1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Matthew 4:1-11 (Cf. Luke 4:1-13)
In the many times I’ve read and preached on Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, I’ve often struggled to understand the temptations. “What’s the big deal?” I’ve wondered.
Think of Jesus fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and afterward being hungry. The devil comes to Jesus and says, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
What would be wrong with that? After all, Jesus had been fasting and was sustained by God without food or water for 40 days, much like Moses was when on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 34:28), and He was hungry. What would have been so wrong if He had commanded some stones to become bread and nourished himself? Who would have even known?
It may seem like a little thing — and the devil loves it when we think of sin as a minor and insignificant infraction, as we learned from the temptation in the Garden.
The serpent said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). And when Eve responded saying, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’ … the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Gen. 3:2-5). And we know what happened when Eve and then Adam disobeyed the LORD in this one little thing!
Jesus had, following His baptism, been led by the Spirit into the wilderness to endure temptation for us. He was fulfilling the righteous demands of God’s Law in our stead. And remember that the first part of obeying any of God’s commandments is to fear, love and trust in God above all things, as Luther explains in His explanation of the First Commandment (cf. Deut. 6:5,13; 10:12; Prov. 3:5). Would it have been trusting in His heavenly Father for Jesus to use His divine power to meet an earthly need rather than to trust that God, who led Him out into the wilderness to be tempted, would provide for Him?
Note Jesus’ answer in Matt. 4:4, a reference to Deut. 8:3: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Rather than stepping out of His state of humiliation, Jesus humbly trusted in His heavenly Father to provide. The children of Israel failed, again and again, to trust God to provide for their needs during their 40 years in the wilderness, but Jesus placed His confidence and faith in the truthfulness of God’s Word.
The devil then attacked Jesus based on His trust in the Word of God.
“Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over you,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”’”
Yes, the devil knows Scripture (cf. Ps. 91:11-12), probably better than you or me. And we shouldn’t be surprised that he has raised up all sorts of Bible-thumping preachers who quote the Scriptures but advance falsehood and lies in God’s name, saying things which are contrary to the true message of the Bible. As Jeremiah writes, they “use their tongues and say, ‘He says’” (Jer. 28:31).
And what would have been wrong with Jesus proving His deity by casting Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple and riding on the wings of angels to the earth? His answer, quoting from Deut. 6:16, reveals it: “Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”’”
Are we to put God to the test, to intentionally place ourselves in harm’s way in an attempt to test God’s faithfulness to His Word? If so, perhaps we should drink poison and practice venomous snake handling in our services next week (cf. Mark 16:17-18) — the devil would love to have us do so!
In the third temptation, “the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
Jesus came into this world to establish an everlasting kingdom, and the devil here offers to Jesus an easy way to get it done — certainly much easier than going to the cross and bearing Himself, in His body, the just punishment for our sins and the sins of the entire world.
And think of the many ways the devil still uses this same temptation today. If we bowed to Satan and his lies and compromised the truth just a little, we could avoid all the pain and heartache which goes with holding fast to Christ and His Word. If we just kept quiet about such things as abortion, sex outside of marriage, pornography, homosexual lifestyles, drunkenness, dishonest business practices, etc., etc., life would be so much easier. The world and compromising churches would accept us.
And Satan offers us the kingdoms of this world — more profits, a wealthier lifestyle, acceptance by the world, a larger church, etc. All we have to do is bow down to Satan in one area of our life or in one article of Biblical doctrine!
How did Jesus respond? Based on Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20, “Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”’”
To worship and serve the LORD God is to continue in His Word, to repent of our sins and look in faith to Christ and His cross for pardon and forgiveness; it is to continue in all things which Christ has commanded us (John 6:29; 17:3; Luke 24:46-47; Matt. 28:18-20; 2 Tim. 3:14-17).
What is so important about Jesus’ temptation? Why do we consider it each year?
Had Jesus failed this test and yielded to Satan in even the smallest point, our hope of salvation would be lost. If Jesus had failed, He would not have fulfilled all righteousness for us and we could not be counted righteous through faith in Him.
But Jesus did not fail. “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). We were redeemed … “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18, 19). He “committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22).
And, it is for that reason that “Jesus Christ the righteous … is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1,2). He paid the price for the sins of all. In Him — through faith in His name — “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).
In Adam’s fall, we fell, and we continue to fall, giving in to the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. Jesus, God the Son in human flesh, was tempted like we are, but He did not yield and He did not fall. Using Scriptures from the Book of Deuteronomy, He resisted the temptations of the devil and rebuked Him, and He held fast to the Word of His Father in heaven.
And, following Jesus’ temptation, “the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” Jesus submitted to God, and resisted the devil, and the devil fled from Him. He endured the temptation, and God met His needs through the care and service of His holy angels.
So also, the Bible tells us: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
The Bible warns us in 1 Pet. 5:8-9: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.” He knows our weaknesses and he seeks to separate us from Christ, our Savior, by urging us to take matters into our own hands, by putting God to the test, or by compromising and bowing to him just a little.
We are weak but our Savior is strong. He overcame the devil for us. He resisted the temptations, held fast to God’s Word and then went to the cross and suffered for our sins that we might look to Him in faith and be pardoned and forgiven. By His holy life and innocent suffering and death, He won for us forgiveness and life everlasting. He overcame the devil for us and won for us the victory.
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:14-18).
How thankful we can be that Jesus did not give in to the temptations of the devil, during this time in the wilderness or ever! How thankful we can be that, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42)! How thankful we can be that He obeyed His Father and went to the cross as a holy Sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world and then rose again! In Him, we have forgiveness (Eph. 1:7).
In the words of Jude 24, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.”
“And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20).
[Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]