Matthew 4:1-11

AFTER HIS BAPTISM Jesus enters his ministry as the Spirit-anointed and Father-confirmed messianic deliverer.

But his beginning as deliverer is as incongruous as was his appearance for baptism.

Instead of initiating a public reformation, he goes to the desert to fast!

But this will be more than a place of spiritual retreat.

The desert is the place of the first showdown between

competing kingdoms and their rulers,

between two figures who lay claim to the hearts and souls of men and women.

Rather than retreat, Jesus now advances the kingdom of God.

Let’s look first of all to THE SETTING OF THE TEMPTATIONS.

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew Original Meaning

AFTER HIS BAPTISM Jesus enters his ministry as the Spirit-anointed and Father-confirmed messianic deliverer. But his beginning as deliverer is as incongruous as was his appearance for baptism. Instead of initiating a public reformation, he goes to the desert to fast! But this will be more than a place of spiritual retreat. The desert is the place of the first showdown between competing kingdoms and their rulers, between two figures who lay claim to the hearts and souls of men and women. Rather than retreat, Jesus now advances the kingdom of God.

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. "After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” ()

Unlike John, Jesus will not first preach. He will fast.

Throughout his public ministry Jesus will often get away to lonely places by Himself to prepare for a particularly significant event (e.g., 14:13, 23).

Here His entire ministry stretches out in front of Him,

so He spends solitary time in the desert to prepare himself spiritually for the events to come.

Many times fasting is used as a means of focusing one’s attention in prayer.

Jesus was readying Himself for his public ministry through this extensive time of communion with His Father,

who had just confirmed their relationship in the baptism.

But there is more to the story than spiritual preparation.

Matthew tells us that Jesus goes into the desert for the expressed purpose of being tempted by the devil.

A battle is brewing while Jesus is fasting.

The text of scripture provides some interesting insights for us:

(1. Jesus is Spirit-led.

The Spirit came on him at his baptism (3:13–17), and now the Spirit leads him to the desert.

Increasingly Matthew shows us that the Spirit is no impersonal force.

He is the personal agent who will be intimately involved in guiding Jesus every step of the way in his earthly life.

Jesus has come to accomplish the will of the Father who sent him (26:39, 42), and it is the Spirit who guides him as he accomplishes the Father’s will.

That is, Jesus is in the desert not only to commune with the Father but also to engage the enemy.

That same Spirit will give power to Jesus in order to withstand Satan’s temptations.

(2) The devil is the real adversary.

Entering for the first time on the scene of Matthew’s account is the one who

already has been behind efforts to circumvent the arrival of Jesus Messiah.

Although Herod was the first human adversary of Jesus, the real enemy is now revealed as “the devil,”

or, as he is called later, Satan (4:10; 12:26; 16:23).

The Greek term diabolos (“accuser”) occurs here preceded by the definite article to indicate Jesus is uniquely tempted by “the devil” (cf. also 4:5, 8, 11; 13:39; 25:41).

The devil is an intelligent, powerful spirit-being that is thoroughly evil and

is directly involved in perpetrating evil in the lives of individuals as well as on a much larger scale.

As the real enemy of God (13:39), the devil leads a host of other powerful spiritual beings that assist him in trying to thwart God’s purposes.

Paul calls him “the ruler of the power of the air” ().

So the battle line traced in the sands of the Judean desert is really a battle line in the sands of all time,

because the outcome will have implications for all of humanity.

This is the first skirmish, as the ruler of the kingdom of the air undertakes to halt the advance of the kingdom of God.

The picture we see here is consistent with the picture we see of Satan’s strategy elsewhere.

The enemy will not make a frontal attack. Instead, he will try to sidetrack Jesus through a variety of temptations.

"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” ()

A “temptation” is an enticement to get a person to go contrary to God’s will, as Satan will try to do to Jesus.

A “test” tries to get a person to prove himself or herself faithful to God’s will,

Wilkins, M. J. (2004). Matthew (p. 155). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

with the good intention that the person passes the test.

Scripture is clear that God never tempts anyone to do evil

but God does use circumstances to test a person’s character or resolve

with the intended purpose of promoting good ends

Listen to God’s role in temptation: "No one undergoing a trial should say, “I am being tempted by God,” since God is not tempted by evil, and he himself doesn’t tempt anyone.” () God never tempts anyone!

God does test however: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son,” ()

Tested, but God has purposed the testing towards good ends.

So in , Satan intends to get Jesus to go contrary to the Father’s will,

The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew The Setting of the Temptations (4:1–2)

Satan intends to get Jesus to go contrary to the Father’s will, but in the middle of those circumstances, the Father uses Satan’s evil intention to a good purpose of strengthening Jesus for his messianic role. In other words, Satan does not act independently of God. Note how Satan tried to get Job to curse God and go contrary to God’s will, but God was in control of the situation, so that when Job turned to God, he was strengthened. In the case of Joseph, his brothers intended harm by selling him into slavery to Egypt, but God used those same circumstances for good (Gen. 50:20). Temptation must be seen in the context of testing, because God is in control of both the tempter and the circumstances, and he will never allow a person to be tempted beyond what he or she is able to endure (1 Cor. 10:13).

but in the middle of those circumstances,

the Father uses Satan’s evil intention to a good purpose of strengthening Jesus for his messianic role.

In other words, Satan does not act independently of God.

Note how Satan tried to get Job to curse God and go contrary to God’s will,

but God was in control of the situation,

so that when Job turned to God, he was strengthened.

In the case of Joseph, his brothers intended harm by selling him into slavery to Egypt, but God used those same circumstances for good ().

Temptation must be seen in the context of testing, because

God is in control of both the tempter and the circumstances, and

he will never allow a person to be tempted beyond what he or she is able to endure ().

A temptation in the hands of Satan becomes a test in the hands of God.

The temptation is real, but the good outcome is assured as

the Son yields to the leading and the power of the Spirit in accomplishing the Father’s will.

As Jesus is led away by the Spirit into the desert,

Satan will try to get the Son to go contrary to the Father’s will,

but that very temptation is used by the Father to establish the Son in the Father’s will.

We glean a few different things from this clash:

(1) The victorious encounter surpasses the experience of Adam.

Jesus as the Son of God will fulfill what Adam, the first “son” of God in the creation, failed to accomplish.

The first Adam failed in the best conditions, Jesus as the last Adam succeeds in the worst.

Death was the result of Adam’s sin, but Jesus’ suffering and temptation will enable Him to make atonement for His people and bring life.

Jesus will be tempted on other occasions, and He demonstrates His qualifications to bear the sin of others by resisting sin Himself ().

(2) The victorious encounter surpasses the experience of Moses and Israel.

Wilkins, M. J. (2004). Matthew (pp. 155–156). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Matthew’s prior allusions to Israel’s history should lead us to correspond Jesus’ experience of forty days of fasting in the desert

to Israel’s forty years of testing in the desert ().

Both in type and in direct fulfillment, Jesus’ early life has paralleled the history of Israel.

This point will be made all the stronger when we see that each of Jesus’ replies to the tempter

comes from Deuteronomy, Moses’ final narration to the Israelites.

But most important, harking back to Israel’s experience emphasizes Jesus’ victory.

Jesus Messiah fulfills the nation of Israel’s experience.

Although Israel had the endowment of the Spirit given to them (cf. , , , ; ; , ),

Jesus will be fully obedient to the Spirit’s leading where the nation was not.

The temptations reenact Israel’s history, but victoriously.

(3) The victorious encounter confirms Jesus’ identity and mission as the unique Son of God.

There are larger issues at stake than simply recording Jesus’ spiritual temptations.

The allusions to the fall of Adam and the wanderings of Israel in the desert cry out for God’s new beginning.

The darkness of the chaos of sin looms over humanity, and Jesus is called upon as

the unique Son of God to rectify the previous failures.

But the beginning of the end of darkness must come out of the weakness of the Incarnation,

because the obedient Son becomes the prototype of victory

over temptation for all who follow him ().

So, after forty days and nights of fasting, when he is most vulnerable, the tempter comes to him.

Satan tries to foil God’s plan for humanity’s redemption by disqualifying Jesus as a sinless Savior and obedient Son.

“WHAT DID JESUS do, and could he do, only because he was God?”

Take a couple of minutes to think deeply about that question. You may think about his walking on the water.

That certainly seems like something only God could do.

But then we remember that Peter got out of the boat and also walked on the water for a while.

He wasn’t God, yet he walked on water.

Jesus’ raised people from the dead, such as Lazarus.

But other people in Scripture also raised persons from the dead, such as when

Elijah raised the widow’s son () or

Peter raised Tabitha ().

Neither Elijah nor Peter was divine.

You may think of Jesus’ performing various other miracles, like multiplying the fishes and loaves to feed the five thousand, or

healing the crippled, or predicting future events.

But other people in the Bible also performed similar deeds, such as

Elisha’s causing the widow’s oil to multiply (),

Peter’s commanding the crippled beggar to walk (), or

Nathan’s predicting the Messiah to come through the line of David ().

You may rightly then think of Jesus’ forgiving sin as an indication of his deity ()

or his atoning work on the cross.

These certainly could be done only because He was God.

Yet in general, when we think of all that Jesus did in His earthly ministry,

only a few things were accomplished that are not paralleled by other human biblical figures.

By no means am I trying to minimize the deity of Jesus.

I became a Christian because I was absolutely convinced that Jesus was

God incarnate,

come to earth to die for the sins of His people and

to rise to attest to that fact.

I am willing to die for that truth.

Scripture is absolute in declaring that Jesus is the divine Son of God, the second person of the Trinitarian Godhead.

But many of us are what I call “functional Gnostics.”

We so emphasize Jesus’ deity that we almost negate his humanity.

The world today tends to deny the deity of Jesus and acknowledge only his humanity.

As a result, we defend Jesus’ deity vigorously and become suspicious of anyone who talks too much about his humanity.

The New Testament is not uneasy about either Jesus’ deity or his humanity.

It declares emphatically both natures (e.g., ).

Matthew readily emphasizes both Jesus’ divine conception and his human lineage.

In the baptismal scene, Matthew has clearly emphasized Jesus’ divine nature as the beloved Son of God.

But he just as clearly emphasizes that Jesus was Spirit-led into the temptation and

was a human combatant in his victory over Satan.

The Spirit-anointed messianic mission.

Jesus did what he did in his earthly ministry, not primarily because he was operating in his powers as God,

but because he was operating as the Spirit-anointed Messiah.

Jesus came to live a fully human life, just like you and me, which meant

voluntarily limiting himself to his human attributes.

He performed miracles,

healed people,

even raised people from the dead,

because he drew on the power of the Spirit.

Notice Peter’s recounting of Jesus’ activities in his sermon at Pentecost:

"“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.” ()

God performed the miracles, wonders, and signs through Jesus.

Also, Jesus lived a godly, pure life because he relied on the power of the Spirit. In a later message Peter said:

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him. "We ourselves are witnesses of everything he did in both the Judean country and in Jerusalem, and yet they killed him by hanging him on a tree.” ()

In other words, Jesus fulfilled the messianic promises as the Spirit-anointed human descendant of David.

His redemptive mission included living a fully human life that overcame all temptation in the power of the Spirit

so that

he could offer an unblemished human life on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

True, that sacrifice could only be sufficient because the humanness of Jesus’ sacrifice was

sustained by his divine nature, as the God-man endured the cross.

But while retaining full deity, he limited himself to full human experience.

Try to imagine Jesus as a baby, lying in a manger in Bethlehem.

He looks up into the sky and thinks, “What a wonderful world I have created. I remember when my heavenly Father and I discussed creating this world. How beautiful it is!”

As he lies there he thinks further, “I’m hungry and I’m wet. I’d sure like for Mother Mary to change me.

But poor Mom. She’s had a rough time of it.

That donkey ride from Nazareth was tough.

So I think that I’ll just let her sleep through the night.

I’ll wait until the morning to eat and be changed.

Or, better yet, I’ll just get up and get a bottle and change myself.”

Does that sound reasonable? Of course not!

Jesus experienced full humanity.

He thought the thoughts of a normal baby and had the same reactions as a normal baby.

He cried when he was hungry and wet. He slept when he was full and dry.

He was dependent on his human mother and father.

Although Jesus was fully God, he became fully human with all of the typical human experiences.

Therefore, while Jesus was fully God with all of the attributes of deity,

he limited their use so that he could fulfill the promises of God’s sending a very human messianic deliverer from the line of David.

He lived the same kind of life that you and I live, but he did so perfectly because

he was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father in the power of the Spirit.

The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry was marked by the Spirit’s coming on him at his baptism (3:13–17),

and it was the Spirit who led Jesus immediately to be tempted (4:1).

It is that same Spirit to whom Jesus turned in his humanity to receive power to withstand Satan’s temptations.

The supreme example of the Spirit-led life.

We are in deep theological waters here, but it is important for us to grasp this.

It is important not only so that we understand the truth of Jesus’ experience in his life and ministry,

but important practically for us as well,

because Jesus is the example of perfect humanity lived perfectly in the power of the Spirit.

That same Spirit is available to us.

While we will not attain his perfection in this life (e.g., ), we look to him for

an example of the kind of life lived in the Spirit that is available to us.

That same Spirit is now transforming us into his image.

As the apostle Paul says, "We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” ()

Jesus came to show us how to live human life the way God intended it to be lived.

In his human nature he lived a victorious life because he lived perfectly in the power of the Spirit.

Some of us may not perform extraordinary miracles, unless that is God’s will for our lives,

but we can all live victoriously through the Spirit by following Jesus’ example in all areas of life.

The supreme example of how to overcome temptations. Thus, although Jesus’ temptations are unique to his mission as the messianic inaugurator of the kingdom,

his temptations are also common to human experience and give us an example of what we can do in our own spiritual warfare.

In his deity Jesus could not be tempted (), but in his humanity he was tempted at all points like we are, yet without sin (; ).

The temptations were directed to his human nature, and he experienced the maximum level of temptation that the demonic world could throw at him.

The Garden of Gethsemane scene clearly indicates that temptation was a real, agonizing experience (see ).

His will, fully focused on accomplishing that of his heavenly Father, directed him to resist the temptation.

The apostle Paul also narrates a powerful promise that allows us to take seriously Jesus’ example:

"No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.” ()

God promises that no temptation can defeat us, for if we consistently and consciously turn to him in every temptation and rely on the Spirit’s enabling resources, we can be victorious. The temptation is real, but we don’t have to give in to it. Will we fail at times? Yes, unfortunately, until we leave this life. But the more we learn to stay focused on God’s promised resources, the more we will grow in our ability to resist the temptations that come and then stand with the help of the Spirit.

God promises that no temptation can defeat us, for if we consistently and consciously turn to him

in every temptation and rely on the Spirit’s enabling resources, we can be victorious.

The temptation is real, but we don’t have to give in to it.

Will we fail at times?

Yes, unfortunately, until we leave this life.

But the more we learn to stay focused on God’s promised resources, the more we will grow in our ability

to resist the temptations that come and then stand with the help of the Spirit.

Jesus’ will was so mighty in its determination to do good that no matter how powerful the temptation addressed to his human experience,

Her eyes popped wide open and she said out loud to the class, “If I really believed that verse, my life will never be the same. I don’t have to give in!” She went on from there to really believe it and practice it, and she has become a dynamically victorious Christian woman in the power of the Spirit.

it could not defeat him.

That is where Jesus’ example comes in. His will was so mighty in its determination to do good that no matter how powerful the temptation addressed to his human experience, it could not defeat him. As our will is fixed with determination to do the Father’s will for our lives, we can learn from Jesus’ example as he carried out the Father’s will for his life. We will not attain the same perfection that Jesus lived since we still live in the fallenness of this world, but the restoration process has begun through the redemptive work of Jesus, in whose steps we now follow ().

As our will is fixed with determination to do the Father’s will for our lives,

we can learn from Jesus’ example as he carried out the Father’s will for his life.

We will not attain the same perfection that Jesus lived since we still live in the fallenness of this world,

but the restoration process has begun through the redemptive work of Jesus, in whose steps we now follow ().