Today begins Lent, when many denominations will commemorate the forty days Jesus wandered in the desert and was tempted by the devil before He began His public ministry.
Here is the full passage:
“The Temptation of Jesus
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered,
“It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and 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 will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” (Matthew 4:1-11)
The temptation of Christ is filled with much to ponder. The first is why our Lord had to go into the desert? Well forty is when God does important things. God flooded the earth forty days and nights (Genesis 7:12), Moses was on Mt. Sinai forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18), The Israelites wandered in the desert forty years (Joshua 5:6), Moses lived in the desert forty years (Acts 7:30).
The devil tempting God can seem absurd, we all know Jesus would never give in to the one He cast down (Ezekiel 28:). But we have to remember that Christ limited himself, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:4-11) and was tempted in every way though He never sinned, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin,” (Hebrews 4:15) and so He could better intercede for us when we are tempted, “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted,” (Hebrews 2:18), and “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Jesus our God can help us through temptation because He was tempted.
The three temptations from Satan are a blueprint for understanding how the devil will assail us. I think a great way to commemorate Lent is to do spiritual warfare by learning how to fight our enemy.
The first temptation of the devil was to satisfy the flesh by a demonstration of divine power to command stones to become bread. To this our Lord said “man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” () Here Jesus is distinguishing two realms, the flesh and the spirit, the flesh may crave bread at any cost, but the spirit desires God’s words and presence. The bread also comes up when Jesus confronts people who just want bread, not Jesus’ eternal words,
“When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” [26] Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. [27] Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” [28] Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” [29] Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” [30] So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31] Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” [32] Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33] For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” [34] They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
[35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. [36] But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. [37] All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [38] For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [39] And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. [40] For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
[41] So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” [42] They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” [43] Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. [44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45] It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—[46] not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48] I am the bread of life. [49] Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50] This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [51] I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
[52] The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” [53] So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. [56] Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” [59] Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
[60] When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” [61] But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? [62] Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? [63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. [64] But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) [65] And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
[66] After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” (John 6:1-66). So we see Jesus is the true bread of life that doesn’t perish, we should desire Him foremost.
The Second Temptation goes past merely appealing to the flesh, the devil uses sacred scripture in a twisted way to tempt Christ to leap off the temple and be caught by angels to force people to believe in Him through control. This is a three fold vice, one is to compel people by a display of supernatural dominion, the second is it is proud way of making people take notice rather than humbly, and thirdly because Jesus did not glorify himself, but let The Father glorify Him, “Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.” (John 8:54). Satan tries to get Jesus to glorify himself in a radical display of pride. Also it is likely that even if Jesus did jump off the temple the Pharisees and mob would still want him dead, because they reacted to him raising Lazarus from the dead, a miracle, with murder, “When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.” (John 12:9-11), thus it is unlikely such a feat as jumping and being caught by angels would sway anyone, since they cursed Him when he healed and raised the dead back to life.
The Third Temptation drops the manipulation and twisting of scripture, and goes for broke, the devil offers the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will bow down and worship him. This is idolatry, and bizarre because Jesus is The Creator, “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist,” (1 Corinthians 8:6), “Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made,” (John 1:3), “But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe,” (Hebrews 1:2), and “For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16). Satan is trying to get the Creator to worship the Creation, which is what He does to us, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” (Romans 1:25).
So here is blueprint
Tier I: Satan tempts you with a fleshy need like food (bread) or sex or something akin to those things to the point you’ll break God’s laws and commands to satisfy the flesh.
Tier II: Satan tempts you using scripture out of context, twisting it, and tries to get you to do something to glorify yourself.
Tier III: Satan tempts you to “gain the whole world but lose your soul,” (Matthew 16:26) offering your the kingdoms of the world: influence, money, and fame, if you bow to Him rather than receive the esteem of God; for example no one will remember Snoop Dog who has admitted to selling his soul to Satan for his fame and wealth, his music may live on in a commercial or among rappers, but Moses is known by all, his name is known among Millions of Jews, Billions of us Christians, and Billions of Muslims, and Billions of secular people; his name endured through eons, thousands and thousands of years because he choose to serve the Lord, when he could have been prince of Egypt. Well had he been prince, his name would have only been among a list of pharaohs, and known solely by historians, but because He chose enmity with the world and chose to serve the Lord Almighty, his name is known from generation to generation, across all nations, and by people of many languages, not just Egyptian. Our Lord God Jesus is even more famous, but I use Moses to illustrate someone who wasn’t God Incarnate, who choosing to serve God had become a name known by all. So Satan is tricky, he promises fame that fades, but God promises you a lasting legacy, that even those among us not well known with names recognizable in the Church, will be first and those who are great now will be last, “But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.” (Mark 10:31). You may feel unimportant praying in your home or RV or whatever, comparing yourself to ‘giants’ in the Christian limelight like Joel Osteen, but a day will come when those who are great now may find themselves least and you will be great in the kingdom; for God sees the heart and your ‘little contribution’ in prayer or preaching or whatever will weight greater in God’s esteem than the flashy and big work of people with egos and brands of corporate Christianity.
To fight these three tiers of devilish temptation we must respond as Jesus did:
Answer to Tier I: Live by God’s words which are his commands and teachings and revelations. “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God.” (Matthew 4:4). For Jesus said “if you love me you obey my commands,” (John 14:15), “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them,” (John 14:21), “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him,” (John 14:23), “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another,” (John 13:34-35), “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets,” (Matthew 22:36-40), “if you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and remain in His love,” (John 15:10), “By this we can be sure that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments,” (1 John 2:3), “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome,” (1 John 5:3), “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love,” (2 John 1:6), and the words of God are the Scriptures, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Answer to Tier II: Secondly when Satan tempts us to behave and do something to glorify ourselves by crazy and egotistical acts, we respond “do not test the Lord your God.” This means don’t do something stupid like jump off a bridge expecting God to save you, but if you say fell off a bridge accidentally, God could save you as a miracle; its a tension of God can step in to do a miracle, but don’t be foolhardy trying to test if He will do one for your over reckless behavior.
Finally to beat Satan’s offer of the world and its lusts, “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world, (1 John 2:16) and his desire for worship by stay ing in our conviction, “worship the Lord God and serve only Him.” This means no compromise, that we are citizens of heaven and we reject the devil’s deals for the esteem of the Triune God, and a loving relationship with Him. This requires saying no to lottery winnings if Satan demands your allegiance, or saying no to a bail out with demonic strings, or even the offer of a city council seat or congressional seat if if means bowing in anyway to Satan.
This Lent do battle! Fight the devil the way our Lord Jesus did! See through the evil one’s lies and false promise of fleeting fleshy rewards, and fame, and choose instead to be counted among the saints, who may now be dejected and persecuted, but shall be with The Glorious God and Savior Jesus (Titus 2:13) forever! Never experiencing the torment of hell fire, not a life wasted in the flesh, but instead an abundant life and adventurous one in Christ! Amen.
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