It was a custom known as “battle by champion.” Two opposing armies would each send out their best warrior to fight each other. That is what we see this week. Because Christ fought the battle against Satan as one of us, he won that battle for all of us. Jesus is our perfect substitute.
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” With cries and shouts, for more than a thousand years, the church has celebrated the triumphal entrance of Jesus into his city, Jerusalem. Jesus isn’t just the King of the Jews, he is the King of the Universe.
The temptation for the first Christians was to throw it all away. Why not go back to the old way of doing things? Judaism had worked for thousands of years! Jesus is our Great High Priest. He completed the Jewish faith and won forgiveness for the world.
What is the length of God’s love? I suppose that’s the positive way to speak of God’s patience. Have you ever heard the question, “Are we there yet?”
God is serious about his word. How serious? Jesus didn’t come to make friends of those who looked only from personal gain from God’s people. He came to save the world. He came to save you.
Temptation comes in all shapes and sizes and yours might be different than mine. Satan knows where we are the weakest and won’t hesitate to float a temptation right in front of our noses.