13-Satan-A

And We Thought We Knew You:
Soul Journey With the Real Jesus

Vol. II: Dream Maker

Satan
THE GREAT PRETENDER

27 AD
Bethany, Perea

The announcement is made.� At Jesus' baptism.� Jesus does not make it.� Jehovah makes it.� From the very heavens.� Jehovah's thunderous voice.� Jehovah's all-knowing voice.� Jehovah's voice of determined love.� Jesus, hears it distinctly.�

"THIS IS MY CHERISHED SON!

I AM DELIGHTED AND INCREDIBLY PLEASED WITH HIM!" [1]

Finally.� After all the wondering.� Of being ever reminded and reassured by his parents for thirty long years.� After all, they had heard God's message personally.� But why hadn't God ever told Jesus personally?

Always, through those long years, groping in the dark for the signs.� And the answers.� Searching the skies.� Searching people's reactions to him.� Searching seemingly random events.� Was he missing the signs?� And the answers?

Reading scripture after scripture trying to find messages from God to him.� Alone.� As a child alone.� As an adult alone.� What was he supposed to do?�

Finally!� Finally after the long silence, Jehovah has spoken!� Hear that, world?� John did.� Jesus did.� He is God's Son!� God even likes him.� More, God loves him.

Oh, yes!� The Son of God!� The Son of God who can do anything!� Yes, indeed!� The greatest work ever to be attempted on earth.� The delivery of all mankind.�

Now what?� John and Jesus sit alone in the early evening by the Jordan River.� John has sent the crowds away for now.� Alone the two now-grown miracle babies discuss Jesus' plans.� What are Jesus' plans, anyway?� They pray.� "God, what next?"

No answers.� Has Jesus made no plans?� The reality.� Perhaps nothing was really real until now.� But now all the questions and wonderings and doubts are gone.� Now Jesus can get down to the business at hand.� Save the world.� The curtain can now open.� The drama can now begin.� The greatest drama in the universe.

John is willing to make the announcement tomorrow and hand the reins over to Jesus.� Jesus is still hesitant.� He has never been in the limelight before ~ except for the taunts and accusations as a child that he was a bastard.� He needs time to get used to all this.� Time for his human side to get in touch with his divine side.�

Time, also, to think and plan the strategy.� Must have a good strategy.� Time alone.� Time in a deserted place.� Alone with God.� God his father.

"I'll be here for you," John reassures Jesus.� "I won't move until you are back.� If you need me, you know where I'll be."

Jesus stands.� The two men stare at each other a moment.� John is beaming.� \"This is it, Jesus!" his eyes declare.� Jesus does not smile back.� So much on his shoulders.� John understands.� Jesus turns and walks away from the Jordan River and into the dusk.

"Hey, I forgot to tell you how to find food, Jesus!"John calls out moments later.� "Locusts and wild honey ~ you've got to know their habits!� Come back, Jesus!� Let me tell you how!"

Jesus surely must be able to hear John, but he does not turn back.

"And those wild animals ~ the wolves, foxes, lions, bears.� Come back, Jesus!� And the snakes!� The snakes are bad out there!� Come back, Jesus.� Come back...."

Still Jesus walks.� He does not hear John.� He is listening for God.� God his father.� Any more messages, God?� Are we going to talk things over now?� The strategy.� There won't be any interruptions out there... [2]

�

The moon is full and bright.� Jesus can walk for awhile.� Sometimes he stubs his toe on a rock mostly hidden from the surface.� The other children used to make fun of his gangliness.�

The walking is good.� He will do a lot of it during the days to come.� Finally he feels he has worn down the excitement of the day enough to stop.� Put him to sleep now, God.� He needs his sleep.� He needs his energy.� He needs a clear head in the morning.

The next morning, Jesus is a little hungry, but knows it will pass.� He has often done this ~ skip breakfast.� Life is too short.� He always had too many things to do.� His family has gotten used to this.� All but his mother.

Okay, now.� The first thing that must be figured out is how to convince people he is God's Son.� That is tricky.� It won't be easy.� You just don't go around telling people a far-fetched story like that.� They'll laugh you off the planet.

Search your memory, Jesus.� You've read the prophecies about yourself so many times, most of them are memorized.� Search.� Remember.� What did God tell you to do?

Oh, here's one.� God's Spirit is on me, he drones, because he has ordained me to preach to the lower classes, encourage the discouraged, free the sin imprisoned.� [3]

He can do that.� All his life he has defended the less fortunate, heartened the discouraged, and encouraged friends who wanted to break old habits.

Jesus has arrived at the top of a hill.� He picks up stones and tests his strength ~ his human strength ~ to see just how far he can throw them.�

And God's Spirit....� That's not hard to figure out.� Just yesterday while he and John were still in the water, God's Spirit came to him flying like a dove and rested on his shoulder.

Jesus recalls God's Spirit had only rested on two others and their assistants in the history of mankind - Moses who gave the Jews their laws, and Elijah who introduced the great age of prophets.� He knows he will be introducing yet another great era.� He knows now he will have assistants too, and on them also God's Spirit will come to rest.� Then things will be different, just as they were different after Moses and Elijah.� [4]

Well, the ordaining part.� What was he ordained to be?� That, too, is easy.� Jesus' stops throwing stones and looks up into the sky.� To the clouds reigning strong in the sky, bejewelled by the sun.� He will reign too.� As king of the world!� Oh yes!� But a good king.� For he will also be high priest of the world. [5]

�

The sun is getting hot.� Jesus has grown bored with throwing stones anyway.� He turns and heads down the other side of the hill.� He looks for caves along the way.� It does not take long.� The hills are pock marked with them.� Most not very deep.� But deep enough.

He randomly selects one, walks the ten feet or so to the back of it, is satisfied, and sits down.� A sound overhead.� He has disturbed a bat.� Probably one of the younger ones.

Jesus laughs and quickly stands back up.� Hey there, little fellow, he says holding out his hand toward its new landing spot.� Once again the bat flies and lands.� Hey, what are you so scared of?� I'm not going to hurt you [6]

�

He laughs again and holds out his hand to the bat's new landing site.� The bat quivers, but this time does not fly away.� Jesus touches the bat on the wing, then takes away his hand.� He does it several times.� Then it is time.� He puts his finger under the bat's feet and holds it still a moment.

Now the bat clings to his finger.� It feels secure.� Jesus slowly sits back down on the cave floor.� He tilts his head to one side, then the other and the bat tilts his.� He laughs.� He nods his head and the bat nods its head.� It is then that it discovers Jesus' finger.� He lowers his mouth to it.

Hey, you'd better not bite me, little guy!� Jesus playfully warns.� I made you.� He is startled by his own statement.� He had never said it quite like that before.� Never quite so personal before.� [7]�

Jesus rests his hand and his new friend on his knee and reflects once more.� He had made the little bat.� And the eagle he sees riding the currents in the sky.� And the shrubs.� And his mother.� Indeed, his own mother.� Never before had he dared admit all these things in just this way.�

Clearer and clearer his mind become. The fog of his memory slowly lifts. Enlightenment of who and what he was. And of who and what he will be. Then there is the now. How to convince the world who and what he was....

Jesus leans his head back.� He must think about his strategy.� How is he going to convince people he who is in a human body is God in a human body?� What arrogance people will think.� What madness others will say.�

He prays.� He asks for his father's guidance.� Okay, think, Jesus.� Think and remember.� Your father left you plenty of messages.� Anything else about your coming?�

God will arrive to save the people.� The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame walk and the mute speak.� [8]

Miracles!� Of course miracles.� Jesus will perform miracles to prove who he is.� That will indeed convince the people.� Then they will follow him.�

The thought is exciting.� The sun is lower.� Jesus leaves the cave and stands beyond the entrance.� An early evening breeze has begun to blow.� It feels good.

He walks on.� Miracles.� But what if he can't do it?� What if he gets out in public, declares someone healed, and nothing happens?� He would be a laughing stock.

He wanders the hills closer and closer to the tree line where the vegetation has not yet been stripped.� Miracles....� Miracles....� Does he know for sure he can perform miracles?� How is he supposed to find out?�

�

He is tired.� He looks for another cave, goes inside, finds a rock for his head, folds his robe snugly around him, and falls asleep.� He dreams of performing miracles.

Morning.� He sits up and thanks God for the safety of the night.� He stands and stretches his arms, his legs, his neck, his back.� He bends and pulls and pushes and gradually works the knots out of his joints.�

He looks around to see where he is, and begins once more to walk.� Farther into the barren hills he walks.� He tries to remember yesterday.� Ah, yes.� The miracles.� Can he do them?� Does he truly have the power?� [9]

Day after day.� He is not sure how long it has been, nor does he care.� He must work out his strategy with no one around to influence him but his father.

What is his task?� Ultimately to save mankind from Satan.� No one else can do it.� Mankind wants to resist Satan, but he tricks them.� Tricks them into believing he is God and God is Satan.� Tricks them into distrusting God when God is the one who loves them.� Tricks them into following him because he takes short cuts and helps them get what they want any way they can and instantly.� Then when things go horribly wrong, Satan sits back and laughs.� For now he can punish them.� How Satan delights to punish people.

Once more it grows hot.� He sees a bolder, sits in its shade, and leans comfortably against it.� Any more messages from God?� About performing miracles?� He thinks.� He also thinks of the souls Satan has captured by his devious charms.� He must release them.� He must be willing to do anything and everything to do so.� He dozes.

Something tickles his toes.� He awakens and looks down at his foot.� A lizard has climbed up on it and is sunning himself.� Jesus smiles but remains still.� Well, hello there.� Do you like my foot?� It's softer than most things out here.

The lizard is startled at the voice and moves off his foot, but no further.� Then slowly he reaches down and places his hand next to his foot.� The lizard raises its tail and one foot and moves onto Jesus' hand.� Jesus leans back again, first holding the lizard near his face.� Well, didn't I do a good job of making you?�

He watches a bird swoop down and grab a cricket, and realizes he is hungry.� He has fasted occasionally, as do all good Jews.� But he does not think it has ever been for this long.� It is time to break his fast.�[10 ]

Okay.� So, what can he eat?� John said he ate grasshoppers and wild honey.� Jesus wasn't sure about the grasshoppers.� John assured him they grew quite large up in the hills.� Once cooked, they were crunchy and filling.� Why not?�

He looks around the bolder.� No grasshoppers there.� He stands and looks around.� Yes, there are grasshoppers.� But too small to bother with.� Over there!� That's a big one.

Jesus leaps at it, but it is too fast.� The next one he tries to sneak up on, but that does not work either.� He can see himself in front of his young friends growing up.� How they used to make fun of his lack of coordination.

Jesus stands and looks at the sky, hands on his hips, frustrated with himself.� Well, honey.� Does he see any bees?� He looks around for a stray one.� Nothing.� He looks toward shrubs scattered here and there.� Still nothing. [11]�

He sits and looks at his hands now cracking from the dryness.� And his feet.� They are beginning to hurt.� He has nothing to soothe them.

Another day.� Another night.� He falls asleep, dreams he is back home, and his mother has just baked him a fresh batch of bread.

He walks awhile, tries not to think about how hungry he is, then sits down by a bolder.� He leans back.� The sun grows hotter.� His instincts tell him to look where he is sitting.� By his right knee is a snake.� He watches the snake.� The snake raises its head.� His eyes are piercing.� Jesus stares back.� Neither moves.� Jesus refuses to run.� Jesus refuses to quake.� Jesus refuses to act right.� The snake retreats back under the rock.

Jesus stands and walks away.� He walks to the edge of a cliff, and picks up some stones to throw.� They are a little larger than the others had been.� About the size of those rolls his mother bakes for the family.

He turns one around in his hands, then sits.� He stares at it.� He is getting weaker.� There is a limit to fasting.� He must break his fast.� He gathers up another stone, and another.� He throws the first one up in the air and catches it.� Then the second one.� He tries his hand at juggling but it does not work.

He sits crosslegged and stares at the stones now in his lap.� You're hungry, Jesus.� Poor man.� You haven't eaten in days.� You cannot go on like this.� You lose your strength and the world loses its savior.� Can't have this.� Feed yourself.� Too far from town?� Well, you can do miracles.� Turn these stones into bread.� Eat.� Get your strength back so you can save the world, Jesus.

Of course, you won't able to if you're not really God's Son.� Are you Jesus?� How do you know?� You heard the voice at your baptism.� True.� But was it your imagination?� If you're really God's Son, you could perform this miracle.� It's just a small one.� [12]

He's got a point there.� Jesus stares at the stones and sees bread.� He stands and walks away from them, then returns.� What should he do?� What messages does his father have for him about bread?� Think, Jesus.� Think.

He remembers manna, the bread from heaven that fed his Jewish ancestors in the wilderness before they had a country of their own.� What about the bread, Jesus?� Remember.

"People must not live just on bread,"Jesus says softly.� There's more, Jesus.� What else did God say?�

He stands.� He speaks louder.� "To really live, you must feast...."� Yes?� Feast on what?� He remembers the rest of it and shouts it across the valley below to the hills beyond.� "t;....you must feast....must feast....feast....feast" Yes, feast on what?� "You must feast," he bellows" on the words of God....words of God....of God....God...."� [13]

Jesus walks away from the danger on the cliff.� He knows that his miracles will be used to prove to others he is God's Son.� Performing a miracle for himself alone away from people would be an abuse.� He will not give in to the temptation.� He refuses.

You thought you had me there, didn't you Satan? he shouts, looking up into the sky.� Well, you lost.� I'm not giving in to you.� I don't have to prove to you I am the Son of God.� You already know that.� That's why you're trying to throw me off.� It won't work, Satan.� My father won.� You lost.

Jesus takes up his walking again and adjusts to his growing weakness by progressing more slowly.� He realizes he is lost.� He does not care.� God knows where he is.�

More days.� More nights.� Not only is he hungry, but he is also thirsty.� He searches for a spring and occasionally finds one.� But it is never enough.� After awhile he finds himself running after mirages of water that are not really there.

He prays.� He thinks about facing the Temple and praying.� But which way is the Temple?� It is cloudy now.� He cannot see the stars or the sun to decide the direction he is walking.� [14]

� �� He stops and rests.� He tries to reorient himself.� He sees a rabbit come out of its hole and scamper toward a scant bush.� Jesus breaks off a leaf from one near him, gets down on his hands and knees and works his way toward the rabbit.� He whispers and the rabbit looks his way.�

Sprawled out, he holds out the leaf to the creature.� He whispers, Come get your dinner, little one.� The rabbit jumps ever so slightly, then again, then stretches its neck and takes a bite.� Jesus smiles.� He has a new friend.

Rested, he returns to his walking and chasing after mirages.� He talks to his father.� Sometimes about his strategy and sometimes about water.� He hopes the clouds are an answer to his prayer and it will soon rain.� It does not.

Then he sees it.� A very large mirage.� Too large.� It must be the real thing.� Water.� A large lake.� He thanks his father, then works his way to the edge.� In his hurry, sometimes he stumbles, but he forces himself.� Water.� And fish for food.� Thank you, God.

Closer and closer to the edge of the water.� He wades in, falls to his knees, and scoops up the water in his cupped hands.� Immediately he spills the water and backs up.� His cracked hands are stinging.� His cracked feet too.�

Jesus has wandered to the Dead Sea.� The lake full of salt.� The lake with never any fish or frogs or any other living thing.� He rubs his hands on his scruffy robe.� It does not help.� He licks his hands to try to get the salt off.

His hands, how they hurt.� And his feet.� The wounds on his hands.� And his feet.� They are beginning to bleed sometimes.� He must escape.� He stumbles back up the hill overlooking the deadness, and sits at the top trying to forget his pain.� Trying to think of something good.

He thinks of it.� He stands and raises both arms in the direction of the Dead Sea and prays.� For he has found his Temple.� He knows that he is now facing west and Jerusalem is just beyond.� Jerusalem and the Temple.

He thanks his father.� He feels re-oriented.� He turns and walks again toward the higher hills.� He still hopes to run into some trees not yet touched by the lumbermen, and the vegetation and shade, but still in solitude.

Now and then he looks back.� He can still see the lake.� He stops and rests.� The sun is lowering fast.� He sees a hedgehog peek its head out of its hole.� It looks around, darting his head this way and that.� Jesus smiles.�

Once again, he gets down on all fours.� This time he speaks and clicks his tongue before moving.� Then he holds out his hand.� The hedgehog looks at him, slowly climbs the rest of the way out of its hole, and moves ever so slowly toward Jesus.� He sniffs Jesus' hand, then scurries away into the darkness.

Morning.� He thinks of the Temple.� Father, how am I going to convince all those priests to accept me as their high priest?� And the people too.� And how am I going to convince the present high priest to give up his position and all that power and prestige?

He could perform miracles in front of them.� But that would not impress them.� Some of their own priests claim they can perform miracles.� Especially casting out demons.� Nothing can be proven one way or the other.� They are safe with that kind of miracle.� So miracles would not impress them. [15]

�

He must think of something drastic to do there at the Temple to convince them.� Something dramatic.� Spectacular.� Sensational.� What could he do?� There must be something.� But what?�

He sits.� He stands.� He walks on.� What will his job be as high priest?� He remembers.� He does not want to remember.� Jesus must offer himself to save the people.� He must die.� There is no other way.� Satan wants a scapegoat.� He is anxious to punish people.� He loves to punish people.� Get them to sin, then he can punish them.� How amusing.

No, not the dying.� How Jesus hates the thought.� But it haunts him.� All his life he seems to have known.� And all his life he has begged to get out of it.

Please, Father! he shouts up to the sky.� Get me out of this.� Find some other way to satisfy Satan's lust for blood and revenge.� I don't want to die, God.� His cries turn to sobs.� Not that.� Not that! [16]

The dying.� It is so hard.� But the people's sins are only forgiven temporarily.� God remembers them every year.� Mankind needs a way for their sins to disappear completely and forever.� [17]

Jesus will indeed enter the most holy place, but it will be the permanent one in heaven....after he dies.� [18]

Jesus can no longer see the lake full of death.� He is once again on his own, and once again lost.� It does not matter.� He reminds himself that his father knows where he is.

He stops once again and leans against a bolder.� He is so hungry.� He is so tired.� But he still has not worked out his strategy.� He feels something by his hand.� It is a scorpion.� He shakes his hand, jumps up and moves away from it.� Some things he does not try to make friends with.

There is an ever-present lurking shadow.� Always there is Satan.� Things coming to mind that should not be there.� Grandiose things.� Oh, Jesus!� You are so great!� Make sure the world knows it!�

He falls asleep and dreams that he is coming in the clouds with a priestly crown on his head and a kingly diadem in his hand.� The crowds roar in delight.� They fall down and worship him.� It is all over.� He has saved them.� No more dying.

He wakes with a start.� A few drops of rain.� Not enough to do him any good.� Though it soothes his wounded hands and his wounded feet.

He walks once more, but not ever very far at a time any more.� Mostly he sits and thinks and tries desperately to plan.� He must work out a way to convince the priests.

How grand it will be for it to all be over with.� Jesus the king at last.� Jesus the high priest at last.� He has proven he is the Son of God and the world has rejoiced with him.� Something is not right.� Thinking wrong.� Planning wrong.�

You're not so hot, Jesus.� You think you're so holier-than-thou.� You're nothing.� You're just an illegitimate baby for whom that gullible Joseph married your mother just to give you a name.� Jesus ~ God with us.� Just because you got that name, doesn't mean you're really the Son of God.� Lots of babies have been born with that name and they weren't the Son of God.� You're not either.� You can't even work miracles.�

Jesus' mind returns to the Temple.� What could he do to prove he is the Son of God?� He has toured the entire Temple and its grounds in his mind.� Nothing seems right.� But another idea comes to mind.� Is this a sign from his father?

He is afraid of dying.� So, now is the time to get over it.� He can kill two birds with one stone.� He can prove he definitely is not afraid of dying, and he can prove he is the Son of God.

In his mind's eye he looks up to the pinnacle of the Temple.� So far above the valley below.� One would become dizzy looking down that far.� The great pinnacle.� The very top. [19]

�

He imagines the attention he would get if he willed himself to the top of it.� He could stand and shout to the crowds below.� They would listen to anything he had to say.� Or would they call him a mad man?

Then another thought.� A scripture comes to mind.� It might work.� God said his angels would watch out for him and guard him so carefully, that if he fell into trouble, they would whisk you back out of danger. [20]

�

That's it.� He could throw himself down where all the religious leaders can see for themselves.� He could just throw himself down, then get up and walk away.�

Is this what you want me to do, Father?

Something does not seem right.� He is torn.� Should he or shouldn't he?� Didn't God promise?� He has given Jesus access to all his angels.� He said it, not Jesus.�

The religious leaders will love it.� They'll make you one of them.� They'll get rid of their high priest and make you the high priest.� You've got angels to take care of you, don't you?� Well, they'll soften the fall.� Go ahead.� I dare you!

So why not check it out and see if it is true?� If it is not, he will die fast, not that slow death he's been told he must die.� If it is true....� If he is the Son of God....� If....

Jesus stumbles as he walks.� He has been stumbling all along.� No angels came to him.� Something is wrong with his interpretation.� Still, if he is the Son of God....

Jesus needs the proof.� The people need the proof.� The priests need the proof.� Go ahead.� Do it.� But what if it doesn't work?� Is it worth the chance?�

Think, Jesus.� Think.� Is there another message from God about this?� You would be taking a chance.� Think.� Remember.

He stops and sits, his legs crossed in front of him.� He closes his eyes.� He has been wandering in his wilderness for so long.� He is so weak and tired.� Why doesn't his father rescue him?�

He recalls his ancestors wandering in their own wilderness.� He remembers their complaining about food and water.� And about whether Jehovah was really God.� Complaints.� Doubts.� Challenges to get God to prove he was God.

"Do not...." Jesus mumbles.� "Do not...."� He stands.� He raises his voice and shouts at a vulture hovering overhead.� "Do not double-dare God!" [21]

There is something wrong with this way if getting people's attention.� His miraculous powers would once again be used on himself.� He cannot do that.� He must win the hearts of the people, not just their minds.� He must win their loyalty, not their fears.�

You coward! Jesus shouts.� You coward!� Come out and show yourself!� You act like you're one of those angels and know all about everything.� Well, you don't.� You love it when people give in to their selfishness.� They are playing right into your hands.� Then you can punish them.

Jesus' hair blows in the early-evening breeze.� He stares still at the sky.� Well, it won't work with me, Satan.� I am not ~ do you hear that? ~ not going to give in to you.� You had me going there for awhile, but you failed.

Jesus does not see any trees ahead.� He knows he is still lost.� He knows he has gone in circles.� But he still has not worked out his strategy.� Maybe he has gone at it all wrong.�

Jesus picks out another cave in which to sleep.� The moon is full.� He hears wolves in the hills around him.�� He goes a little way inside the shallow cave and lies down.� He is cold.� He shivers.� He cannot make the night chills go away.�

Some time in the darkness he feels something warm against him.� Warm and furry.� He opens his eyes, and by the light of the moon outside the cave, he can see that two wolf cubs have nestled in his arms.� They remain that way the rest of the night.� And Jesus is comforted.

Morning again.� How can he keep going?� The wolves are now gone.� He crawls out of his cave.� The warm early-day sun feels good.� But his hands, how they hurt.� And his feet.� So wounded.� So bleeding.

His hair is matted, his robe is torn, his tunic is rotting.� He turns over onto his back, looks up at the sun and wishes he hadn't.� He turns back over and lays his head on his arms.� He prays.� Things are not going well.� Where are his signs?� Where are his messages?�

He hears a voice.� He looks around for his mother.� It is only a bird.� His bones are sharp through his skin, the skin that is now leathery in spots, raw from sunburn and pealing in other spots, and cracking all over.� His eyes are swollen.� His tongue is swollen.� His heart is swollen and wants to burst.

Oh, God.� He needs a sign.� Proof that he is truly the Son of God.� Where is the sign?� What will be his strategy?� He has no strategy.

He stands and wanders.� How can he save the world when he cannot save himself?� How can he convince the world he is the Son of God if he cannot convince himself?�

He sees someone moving near him.� Who's there?� Whoever it is does not speak, but walks in circles around him.� Why does he not speak?� Who's there? he repeats.

Still no voice, but whoever it is seems to be drawing closer.� Jesus is startled to realize this is not a person, but a lion.� Not startled from fear, but startled at the inability of his dry swollen eyes to properly detect what they see.�

The lion walks closer and closer.� Jesus says nothing.� He waits.� But the lion stops and stays there.� Jesus returns to praying.� What is he supposed to do?� The task of saving the world is so huge.� [22]

He stands and stumbles up a small hill, then down the small valley on the other side.� He stops and turns around.� The lion is following him.� All day the lion keeps its distance, but continues to follow Jesus.� Jesus thinks it is unusual only because lions usually do their prowling at night.

Night time.� Surely the lion will go back home now.� It does not.� It lies down and watches Jesus.� Jesus walks toward it, then drops to his knees.� He turns around, puts his head on the lion's side, and falls asleep.

When he wakes in the morning, the lion is gone.� Jesus prays where he is.� He thanks his father for yet another new friend to comfort him and, yes, strengthen him.

Jesus looks up at the mountain he had been trying to ascend.� It is no closer than it was at the beginning.� He is sure that, if he could scale it, he could see a very long way.� He could see several kingdoms at once.� How he wishes he could be up there right now.

Oh, Jesus, use your powers.� You can do it.� All you have to do it will yourself to be on top of the mountain.� Can't do it, can you?� That's because you're not really the Son of God.

Want to be my son, Jesus?� I, Satan the great one, am willing to make you my son.� You can do anything you want whenever you want.� I control the world.� The world was given to me.

Do you want the world?� Then I give you the world.� Just give in to my whims.� Besides, you don't have to forgive these people to have them.� Be stronger than them and conquer them.� Laugh at them in their silly games.�

Jesus, do things my way.� It will be much easier.� No sacrificing yourself.� No dying.� No enemies.� Everyone will love you because you'll go along with every petty selfish thing they want to do.� No cross.� No nails.� No pain.� Just fun.� Do it my, way, Jesus.

Jesus does not use his power to be on the mountain, so Satan uses his.� "These kingdoms, they're yours for the asking," Satan says looking with Jesus at the kingdoms of the world.� "Just become my son, not God's.� How I hate God.� A lot of people hate God.� Do you want to be hated too?� Then claim you're God's Son.� On the other hand, you can have me and the entire world both".� [23]

Jesus looks at the world.� He does not see how he is going to gain the world any other way.� Or if he did, he'd have to go through hell to get it.� Satan's way is so tempting.�

Jesus wills himself back down off the mountain.� He is back again on the rough ground with rocks piercing him everywhere.� How he hurts.� He is so tired.� So very, very tired.� How could he ever find his way back to civilization?� He has no idea where he is.

Oh God.� Satan's way seems so much easier.� Couldn't we just work things out with him?� He wants to be friends.� He said so.� What should I do?� Help me.� Another scripture.� I'm begging you, God.� Tell me what to do.

Jesus can hardly move now.� Another day and night have come and gone.� Or perhaps it was three days and three nights.� Or forty days and forty nights.� How can he tell?� So tired.� So weak.� So helpless.� And still he does not know anything for sure.� Soon it will be all over.� Death hovers over him.� It is a matter of hours.

Give in to Satan.� Why die?� Just worship him.� He'll make you well again, and give you fresh fruit and fish and bread to eat.� He'll turn your tattered clothes into fine linen.� Won't that be fun, Jesus?� You don't have to be wallowing like this.� Wallowing is for losers.� Want to be a loser all your life, Jesus?

A message from God.� Think.� What does God say about worshipping Satan?� "You shall worship...."� Yes, yes.� Go on.� "You shall worship...the Lord your God...and serve him alone."� [24]

Silence.� No replies.� Just slithering.� Slithering away in defeat.� Jesus is exhausted.� How tempting Satan's suggestions had been.� So close to giving in.� But not giving in.� That's what is important.� Not giving in.� Shouting.� Laughing.� Slouching.� Crying.� Groveling.� But never giving in.� [25]

Alone.� Jesus is now ready to die.� He is a failure.� But if he is truly God's Son, his father will take him home to heaven and safety.� No more temptations.� No more rejections.� Die now, Jesus.� It's all over.� You're a failure.

Alone.

He feels something.� A gentle touch.� He cannot allow himself the luxury of such thoughts.� There it is again.� And shade.� Jesus turns over onto his back expecting to stare into the blinding sun.� Instead he sees a face.� Not that again.� No more faces.

"Hello, Jesus.� We're here.� We're going to take care of you.� God still needs you, but down here.� The people still need you.� They still need saving.� You're the only one who can do it."

The angel helps Jesus sit up.� Gabriel, is that you?

"I've brought along a few friends.� We're here to help you."

Jesus smiles.� His lips do not hurt when he does.� Nothing hurts any more. The angels.� They were here all along.� Never alone.� They're feeding you, Son of God.� Comforting you.� Smiling.� Congratulating.� You've made it once more.� One more temptation.� One more overcoming.� One more, and one more, and one more, until the victorious end.� [26]

That night he cradles his head on the lap of Gabriel and falls peacefully to sleep.� Morning.� Jesus awakes, sits up, stretches.� What a great day to be alive!� He is no longer hungry.� No longer thirsty.� No longer bleeding.

Now his mind is clear.� Now he knows his strategy.� His will not be a physical kingdom.� Only Satan can give him that.� His will be a spiritual kingdom.� Only God can give him that.�

"Jesus!"

It is John.� Jesus has wandered to within sight of the Jordan River where John has been waiting and praying for him. John runs to him. They embrace. John leads him to a large rock where they sit.

"Forty days you've been gone," John explains. "How did you survive? There were times when I wasn't sure about you making it out of there alive. Are you okay, Jesus?" He hesitates but cannot hold back any longer. "Are you going ahead with the plan, Jesus?" �

LIFE APPLICATION

1.�� There is a difference in being tempted and giving in to the temptation.� Temptation only means the thought and opportunity are there.� Giving in to the temptation is when it becomes wrong.� How does that help you view yourself as God does?

2.�� Jesus never sinned.� But he had all the struggles we have.� Hebrews 4:15 in the Bible says, "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are ~ yet was without sin." How will knowing this help your prayer life?�

3.�� Only Jesus was sinless.� It was never easy, but he accomplished it so he could be our perfect sacrificial lamb.� He did not have to leave heaven in the first place.� He could have left us at Satan's mercy, the Satan who anxiously pounces on our sins and demands our punishment.� How does this help you understand what Satan is really like?

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