Go to the ant

by | Mar 9, 2023 | 2012 | 0 comments

A few years ago I shared some insights with some young children about those industrious little creatures – ants.

We were visiting a farm, and keen to nurture their capacity to explore and wonder, I shepherded them over to an anthill and carefully broke it open. A whole new world lay exposed before us! Thousands of tiny worker ants scurried through the maze of broken sand tunnels and chambers. Many were carrying eggs, grass or bread crumbs. I then lobbed a lively grasshopper into the disturbed nest and told the children to watch carefully.

Within seconds, hundreds of larger ants charged out and rushed towards the unwelcome visitor. These were the soldier ants. Their home was under siege and these fiery red insects attacked the invader from all directions. They bit it with their big nippers. They squirted it with a poison to numb and paralyse it. They climbed all over the interfering trespasser. After a relentless, fierce battle the intruder lay dead and their territory was safe.

Why am I sharing these facts about these seemingly insignificant creatures with you? Well, around the same time that I gave my nature lesson I had been reflecting on a very different type of battle that took place about two thousand years ago when God willingly stepped out of eternity and entered into enemy territory – this world. Watching those soldier ants aggressively attacking an intruder with such ferocity and venom brought these two events together for me in a way that I had not considered before.

Did Jesus have a “normal” youth?

We know that Satan attacked Jesus from around the age of 30. There are clear biblical accounts of Satan’s onslaughts upon Jesus in the wilderness and the horrific persecutions leading up to his excruciating death. But what about Jesus’ life before these events? Did the enemy leave him alone for about 30 years? Did Jesus lead a relaxed, passive life assisting his father Joseph in his carpentry work?

An in-depth search of the scriptures reveals a surprising truth. Soon after Jesus was born he was treated as an intruder. King Herod ordered his soldiers to kill all the boys in Bethlehem under two years of age in an obsessive attempt to kill Jesus. But the hostility and opposition didn’t end there. Luke gives us an important insight into those early years: “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Don’t make the mistake of thinking this overall summary of Jesus’ life is just a passing reference to our normal growth progression. The Greek word for “grew” is prokopto and this word sheds an enormous amount of light on the early life of Jesus. It means more than “grew” – much more.

It means progress but not a passive progress. It suggests continuous activity and conveys the idea of moving forward or making headway, advancing and forging ahead. It is also based on a word that means “to beat”1and it was used to describe typical activities of those days. For example, it was used of a ship beating forward against a strong head-wind, striving to cut the wind in two. It also described the work of wood-cutters who hacked a path through obstacles in a forest or jungle that impeded the progress of armies. Their task was to blaze a trail for those behind them to follow.2 Another common use described how a blacksmith beat metals into shape with a hammer.

The Greek word for “grew” is prokopto and this word sheds an enormous amount of light on the early life of Jesus.

Did you notice the common characteristic of these illustrations? They all imply strenuous effort, pain and exhaustion. Each illustration is a graphic example that gives us a deeper and richer understanding of the Greek word used to describe how Jesus “grew”.

Theologian C. Baxter Kruger in his book “The Great Dance” writes of that very time when God became a man; “In our flesh, inside Adam’s skin, he beat his way forward by blows. He entered into fallen human existence and he steadfastly refused to be ‘fallen’ in it. Step by step, moment by moment, blow by blow, through fire and trial, through 33 years of blood, sweat and tears, through crucifixion, in the power of the Holy Spirit he transformed the fallen humanity….”3

Into enemy territory

When Jesus entered the world, he not only took upon himself our fallen human nature, weighed down with sin, guilt, brokenness and alienation from God (Isaiah 53:4-6). He also invaded Satan’s world! He was an intruder in enemy territory and therefore experienced the fierce onslaught of Satan during his entire lifetime. In Genesis 3:15 we have the first, clearest promise of the coming of our redeemer, Jesus Christ, who would deliver the human race from sin. God said to Satan; “From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The phrase “you will strike his heel” is symbolic of Satan’s repeated attacks as he unleashed everything he had to destroy Jesus Christ during his time on earth. The key word is “enemies”, which means “hostility” or “animosity.” The Message Bible translates verse 15: “I’m declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers.” War characterised Jesus’ whole life.

Watching the violent and relentless way those ants attacked an intruder vividly illustrated for me in a unique way what Jesus had to endure throughout his life. Because of his unrelenting and unconditional love for us he never gave up. Because of his unbending commitment to save us he never took the easy way out. He endured pain and pressure. Because of his faithfulness he resisted temptations and refused to surrender to Satan.

In Jesus, God became one of us so that we could become like him.

 

 

1 Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1995.

2 Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament

3C. Baxter Kruger, The Great Dance (Regent College Publishing; 2000), p42.

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