Temptation Overcome! (Luke 4:1-13)

Luke 4:1-13¹ Jesus identified himself with John’s ‘baptism of repentance’. The Spirit ‘anointed him’ and the voice from heaven confirmed Jesus to be the 'Son of God' .  Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, moved out from Jordan, where Israel had originally entered their "Promised Land". Jesus is going back into Israel’s story and back into the wilderness. ² For a period of 40 days Jesus would face the devil’s temptations. Israel had wandered 40 years because of their unbelief, but now Jesus was going to get it right. Jesus, a real man, is famished after 40 days without food. Jesus is tired, hungry, dirty, sweaty, and in his physically weakness he faces the devil and his accusations. 

³ The devil brings Jesus’ identity and ‘Sonship’ into question. “If you are the Son of God” challenges what the voice from heaven had affirmed. The devil tells Jesus to command a stone to become bread as a way of meeting his own need and proving that Jesus really was the ‘Son of God’. ⁴ Here, as in Eden with Adam, the devil brings into question the good intention of God. Why is God withholding good from you if you are the ‘Son of God’? Jesus trusts God’s good intention and trusts God’s good intention that ‘man does not live on bread alone’ (Deut.8:3). Adam, on the other hand, believed the devil’s lie (Gen.3:4). Israel in the wilderness also failed to trust God’s good intention. They grumbled that they were better off in Egypt and they complained that God was going to kill them in the wilderness (Exodus 16-17).

Why is God treating Jesus like this if he is 'God's Son and Israel’s Messiah? The devil tempts Jesus to turn a stone to bread in order to meet his legitimate physical need? Hadn't God provided Israel ‘ manna’ in the wilderness? Yet, Jesus tells the devil that it is written, "that man does not live by bread alone" (Deut.8:3). In his need, his deprivation and his hunger Jesus trusted God and His word and refused to take matters into his own hands. Jesus finds no need to prove his ‘sonship’, but trusts God’s word.

⁵ The devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and all their authority and glory. ⁶ Man had forfeited this authority when he aligned himself with the devil in opposition to God in Eden. In a sense, the devil took man’s authority over this world away from him. These are the devil’s kingdoms and he can give them to whoever he wants. ⁷ The kingdoms to be recovered by the Messiah where still under the devil’s dominion. So the devil presents an easy alternative to God’s plan and offers a way of avoiding the struggle. He presents God as a ‘harsh taskmaster’ for all the devil requires is worship. Jesus is tempted to gain ‘authority and glory’ over the nations not by trusting God, but by submitting to Satan in worship. All Jesus had to do was to worship and submit himself to the dominion of Satan. Jesus trusts the goodness of God’s way and relies on God and His word as the only viable option for the ‘Son of God’. Adam believed the lie and aligned himself with the devil and Israel sought to return to Egypt. They failed to trust God’s good purpose, but Jesus said, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. (Deut.6:13, Ex.20:3)’ ”

The devil takes Jesus to Jerusalem and sets him on the highest point of the temple. Again the devil brings Jesus’ identity into question. According to Satan, if Jesus wants to reclaim the nations and be God’s king by trusting God’s word then Jesus should put his faith in action. The devil says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, ¹⁰ for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels to guard you, ¹¹ they will bear you up with their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” The devil tempts Jesus to throw himself down from the temple and prove that the word of God is true. ¹⁰ For, as the devil said,“He will command his angels concerning you, ¹¹ they will lift you up with their hands, and you won’t strike your foot against a stone. (Ps.91)"

The devil tempts Jesus to put the validity of God’s word to the test by jumping from the temple so that God would send angels to miraculously hold Jesus up.  ¹² |Yet, Jesus answers the devil’s use of scripture by saying that it is not Jesus’ role to put the Lord God to the test. Jesus’ answer with scripture and says, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” ¹³ Now the devil postpones his temptations for a more opportune time. ¹⁴ So Jesus returns to Galilee, empowered and victorious over Satan at this point, and so the name and reputation of Jesus begins to spread.

The anointed Jesus, ‘God’s Son’ was sent into the wilderness to directly confront the enemy of God and his people. The first temptation (3–4) urged Jesus to (3:22) to perform an act of power to satisfy his hunger. Jesus responded by quoting the scripture. Then (5–8) Jesus was enabled to see the glory and the extent of the devil's dominion (Jn. 12:31). The world doesn’t ultimately belong to the devil; but if Jesus gives in to the devil’s lies than Jesus would have fallen like Adam. To align himself with the devil would be incompatible with serving God alone (Dt. 6:13). Finally (9–12), the devil tried to quote scripture (Ps. 91:11–12) to tempt Jesus to leap down from the highest point of the temple as a demonstration of Jesus’ trust in his Father. But to yield to the suggestion would have been to doubt that he was really God’s Son and that his Father was trustworthy. 

If Jesus is to be Israel’s Messiah, then how will he deliver Israel, and the world, from the grip of the enemy? How can he liberate the world from the devil himself? Jesus responds to the devil by quoting scripture from the story of Israel’s failures in the wilderness. Where Israel failed Jesus is going to overcome and become the world’s true lord. Yet, the path to kingship and dominion is humble service in submission to God and His word! God’s Son, Jesus, commits himself to the path of humility, service and even death on a cross. Jesus overcame the devil's temptation on behalf of every Christian. Now it is our plaee to stand by faith in Christ and reist by putting the truth to the devil’s lies. Resistance is found in relying on God’s love for us as stated in God’s word whenever our ‘identity in Christ’ is questioned by our circumstances and by the devil’s lies.