The Urgency of Preparing the Church for the Return of Christ Jesus
By Rob Roy McGregor Jr.
Return of Christ Jesus,” I was a bit surprised at the passage he assigned me: Matthew 3:1–17, a passage which deals with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry but which is remark- ably appropriate! It is worth noting that Jesus
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comes to John the Baptist with the full knowledge that he is at this very moment at the point of entering, by means of baptism, into the mission he had been challenged to fulfill and that, to that end, he has been bur- dened with fulfilling all righteous- ness, a burden that he shares with everyone past, present, and future. “It is fitting,” he says, “for us to ful- fill all righteousness.” From the Creation, the norm for righteousness has been God himself. Jesus proclaimed it in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous- ness [that is, for God himself],” and with the words hunger and thirst he points out that those who “shall be satisfied [with being like God him- self]” must be profoundly motivated
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iven that the moderator’s theme for the year is “Pre- paring the Church for the
(Matt. 5:6). And then he underscores the challenge of righteousness: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matt. 5:10). In summa- ry, the primary thing to seek, to hunger and thirst for, is “the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). Those who are in fact righteous are go- ing to have a hard time! Now, if the challenge seems intimidating, think pro- digious: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). And Jesus has perfection in mind in the High Priestly Prayer: “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one” (John 17:23). Perfectly one in righteousness, perfectly one in the righteousness that charac- terizes and leads to the kingdom of God, as we have seen, which is, in fact, the goal of our salvation. There is, then, indeed good reason to say that Jesus is burdened with and challenged by righteousness. God likeness, to be sure, is a high standard!
Temptation Now that Jesus bears the mantle of righteousness, he has to prove that he
can remain righteous, no matter the severity of the challenges, the first of which are the temptations in the wilderness. Without analyzing the tempta- tions that Jesus overcomes, let us note for brevity’s sake that he does not use his powers to assert personal ambitions. He makes no concessions to himself, exploits none of his power and authority to exalt himself or satisfy physical or other personal needs beyond the standard of God’s righteousness. By his own will and determination, then, he does not react the way sinful people do in their fallen state and enjoy the personal advantages and privileges of posi- tion. In other words, he is successful in retaining his unfallen status, for he must represent and be unfallen Adam throughout his life if he is to take the place of the fallen Adam in all of us. We now come to Jesus’ final temptation at the end of his life and min-
istry on earth. By comparison with his trial before the Roman authorities, his vengeful fellow countrymen, the abusive crowds, and on the cross of Calvary, his forty days in the wilderness were a cakewalk. Jesus is either
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Synod Emphasis
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