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Another of my favorite online publications that I really enjoy reading is Provoketive Magazine.
This publication is relatively new, but it’s making strong headway under the publishing leadership of Jonathan Brink.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say here, when I find something I like I work hard to be part of it.
Such is the case with Provoketive and Jonathan’s corral of writers.
I submitted an article recently that seemed appropriate to share heading into Easter weekend. Here’s an excerpt:
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The Ongoing Identity Theft of Jesus
The divinity of Jesus has been questioned for thousands of years.
It’s not surprising that one of the first recorded instances of this divine doubt occurred before Jesus officially started his ministry.
According to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus was fasting in the desert for 40 days when the devil approached him in the wasteland – questioning the Lord’s deistic attributes in three different ways.
Appealing to Appetite
We read in Matthew 4:3-4 that the tempter questioned that if Jesus was indeed the Son of God, then Jesus would be able to turn nearby rock piles warmed by the desert sun into piles of warm bread.
Jesus parried with the classic, “…man shall not live by bread alone…” verbal retort despite the gnawing hunger in his human belly. This exchange points as proof that both individuals knew that Jesus was both God and man, yet Jesus wasn’t compelled to prove that point to anybody.
Appealing to Prophecy
Subsequently the devil quoted scripture to Jesus, as seen in Matthew 4:5-7, where the adversary asserted that Jesus could fling himself from the cliff and the “…angels would bear him up…” in a seeming appeal for Jesus to fulfill prophecy written centuries before that the Messiah would have to die.
Jesus didn’t fall for it – figuratively nor literally. The scriptures state that Jesus was closely attuned to the will and timing of God, and that his time of death had not yet come – further solidifying his deity identity….
You can read more by clicking this link to Provoketive Magazine
And have a Happy Easter!
