Jesus' Temptation

Into the Wilderness

Deuteronomy 6:5–9 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Luke 4:1–13 “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”

In the previous study we looked at Jesus’ baptism and how God spoke, recognizing Jesus as his son in whom he was well pleased. Today we are going to look at what happened to Jesus after his baptism. Luke writes that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. Where he experienced a time of testing. Genesis 3:14–15 “So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”” Implies that Satan, the serpent of old will continue to tempt God’s people including Jesus. As in strike at his heel. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

Where did the temptation take place? In the wilderness. We see several times in scripture where God led his people into the desert. Although not certain, it is suggested that this is the same desert or wilderness, where Moses Exodus 34:28 “Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.” and Elijah 1 Kings 19:8 “So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.” in answer to God’s call. Where both of them experienced a time of fasting. It is a common idea that a man can go 3 to 5 days without drinking and 21 days without eating. there are recorded exceptions, but 40 days without eating or drinking is miraculous.

Why was Jesus tempted? Was it to prove to Jesus that he was in God’s will? Was it to teach him to depend on God? What were the results of his temptation?

In each of the three scenarios Satan uses scripture, twisting it for his benefit. The first; If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread. Jesus replied “It is written; man shall not live on bread alone.” God in several places in scripture supplied both food and water for his people. there was no need not to trust that God would do it again. Satan’s desire was for Jesus not to trust God, but to change the stone to bread.

The second; The devil led Jesus to a high place and in an instant showed him all of the kingdoms of the world. Satan claimed that they had been given to him and that he would give them to Jesus if he would worship him. Jesus answered; “It is written; worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” Why would Jesus as the Son of God believe Satan’s lie that it was in his power to grant that request? One theory that has been suggested is that this would be a way for Jesus to claim what was rightfully his without having to go to the cross.

The third; The devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written; “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you carefully, they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered, “It is said do not put the Lord your God to the test.” In this test Jesus would have potentially been committing suicide. If the angels would not have save him. Luke 10:19 “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” This passage from Luke promises the Lord’s protection, but we don’t have to put him to the test. I hear stories of people who practice snake handling in response to this passage of scripture. this is testing God. Yes, I firmly believe that he will protect his people from harm, but I don’t believe that we should handle snakes in an effort to prove his protection. Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” This scripture is the only place in the Bible that God says to test him and it holds a promise for those who do so in faith. There is no danger of physical harm as in jumping of the temple and expecting angels to catch you, or handling snakes and risking your life. Satan trying to coerce Jesus by twisting scripture and Jesus rebutting him with scripture. A good reason for us to study and know the Bible so that we can withstand the temptations of the devil in our lives.

Another way to look at this scripture is by looking at 1 John 2:16 “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”

Lets look at these three temptations for comparison;

The lust of the flesh; some commentaries refer to the 1st Adam; the tree was good for food and Christ as the 2nd Adam; command this stone to become bread.

The lust of the eyes; Adam; a tree that was pleasing to the eyes. Christ; the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world.

The pride of life. Adam; a tree desirable to make one wise. Christ; throw yourself down from here.

I think that we can also include Moses and the children of Israel in this comparison. When Moses led them through the wilderness, they complained to God because of lack of food, He gave them Manna, They complained of lack of water, He gave them water from the rock. when Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. They were disobedient and crafted golden calves to worship instead of God. They lacked faith to trust God to drive out the people in the promised land and thereby being forced to remain in the wilderness until all of the males over age 20 had died.

There is not one of us here today that has not experienced temptation. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” tells us that. The question is how we deal with it. Are we able to resist like Jesus. Are we able to quote scripture to help us resist? Probably not. But we do have the hope of eternal life in Jesus. We do have a promise that when we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus was able to resist temptation and thereby he was able to be a sinless perfect sacrifice to go to the cross and die in our place to pay the price for our sins. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If not do it today. Invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life.