The Timing is All Wrong, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11

4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
4:2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.
4:3 The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
4:4 But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"
4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple,
4:6 saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"
4:7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor;
4:9 and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
4:10 Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
4:11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

On this first Sunday of Lent, we look at evil from the standpoint of bad timing.

You see, Satan made a grand attempt to stop the plan of God when the Son of God was a helpless babe, moving Herod to murder hundreds of babies hoping to slay the infant with Mary and Joseph, the One sought by the Magi through that bright new star in the sky.

Had we spiritual eyes to see we might also know that those great forces of angels who sang of Jesus' arrival might also have sacrificed themselves to protect the beloved Son of God, helpless though He be at that moment. So you see, it really was bad timing on the part of Satan in that early attempt to kill the Child.

Now, in today's scripture, we see yet another attempt to stop the unstoppable plan of God for His people, by destroying the holiness of the Christ. And again, bad timing, for Jesus is within sight of the culmination of His purpose on earth, as fully man and fully God. And Jesus is fully capable of using the powerful word of God to shut down His opponent. We must admit that any attempt at any point was going to be bad timing when you are intent on tripping up Almighty God. Only a being swept up in his own intelligence and power would consider such a thing, and there you have that beautiful angel who fell from heaven.

Still, Satan has not given up. He is still forging ahead in the attempt, and has been from the beginning. If he cannot stop God, perhaps he can stop men from having faith in Christ, from believing, and in that Satan has had some success, sadly.

Mankind's literature today, in many languages, is replete with erudite explanations why God does not exist, why He is dead, why Christ is not the Christ, why man-made gods have more validity, are more believable.

But once again we come up against wrong timing, but in a very final way.

It does not take a genius' observation to know that now, in this age, is the wrong time in history to decide there is no God. Rather, it would be a good thing to begin making plans on how we are going to deal with Him when He appears on our plane.

Those who have made their reputations and fortunes on "proving" there is no God are about to be swept into the dust bin of history as the actions of a superior being become evident across this earth, as more and more people suddenly become aware of His presence, as we are moved inexorably into His manifest destiny. Now, it is of little consequence that someone like myself should say this is happening. But to any rational person, especially those steeped in critical thinking and evidentiary procedure, it is of far more import that what is taking place now, in a world of human beings endowed with free will, and therefore capable of any number of varied impacts upon the activities and people around them, of far more import that what is happening was set down in writing thousands of years ago.

Down through the machinations of time, events seemingly unconnected now appear to all be parts that have been silently falling into place, wheels turning and stopping and turning again until this moment when God's people, the church, arrived, and individuals, governments, and nations were in place.

Now it begins. Now the Prince of Peace begins His arrival in Jerusalem, the time of peace, the time of war, the time of reckoning. Now the battlefield at Armageddon begins to be readied. The Anti-Christ and his assistant are most likely among us, smug with the preparations and plans they are making. But the time is God's. Only He says "when."

For centuries, men and women of Biblical knowledge have guessed this date and that, interpreted this action and that as the beginning, to no avail. Some, convinced by charismatic leaders, sold all they had and waited on mountain tops for Jesus to arrive in the clouds. But again, the timing was wrong. Movements have been formed, speeches made, books sold, determining what God has said no one will know. Only God knows. Even the Son admitted He did not know. Only God knows.

If any of these people, who claimed to have knowledge hidden even from the Son, if they had been paying attention, they would have realized the battle was fought and won the day Jesus Christ walked out of His tomb, fully alive as a human being, fully alive as Almighty God. Everything after that is preparation for Satan's surrender. When Christ returns to earth to make that happen it is just another detail in God's great plan.

And yet, all the while the profane and the proud have been declaring there is no God, even as He was at work among them. God has been at work with real world events, caring for and keeping His promises to His people, and apparently felt no need to correct them about His early "death." If instead of running from Him and denying Him, they had sought Him they would have found Him. For the list of those who said there is no God, those who then found Him, that list goes into a very long and blessed length.

So, truly, as events move toward that culmination when time itself will be no more, now is absolutely the wrong time to declare there is no God, and find yourself opposed to the only real power in the entire universe, finding yourself standing among the defeated and damned enemies of a loving God who now will not hear your prayers or your pleas, because you insist on holding sin in your heart. (Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:2) Had they only availed themselves of 1st John 1:9, how different their future would be; "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

For those who know Him, it is such a difficult thing to understand why anyone would deny someone who loves you so, someone who sacrificed so much, personally, to buy you free of what enslaved you, loved you so much their very human death, in such pain, made it possible for you to approach Holy God, and accept eternal life. Jesus Christ made it possible.

Such great love that comes near, but is pushed away by temporary pride, desires and greed; a permanent and pitiable solution to a temporary problem, for this life, this flesh, these desires, are but temporary. But as men and women meant for heaven, having an earthly experience, we can get lost in that, and the loving reunion with the God of love and caring is lost. Forever.

It's on its way, our meeting with our God, either at the point of the grave, or at the point of Christ's return, Him of whom some still sadly insist, there is none. Amen.