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14.2.16 Luke 4:1-13 Lent 1Luke 4. 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 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. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.'" 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendour, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" 9 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. 10 For it is written: " `He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Today is Valentine's Day when people show their love, perhaps to someone who knows nothing of this love. God loves everyone and has demonstrated this love through Jesus
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all record the temptation of Jesus towards the start of their gospels. Why? They want to establish who Jesus is.
What does this tell us about Jesus?
It confirms he is God's son and His mission is to conquer the devil. Before today's reading, in 3.22, Luke records Jesus' baptism and a voice from heaven declaring that He is God's Son and God the Father was pleased with Him. The devil keeps goading Jesus, “If you are the son of God...”, trying to get Jesus to act independently of God the Father.
How does this help us
1) Jesus can help us and sympathise with us because He has been tempted.
Hebrews 2.17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
One commentator wrote, “He wanted to feel everything we feel so that He could be a merciful and understanding, as well as a faithful, high priest. He came not only to save us but to sympathize with us.” MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Hebrews.
If Jesus had given into temptation He could not have died for our sins. His response contrasts with Adam, who gave in in an idyllic situation. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul calls Jesus the last or second Adam, Jesus' obedience also contrasts with the Israelites who sinned when they were in the desert.
Jesus' temptations and experience of life mean that He can empathise with us. Hebrews 4.14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The temptations didn't end in the desert. Even on the cross Jesus was tempted to give up God's plan for the salvation of the world. Matthew 27:39f ‘Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" ‘
If you are the Son of God is used by Satan, again, to tempt Jesus to act independently of God the Father.
2) We can defeat temptation by imitating Jesus.
a) Firstly, being full of the Spirit. Jesus was “full of the Spirit” after the anointing at His baptism. We need to come to God again and again to be filled with the Spirit if we are to live effectively for God. We just have to be open and ask.
Jesus was full of the Spirit but He wasn't full of food! It is a reminder that you cannot blame someone's sin on their circumstances. Just because you are hungry doesn't mean it is right to turn stone into bread… even if you could.
b) Secondly, know God and His ways by knowing the Scriptures. In the first temptation, Satan wanted Jesus to use His divine powers to meet His own needs outside of the will of God. It was a question of putting immediate needs ahead of eternal purposes. How many people have sinned because they have not been patient with God? Jesus used Scripture to show that there is something more important than satisfying our immediate, perceived needs or wants.
In the next temptation, Satan asked for the worship that belongs only to God, offering Jesus all the world's kingdoms in return. Of course, the devil is a liar and they were not his to give.
In the next temptation, Satan dared Jesus to test the Father's Word by jumping off the temple; and he backed up his dare with a distorted quotation from Psalm 119.11-12. Jesus revealed this deception by a right use of scripture.
The more we know and study the Scriptures in the power of the Spirit, the more we will be able to resist temptation and live for God.
3) Thirdly, like Jesus, we should be aware of his tactics. 'devil' is a translation of the Greek word 'diabolos', meaning a liar, an enemy or false accuser. The gospel shows us what the devil is like. He lied to Jesus, suggesting that he could give the authority and splendour of the world. He lied about scripture, suggesting that God would save him if he threw himself off a building. Jesus talked about the devil in John 8.44, He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The devil seek to divide, he seeks to undermine our relationship with God, and he seeks to stop people trusting in God. He kept suggesting to Jesus that he was not the son of God. He encouraged Jesus not to trust in God the Father but to act independently, which is the very definition of sin.
4) Like Jesus, we should show common sense. It is ridiculous to think that God will spare us if we are daft enough to voluntarily throw ourselves off a tall building. Other common sense things we should do may be less obvious. For example, someone who is an alcoholic might be best staying away from off licences or pubs. Someone with a gambling problem may need to avoid betting shops, or have a filter on their computer to avoid online gambling sites.
During this period of Lent, let us follow Jesus example as we live for God and prepare for Easter.
We can be encouraged that Jesus did not give in to temptation. At the start of his earthly ministry he shows that He has the power to overcome the devil. He ultimately showed that through his death and resurrection. He has won the ultimate victory over evil, sin and death. He gives His followers freedom from evil, sin and death by giving the power of the Spirit, by the knowledge of God through the Bible, by giving the tools we need to counter the enemy. We are still in a spiritual battle, but were are in the “mopping up” phase. Jesus has defeated the enemy and we are called to keep living in the knowledge of this until Jesus returns and his victory is seen everywhere and by everyone.
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Straight after a football team has scored a goal, you will see the manager looking at his players and pointing to his own head. He is telling them to use their heads and not get carried away because, if they do, they will be vulnerable to conceding a goal.
Jesus had just been through the wonderful experience of his baptism, anointing with the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God confirming their relationship and that He was pleased with Jesus.
No sooner had Jesus experienced the first great testimony to His ministry than He faced the first great test of His ministry. "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert" After thirty years of waiting in obscurity He now was fully commissioned to begin His task. Then the devil tried to turn Him away.
Many people, including some professing Christians, do not believe in a personal devil. But the devil has never made himself more personally known than he did to Jesus in the desert. The Lord's own account shows unmistakably that the opponent He faced was personal in every sense.
The devil met Adam in the paradise of Eden, where everything good was provided and nothing harmful existed. Adam lost his battle with the devil while in the perfect situation. The Second Adam met the devil in the desolate, forbidding desert, where he was without food for forty days v.2. Yet what the first Adam lost in an ideal environment the Second Adam won back in a terribly imperfect environment. What better proof can there be that spiritual and moral failure are not caused by circumstances but by the character and response of the one who is tempted?
Yet God often uses the devil's temptations as His own means of bringing out good. The devil intended to lead the Son into sin and disobedience, the Father turned this around to demonstrate the Son's holiness and worthiness. That is God's plan for all of His children. Christians cannot be tempted in a way that God cannot use for their good and His glory. James 1.2-4 tells us to " Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything ".
Please note God never tests in the sense of enticing to evil. James 1.13f "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. "
God never has a part in that sort of temptation, but He can and will turn even the worst sort of testing into the right sort, when it is surrendered to His will and power. It is God's great desire to turn into victory what the devil intends for failure, to strengthen us at the very point where the enemy wants to find us weak. To build up our spiritual muscles to encourage us in our faith when we see that we were able to rely on God and He was faithful.
In the Ash Wednesday sermon we were looking at Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. He told his disciples to pray and fast secretly. In the wilderness we can assume that Jesus prayed fervently. We know that he fasted and, in an enormous understatement, we are told he was hungry.
The three temptations listed, and there were many more, were to dethrone God.
1) In being tempted to turn stones into bread Jesus was being asked to relegate His trust in God for physical provision, by relying upon himself. This is the essence of sin. To put ourselves before God. The centre of sin is the letter I. We sin when we trust in ourselves and we see ourselves as the ultimate reference point in our lives. Thinking that life is about what I want. Yet, Jesus said that we are to love God with our whole being all of the time and love others as ourself.
2) In being tempted to worship the devil, Jesus was being asked to relegate God in worship, to value and adore the devil instead of God in order to gain something. Ironically the kingdoms of the world are not the devil's to give. The devil is a liar. One of his lies is to tempt people into idolatry. To invest in something that is created rather than in the creator. We see people's lives and relationship's ruined by the pursuit of pounds, possessions, power, popularity, pleasure.
3) In throwing himself of a tall building the devil was tempting Jesus to relegate God's gracious love and power to a literal safety net by being reckless. We should never test God in this way. Whilst God can and does sometimes rescue people from situation caused by their own foolishness, at the same time we are responsible for our own actions which do have consequences. God has been tested wrongly in other ways. In the desert, where the Israelites were tested for 40 years after their deliverance, they tested God by moaning about Him, His provision for them, and those he had given to lead them.
Incidentally, see how the devil notices that Jesus has been quoting scripture to expose the folly of his temptations, so he misquotes scripture to entice Jesus to sin. We shouldn't blindly accept what anyone is saying just because they say it is Biblical. That is, apart from me, of course! We need to test what is being put forward by thinking if it is consistent with other scriptures, does it agree with what we know about God, and does it make sense. God has given us brains, after all!
During Lent this year we are encouraging church members to think, pray, and meditate on the Scriptures to discern what God is calling us to be and do through our Mission Action Plan. This has to involve us in looking to God's provision, including looking for His guidance. Not being tempted away to give honour to anything that is not of God, not to test him, perhaps by not being committed to Him and His church.
Jesus defeated the temptations of the devil through prayer and knowing the scriptures. This was not the end of the temptations that Jesus had to endure. The devil continued his testing throughout Jesus' ministry.
Jesus establishes a pattern of obedience at the start of his public ministry that he was to continue to the cross. Even on the cross he was tested to misuse his power for his own comfort. Matthew 27:39f ‘Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" ‘
Already we see a picture of Jesus. The one who will follow God’s way. A way that will involve him in rejection, suffering and self-sacrifice.
To conclude ;
His obedience led to our salvation. If Jesus had not resisted the devil's temptations throughout all of his life he would not have been able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world on the cross.
The fact that Jesus went through temptation means that he can sympathise with us and help us when we are tempted. Hebrew 4: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The way that Jesus met temptation with prayer and knowing the Scriptures shows how we should fight temptation.
The way that God met Jesus’ needs shows that we can trust God. 1 Cor. 10:13 : ‘No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. ‘
Let us, therefore, thank God for Jesus and his obedience that led to our salvation. Let us thank God that Jesus can sympathise with our temptations, and that God will help us when we are tempted so that we need not be defeated by it. Indeed, it could lead to us growing in our trust in him who alone is to be trusted and served.
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Jesus had just been baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit. This was the start of Jesus’ public ministry and the confirmation that he is God’s Son and the Messiah. We now come to the temptation of Jesus.
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.
Why did God the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil ?
There are two factors to be born in mind here.
The people of Israel were supposed to be holy and to demonstrate the love of God to the world. They failed. One of the places that they failed was in the desert after they had been led out of Egypt by Moses. They were tested there for forty years and only two Israelites passed that test and entered the Promised Land.
So Jesus was led into the desert because it was a place of testing, and to show how it should be done in comparison to the Israelites. Jesus was the new, perfect Israel who did not give in to temptation but totally relied on God.
Secondly, God does not send temptation or testing times but he does use them to build up our trust in him, and/or to see where our allegiance truly is. Job is an Old Testament example of this. Here the hostility of the devil to Jesus’ ministry is used by God to show not only who Jesus is, but also the kind of ministry that he had come to fulfil.
We should also be aware that temptation is not itself a sin. Giving in is. So we shouldn't be discouraged when we face temptation but be determined to continue resisting it. The reformer Martin Luther once said, ' I can't stop the birds flying over my head, but I can stop them from nesting in my hair.'
He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The people of Israel were in the desert for 40 years. Jesus was there for 40 days. We are now approaching Lent, a forty day period of reflection and self-denial in preparation for Easter. Jesus gave up food for 40 days before we have this climax of the testing by the devil recorded in verses 3 to 12. Jesus would have been tested by the devil for all of the 40 days, it’s just that we only have the record of the last 3 tests that he put to Jesus. Jesus would have been physically very weak after 40 days without food, and was probably spiritually battered after the devils attacks.
When we think of this we realize that the deprivations that we may take up for Lent, such as giving up chocolate or alcohol, are small in comparison. Jesus' temptations were greater than ours. We give in too easily. Once you have given in once it is easier to give in on subsequent occasions.
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
The devil precedes each of his temptations with the words ‘If you are the Son of God...’ He is not really questioning whether Jesus is really God’s Son. He is actually trying to goad Jesus to act independently of God the Father.
Here he goads Jesus to satisfy his own immediate, physical needs with a miracle rather than trusting in God’s provision. Jesus quotes part of Deuteronomy 8:3 to illustrate this. 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.'"
Jesus quotes from the Old Testament to show that God will provide everything that his people need.
The context of the verse is Deuteronomy 8: 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
All but two of the Israelites failed to trust God in the wilderness. Trusting God has to be the priority. This is why it is so important for us to know our Bible, because it is through knowing the Bible that we know God’s ways and we can resist the attacks of the devil.
Here, concern for Jesus’ own material comfort could jeopardize his unquestioning obedience to God’s plan. Jesus had both the power and the right to satisfy his own needs, yet this is inconsistent with his mission. Jesus life and mission involved him giving up the glory of heaven and living a life that involved humiliation and self-sacrifice. Rather than looking to his own personal needs and rights Jesus was more concerned with loving God and loving other people. This was all part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
The people of Israel sinned by grumbling against God when they were hungry in the desert. Jesus patiently waited for God to provide for his own needs.
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendour, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
The devil dominates the world, although it is not rightfully his. Jesus contests that domination. The devil offers to Jesus what appears to be an easy option, yet the consequences would be disastrous. Disastrous for Jesus’ relationship with God the Father. Disastrous for the future of the world which Jesus had come to save. For if Jesus had accepted the offer of Satan, the word used here by Jesus for the first time means ‘enemy’, this would have been a sin. Therefore. Jesus would have been unable to offer himself as a sinless substitute for us on the cross.
In contrast to Jesus the Israelites consistently followed other foreign gods. This brought judgement and shame on them.
As Christian today we need to beware that we do not look to other gods to provide for our physical needs and safety at the expense of our worship and service of the one and only God.
We need to remind ourselves that through his selfless life, death, and resurrection Jesus has shown that he is the true King. One day he will return to claim everything and to banish Satan for ever.
9 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. 10 For it is written: " `He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
The first test was about the provision of physical need. The second is about worshipping. This is about the provision of physical safety.
Seeing that Jesus used Scripture to answer the other tests the devil quotes, or rather misquotes Scripture. This shows that we should not automatically believe someone who quotes the Bible but test what they say. Test it by comparing it with other Scriptures. Test it by using our common sense.
Whilst the Bible does say that God will provide for us and protect us, it does not mean that we force God’s hand by creating an artificial crisis, such as throwing ourselves off a tall building or by not planning, as Ray mentioned 2 weeks ago.
Or, to use our church situation... We can pray for God to provide us with enough money to meet our needs, and to provide people to serve him on the P.C.C., as Churchwarden etc. But if we are not prepared to give our own time, effort and money why should we test God in this way?
During Lent we are considering our Mission Action Plan. This will involve us filling in some forms and praying for the Lord to direct us. But we also have to be prepared to be involved, it can't fall on the regular few.
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
This was not the end of the temptations that Jesus had to endure. The devil continued his testing throughout Jesus' ministry.
Jesus establishes a pattern of obedience at the start of his public ministry that he was to continue to the cross. Even on the cross he was tested to misuse his power for his own comfort. Matthew 27:39f ‘Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" ‘
Already we see a picture of Jesus. The one who will follow God’s way. A way that will involve him in rejection suffering and self-sacrifice.
To conclude ;
His obedience led to our salvation. If Jesus had not resisted the devil's temptations throughout all of his life he would not have been able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world on the cross.
The fact that Jesus went through temptation means that he can sympathise with us and help us when we are tempted. Hebrew 4: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The way that Jesus met temptation with Scripture shows how we should fight temptation.
The way that God met Jesus’ needs shows that we can trust God. 1 Cor. 10:13 : ‘No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. ‘
Let us, therefore, thank God for Jesus and his obedience that led to our salvation. Let us thank God that Jesus can sympathise with our temptations, and that God will help us when we are tempted so that we need not be defeated by it. Indeed, it could lead to us growing in our trust in him who alone is to be trusted and served.
PRAY
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Lent 1 Year C : Luke 4:1-13
4 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 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. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.'" 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" 9 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. 10 For it is written: " `He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
From the sermonblog...
Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil, confirming his calling as Messiah, and his identification with human beings that was also shown at his baptism 3:21ff. He trusted in God's provision for him outlined in the Scriptures that he knew so well. He rejected the desire for apparently painless gain offered by the devil which in reality costs. Obviously this has implications for our society today where The Lottery and The X Factor are seen as easy routes to success. Had Jesus succumbed he could not have earned our salvation by offering himself as a sinless sacrifice on the cross.
The fact he was tempted shows that it is not wrong to be tempted from outside. The way he rejected temptation with scripture, even the misuse of scripture by the devil in verses 9-12, is a pattern for how we can defeat temptation
"We gain the strength of the temptation we resist." Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882, American Poet, Essayist
"Temptation provokes me to look upward to God." John Bunyan.
"The whole effort—the object of—temptation is to induce us to substitute something else for God. To obscure God." R.H.Stewart
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"All Age" Talk
Do you know what these signs mean?
No waiting.
This sign sums up the age in which we live. People don't like waiting for things. So people try to get rich quick by the National Lottery. People want things before they can pay for them so they buy them on credit. People want to be famous quickly so they audition for the "X Factor" or "American Idol".
Jesus had been waiting for thirty years to be baptised and begin his public ministry. He now wait for food. For forty days. What is the longest you have ever been without food?
Jesus had to wait for all this time. He would have been physically weak. Towards the end of this time he continued o be tempted by the devil. He wanted him to.
Give Way.
The devil tried to tempt Jesus by getting him to trust in his own power but not in God. He tempted him with power in exchange for false worship. And he tempted him to test God.
These temptations of trusting in ourselves and not God, seeking power, worshipping false "gods", and testing God are all temptations that we can face today.
Jesus rejected them because he knew there was only
One Way ( sign ).
Jesus knew the right way because he knew the Bible. He answered each temptation with the words "It is written..."
This shows us there is nothing wrong in being tempted. When we are tempted God will help us. He will help us by the Bible. He will help us by His Spirit who lives in every believer. He will help us by providing a way out.
1 Cor. 10 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
We should follow the example of Jesus and resist temptation.
This incident was a
Crossroads ( sign )
It was an important point in Jesus' route to the cross.
You remember we looked at the "No waiting" sign earlier. Jesus would wait another three years, teaching, healing, exorcising, raising the dead, walking on water, stilling the storm, turning water into wine.
Because he obeyed God and did not give in to temptation Jesus was able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins on the cross. We know this because the disciples had to wait for three days after his crucifixion before they met the risen Jesus.
Jesus obedience led to our salvation.
He can sympathise with us when we are tempted. He shows us how to resist. The fact that God met Jesus' needs shows that we, too, can trust in God.
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Jesus had just been baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit. This was the start of Jesus' public ministry and the confirmation that he is God's Son and the Messiah. We now come to the temptation of Jesus.
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.
Why did God the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil ?
There are two factors to be born in mind here.
The people of Israel were supposed to be holy and to demonstrate the love of God to the world. They failed. One of the places that they failed was in the desert after they had been led out of Egypt by Moses. They were tested there for forty years and only two Israelites passed that test and entered the Promised Land.
So Jesus was led into the desert because it was a place of testing, and to show how it should be done in comparison to the Israelites.
Secondly, God does not send temptation or testing times but he does use them to build up our trust in him, and/or to see where our allegiance truly is. Job is an Old Testament example of this. Here the hostility of the devil to Jesus' ministry is used by God to show not only who Jesus is, but also the kind of ministry that he had come to fulfil.
We should also be aware that temptation is not itself a sin. Giving in is. So we shouldn't be discouraged when we face temptation but be determined to continue resisting it. The reformer Martin Luther once said, ' I can't stop the birds flying over my head, but I can stop them from nesting in my hair.'
He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The people of Israel were in the desert for 40 years. Jesus was there for 40 days. We are now into Lent, a forty day period of reflection and self-denial in preparation for Easter. Jesus gave up food for 40 days before we have this climax of the testing by the devil recorded in verses 3 to 12. Jesus would have been tested by the devil for all of the 40 days, it's just that we only have the record of the last 3 tests that he put to Jesus. Jesus would have been physically very weak after 40 days without food, and was probably spiritually battered after the devils attacks.
When we think of this we realize that the deprivations that we may take up for Lent, such as giving up chocolate or alcohol, are small in comparison. Jesus temptations were greater than ours. We give in too easily. Once you have given in once it is easier to give in on subsequent occasions.
Imagine your football team is near the bottom of their league. They face relegation for the second year running. They could for the first time in their history decide to bribe a referee or the opposing goalkeeper. It is a momentous step, but they win as a result of their bribe and are not detected. The next time it is easier, and more so the next time until they are out of the relegation zone...
3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
The devil precedes each of his temptations with the words 'If you are the Son of God...' He is not really questioning whether Jesus is really God's Son. He is actually trying to goad Jesus to act independently of God the Father.
Here he goads Jesus to satisfy his own immediate, physical needs with a miracle rather than trusting in God's provision. Jesus quotes part of Deuteronomy 8:3 to illustrate this. 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.'"
Jesus quotes from the Old Testament to show that God will provide everything that his people need.
The context of the verse is Deuteronomy 8: 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
We saw earlier how all but two of the Israelites failed to trust God in the wilderness. Trusting God has to be the priority. This is why it is so important for us to know our Bible, because it is through knowing the Bible that we know God's ways and we can resist the attacks of the devil.
Here, concern for Jesus' own material comfort could jeopardize his unquestioning obedience to God's plan. Jesus had both the power and the right to satisfy his own needs, yet this is inconsistent with his mission. Jesus life and mission involved him giving up the glory of heaven and living a life that involved humiliation and self-sacrifice. Rather than looking to his own personal needs and rights Jesus was more concerned with loving God and loving other people. This was all part of God's plan for the salvation of the world.
The people of Israel sinned by grumbling against God when they were hungry in the desert. Jesus patiently waited for God to provide for his own needs.
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
The devil dominates the world, although it is not rightfully his. Jesus contests that domination. The devil offers to Jesus what appears to be an easy option, yet the consequences would be disastrous. Disastrous for Jesus' relationship with God the Father. Disastrous for the salvation of the world whom Jesus had come to save. For if Jesus had accepted the offer of Satan, the word used here by Jesus for the first time means 'enemy', this would have been a sin. Therefore. Jesus would have been unable to offer himself as a sinless substitute for us on the cross.
In contrast to Jesus the Israelites consistently followed other foreign gods. This brought judgment and shame on them.
As Christian today we need to beware that we do not look to other gods to provide for our physical needs and safety at the expense of our worship and service of the one and only God.
We need to remind ourselves that through his selfless life, death, and resurrection Jesus has shown that he is the true King. One day he will return to claim everything and to banish Satan for ever.
9 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. 10 For it is written: " `He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: `Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
The first test was about the provision of physical need. The second is about worshipping. This is about the provision of physical safety.
Seeing that Jesus used Scripture to answer the other tests the devil quotes, or rather misquotes Scripture. This shows that we should not automatically believe someone who quotes the Bible but test what they say. Test it by comparing it with other Scriptures. Test it by using our common sense.
Whilst the Bible does say that God will provide for us and protect us, it does not mean that we force God's hand by creating an artificial crisis, such as throwing ourselves off a tall building.
Illustrate man marooned on a sand island by the incoming tide. He refused the offer of help from a passing boat and helicopter by saying that he knew God would save him. He drowned. Went to heaven asked God why he didn't save him. God said 'I sent you a boat and a helicopter, what more did you want ? '
Or, to use our church situation... We can pray for God to provide us with enough money to meet our needs, and to provide people to serve him on the P.C.C., Deanery Synod, as Churchwardens etc. But if we are not prepared to give our own time, effort and money why should we test God in this way ?
In Exodus 17 the Israelites put God to the test by demanding water rather than relying on his provision in His time.
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
This was not the end of the temptations that Jesus had to endure. The devil continued his testing throughout Jesus' ministry. One example of this is in Mark 8:31 "He ( Jesus ) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Peter had just confessed that Jesus was the Christ ( verse 29 ). Jesus might have been euphoric that the penny had started to drop, but instead he tells them what kind of Messiah he was going to be. Peter is transformed in seconds from saying words that are from God ( 'You are the Christ' ), to words that are from Satan, intended to deflect Jesus from his mission.
Jesus establishes a pattern of obedience at the start of his public ministry that he was to continue to the cross. Even on the cross he was tested to misuse his power for his own comfort. Matthew 27:39f 'Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!" '
Already we see a picture of Jesus. The one who will follow God's way. A way that will involve him in rejection suffering and self-sacrifice.
To conclude ;
His obedience led to our salvation. If Jesus had not resisted the devil's temptations throughout all of his life he would not have been able to offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world on the cross.
The fact that Jesus went through temptation means that he can sympathise with us and help us when we are tempted. Hebrew 4: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The way that Jesus met temptation with Scripture shows how we should fight temptation.
The way that God met Jesus' needs shows that we can trust God. 1 Cor. 10:13 : 'No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.'
Let us, therefore, thank God for Jesus and his obedience that led to our salvation. Let us thank God that Jesus can sympathise with our temptations, and that God will help us when we are tempted so that we need not be defeated by it. Indeed, it could lead to us growing in our trust in him who alone is to be trusted and served.