![]() ![]() Giovanni di Paolo related the Baptist’s complex biography with expressive figures represented multiple times to indicate their movement through highly imaginative and stylized settings. According to one version of the story, Herod-seen in blue at the head of the table in the fourth panel from the left-was so taken by his stepdaughter Salome’s dancing that he reluctantly obliged when she requested John’s beheading (visualized gruesomely in the fifth panel). The following three panels depict John the Baptist’s imprisonment and execution at the hands of Herod, ruler of Galilee. ![]() In the next scene, John wears a hair shirt, symbolizing his ascetic life in the wilderness, as he announces that Jesus, at his right, is the savior prophesied as the agnus dei, the Lamb of God. The first painting depicts John twice, leaving civilization-marked by ornate buildings and manicured agricultural fields-and entering the wilderness to become a hermit. They were originally part of a group of 12 that possibly formed the doors of a reliquary shrine to the saint. The Sunday School Lesson is written by Ed Wilcox, pastor of Centerville Baptist Church.This is one of six paintings illustrating scenes from the life of Saint John the Baptist, a prophet considered a forerunner of Jesus. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. There is victory in Jesus who loves and understands us. Jesus responded, “Get thee hence, Satan,” and then quoting from Deuteronomy 6:13 said, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Jesus could have these if He bowed in worship of Satan. The final temptation came as Satan took Christ to a high mountain where he pointed out the world’s kingdoms. In this case, he might have hoped to cause Christ to kill Himself. The devil knows how to use Scripture to tempt people. The devil takes advantage of people in high places because they have so far to fall. No doubt, this would have drawn widespread and immediate attention to Jesus in Jerusalem. “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” Jesus said, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16. If He was truly God’s Son, jump from that height and angels would prevent Him from being harmed. In the second temptation, the devil put Jesus on a pinnacle of the temple. Instead, He would trust His heavenly Father to care for Him. Quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone.” As a man, Jesus felt real hunger, but He would not work a miracle for himself. ![]() ![]() Now he asks if God would really deprive His Son of food. In the Garden he asked if God would really deprive them. Knowing Christ Jesus was hungry, Satan asked, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” The devil’s methods never change. While it was necessary for the Savior to suffer and die for us, it was in God’s divine plan that Satan would only bruise the least part of Christ’s body. Christ bruised Satan’s head since He was victorious in this instance of temptations and at the cross, effectively crushing the power of Satan over mankind. Matthew 4 clearly reveals, in part, the fulfillment of what God said long ago. In the Garden, God told Satan, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. The devil rejoiced, believing he had successfully closed the door to Paradise. Because of his sin, the first Adam fell and sin entered the human race. What happened here is one of the most beautiful events in the Gospels, and here is the reason why that is so. Matthew said, “And when the tempter came to him,” as if to say it is only to be expected Satan would attack in times of solitude and physical weakness. Jesus fasted forty days and nights in the wilderness. Then, the apostle said, the Savior was led by the Holy Spirit “into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” Matthew said Christ Jesus was baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit at the Jordan River. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |