Sometimes we experience our most severe times of hardship and testing immediately after a spiritual victory. At Jesus’ baptism God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power. God also declared, “…You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22 NIV). But then, Jesus faced a severe test.
In chapter 4 of his inspired Gospel, verses 1 through 13, Luke records, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want. If you therefore will worship before me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you;’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.”
Why would God allow His Son, whom He loved and with whom He was well pleased to go through such a time of testing and temptation? One reason is that in order to become the Savior of mankind, Jesus had to experience the same kind of temptations that we do. The writer of Hebrews explains, “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers 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. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17-18 NIV)
But there is another reason why God permitted Jesus to suffer temptation. The temptations Jesus endured parallel the experiences of the Israelites. The forty days of temptation Jesus experienced correspond to the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness after God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Unfortunately, the nation of Israel never fulfilled God’s purpose. The people failed repeatedly. God called Israel, His son. Where God’s son, Israel failed, God’s true Son overcame. Jesus, therefore, is the fulfillment of God’s purpose for the nation of Israel.
The devil’s first temptation had to do with physical needs. According to Deuteronomy chapter 8, God tested the Israelites with hunger so they would learn to depend upon God. “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. 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.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3 NIV) The Israelites failed this test time after time. Jesus, passed it. He would rely on God’s word and be obedient regardless of whether he had physical food or not.
The next temptation had to do with worship. Though the Israelites had repeatedly been told to worship God alone, and they had promised to so, they often fell into idolatry. Jesus turned the devil’s temptation aside by quoting Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 13: “Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” (NIV)
It’s ironic that the devil used the wealth and splendor of the kingdoms of the world as the incentive to try to buy Jesus’ worship. As God’s anointed King, the whole world belongs to Jesus anyway. But He was willing to wait for God’s timing. He would not go against God’s will in order to gain instant gratification. He would not give up the eternal to gain the immediate. Because He refused to bow to the devil, the day is coming when every knee will bow to Him.
The third test had to do with faith. Is God really with you or not? The Israelites had questioned whether God was with them. Exodus chapter 17, verses 1 through 7 says, “The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?” But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”” (NIV)
Jesus refused to test God. In refuting the devil He quoted from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 16 which says, “Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.” (NIV)
There is another dimension to the temptations, as well. Luke records the genealogy of Jesus just before the temptation account. He ends it with “…the son of Adam, the son of God.” (Luke 3:38) By doing so Luke contrasts the first Adam, with the second. The first Adam succumbed to temptation. Jesus, the second Adam, did not. Through Jesus, the curse which came on mankind as a result of Adam’s fall is reversed. Paul writes, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NIV)
Jesus was able to overcome every temptation because he filled His heart and mind with God’s word. Do we have God’s word in our heart so we, too, can overcome temptation? After returning from the desert Jesus faced another difficulty. To learn about it, listen to our next program.