The warrior

 

"The Portion of Jacob is not like them, For He is the Maker of all things; And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His name. “You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; With you I will destroy kingdoms; With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider; With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider; With you also I will break in pieces man and woman; With you I will break in pieces old and young; With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden; With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers."

Jeremiah 51:19-23

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword."

Matt. 10:34

The other day I was listening to a Wild at Heart podcast which was discussing how we must live life with an open hand. This means not clinging to the things of this earth and not having our identity hinged on the things or even relationships of this life. 

"Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." Luke 17:32-33

There is a call to maturity in Christ and it's increasingly becoming a necessity as a believer. As time moves forward there will be less grace towards this, less of an option to just sit in the pews and live like hell during the week. Less of an option to walk the fence. There is an increasing call to react to Jesus' life, sacrifice and claim to be God. Was He who He claimed to be or not and what does this mean for my life, for all our lives? The time to live with blinders on is quickly coming to an end, either with the end of our lives or the end of this age. A choice will need to be made. A choice to live in the bitterness, discontentment and unforgiveness of this dark world or the choice to see Jesus as the way, the only way, holder of absolute truth and fullness of life. 

The above verses in Jeremiah I believe have at least three meanings. One is against the actual ancient Babylonian empire, the second is against the Babylon referenced in the NT and the third is the kingdom of darkness, ruled by satan. Some of the same terminology from this chapter are also used in the NT regarding the end times Babylon. However, I'd like to highlight the spiritual kingdom of darkness. This is the kingdom Jesus is most at war with and which He will be most severe with. The portion of Jacob and Lord of hosts mentioned here, I believe, refers to Jesus. I believe Jesus is more concerned with breaking the kingdom of darkness than with earthly kingdoms. He wants to break the hold of demons and the agreements we make with them. He wants to break our unholy attachments to material possessions, jobs and relationships. God is a jealous god who will not tolerate us worshipping other gods, even relationships we have with other people, even spouses and children. 

Last night and this morning I listened and prayed along with both the bedtime and daily prayer using the Wild at Heart app. One of the things prayed for is that all spiritual attachments outside of the love and spirit of God be cut off between me and all other people. This is critical with regards to loving people the way God does. When we cut these unhealthy soul ties we can actually love others better, including spouses and children. We cease to see ourselves defined through these relationships, but through Jesus alone, so these relationships take their proper places in our lives and hearts. These above verses make it clear God will not abide anything less. The language is fierce and unwavering. We shouldn't take God's patience and grace as a sign of His slackness with regards to this or worse that He approves of our decisions. Yes He will be patient and show grace to us and even bless us, but we are mortal creatures and it's vital we get it right before we go to be with the Lord for eternity. 

So God brought a wonderful spouse and children into your life. This is a good blessing. However, we see over and over how people abuse the blessings of God. See 2 Kings 20 concerning Hezekiah. Your spouse is not God, neither are your children, neither is your job. Our identity is in Jesus alone. Interestingly, once we let go of these idols in our lives we actually are free to love our spouses and children better and we are free to do an even better job. Why? We are no longer tied to the death grip of the fear of losing these. We are free of the expectations these idols provide us with what only God can so our love for these becomes more pure and true. We can do a better job because we lose the fear of losing the job or failing somehow because it's on our shoulders. We give these burdens over the the Lord and trust in His goodness. We trust He loves our families and friends more and better than us. We trust in His goodness to provide. We trust if this job does eventually go away, He has another assignment for us. This life isn't about building our kingdoms, it's about building His and when we live life with an open hand we can let go and receive at the proper times. I'm not referring to avoiding pain and heartache, I'm referring to trusting in the innate goodness and high love of God in Jesus through times of suffering. 

Father, forgive me for continually looking to some future job or wife as a means to arrive in life and find meaning. Forgive me for the agreements I seem to continually make with the vile orphan spirit which tells me it's all up to me, you will only help me once I help myself and ultimately You really don't care about what matters most to me. Forgive me for me desire to do it on my own, for autonomy. Forgive, heal and help me to break these agreements once and for all in the mighty name of Jesus. Hear my prayers and have mercy on me and forgive me for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ. Now I know You already do forgive me by the blood of Jesus, but I need to now forgive myself and all those who have offended or wounded me. I'm unable to do this on my own, so I call forth the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to do what I can't and release all forgiveness and break all soul ties of bitterness and unforgiveness between myself and all others. I break the lies of the enemy now in Jesus name. I bring the cross, blood and resurrection of Jesus into my life today. When I fail and am weak, may others see Your strength and glorify the name of Jesus, despite my own severe lacking. I do pray for Your war in my life against these wicked spirits and my wicked desire to be apart from You. Heal me and open my eyes, ears and heart to Your voice. May I welcome it and it's rebuke of the lies. I thank you that You continually forgive me, continually restore me, continually bless me and continually look out for my best interests and have since I was a child. Truly You are my Father and I am not an orphan. Look upon Your lowly servant today. Help me to put this new job opportunity in it's rightful place in my life and heart and let go of the lie that it's up to me to find a place to live for the entire time, find good community or a special lady. Those these are all good things and blessings, I let go of the lie that it's up to me to figure these out and make things happen. I say yes to Jesus and yes to everything You have for me Father and I receive Your yes to every answered prayer, blessing and provision in my life which You provide to me as Your son. Now, Father, I pray for Your peace and rest which surpasses my ability in the flesh to understand, but I will be made to understand as You work in my heart. Consume me with Your Holy fire of love and the water of life as these counter the evil powers of hate and death which are rampaging lies and destruction across this world. Thank you for providing me with a much needed long slumber last night. I'm sorry it took me two days of suffering as I tried to work it out on my own before I came to You. You are always good to me and immediately acted on my behalf, even though I made bad choices which were counter to Your wisdom in my life. I pray this season of suffering, fear and loss would be as beauty from ashes. Please take the ashes of my mistakes, sins, suffering, fears, tears and losses and make something beautiful from them. In Jesus name.

Holy in My Own Eyes

Jeremiah 43:10

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them."

Jeremiah 50:29

“Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who bend the bow, encamp against it all around; Let none of them [a]escape. Repay her according to her work; According to all she has done, do to her; For she has been proud against the Lord, Against the Holy One of Israel."

Matthew 7:22-23

"Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Above I have listed just a few verses which pertain to true versus false holiness. There are actually many more, but I felt these most succinctly make the point.

Several verse in the bible are dedicated to Nebuchadnezzar. In fact he gets more real estate in the bible than many "heroes of the faith" as it were. Several times in Jeremiah it's stated that Nebuchadnezzar was a servant of God and that Babylonia was enacting the judgement and punishment of God to the Israelites. There are very few gentiles listed as being called a servant of God by God Himself. However, it would be false to assume Nebuchadnezzar worshipped God, or at least God alone during the time of the campaign against Jerusalem. God has used satan many times to accomplish His will, but obviously satan isn't holy and doesn't follow the way. In Matthew we see that there are many people who do miracles and even preach about God, but don't know Him. The point is God will use the enemy and other people, even those opposed to Him to accomplish His will. 

Never assume you are right with God based solely on an accomplishment or a miracle being performed through you. This is not the same as God saying "well done good and faithful servant". In fact the humble, when they stand before the almighty, will not even understand the depth of how much they are loved and all the wonderful things they have done because they did these things in secret or didn't think much of it at the time. They were only obedient in things they considered small or even insignificant. 

Matthew 25: 37-40

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’"

Better to be the obedient humble loving servant focused on the works and teachings of Jesus, seeing the raising of the dead to life in Jesus than someone who performs miracles but whose heart is far from God.

Luke 10:19-20

"Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Now as it turns out I believe, based on Daniel 4, the redeemed will see Nebuchadnezzar again. It seems as though God was willing to take an extreme measure to humble Nebuchadnezzar. I also believe Daniel was a personal friend and likely prayed for his soul. (As a side note, never stop praying for the salvation of lost loved ones.) However, the point is Nebuchadnezzar was brought as low as a human being can be brought and for a long time until he was broken enough to humble himself before God. Are we being brought low, suffering, going through a trying time or trial? Are we humbling ourselves before the Lord? Are we seeking the counsel of His Holy Spirit and receiving the love of Jesus, His blood and resurrection? Are we seeking to be a friend of God?

Miracles and wonders are amazing things to behold, but better still is the glory of the Lord. Better to spend even one day in His courts seeing all our wretchedness before us than a thousand elsewhere. We need to get ourselves right with God and this is most easily done in serving and loving on others. We need to first seek out a real friendship with Jesus rather than seeking out a blessing or miracle. It's in this friendship we find that person we realize we should've spent more time with and listened to. The best friend any of us could ever hope to have. Closer than a family member, best friend or even spouse. It's the relationship we've always sought in our lives. 

Intentions

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13:14-16)

How often do we take our eyes off of Jesus and become filled with anxiety, pride and fear? Here I can only assume this leader was first and foremost disturbed that the people were looking to Jesus and not him. Secondly this incident likely frightened this leader. This miracle was outside of normal, expected conduct and so therefore uncontrolled. The Pharisees labeled Jesus' miracles as work which shouldn't be done on the Sabbath, but as Jesus points out there is work which is permissible on the Sabbath. Here feeding and caring for an animal was acceptable, but helping a person wasn't.  

Jesus was working seemingly outside of the rules of society and religion. His focus was on the Father through ministering and teaching others. The leaders were essentially saying, "stop  rocking the boat Jesus!!!". I believe Jesus scared the crap out of the religious leaders of His day. They tried to control Him and subsequently His disciples. When they realized this wasn't possible they began to persecute and kill Jesus and His disciples, which only caused Christianity to grow and prosper. 

So often religion is nothing more than a means to an end. That end is to rule over and control the hearts of man. However, where religion fails, a relationship with the living God doesn't. Christians need to be aware of  their own selfish motivations, agendas, fears and anxieties. God cannot exist in a box of human making. He won't be contained in human doctrines or interpretations of scripture. The point of Christianity isn't to learn how to control God or figure Him out, which is the point of religion. The point of Christianity is to look to a relationship with Jesus Christ. The steps we take, the process we go through and the things we do are all meaningless if this relationship isn't there. 1 Corinthians 13 states that if love isn't present in all we do then our actions are meaningless, even a miraculous event. It all comes down to the two greatest commandments.

Giving it All Away?

"Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:32-34.

Is it just me or are these extremely challenging verses? What's Jesus' point here? What's He trying to tell us? Surely He can't be serious?!

These verses, and others like them, are so quickly dismissed in many churches as not applicable for today or as foolishness if we take Jesus' teaching here literally. To take this lesson literally is often viewed as foolish as taking His lesson on cutting off a limb or cutting out an eye or His lesson on eating His flesh and drinking His blood (though many Christians do believe this. See transubstantiation). Are we really required to maim ourselves or become cannibals? 

Take a look at Jesus' lesson on eating His flesh and drinking His blood: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." (John 6:63). The point I believe Jesus is trying to make in this particular lesson is the importance of faith and the intentions of our hearts. However, as we are now, our flesh and spirit are intertwined. As we discover in reading the book of James we quickly learn that our actions are linked to the state of our hearts.

Here's the real question: What are we chasing after and to what end?

Interesting that Jesus starts this lesson in Luke 12 with "Do not fear", inferring that it is fear, more than greed or lust which often holds us back in our faith and from receiving blessings. It is also interesting to consider self-justification and fear as the two biggest motivators behind nearly all decision making. These two motivators are addressed extensively throughout the bible as detrimental. This is why true Christianity and the lessons Jesus taught are so challenging and essentially "earth shattering". Interesting how these two human motivators are so diametrically opposed to faith, love and hope.

I believe one primary lesson Jesus is teaching is against fear and how fear imprisons us. Here Jesus is specifically addressing fear in the context of wealth and provisions. Jesus took the time in the previous verses to emphasize God's love and promise to provide, so long as we don't resist Him. Essentially, if we set our eyes on the kingdom of God, we will be provided for. Yet we still wane in our faith and look to our bank accounts more than Jesus... Am I the only person who struggles with this?

Does this mean we should all sell everything? I believe the point Jesus is making here isn't to look at our income and savings, but to consider what or who we are truly putting our trust in. However, perhaps most of us should take this lesson literally? I don't know for sure. The older I get the more I feel Jesus' words ought to be taken both figuratively and literally. Take a moment to consider what would happen to your life if you did sell everything you owned and gave it to the poor. However, in considering this we must also consider 1 Corinthians 13:3 which states: "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." 

At the end of the day, and perhaps our lives, we need to look to Jesus and ask Him. We need to develop a better dialogue with Him. The disciples asked Jesus many questions. God is not offended at our questions or mad with our doubt. He wants to dialogue with us.  Maybe some of us need to sell everything we have and give it to the poor? Maybe we all need to do this? Maybe not? Maybe we need to take sin so seriously that we would be willing to sacrifice a limb if it meant we could live without sin in our lives? Since this isn't possible, perhaps we should consider we need this level of dedication and sacrifice (see Genesis 22, particularly verses 12-14) to truly understand what Jesus did on the cross to free us from the bonds of sin.

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8

Love You More

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
Though I can speak all languages, even perhaps angelic tongues, if I do not have love what I do say is meaningless. No matter how eloquent my speech or that I can speak in all languages so that all can understand my speech, if I do not have love as my priority, it's meaningless. So then, even if all around me are struck with wonder at my speaking abilities and language skills, if I have not love what I say is just sounds without meaning.

“And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

Even if I have the gift of prophecy and faith in God to provide for all knowledge, all things and miraculous ability and do not have love, then any understanding I have or any miracle performed through me is as nothing. Further anything I would do, no matter how fantastic and filled with knowledge would be worthless without love. 

“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

If I give everything I own to help others needier than I and even give my life over in service to God, but do not love, all this sacrifice is for nothing. There is no formula. 

“Love suffers long and is kind; “

Love reveals itself in us when we are patient, long suffering and kind towards others, even when the other person reciprocates nothing. 

“love does not envy;”

When you love someone you aren't jealous of their things, status or relationships. 

“It does not boast, it is not proud.”

When you love you do not go around telling everyone in hopes they will see you in a better light or think more highly of you. 

“It does not dishonor others,”

When you love someone you don't treat them shamefully or badly or put them down, even if they treat you this way. 

“it is not self-seeking,”

To love doesn't involve selfish gain. Loving someone means you love them even if you get nothing from them. We love because God first loved us.

“it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

When you are filled with love you aren't easily angered when people hurt you. When others hurt you, and everyone will at some point, you may discuss it but you'll quickly forgive and forget their wrong against you. 

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”

Love does not enjoy seeing others suffer, even if you feel they deserve it. Instead when you truly love someone you rejoice when they see truth in their lives even if it doesn't help or benefit you. 

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

When you love someone you always seek to protect them, even from themselves, if possible. Further you trust them, even after they break a trust because you forgive and forget. You always hope for the best from them, even if it seems as though they'll never change and you abide with them and never cease in being there for them. 

“Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part.”

There's no way anyone can know everything living as we are now: broken and sinful. Even if everything else ceases and fails, love remains and will never fail.

“But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” 

However, we will know all when Jesus returns and what we thought we knew will depart and only faith, hope and love will remain. 

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

We are all like children aspiring to be mature. How often do we seek out selfish and childish solutions to our problems? We need to put these childish things away from us. When we see Jesus face to face, not as we see Him now, dimly, then we will truly know all and capable of being fully mature in Him. 

“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:1-13)

The Good Life

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

My life hasn't gone at all according to my dreams and plans. My struggle comes in trusting in God's goodness and His ultimate designs and plans for my life. I feel every human being deeply desires two things in life: Relationship (to love and be loved) and Purpose (a reason why we were born). Thus the drive and strong desire to work, get more involved at our churches and start a family. While I believe all of these desires are good and placed there by God, they might not happen the way we had hoped and planned. Why?

The bible speaks often of rewards and how we will be rewarded based on our works. (Revelation 22:12) Well what is this reward? Ruling? There are indications of this. Crowns and glory? Also the bible speaks on this. However, I believe the reward answers our deepest longings for relationship and purpose. I believe we were created for relationship with God. Sin is born out of our desire to find satisfaction in anything other than God. Ultimately both our salvation and reward can both be found in Jesus. To know Him as we are now fully known. In Him we find the mending of the fall, the broken relationship with God. In Jesus we find both the relationship we were created for and the fulfillment/purpose we deeply long for. This life can be a frustration at times since the world and everyone in it is broken and the love we find will be conditional and imperfect. So “we love Him because He first loved us” becomes a more practical every day understanding (1 John 4:19). So as sinful people who love conditionally, we are able to better love and receive love from other sinners because we love and are loved by a perfect God who loves us unconditionally. Our purpose? To encourage the saints and fulfill the Great Commission. While this love and purpose can certainly be fulfilled in marriage and starting a family, we are not promised this.

Why did my dad pass away in 2008? Why did my mother pass away last year? Why am I out of work for the 5th or 6th time? Why haven’t any of these past relationships worked out? I believe all these questions will be answered when I am with the Lord. I believe the question "why didn't my life turn out the way I had hoped?" will be answered by Jesus displaying our lives before us as part of His redemptive workmanship. As He wipes away every tear He may say something like: "See I told you I had plans to prosper and not harm you. I told you I had plans for you you wouldn't believe." (Jeremiah 29:11 & Habakkuk 1:5).

Several years ago I told a buddy of mine that I wanted to go to seminary. While even to this day I strongly desire a ministry of teaching, encouraging and discipling I still think back to this friend's response. He said "Everyone wants to do something big and important for God, but all God calls us to do is to Trust and Obey". Now this doesn't mean we shouldn't seek out relationships and purpose in this life. For me it means this is what God is more interested in, in my life. In my relationships, in my work and ministries I am called to trust and obey God. So He is more interested, perhaps, in how He can help me to trust and obey Him more? I can plan my life, but I must acknowledge God's authority in it (Proverbs 19:21). At the end of the day I can either trust in His good character and intentions for my life or I can become embittered towards my circumstances. For me this is a daily struggle, but fortunately He is new every morning and I am called to pick up my cross and put on my armor daily.

The Pilgrim's Toll

Today I was praying God would open the door of friendship to me as He did to Moses and give me a heart like His servant David's. Interesting that after I prayed this I read: Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:19-22)

By this point in Jesus' ministry He was very well known and it was clearly evident His popularity was still very much on the rise. Now consider the oppression of the Roman Empire, the cries of the people for their messiah and Jesus making His powerful entrance into this. It's very likely the scribe in verse 19, the disciple in verse 21 and even The 12 apostles (especially Judas) were all expecting Jesus to be a conquering king messiah. He would not only free them from the oppression of the Romans but take their empire from them. We know now that Jesus came to establish a spiritual kingdom, spiritual freedom and seat us beside Him as more than conquerors in a spiritual sense. It was this self centered perspective Jesus was continually cutting through and still is.

"Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

The scribe said "I will go wherever you go". I believe Jesus' reply to him was both specific to the heart of this scribe and revealing a cost of following Him. I believe Jesus is using the foxes and birds as an analogy of creatures of this world (animals and those on the "wide road"), which follows the theme in His second reply. Basically I believe Jesus is revealing a nomadic existence for those who want to follow after Him. Though it's not a promise it does seem to be almost an assumed cost of following Jesus. I know I've seen this played out in my life, my family and many other Christians'.

However, don't take my word for it. Consider the following verses and decide for yourself the implications:

By faith Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as  in  a foreign country,  dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob,  the heirs with him of the same promise; (Hebrews 11:9).

 These all died in faith,  not having received the  promises, but  having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced  them  and  confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.  And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.  But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:9, 13-16)

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. (John 7:7) 

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.    If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18, 19)

There are multiple tests for the believer in the Bible and it would seem there are various levels. The question is: what do you want? Do you desire a closer relationship with Jesus? Are you willing to count the cost? Are you seeking that better country or are you satisfied with what this world offers?

Know that no one is holding you back; not your parents, spouse, the enemy and especially not God. Jesus desires good and better things for all of us. You are the only person holding you back.

Temptations...

And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. (Matthew 4:2)

Symbolic of baptism: God baptized the world during 40 days & nights during Noah's time, as well as the Israelites as they walked in between the Red Sea at the onset of 40 years in the desert.

Symbolic of suffering and isolation:

The world was purged of sinful wicked men during Noah's time. Noah was more isolated and alone than ever before in his 600 years. The Israelites were isolated from all other peoples for 40 years.

Trusting and obeying God:

Noah did what all his neighbors called crazy. Noah did the insane out of obedience trusting God wasn't leading him astray and would redeem him. Moses led the Israelites into the desert for 40 years obeying and trusting God was leading him and His people to the promise land.

Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’  ” (Matthew 4:3, 4)

When we have gone without for an extended period of time it's easy for the enemy to tempt us to do something we know is wrong to provide. Jesus knew His calling and trusted His Father to provide in His calling.

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple,  and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the  Lord  your God.’  ” (Matthew 4:5-7)

His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”  For even His brothers did not believe in Him. (John 7:3-5)

The enemy and other people:

It's interesting how Jesus' brothers had the same perspective as satan and tempted Him in the same way. Satan was up to his old tricks (see the Fall). While Jesus’ brothers didn't believe, projected their selfish need for fame and power, or projected their cynicism and jealousy.

Twisting the word of God:

Satan even used these verses in proper context, but with evil intent misusing the word. How often do we give ear to someone preaching the word with wicked intent simply to use it to our selfish ends?

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.    Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matthew 4:8-10)

I believe this is the question satan was waiting to ask. The first temptation sought to tempt Jesus to meet the most immediate need of food after 40 days of fasting. The flesh can be a very powerful voice, but Jesus was confident of His identity in the Father and only heard His voice. Then satan tempted Jesus to glorify Himself miraculously before the world and establish His reign as the son of God. However, Jesus know this wasn’t His calling and so trusted the word of His Father. Lastly, satan revealed the shortcut. This is the most extreme and yet perceived easiest and most fulfilling temptation. I will give you the entire world if you worship me! I only wonder why Jesus waited till this moment to order the enemy away? However, in this we can find an example of the temptations we all must face, but with the knowledge that we are hidden in Christ and He overcame all temptations and sin itself.