JESUS RESISTED THE DEVIL WHEN WE COULDN’T

‘Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” 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.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Again, 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.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Mt 4:1-10

Adam fell flat on his face in the Garden of Eden and cast the entire human family into sin. By all accounts it was a fair fight; if anything, Adam had the advantage over the serpent. Adam knew God personally, was created upright with no inclination to sin, and had all the pleasures that life could offer. He had no need to covet anything because he had it all. Only one thing was denied him, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but that really wasn’t anything necessary for his subsistence. As we read the first drama of humanity in the opening chapters of Genesis we, the readers, have entered a fairytale story that we think will most certainly end in ‘they lived happily ever after’. After the creation and garden scene we are tempted to close the book and move on to a story with some grit. But wait…. the story doesn’t end with ‘they lived happily ever after.’ In fact it is as messy as any story ever written. Adam who had it all is overthrown by his opponent in ways that shock us. The man who had a thousand to one odds in his favor is duped into eating a unnecessary piece of fruit. This will go down as the greatest upset in history and humanity is the big loser.

Thousands of years later another human will again meet the devil face to face. Round two. This time the odds unanimously favor of the devil. The wicked deceiver comes with superhuman power and thousands of years of experience while his opponent, the man we call the second Adam, is emaciated, abandoned, alone and weaponless. Worse yet, he is dwelling in a hostile desert environment among the owls and scorpions. Furthermore, He must endure the brutal heat of the sun and the chilling cold of night. As we enter the fourth chapter of Matthew we, as the readers, are brought into this sad spectacle. By this time the man has entered His fortieth day of not eating or drinking. Death lingers everywhere. The devil rejoices, salivating like a hungry lion over a wounded gazelle.’

Now he pounces. Satan’s tactics will mirror those he successfully used against Adam and Eve. It worked once and it will work again. As with Adam and Eve, he will tempt this man in three areas of human vulnerability; through the man’s appetites, through his dreams and through his need for self-importance. Remember the attack against Adam and Eve in that first battle. The serpent cornered the woman and appealed first to her hunger. Then he enticed her by her need for fulfillment. Thirdly he appealed to her dignity as the pinnacle of creation. He encouraged her to eat the fruit which was good for food, desirable to the eyes, and was able to make her wise. Eve then Adam caved in immediately. They are hungry and they will eat. They want something new and exciting and seize a forbidden dream. They desire to be more important so they lunge at the offer of freedom from God. They take the bait and tragically fall. None of what they desired will they receive. Every temptation turns into a dead-end street.

Here we have an initial lesson. Satan will always attack the sons of Adam in one or all of these areas of vulnerability.

Thousands of years later the devil tries it again with Jesus. First he says, ‘you’re hungry my poor friend? Why, you are the Son of God, just use your power to make bread and eat. Can’t you see that the Father has hung you out to dry?’ Second, ‘you have dreamed to be ruler of the universe. It’s what you’ve always wanted. Come up to this mountain and see these beautiful kingdoms that can be yours if you worship me. Grap it now, why go through the torment of a humiliating cross to win what you can have instantly?’ And Third, ‘let me take you to the pinnacle of the temple where you can throw yourself down and prove you are the Messiah foretold in Scripture. That will show the world that you are the Great One and you will get the honor you deserve when the angels come to catch you. Isn’t this what the Bible says? Declare your greatness…. you are honorable and independent, you don’t need God!’

Jesus has no time to think about the propositions, no time to come up with His own solution. Rather, He defaults to the word of God. Three times He quotes Deuteronomy to rebut the devil. That book was written while Israel suffered in the wilderness and God’s word to the Jews in the wilderness will be sufficient for Him. He will not eat because God’s word is more important than any bodily appetite. He will not look at things to fulfill his dreams because His only dream is to fulfill God’s will and to worship Him. And He will not succumb to showing His importance and independence as the one who fulfills Scripture as he throws Himself off a high building. All of these things could have appealed to Jesus. After all He WAS a man. Remember that behind every temptation is an enticement to do what is natural to humanity. These were not phony temptations given to a tin man but real temptations given to a real man with real desires. And when Jesus resisted it was no phony victory.

So why the story of Christ’s temptation? Is it to encourage we believers to endure temptation as He did? Well, partially so. We are to be aware how the devil will come at us and how we may, by the Spirit’s power, resist him. This is exactly what John is saying when he reminds Christians of the first century to beware of the world’s enticements. He says,

‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever’ (1 John 2:15-17).

John uses the same categories that were found at Eden. Satan will come at the saints through the bodily appetites (the lust of the flesh), the inordinate fulfillment of dreams (lust of the eyes), and the yearning for self-worth (the pride of life). This is how the devil tempts the saints in every age; we have it on John’s authority. And note that these things are natural, a-moral, desires that are in themselves not sinful. Bodily appetites are good gifts of God. Dreaming can be a holy exercise, but when do anything to achieve our dreams it has become an idol of success. And wanting to be influential and useful can be a blessing to humankind but it can so easily drive men to be self-sufficient and autonomous from God. The devil always takes God’s good gifts and re-wraps them and prostitutes them for illicit use. So it is good to be warned about these things.

But is the temptation story primarily given so that we should be like Jesus? Probably not, for none of the sons of men can ever come close to imitating Jesus in His epic fight against Satan and resisting temptation perfectly. Like His crucifixion and resurrection, Christ’s victory over the devil in the wilderness was a unique commission given to the one who would crush the head of the serpent. Christ must undo Adam’s damage; He must inoculate the human race with an antidote to fight the deadly virus of sin. Where Adam fell and cast the race into untold misery, Christ, the Second Adam must stand firm in order to mold that perfect life of righteousness. And if He is to save humanity, He must find victory on the same battleground where Adam fell. In short by resisting temptation Christ was dealing the first major blow to the evil one for ‘He came to destroy the works of the devil.’ So Jesus Christ stood where Adam and all Adam’s children collapsed This had to happen for us to be saved. Thus, our response to the temptation story is not to try and mimic Christ but to fall down and thank God that Christ’s victory over Satan is a free gift to all who will put their trust in Him. His defeat of Satan was part of that overall redemptive plan that becomes the full possession of every Christian when he believes. So we bow down and worship Him.

This is the real benefit of the temptation story. It is really the gospel. It is what Jesus did for His people on the battlefield with the devil. It’s the fact that Jesus won and all who are in Him win also. Yes, you, dear Christian, who struggles with sin, dullness and inconsistency and who often feels defeated, do you know that Christ won for you a victory that is yours forever? His victory is now YOUR victory. You are a conqueror of the devil and this is exactly how God looks at you even to this very hour. He sees you not as poor, miserable, and weak but as one who is ‘more than conquerors through Him who loved us.’ Perhaps you don’t feel this victory right now, but on the authority of the Bible may I say that if you are in Christ by faith you have defeated the wicked one by trusting in your Captain. So believe that Christ has done for you what you could never do for yourself. Believe that in Him you have foiled the devil’s purposes. Believe this no matter what cruel taunt Satan whispers in your ear today….. or forever.