1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the
devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones
to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written:
‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth
of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him
stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “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.’ ” 7 Jesus answered him, “It
is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms
of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said,
“if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away
from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve
him only.’ ” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended
him.
- Matthew 4:1-11, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
If someone asked you what was at the center of the Bible, how would you respond? Maybe your initial thought, and it would be a correct one, is Jesus. From Genesis to Revelation, the Scriptures are about Jesus. Old Testament believers looked forward to his coming. New Testament believers anticipate the day when he will come again. For these reasons, the Bible is sometimes called a Christo-centric (Christ-centered) book.
But what if the question was literal? What if the question was: “What is the exact center of the Bible?” Finding the answer to this question might take some work. If a person started at the first verse of Genesis and the last verse of Revelation and gradually worked to the center verse by verse, the middle would be Psalm 118:8,9: “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”
We shouldn't read too much into this because the Bible is not a book of secret messages. There is no code that needs to be cracked to understand what it says. The verse divisions we use today were added centuries after the Bible was written. Still, it is interesting to note that the middle verse of the Bible is in perfect harmony with the main theme of the Bible: trust, trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord above all things.
Trust also lies at the heart of today's text. Jesus had just been baptized by John in the Jordan River. The Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove. And the Father voiced his approval from heaven: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). But hardly before his baptismal water had a chance to dry, Jesus was put to the ultimate test.
The devil understood what was going on. He knew why Jesus had come to earth. He knew that the Son of God appeared to destroy his work. Therefore, he wanted to stop God's plan of salvation in its tracks. He wanted to stop Jesus before he got started. And a single victory over Jesus would mean death and defeat for the entire world.
Satan tempted Jesus on many different occasions, but three specific temptations are recorded in the Bible to give us a glimpse of what that spiritual struggle was really like. We see the craft and cunning of the devil. We see the strength and resolve of Jesus. But what is most important and what gives us reason to rejoice is the final outcome. God allows us to see how...
If Jesus’ baptism marked the beginning of his public ministry, his first month in office was in a strange location. Instead of taking him to Jerusalem, instead of taking him to his Father’s house, the temple, the Spirit led Jesus out into the desert.
After forty days and forty nights of fasting, Jesus was hungry. He was fasting in obedience to God's will. He was obedient because he trusted in his Father to sustain him. He was hungry because he was human.
Even if you know how irritable a person can get after only a few days of dieting, it’s difficult to imagine how Jesus was feeling after almost six weeks without food. He was weak. He was vulnerable. He was weary.
While we would probably have compassion and want to help someone in this condition, Satan saw it as his opportunity to attack. He came to Jesus and said: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (3). “Jesus, you can’t deny that you have a need. You also have the power to meet that need. Why don't you use it? You don't have to go hungry, do you?”
This was not the only time Jesus was tempted like this. When he was on the cross his enemies brought a similar challenge: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One” (Luke 23:35). And they dared him to come down from the cross.
Was Jesus able to stop his own crucifixion? Yes. Was Jesus able to turn stones into bread? Sure. So why didn’t he? Because he had humbled himself to his Father’s will. Jesus trusted that God would provide for him, and he knew that any action apart from his Father’s will (whether it was big or small) would destroy that trust.
Even in his weakened state, even after forty days in the desert, Jesus was able to defend himself. His weapon was a sword, but this sword wasn’t made out of forged steel. He wielded the sword of the Spirit, the word of God: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (4). Physical needs are important, but they are not all important. Bread sustains physical life. God’s Word gives eternal life.
The devil’s attempt to make Jesus distrust God failed, but he refused to give up. With his second temptation, the devil came at Jesus from the opposite direction. He attempted to use Jesus’ strength against him by enticing him to put false trust in God.
This time the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple. There he laid down a challenge: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” (6). If we stop reading right here, this temptation might sound ridiculous. Couldn’t Satan come up with anything better? What could a stunt like that possibly prove? According the devil, it was an opportunity for Jesus to prove just how much he trusted in God.
And the devil even produced a Bible passage to back it up:
“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” (Psalm 91:11,12).
Follow Satan’s logic. “Jesus, you say that you trust in God. Here are words from the Bible, the same book you just quoted, that guarantee your safety. If you jump right now, you can prove two things. You can prove your trust and God’s protection at the same time.”
But Jesus replied: “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (7). Trust doesn’t tell God what to do. Trust never demands that God rescue us no matter what we do. Trust acknowledges that God knows what is best for us. Trust lets God be God and submits to his will.
Satan wasn’t able to make Jesus distrust God, and he failed to make Jesus place false confidence in God. His third and final temptation took a radically different approach. His goal was to lead Jesus to trust in a false god.
The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. In a way that we can’t understand or explain,
he was able to show Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor”
(8). And then he made one final offer:
“All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me” (9).
Jesus had come to earth to suffer and die. And Jesus knew that the road to Calvary was not going to be an easy one. But if Satan’s offer was real, he could take a shortcut. He could achieve the desired result, but there would be no pain and suffering, no cross to carry, no “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” and no death. And what a small price to pay!
This is one temptation where the devil lived up to his name. “Devil” means liar, and he was lying again, the same way he lied to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the same way he dangles the short term pleasure of sin before our eyes and fails to say anything about the eternal consequences. Satan may be called the prince of this world, but the world is not his to give.
Jesus saw through all the lies. Jesus was in control. And he proved it when he said: “Away from me, Satan. For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (10). The Lord is the only true God. The Lord’s way is the only right way. All other paths lead only to destruction.
In Luke’s account we are told that the devil left Jesus “until an opportune time” (4:13). He might have lost this battle, but he was not ready to concede the war. No doubt Satan attacked Jesus at every opportunity. So out of all the times Jesus was tempted, why are these three preserved for us? And what does God want us to learn from them?
The temptations of Jesus show us that he is one of us. He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. And he is able to help us fight temptation because he “has been tempted in every way, just as we are…” (Hebrews 4:15).
Satan’s attacks remind us that the nature of temptation has not changed. It doesn’t matter if it is Jesus hungering in the wilderness or someone holding the hand of loved one in the hospital or a person who has just lost a job. Satan wants us to distrust God’s power and doubt God’s love.
Whether the devil is daring Jesus to jump off a cliff or encouraging us to tell God how he ought to answer our prayers, the temptation is the same. And the prince of this world still tempts us to worship him. Maybe not as boldly, maybe not directly, but the idols of his kingdom are scattered everywhere: money, power, security. Anything we place ahead of God is a false god.
These temptations allow us to see the devil for who he really is. He is not a cute, red figure with a pitchfork and an impish grin. He is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (I Peter 5:8). He will say and do anything if it serves his purposes. And he only has one purpose: to lead people away from God to share in his eternal fate.
When we see how ruthless the devil can be, we might be intimidated. We might be discouraged. We might just want to throw in the towel. Satan is more powerful than us. Satan is smarter than us. We don’t stand a chance…until we take a closer look at the temptation of Jesus.
Three times Satan attacked. Three times Jesus counterattacked, not with miracles or earthquakes or lightning bolts. Jesus pulled out his double-edged sword, the Word of God, and drove the devil away. We possess the same powerful weapon. God promises that when we have his Word in our hearts and on our lips, one little word can fell him.
In many ways, the temptation of Jesus serves as an example for us. But we would be missing out on a great deal if this account did not also remind us of what Jesus has done for us.
I don’t know about you, but I am tempted every day. And if you are like me, there are many times when we lose the battle. We listen to the devil’s lies. We give in to temptation. We are willing slaves to Satan. And we deserve to die in the eternal fire reserved for the devil and his angels.
In spite of all of this, we can say with confidence that we are going to heaven because the battle has been won. Jesus obeyed his Father perfectly. Jesus trusted in his Father perfectly. On Mount Calvary, Jesus triumphed over the devil and all of his temptations…for us…for our sins…and for the sins of the whole world.
The temptation of Jesus is much more than a good story. It is more than a tale about the struggle between good and evil in the world. Jesus’ battle is our battle. He gives us the motivation and the means to fight the good fight of faith. And even when we fall short, we can still take heart because Jesus’ victory is our victory. Trust has triumphed over temptation. Amen.