Threshold.
The fight of the threshold.
What a glorious word that is, threshold. The mere mention of it stimulates such powerful imagery. It’s a word so many of us crave to hear prophesied. And every anointed voice that utters it, we weary ones stand in line to devour it.
“The season of the threshold is here!”
And yes, it is true. And yes, it is here. But I wonder, would we consume that word with such vigor if we knew that the threshold looks more like Jesus being tested by the fallen one, than an explosive Jericho campaign?
In the account of Matthew in chapter four, we are brought in as witnesses to this scene…
Right after the Father publicly proclaims how much He loves Jesus, how pleased He is with Him - Jesus is met with total isolation in the desert sands carrying forty days and forty nights of hunger. And instead of worship being laid at His feet, Christ is confronted with the accuser who tried to usurp His throne. The one who fell like lightning manages to scrape up enough hubris, to not just speak to the Lord, but to actually attempt to bait the Son of Man.
And just like Christ was tempted in three stages, there are three stages to this fight of the threshold. And perhaps the key that unlocks the victory, the treasure map of promise, is not in some complicated theology or pain-filled doxology, but in the simplicity of what Christ already demonstrated.
Those resounding three words, that when strung together, are met with the blunt force of the Father Himself, “it is written.”
I have come to realize those words are a statement, not a suggestion. And both angels and demons, earth and heaven, child and enemy must all stand at attention and bow when spoken.
The scriptures are not just inspired words, they are much more. Lest we downplay their holiness, John the Beloved can’t even begin his gospel until he opens with this statement in John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
And if Jesus could not cross over the threshold and into His own divine ministry without defeating this moment, then we cannot bypass it either.
So we call on the Holy Spirit to help us summon the strength once more. Let us examine these three stages with great heart, great courage and commit to heaven here and now, that we will not succumb.
Stage one - Approaching The Threshold,
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
It is written, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
Think it not strange that the first thing the enemy will do is exploit your weaknesses. Once he sees that you have discovered there is a threshold to cross and you begin making your way to it, he will expose anything that you see as lack. For Jesus, it was His hunger. And every place you have felt starving in your life, satan the devil will use those very memories to dissuade you from approaching. He cannot stop you from the grand adventure and inheritance that Christ has called you to, but he will identify your hunger, your flesh, your weakness to get you to disqualify yourself from the pursuit.
So what then shall we say to him? For every stage has an arrow and this is ours,
We will loose the flames of our true inheritance. Not what was handed down in Egypt, nor the wilderness, but everything we received the moment we were purchased by Christ at the Cross. We, the children of God, do not beg for bread. We feast upon the Bread of Life. Have you not heard? We are not grasshoppers. No, your protection has departed from you and you are but bread for us. We are not the slaves of Amenhotep. We are the sons, the daughters and the rightful heirs of the Most High God - and we will worship the Lord in full wisdom and in truth.
Stage two - Standing In The Threshold,
“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “Throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Well done beloved, you did not fall for the first stage of temptation{s}. No matter how hungry you felt, you turned down the devil’s plate of lies. And though you may have fallen down seven times, here you are standing up eight.
You have made it to the threshold and now you stand inside of it.
And while you stand in the sanctity, stability and safety of the threshold, the enemy does not see your new position as a reason to acquiesce. His tactics adjust with your new location and it is in the threshold that he will now question your new and current identity in Christ. The enemy not only mocked the identity of Jesus by saying, “If you are the Son of God”, but then attempted to manipulate scripture against the One who wrote it.
It’s at this stage the adversary will call into question who you are in Christ. He will even try to manipulate your understanding of the holy scriptures you cling to, in order to get you to second-guess them or step outside of their covering.
Your arrow?
You must refuse the dead man’s inheritance. The second we became new creations in Christ we received a new inheritance, a new bloodline, new covenants and new identities. The old is gone. We are not baited into justifying ourselves, nor proving ourselves or explaining that new identity - the Lord Jesus already did that. The earth quaked, the sky went black, the rocks split and the veil tore at the sound of “it is finished.” Our threshold isn’t just a place we stand, it’s the One in whom we stand. The work at Golgotha isn’t for us to continue at the threshold, it was already completed. Gird your legs, child and stand in what God said He already did.
Stage three - Crossing The Threshold,
“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’
Then the devil left him...”
We approached, we stood and now we have crossed. Yes it’s true, our feet are in Canaan - but this is where it gets the most vital. And as long-suffering as this journey has been, many prematurely remove their armor at this stage and it proves to be detrimental. If you are one who has taken their armor off before it’s time and experienced unforeseen attacks, do not fear. This error in discernment is redeemable, simply put your armor back on, kneel before the King and recommit.
In order to understand where satan will next aim, we have to detect the pattern of the fight.
When you pursued the threshold, he exploited your weaknesses and your hunger through your past. Once in the threshold, he tried to get you to question your present and current identity in Christ. It is now glaringly obvious that he will next attack your future. He does this by getting you to question God Himself.
He will attack your faith and your memory in what God has already spoken over your life, what He promised you and get you to doubt that He is covenantally faithful.
There is a very specific reason the enemy does this and waits until stage three, when you are the most exhausted, to deploy this deadly tactic. It is not simply to wound your relationship with God. No, his ultimate endgame is to try and convince you that it’s in your best interest to become your own god.
Doesn’t this sound familiar? Isn’t this the same one who said, “I will ascend and be like the Most High”?
But how does he do this? How does he beguile Christ-loving children into becoming their own god? It’s actually simple and age-tested. Once your feet have touched Canaan, he assaults you with fear. That fear will then get you to believe that God is not faithful, that He doesn’t really love you and He isn’t going to come through. It breaths murderous lies that God is going to sit there and watch as those giants consume you and it’s in your best interest to seize your inheritance in your own strength.
And when we remove our faith in God and His sovereignty, we inevitably reallocate that faith into ourselves. In serving ourselves, we elect to get up from God’s table and instead dine with satan; feasting upon his demonic doctrine of self. Ascending and becoming like god in our own lives.
Our arrow?
Utterly refuse to fear anything except Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It is precisely in this moment where your full obedience to God isn’t just holy and impenetrable protection, it is an act of total worship. Obey Christ at all costs. Believe Him at all costs. Remember who He is, against all odds.
This arrow is the most dangerous of all. It is the arrow of uncompromising love for our God, fashioned in the fires of worship through fear and obedience. And this is the one the enemy fears the most, it’s the arrow he hoped you would never find. For this is the arrow that gets driven by the Spirit, like a tent peg, straight into his defeated heart.
This is the fight of the threshold, and what a glorious word it is.
Take heart and stand back up. It’s time to try again. Shake off the shame and apply the Blood. Exhale and steady your bow. Aim, child and aim it well for the Lord our God has given the enemy into our hands. All we need do now, is take it.