WHEN on a visit to Jericho, I was shown the traditional scene of Christ's forty days in the wilderness and His testing by the Devil. Mount Quarantania and the area around it are bleak and forbidding. There, before my eyes, was the place where Jesus, the King of Love and Goodness, came to closest grips with the power of evil, and won. He blazed the trail for all succeeding generations of believers in the battle for love and goodness.
Later, when visiting the scene of the Crucifixion, I thought of the angry mob shouting abuse at Him, and in terms similar to those he heard at Quarantania: "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross". "He saved others; himself he cannot save. The Devil and his agents have always that frightening ability to pick words designed to undermine Christ's kingship and kingdom.
Jesus, after forty days and nights in the sandy wastes of the desert, and weak through starvation, seemed to be an easy target to attack and overcome. Mockers round the Cross likewise revelled in Christ's apparent defeat. Jesus led arid empowered by the Holy Spirit, defeated the wiles of the Devil. Jesus, empowered by the loving Father, defeated the wiles of those who mocked him. He overcame death, and opened the kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Very often in the history of God's kingdom, people have mistakenly thought that God had failed them. In a well-known quotation called Footprints, the writer tells of a man walking along a lonely, sandy beach. He thought God had failed him.
"One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonged to him, and the other to the LORD.
"When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
"This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it. `Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome time in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.'"
The Lord replied: "My precious, precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you".