems that there is a gradual decline in man's lifespan from that proclaimation, and only effected from the time of Moses, and now any centenarian is something to be amazed about.

Perhaps the death by the Fourth Horseman, named Death, and his partner, Hades, is not the same kind of death as the death that all mortals will die from. What death is this then? is it more accursed to die from this death?

Further what is the significance of dying from the sword, famine, plaque and wild beasts' attacks as compared to that from earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, accidents - industrial, domestic, etc - ordinary sicknesses and diseases, congential hereditary defects, or just "old" age?

Then it does not seem to say anything new nor does it give any new insight, unlike the other three horsemen.

Whatever your interpretation of the preceeding horsemen, the fourth is just an echo of them all, a kind of summary or conclusion to that which preceeded, namely that death is the end of this all.

So is it just a summary?

It can simply means that Death is the outcome to whatever Man does, in all his endeavours. But my interpretation framework or perspective thus far is that these horsemen reveals the essence of what mankind and earthly life is all about, or the fundamental characteristics which shaped and defined what humankind is, for all times from the beginning to the end. This fourth horseman is - apparently - not saying anything of this sort.

And so I rather consistently think it is saying something that I cannot discern at this moment in time.

There is however a new thing, not suggested in the preceeding horsemen, namely that mankind being killed by wild beasts of the earth.

This is actually strange thing: for animals do not naturally attack humans, for they are given a spirit to fear man, as God have ordained so:

The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands.

[Gen 9:2]

This God ordained after the Flood even as he sets a bow in the sky.

But of course people have been killed by animals from a long time ago, certainly in biblical times: it is entirely believable to Jacob that Joseph was attacked and killed by a wild beast. And that only means that the fourth horseman have been in the world again from a long time ago too, as with the other three.

Nonetheless deaths from wild beasts of the earth is a rare thing, and probably getting rarer.

For example in the US around the period of year 2000, 177 annual fatalities are due to animals, which includes such as riding accidents, as compared to over 2 million total fatalities (of which 20% are tabacco related), ie in the order of 0.01%.

So deaths from animal attacks are very very insignificant, at least in terms of their numbers, and will perhaps get even less significant as the wilderness shrinks and mankind have less opportunity meeting wild animals. Also species are going extinct even by the day.

So what is the significance about death from wild beasts' attack? What is the big deal about Man being killed by wild beasts of the earth?

Perhaps there is yet-to-happen scenario where wild animals, or insects, lose the spirit of the fear of Man and go on a rampage and deaths from animals' attack becomes a significant proportion of deaths. That sounds scary indeed, but this is purely speculative.

But we need not speculate, for we can already know for certain that God's ordination is somehow breached.

And for this to happen either wild beasts, in specific individuals or in their entirety, had a new spirit that no longer fear Man, or conversely that Man, again individually or in the entire mankind, is of a new spirit, for which these wild animals do not fear or which do not come under God's original protective ordination. And the change of spirit either in the animals or in Man himself is in the authority given to this horseman, Death, and his partner Hades.

And so the Fourth Horseman may be saying that life's nature is fundamentally changed on this earth, even at the spiritual level.

Then there is yet another strange thing, namely death from death itself. The original Greek that is translated plaque is actually the exact same word as the name of the Fourth Horseman, translated Death. It is hard to make sense of death by death itself.

But we can be sure of one thing, namely this death is by the joint authority of the Fourth horsemen and Hades: "They were given power ...". Thus the authority is not solely the Devil's, but rather given jointly to both Man and the Devil. In other words the Devil cannot work on his own. He needs Man, even as Man needs the Devil, to do their deeds.

So whereas Man was created in the likeness of God to "rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" [Gen 1:26], now Man works with Hades, or the Devil, as a partner to fundamentally change the spiritual nature of things on earth.

And Death is an unnatural thing, for Man was created for Eternity, even as the Devil knew from the Beginning.

Finally we can perhaps read in the current environmental impact and irreversible changes caused by Man's activities, as a reflection of the impact and changes that have been occuring in the spiritual nature of all things, by Man working with his partner, Hades.