Our Substitute enters the war.

 

Sermon for Lent 1, February 18, 2024

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Mark 1:12-15  ¹²The Spirit immediately sent Jesus out into the wilderness.  ¹³He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan.  He was with the wild animals, and angels were serving him.  ¹⁴After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.  ¹⁵“The time is fulfilled,” he said.  “The kingdom of God has come near!  Repent, and believe in the gospel. (EHV)

Our Substitute enters the war.

Dear embattled believers,

            Early in the twentieth century, the world fought what became known as “the war to end all wars.”  Just in case you haven’t been paying attention, World War I didn’t end conflict in this world.  Rather, there have been wars in one place or another almost without interruption ever since, and it appears that peace will remain elusive for the foreseeable future in this world afflicted with sin.

In all honesty, however, the first world-wide war actually began when Satan whispered in Eve’s ear, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1)  That was the opening salvo in the devil’s war against both God and man.  You and I are among the losers in that first skirmish, for ever since, the devil has been fighting against us with his lies, half-truths, accusations, and temptations.  Here, Mark reports on the first major engagement in Christ Jesus’ war to end all wars when, for us, Our Substitute enters the war.

The fight to save the human race from Satan’s evil plans truly is an all-out war.  Satan would never let up in his goal of leading every person on earth away from God’s love to certain eternal death.  In this fight, it often seems like the devil has all the advantages, for each of us were his slaves because of our inherited sinfulness.  None of us retained any ability or desire to resist the devil’s wicked plans.  In fact, our human nature, after the fall, likes what Satan is selling, even though it is poison for our souls.

However, because God loves us, Jesus came into this world to rescue us from the devil, our deceiving, life-stealing master.  Having heard our cries of agony, the Father sent His Son to deliver us.  Jesus entered this world to fight for us this war we couldn’t win.  Jesus came, in human flesh, because the war had to be fought by a Man; it was initiated when the devil tempted a man to separate from God, so a Man had to restore peace between us and God.  Because we were helpless, Jesus took up our cause. 

Immediately before the battle Mark reports on here, Jesus was baptized to signify that He had taken up the battle on our behalf.  In this baptism that He didn’t need for any sin, Jesus was accepting our fight; He became our Substitute.  And, “The Spirit immediately sent Jesus out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan.”

Mark says the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness for this fight, but He did not have to be forced to take on our mutual enemy.  The Spirit’s driving was in full agreement with the Father and the Son.  Because of His love for His Father and for all of us, Jesus was a willing combatant against Satan. 

As I’m sure you know, Jesus, as true Man, went to war with Satan already at His conception, but in this forty-day temptation, God was permitting the devil to take off the kid gloves and give Jesus his best shot.  Now, you perhaps thought of this tempting as being just the three temptations we are familiar with from the other Gospel accounts, but this was forty days and nights of continuous trial.  Immediately after Jesus made Himself our substitute, Satan concentrated all his wily powers against God’s Son.  Though the devil can never do more than God allows him in his quest to mislead and destroy, Satan was permitted to do his absolute most to tempt Jesus.  Any slip, any false step, even any minor doubt, worry, or question of His Father’s will would mean Jesus had lost the whole shooting match.

“He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan.  He was with the wild animals.”  Jesus had, of course, been resisting the devil’s temptations from before His birth.  However, Jesus was sent out into the wilderness, at this time, not because the devil could torment Him more there, but simply so that everyone in heaven and earth would know that the Man, Jesus, fought this battle alone.  No parents came to His aid.  No disciples could take credit for any part of the fight.  The devil was allowed to make this a one-on-one grudge match against the Lord. 

We read in the other Gospel accounts of how the devil tried to get Jesus to doubt God’s Word, how Satan offered up the bounties of this world to tempt Jesus to turn away from God as Adam and Eve had done, how he even tried to use Jesus’ human, physical needs to get Him to stumble.  Even the wild animals were brought into play as Satan tried to make Jesus worry about His safety when He was all alone in that barren place.  Even more terrifying, in the book of the Revelation, the word translated here as wild animals represents the demons of the deep, so it was Jesus alone against all the forces of evil.

Through it all, Jesus answered each temptation the same way, with the powerful Word of God.  And finally, with the outcome of this warfare becoming ever more obvious, Jesus told the tormentor, “Go away, Satan!  For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)  For Adam and Eve, for you and me, and for every soul ever on this planet, Jesus spoke those words of victory.  As true Man, Jesus had repelled every attack Satan could bring.  Only then did the Father send His angels to serve His Son.

After reporting on Jesus’ resounding victory over the devil’s temptations, Mark immediately tells us another way, Our Substitute enters the war.  He wrote, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.  ‘The time is fulfilled,’ he said.  ‘The kingdom of God has come near!’”  In the war against Satan, Jesus was, is, and will always be our champion.  He had repelled Satan’s worst.  Then, immediately, He takes up the fight against the world.  Satan had been beaten back, but the sinful flesh of humanity was still putting up a fight.  To turn lost sinners away from the only master they had ever known, the Gospel had to be preached to all the people God loves.

John the Baptizer had been sent to prepare the way, but Jesus still needed to announce to the world that He was here to win the victory.  So, Jesus took His saving message on the road, reaching out to the hurting and the humble.  Holding out His salvation to all, Jesus preached Law to those who didn’t know Him, but followed always with the Good News that everything the prophets of old had foretold was now coming true in Him.  The promised Seed of the Woman was with them, fighting that grudge match that would end with Satan’s head crushed. 

Jesus said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.”  He was telling the world that the power and authority of Almighty God was walking among them.  Jesus displayed this truth with His miracles.  As true God and true Man, Jesus took up the fight on our behalf; He showed the world that there is no need to look anywhere else.  Everything the fallen human race needed for salvation was being accomplished by Jesus.  He would now complete His divine love for the human race by conquering completely the rebellious liar that had caused us to be subject to death. 

As Jesus fought to destroy the enemy, the gates of heaven were being thrown wide open, because Jesus accomplished total victory in the true war to end all wars when He declared from the cross, “It is finished!” and bowed His head in death.  The devil could touch Him no more.  Every temptation common to men had been resisted.  Every blow Satan could bring had been taken, and the devil’s power lay crushed in the dust before the cross.  The one Man who had no sin had suffered the punishment of death for the sins of every sinner ever.  Satan was conquered, absolutely.  The law was fully accomplished, and every sin was paid for by the blood of God’s perfectly holy and innocent Son.  Christ’s victory was complete, for Satan’s power is destroyed, and our salvation is assured.

Our Substitute enters the war.  Jesus told the people of His day, “Repent, and believe in the gospel."  Jesus didn’t just fight for us out in that lonely wilderness.  He kept fighting His battle against Satan by reaching out with His Good News to the people of Galilee, Samaria, and all Judea.  He told everyone to turn away from trusting in anything else but Him.  That means to turn away from sin and the devil’s temptations, turn completely away from the desires of the flesh, turn away from worshipping any god but the Triune God, and turn away from any self-worship that would pretend we can satisfy God’s righteous demands on our own.

Because you and I could never accomplish this repentance by ourselves; we still need Jesus as our Champion.  We still need Him leading this war against Satan.  Christ has indeed won the victory, but each soul born into this world still needs to hear about Jesus’ victory because the devil certainly won’t admit that the fight is over.  Therefore, Jesus continues the fight for the souls of sinners wherever and whenever His Good News is proclaimed.  Our Substitute enters the war, still today, by bringing His victory to slaves to sin in Baptism, pouring His cleansing, life-giving water and Word on the heads of formerly lost souls.  Jesus also fights against Satan whenever and wherever His body and blood are rightly distributed to repentant sinners to assure them of His mercy and forgiveness. 

Dear friends, the question for you and me, today then, is which side will we be on as Our Substitute enters the war?  Will we go back to following Satan’s lead?  Or will we “Repent, and believe in the gospel"?  Repentance means we continually turn away from the devil’s lies and trust in Jesus’ victory.  Repentance means that when Satan whispers his lies or temptations in our ears, we will stand boldly with Jesus saying, “Go away, Satan!”  When the devil or the world tells us it doesn’t matter how we worship, or how we live, or when they tell us to seek our own glory, or to worry more about the things of this world than about what God tells us, the repentant sinner will stand with Jesus saying, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:10) 

Today, whenever the devil tries to accuse us of sin, we will admit our guilt, but we then turn joyfully to Jesus, our Substitute, who fought the real war to end all wars and, on our behalf, won the absolute victory over sin, death, and the devil.  Victorious, Jesus gives us the victory crown through Baptism and the hearing of the Gospel, so that Satan can do no more than howl his frustration from his chains in the depths of hell, for Jesus rose victorious from the grave on the third day.  Jesus truly died for our sins, yet He lives again.  The Father has accepted Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of us all.  Nothing more is needed.  Nothing can separate us from His love.  Your Substitute gave you His victory when He made you His brothers and sisters by faith.  All glory be to Jesus, The Substitute Who went to war for you.  Amen.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.  Amen.