THE BATTLE WAS OVER BEFORE IT BEGAN
Jericho and Ai
Do you remember what happened to the city of Jericho? It was the first city the Israelites came to after they crossed over into the Promised Land for the very first time. And although it was surrounded by large impenetrable walls, the Lord promised to give it into the Israelites’ hands. And so he had them march around the city walls for seven days and on the seventh day he commanded his people to shout and blow the trumpets. When the people of Israel did what the Lord told them to do, the walls of Jericho came crashing down and the Israelite army marched right in. The battle was over before it every really began. There were certainly some skirmishes and a little bit of resistance, but when a city’s walls crumble to the ground and an entire army is blocking any chance of escape, the outcome is inevitable.
Of course, the victory against the next town was just as guaranteed for Joshua and his people. The next city after Jericho was a place called Ai. Ai only had about 6000 men to fend off an attack and Joshua brought 30,000 warriors against it. After luring the men of Ai out of the city to meet them in battle, Joshua and 25,000 of his soldiers began to retreat as if they were losing. But as they drew the people of Ai further away from their city, 5000 Israelites came out of hiding behind the city walls, rushed through its gates, and burned the city to the ground. By the time the men of Ai saw what was happening behind them, it was too late. Joshua and his army had turned around to crush the much smaller army and the soldiers of Ai were suddenly caught in the middle. And even though the people of this little town didn’t know it until it what happening, the battle was really over before it began. Joshua knew beforehand how big the city was; he was the one who chose the battlefield; he orchestrated the fake retreat; he set up the ambush; he had the superior numbers; and, most importantly, God himself had promised him the victory and even gave him the strategy to do it. Joshua knew they would win before he ever stepped into battle.
Jesus’ Control over His Battle with Satan
The battles that Joshua and the Israelites had with their enemies in the Promised Land are really not all that different from the battle Jesus had with his arch enemy the devil in the desert. Jesus knew how strong Satan was beforehand; Jesus chose the battlefield on which they would meet; Jesus determined what was done during the battle itself; Jesus had control of the most powerful weapon used in the fight; and most importantly, Jesus knew he would win. We are familiar with the three main temptation that Satan threw against Jesus that day, but don’t overlook the very first verse: “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit out into the desert specifically in order to be tempted by the devil! Jesus knew exactly what was happening! Jesus knew exactly why he was there! He purposely went out into the wastelands so that he could undergo the devil’s attacks. Jesus wasn’t surprised. Jesus wasn’t taken off guard. He meant to do this. He fully intended to pick this fight. And if Jesus had planned for this fight, that means the battle was over before it every really began.
And the battle itself shows us that too. Every time Satan tried to tempt Jesus to do something wrong, how did Jesus respond? “It is written…” “It is written…” “It is written…” The Lord used the Word of God to fend off every one of Satan’s assaults. And if there’s anyone who knows the Word of God well enough to utilize it under the most extreme of spiritual harassment, it’s the one who wrote the Word, the one whom the Word points to, the one whom Scripture even calls “The Word made into flesh”! Satan was fighting against the master! The devil was contending against the Almighty! And so he was outmatched in every way from the start! This battle was over before it began.
And if the devil didn’t know that before he went out to the desert, he certainly understood that when he left. Because listen to how this battle ends: “Jesus said, ‘Away from me Satan!’… Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” There wasn’t a final sucker punch that the devil got in before he left. There wasn’t a last angry word that he mumbled under his breath before he stomped away in anger. There wasn’t even an argument or a complaint on the devil’s part. Because God himself had told Satan to leave; and so this fallen angel had to leave - immediately. Jesus had allowed Satan to tempt him not only with these three temptations but for the entire 40 days he was out in that desert. But enough was enough. And when Jesus was done that means the devil was done. And with one simple command the Lord cast his arch enemy out of his presence until a time he felt like giving the devil another shot. Jesus was in complete control. He began the battle when he wanted it to begin. He arranged the battle in the way he wanted it arranged. He ended the battle when he wanted it to end. This fight was over long before it ever began.
Our Inability to Battle Alone
But please don’t get the wrong impression: the devil is not stupid! And he certainly isn’t weak! Compared to the Lord in this battle in the desert he looks a little inadequate; but compared to us he’s a powerful and dangerous enemy. And we can’t take him on our own. Oh, we’ve tried haven’t we? We’ve tried to take on the devil and his temptations by ourselves. And we have paid the price! Just look back in your life and think about how many temptations you have succumbed to. And they always seem to be the same kind of temptations over and over again. It’s amazing that after Satan has gotten the upper hand on us so many times that we can still convince ourselves that we’ll be OK in certain situations when we have never been OK in those situations before. We talk ourselves into thinking that although we have fallen into this particular temptation in this exact same setting in the past, we’ll be strong enough this time to fend it off. And so we keep putting ourselves into positions that have caused us to fall before. And we allow ourselves to be around people that have influenced us in a negative way before. And we let ourselves be surrounded by temptations that cause us to think things we shouldn’t and other temptations that cause us to say things we shouldn’t and still other temptations that cause us to do things we shouldn’t.
I don’t know why we keep doing that to ourselves… We should know by now that our weaknesses are just that: weaknesses. And we cannot march right out into the desert to take the devil on face to face and think that we can come out of that battle unscathed! We are not strong enough. We are not capable enough. And we certainly are not dedicated enough to God’s Word that we would be able to survive a confrontation with the devil without falling into sin. It hasn’t happened before; why would we think it’s ever going to happen now?
The devil is tricky; he knows how to hit you where it hurts. And the devil is ruthless; he hates you more than anything or anyone else has ever hated you before, and so he will never let up. He is out for blood, your blood. And he will not be satisfied unless he can tempt you all the way down into hell itself.
We cannot let our guard down. But it happens all the time, doesn’t it? We can get so secure in our own strength, we can become so confident in the firmness of our own faith that we stop watching out for temptations that might harm us and we stop avoiding possible temptations that get too close and we stop guarding against the temptations that we don’t even know are there yet. It’s a very dangerous thing to become lax in our defense against the devil. And that spiritual laziness has caused us a lot of problems in the past. And if we think we can continue to do that in the future, the battle is going to be over long before it ever begins.
Lent Always Begins with This Battle
This is the first Sunday in the season of Lent. And the gospel reading assigned for this Sunday every year, as it has been for centuries, is the story we are reading today: The Temptation of Christ in the Desert. It never changes. Every year on this Sunday we always read this gospel story. Why do you think that is? Why do we always begin the season in which we focus on the sufferings and death of our Lord with this battle between Christ and the devil? Because it’s an interesting story and we don’t know where else to fit it? Because we probably should talk about the devil sometime and this is as good a place as any? No! We read this story at the beginning of Lent because it is the first official act of our Savior suffering what we have to suffer and coming out on top. This story is about Jesus grabbing us when we were standing out in the open, susceptible to every arrow in Satan’s quiver, and thrusting us behind his back as he steps in to take the brunt of the attack. This is Jesus doing what we cannot do - and doing it for us. This is Jesus throwing off as many temptations as have dragged us down. This is Jesus defeating the devil as many times as the devil has defeated us. This is Jesus winning the fight against sin as many times as we have lost it. This is Jesus fighting for us. But it came at a price.
Jesus suffered. Jesus truly did suffer! Jesus was worn out after this battle and completed exhausted after these 40 days were over. Scripture says that the angels even had to come and serve him after this battle was over. Because he was still a true human being. He wasn’t immune to the rigor and the demands of fighting an intense spiritual war. But that was the point: Jesus had to suffer temptation for us. He had to suffer as a human being. And he suffered severely. But he won. He won!
And so I can’t think of a better way to begin the season of Lent, can you? Here we watch Jesus fight for us; in a few weeks we will watch him die for us. Here he withstands the onslaughts of Satan; soon he will crush Satan’s head. Here he wins a great victory; but at the end of next month we will celebrate the greatest victory Jesus won over the devil as he gives up his breath on the cross and then takes it back as he rises from the tomb. The story of The Temptation Jesus in the Desert is the beginning of Jesus’ suffering; and so it is also the beginning of our forgiveness.
The Rest of the War
As Christians living almost 2000 years after these events took place, the war is now over, but the battle rages on. Satan knows that he is defeated, but he is not going to give up until he is permanently locked away forever in the hellish dungeon the Lord has created for him. And so it is prudent for us as Christians to be alert and stay on our toes. We have to keep our heads on a swivel so that we don’t get blindsided. And of course that doesn’t mean we just hitch up our pants and make it a point to “be stronger” and “try harder” and “act better.” No that means that just as a child hides behind the legs of his parents when a stranger is in the room, we hide behind the legs of our Lord when temptations are near. We let the Lord take care of it for us. We protect ourselves with his Word and guard ourselves with his gospel. We trust in the one who defeated the devil in the desert and conquered him on the cross. We rely on his power and his strength and his ability to overcome these enemies of ours, because the fact of the matter is: he already has. The battles we fight here are over before they ever begin. They may harm us at times and they may hassle us to no end, but in the End it won’t matter. Because ever since we were brought to faith in our Savior, we have always been on the winning side. The Lord has already won. And so we have too.
Amen.
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” - Romans 16:20
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