2 Corinthians 6.1-10 & Matthew 4.1-11
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
At His baptism Jesus is revealed as the Messiah. The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:16-17). Having been publicly revealed to be the Messiah—the Christ—Jesus doesn’t go to Jerusalem. He doesn’t begin to teach God’s word and correct the doctrinal perversions of the scribes and Pharisees. The Holy Spirit leads Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He humbles His flesh by fasting forty days and forty nights, then He humbles Himself by allowing Himself to be tempted by the devil.
Why did eternal Son of God—the Word made flesh—allow Himself to be tempted? The author of Hebrews explains in his second chapter, “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 2:17-18). In the womb of the Virgin Mary, God the Son assumed our human flesh and was made like us in all things so that He might be our High Priest, our Mediator with God. All things includes temptation. The same author writes in chapter 4[:15-16], “For 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. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Jesus was tempted for our comfort. He knows our temptations intimately and can sympathize with us in temptation. He was tempted for our aid, so that He might give His victory over temptation to us by faith and live His victory over temptation in us by faith. With this in mind, let’s look at the three temptations the devil attacks Christ with.
The first seems simple enough. Jesus is hungry after fasting forty days and forty nights. The tempter comes to Jesus and says, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” In this temptation we see so many of our temptations. The devil—or our own sinful flesh—points out that we’re lacking something, and then tempts us to get what we lack by our own power and devices. It’s the temptation to take daily bread into our own hands. If God hasn’t provided something for us that we want, even something we need, the devil, the world, and our flesh tell us to get it ourselves. The Spirit led Him into the wilderness where there wasn’t any food. If it were God the Father’s will that Jesus have food and drink, He wouldn’t have led Him into the wilderness or He would have miraculously provided it like He provided bread for Israel in the wilderness. The devil’s temptation is simply, “God isn’t giving you daily bread so get it yourself. Turn these stones into bread.”
And Jesus is truly tempted. It would be a play act if He weren’t. But He doesn’t give in. He fends off the devil’s temptation, not with divine might, nor with miracle, but with Scripture. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Jesus shows the devil’s suggestion for what it is: an invitation to doubt God’s care. Jesus cites part of Deuteronomy 8:3, and if we look at rest of the verse—and the one that comes before it—we see how Jesus understands His time in the wilderness. The Lord had said: “You shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Dt 8:2-3). Jesus’ lack of bread in the wilderness is a test from His heavenly Father, an opportunity for Jesus to exercise His faith in His Father’s provision. Jesus is in effect telling Satan, “My Father will provide bread for Me when it is good for Me and for those I have come to serve.” Jesus trusted that His Father would provide for His life, because it isn’t bread alone that upholds man’s life, but God’s Word which gives life.
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.’” This temptation runs into a different direction. It’s as if the devil were saying, “Fine, you trust in Your heavenly Father. I get that. Prove it, or rather, make Him prove His word, after all, ‘It is written.’” This temptation, too, is a temptation to doubt the Father’s goodness and wisdom. But to do this would be to misuse God’s promise. Jesus responds, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’” Jesus cites Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not tempt the LORD your God as you tempted Him in Massah.” There, Israel had demanded water and complained that God had brought them out of Egypt just to kill them with thirst. Israel demanded God fulfill His promises in their time and in their way. So, here at the pinnacle of the temple, Jesus will not tempt His Father in heaven by demanding He fulfill His word in a certain way. He will not demand his Father prove His goodness. Like the first temptation, the second is a temptation to doubt and disbelief God’s word, goodness, and wisdom. The difference is that the second temptation hides itself under a false and hypocritical use of the Word.
Finally, 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.” The third temptation is to forsake the ways of God for the ways of the devil. It’s idolatry, to be sure, but idolatry that would achieve glory, pomp, and power for Jesus. The devil knows God had promised the Messiah in Psalm 2:8, “Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.” Once again, the devil tempts Christ to circumvent God’s Word—as well the humiliation and suffering of the cross—to rule over the nations. The devil will give Jesus the world, but Jesus must conform to the world’s ways, which are the devil’s ways. We are all to familiar with this temptation. You can get what you want if you go along with the crowd, if you compromise your beliefs, if you sell your soul to the devil. But Jesus cuts through this temptation, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Jesus will not obtain His inheritance in any other way than the way marked out for Him by the Father: humility, suffering, and cross. All three of the devil’s temptations are one and the same: forsake God word and ways and walk in my words and ways instead, and I will give you all God promises but faster, better, and without suffering.
Jesus was tempted—and victorious—for our comfort and aid when we are tempted. He was tempted in in all points as we are tempted. Jesus’ temptations are our temptations, for every temptation we face is temptation to forsake the path of faith in God’s promises and get for ourselves what God has promised to give. Since Jesus knows by experience our temptations so that we may come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16]. He was victorious over temptation in His human flesh so that He might give His victory over temptation to us, and it is ours by faith. All who believe in Christ Jesus receive the forgiveness of their sins and Christ’s perfect righteousness in God’s sight, including His victory over the devil. He was also victorious over temptation in His human flesh so that He might live His victory over temptation in all who believe in Him. Christ promises mercy and grace, strength and fortitude in the midst of every temptation, so that we might stand against it and overcome. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us not only through the forgiveness of sins acquired by Christ, but also through the abolition, the purging, and the mortification of sins. By the Holy Spirt, we resist temptations as Christ resisted them, by relying upon the words of God, Holy Scripture, that which is written. Jesus’ victory over the devil is ours by faith. Since the Head was victorious, the body enjoys that blessing, an all who believe in Him are the body of Christ. He wants to live out that victory in us each day, so that we increase in faith which trusts God’s Words, lives according to it, and rebuffs the devil whenever and however he approaches in the same way Lord Jesus did: Confident trust in God’s Word, so that we can say, “It is written.” Amen.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
