4 Jesus, full of the Holy
Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was
tempted[a] 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 shall not live on bread alone.’[b]”
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; it has been
given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If
you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is
written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’[c]”
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.’[d]”
12 Jesus
answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’[e]”
13 When the devil had
finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
A Message from Jesus
When I read this Scripture, I failed to realize, that this
must be a conversation between Jesus and His disciples, I suppose. Why? Because
Jesus was in the wilderness by Himself, being tempted by Satan. So, this must
be told or recorded for the benefit for Jesus’ disciples. Maybe this was one of
those times that Jesus was in close communion with His disciples, as He tells
of this temptation in the wilderness. But why?
The why, I think is for the benefit of Jesus close
disciples, the disciples of that day, and for all disciples of Jesus throughout
time.
The target of this temptation is Jesus’ relationship with
God the Father. Yes, Satan, once again is attempting to drive a wedge between man
and God. Unlike the other time in the Garden of Eden, where Satan drove a wedge
between man and God, here, Satan will fail. In the Garden, Adam sinned in his
desire to be like God. Here, Jesus, does not sin and IS God.
First off, let’s get this out of the way… Is there really a
devil? Is Satan real? You better believe it! In my week of study, in one
resource, I counted a minimum of 44 Biblical references to the devil or Satan.
That was enough to convince me that Satan is real. What realm of real? I don’t
know, but real enough.
In general, this time of temptation, for Jesus, came in
three forms, or modes.
The first temptation was personal and related to the bodily
needs of Jesus.
The second temptation was political and related to the soul
of Jesus.
And finally, the third temptation was religious and related
to the Spirit of Jesus.
Another thing to notice, is how Jesus always referred to
the Word of God, or the Old Testament, as we think of it today. All of Jesus
answers to Satan are from Deuteronomy chapters 6 to 8.
Sure, if we believe that Jesus is God, He should know all
the Words of God, but this does give us an example and a reason for life-long
study of God’s Word.
Now, let’s dive into the text…
Notice, right from the start, how Jesus was led by the Holy
Spirit into the wilderness. Why? For what reason?
I observed that the Holy Spirit always possesses the true
believer and is responsible for a “Christ filled” life.
For example:
The book of Acts contains an account of Peter and John being
thrown into jail because they were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the
dead. Seems to me this jail time and smack down for a message, is a little like
being in the “wilderness.” Many people who heard the message from Peter and John
believed, in fact the number of believers grew to about five thousand. Peter
was asked to speak about this message, and guess what? As Peter addresses the people…
Acts 4:8 NIV
8 Then Peter, filled with
the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people!
Peter
was filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter was living the “Christ filled” life, led
by the Holy Spirit.
Once again,
we have an example of how the Holy Spirit led Stephan in the early church.
As the number
of disciples were growing, the needs of some of the people were being
overlooked, and a decision was made to pick out seven men to address these
needs, so that the Twelve Apostles could concentrate on the proclamation of the
Word of God.
Stephen
was one of the seven men chosen for the task of meeting the needs of the
people. The apostles prayed over these seven men and the Word of God spread.
What
happens to Stephen and the other men chosen as they enter the “wilderness” of
this new responsibility?
Acts 6:5 NIV
5 This proposal pleased the
whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy
Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas
from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
The Holy
Spirit once again leads these men through the “wilderness” of new work in the
church.
Eventually
Stephen was stoned to death by some Jewish leaders, as Stephen gave a speech opening
their eyes to the rejection of Jesus as Messiah. This caused the disciples of
the day to have to spread out throughout the region, even to the Samaritans.
The Samaritans were sort of like outsiders.
So, as
Samaritans became Christians, there was a “to do” about if new converts needed
to obey the Jewish law of circumcision. It was witnessed that these new, uncircumcised
convert believers possessed the grace of God. A disciple named Barnabus was
sent from Jerusalem to Antioch to check this all out. Here we are again,
Barnabus in his own “wilderness” of sorts. And guess what?
Acts 11:22-24 NIV
22 News of this reached the
church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When
he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and
encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He
was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of
people were brought to the Lord.
The Holy
Spirt lead Barnabus away into his own kind of “wilderness.”
Now, how
could I leave out Paul. It seems like Paul was always in the “wilderness.” Paul
traveled all over the place and was thrown in jail and eventually killed for
his witness to Jesus. In this scriptural example, Paul was dealing with a Jewish
sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus. Well, the proconsul (like a
governor), wanted to hear the word of God and sent for Barnabus and Saul, who
was also called Paul. Paul had to be direct, and to the point, with this sorcerer
and false prophet, who was also named Elymas. Sorry about all these names. This
is Paul in one of his “wilderness” experiences…
Acts 13:9-10 NIV
9 Then Saul, who was also
called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and
said, 10 “You are a child of the devil and an
enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and
trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?
Paul,
led by the Holy Spirit and filled with the Holy Spirit.
These examples point to how the Holy Spirit always
possesses the true believer and is responsible for a “Christ filled” life.
And in our Gospel lesson here, Jesus is certainly full of
the Holy Spirit as he is led into His “wilderness” as well.
Notice, the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. This whole
“wilderness” thing spreads throughout scripture and time. For the Israelites,
for Jesus, for the Apostles, for the disciples of Jesus and for you and me as
well. Yet, this “wilderness” leads all of us into growth and greatness for God
as we confront difficult decisions and difficult times and temptation.
And, it’s for 40 days in the case of Jesus and 40 years in
the case of the Israelites that they are in the “wilderness.” Simply put, the
40 means a long time. So, expect to spend some time in the “wilderness”
yourself.
Well, that was a long way around the horn. So, let’s get to
the temptations of Jesus.
First was a personal temptation, dealing with Jesus’ body. Jesus’
hunger must remind him of the poor and hungry people He grew up among. Jesus
came from some poor roots. Jesus grew up among the hard-working people.
Bread, at the time of Jesus, was a precious commodity. Why?
There were droughts and floods that made the wheat for bread difficult to come
by. You couldn’t just go to Kroger and buy what you needed. There was a lot of
physical labor that went into getting the ingredients for bread.
Here, Jesus is teased into satisfying his own physical hunger.
But Jesus realized that mankind’s most urgent need was not physical. Rather,
mankind’s most urgent need is spiritual.
But, the best from Jesus and God would not come from people
that follow Jesus to only be fed food. Sure, if Jesus fed the people, that
would be a short-cut to popularity. Jesus wants us to hunger for God, not,
bread and fish. Here, Jesus’ food is to do the will of the Father who sent Him
to earth.
So, Jesus’ answer to Satan was not about bread for the
body.
Deuteronomy 8:3b NIV
…man does not live on
bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
The next
temptation dealt with the political realm. Sort of like the soul of Jesus life
on this earth, at least according to what we think it should be.
Was the
Messiah to fulfill the patriotic passion of the people? No! Rather Jesus was
here on this earth to worship and serve God alone. Not, to be man’s ruler or conqueror
of the political realms of this world. Jesus had no need to be the ruler that
Satan tempted Him to be.
Deuteronomy 6:13 NIV
13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him
only and take your oaths in his name.
And now
this last temptation, for now, anyway, was about the religious or spiritual
aspect.
Jesus
wasn’t here to minister to our temporary needs and passions, appealing to our
combative need to, and for, power. Rather, Jesus would face death as He stood
in the shadow of the cross.
Jesus
didn’t come into this world to meet our physical and material and power needs. Rather,
Jesus came to empty Himself.
This earthly
life of Jesus was not a test for God the Father to rescue Jesus.
This earthly
life of Jesus was so much more than that. Think and pray about that for a
while.
Deuteronomy 6:16 NIV
16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test as
you did at Massah.
Nope,
this isn’t about testing God to see if He will give us water. God does give us
water… Living Water… water that never runs out. We don’t need to test God on
this. And in this case Jesus doesn’t want to test God that he would rescue Him
from death.
And that’s
it! Sort of…
Satan
leaves. Yet there will be another time. This “wilderness” time for Jesus is
only beginning. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the struggle will take place again.
Yet, we
know, the depth of God’s love. We see, and we hear Jesus, witness these
temptations to us and for us to see what we may endure. And we know that Jesus
endured temptation and won. We will fail at temptation. But, remember that the
target for temptation is separation in relationship with God. Through Jesus, we
can turn back to God when we fail in our own “wilderness” of temptation, and
see one who welcomes us back to Himself, forgives us and wraps us closely in
His arms to love us right into eternity with Him.
And that’s
the temptation Jesus invites us to give into. The temptation of His everlasting
love and forgiveness as He empties all for God and for you and for me.
Bring
your best before God, for God offers protection. Confess your sin, turn to
Jesus and believe.
Thanks
be to God!
I leave you
with this YouTube Music that spoke to me this week during my study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5qc0EcNgqw
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