Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: ‘Do 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 splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Don’t let anyone mislead you - Satan is real. He is not a fairy tale. He is not symbolic. He also is not an almost comical little guy in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork. He is a fallen angel… a created being… the most beautiful angel God created. (Ezekiel 28:12-15 NIV) But Lucifer became too full of himself – filled with pride and a lust for power. Spurred on by his ravenous appetite for power and glory, he sought to be like God… to be equal with God… to be a god himself. Because of that, God threw him out of heaven, casting him down to earth. Stripped of his beauty and stripped of his name, he became Satan, the tempter, the one who seeks to murder men’s souls.
He’s been trying to block God’s plan since his fall. He tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. He tempted Jesus in the desert. And he’s tempting you and me right now.
As power-hungry as he is, why would he offer Jesus kingship over the world? Why would he tempt Jesus to declare His Kingship by commanding the stones to turn to bread or to throw Himself off the temple and be saved by the angels? Because if Jesus had declared His Kingship at that point, it would have been Jesus’ lust for power that came to the front, not His servant’s heart that sought only to do God’s will. God’s perfect plan would have been destroyed. Jesus could not have fulfilled God’s purpose in Him as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, because by giving in to Satan’s temptation, Jesus would have sinned. And if Jesus had given in, Satan would have won.
God has a plan for each of our lives… a perfect plan… a plan that suits His purpose for us… a plan that glorifies His name. Each and every time we allow Satan to win - each and every time we give in to temptation – we are blocking God’s plan for our lives, at least for that moment.
So what do we do about it? First, we make a total, sold-out commitment to Jesus - to love Him and to be obedient to His Word, no matter what. That’s the first big step. The second is to stick to it. Almost without fail, when a person makes that commitment, Satan pulls out the big guns. And very often, God becomes very silent. He allows Satan to go whole hog for a while, so we can discover how strong our commitment really is. For some of us, that "while" is very brief. For others, that "while" may take years. (Remember the children of Israel and their forty years in the desert!) But no matter how long that period of testing, remember this - God loves you. His purpose for your life is perfect. Do your part in fulfilling that purpose by sticking to your commitment no matter what. Don’t slow things down by vacillating back and forth. Stick with your commitment and let Him fulfill His perfect purpose in you.
"…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 NIV
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: ‘Do 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 splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This passage gives us the full account of when the devil tempted Jesus while our Lord was in the wilderness, fasting and praying and preparing for His ministry. The devil tempted Him in three primary areas - His physical needs and desires, His possessions and power, and His pride. Remember, He had been without food for FORTY days!!! As the scripture says, He was hungry! And, after being without food that long, if He had not been both 100% man and 100% God, the other temptations would have hit home really hard, and would have been virtually impossible to resist. And yet, Jesus withstood all of them and remained sinless.
Scripture tells us that Jesus understands everything we’re going through. This session with the devil in the desert is one of the reasons. Jesus has been tempted to sin. He has felt what you and I feel. He knows how tempting it can be. He knows… because He’s been there.
So what does that mean to you and me? It means that when we are tempted, we have more to rely on than our own strength and commitment. We have Jesus. When we’re faced with temptation, when we’re weaker than we’ve ever been before, we have Jesus. He knows what’s going on. He knows how we feel. And He offers us His strength to get through it.
Do you have a problem with your temper? Only when you’re tired or hungry or sick, you say? Think about Jesus in the desert. Have you ever been as tired or hungry as He was after forty days and nights? Probably not. But He’s been where you are. Call on Him the next time your temper gets the best of you. He will be your strength and the calming influence you need to get past it.
Has your pride taken a hit lately? How do you think Jesus felt when others ridiculed Him? He was God Incarnate, after all. He created the universe. “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3 NIV) Why should He have to run around barefoot, without a home of His own and take handouts for food? Will your pride ever take that kind of hit? No – at least not to the extent that His did - but Jesus understands where you are. Ask Him to give you the strength to withstand injuries to your pride, and to keep His purpose and God’s glory as your central focus rather than your own ego.
Do you have a problem with extra-marital sex? Do your hormones direct your actions instead of your brain? Are you falling for the favorite lie of today that you need to “try out the merchandise” before making a marriage commitment? Or are you just looking for love in all the wrong places, and letting lust become a poor, sinful substitute for pure marital love? Jesus knows that you are weak in that area. He knows how strong that temptation is for you, and He will help you gain victory over your sex drive. So, first, stop putting yourself into situations that you know will lead to illicit sexual encounters. And then pray. Pray that the Lord will give you the strength to avoid those situations, and the ability to see yourself through His eyes, and understand what a precious, holy vessel you are, one that should not be defiled by your own inability to say no.
In all kinds of temptations, no matter what they are, remember this - nothing will come your way that Jesus does not understand. He has walked in your shoes. He knows first hand what you’re experiencing. And He will give you the strength to overcome temptation when you have no strength of your own.
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
Satan appealed to the three weakest points Jesus might have. First, Jesus had been in the desert for forty days and nights. He was ravenously hungry, physically exhausted, and emotionally alone. From a human standpoint, He was at the weakest point He could be. Nothing could have been more appealing at that point than something to eat, something cool to drink and a soft bed to lie down in - all of which Jesus could easily have had. So Satan tempted Him.
Next, was Jesus’ ego. He knew who He was, but few other people did. To the world, He was a humble carpenter who’d been born in a stable… a nobody. Mary knew who Jesus was, but no other human did. But Jesus knew He was God Incarnate. How satisfying it would have been to throw Himself off the temple spire and allow a legion of angels to rescue Him in a spectacular miracle. That would show the world wo He was! So Satan tempted Him.
Finally, Jesus knew what was out there ahead of Him. He knew what He was going to have to go through to save the world from its sins. He lived every day in anticipation of the incomprehensible pain and suffering that He would have to endure – not just the physical pain, but the spiritual pain that would come when He “became sin” and the Father turned away from Him. It would be so much easier to just declare His Kingdom right then and there, to avoid what lay ahead, to prevent His suffering. So Satan tempted Him.
But, praise God, Jesus did not give in! God’s purpose for His life was more important to Him than His own comfort, His own ego, His own dread of pain. Through all the temptation laid before Him, He stood firm and sinless.
Temptation in our lives comes in many forms. Remember, Satan hits us where we’re the weakest. If we’re tired and hungry and alone, he knows what to throw in front of us to make us sin. If our egos are bruised, he knows how to tempt us to make us feel better about ourselves. If we know something is going to be painful, Satan will throw an easy way out in front of us - something outside of God’s will for us - a way to avoid the pain and lead us away from God. And finally, Satan tempts us through our strengths. Just as Jesus could have shown His power and strength through turning the stones to bread, or leaping off the temple spire, so you and I can be tempted to show just how strong we are and begin to rely on our own strengths, our own power, our own talents… rather than on God.
Be wary. Watch out for the snares and temptations Satan will lay before you. They all have one purpose, and one purpose only - to stop God’s purpose in your life. Don’t let the devil win those little battles. Remember, he’s already lost the war!
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
It was nearly time for Jesus’ ministry to begin. But first, He was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil. What on earth for? Why should the Son of God have to be tempted? That is a question that has been asked again and again, and the answer centers around who He is and what kind of Messiah He is. The Jews were looking for the conquering King, overlooking the suffering servant depicted in over 100 of the prophecies about the incarnation of the Son of God on earth. So it may have been that He was to be tempted in order to show the Jews just who He was. He would not use His supernatural powers to accomplish his mission, like Satan tried to tempt Him to do in Matthew 4:3-4 NIV. He wouldn’t entice people to follow Him by using magic or miracles, as Satan tempted Him to do in Matthew 4:5-7 NIV. And He would not bow down to Satan and make him the god he’d wanted to be since the beginning as in Matthew 4:8-10 NIV.
Could Jesus be tempted? No. Not in the way that you and I are. There is nothing within Jesus that would make Him even want to sin, much less commit the sins themselves. As He says several times in Matthew 5, even thinking about sinning is a sin! Jesus was God Incarnate, and as God, He did not sin in any way – not by His actions, or by what He said, or by any inner desire to sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Hebrews 7:26 (NIV) says, “Such a high priest meets our need - one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” 1 Peter 2:22 (NIV) says, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” And 1 John 3:5 (NIV) says, “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.”
So was Jesus really tempted, or was His temptation merely symbolic? It was VERY real, and there was no symbolism connected with Jesus’ temptation. Hebrews 4:15 (NIV) says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin.” Jesus was confronted by Satan with very real opportunities to sin, but He did not give in to temptation.
It’s interesting to note how He combated the temptation of the devil… He could have used His supernatural powers and just booted Satan out of the way. But He didn’t. Instead, as in all things with His ministry, He demonstrated for us how to combat temptation, using a weapon that is readily available to you and me – the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17 ), which is the Word of God! He withstood the temptation. He remained sinless. He kept Himself perfect in order to be the perfect sacrifice for you and me.
Like Jesus, you and I are tempted - daily. Satan’s favorite game is to lay temptation in front of us, giving us the opportunity to sin over and over again every day of our lives. The stronger our faith and the more influential our witness, the more powerful the temptations are that he lays before us. Satan knows our weak spots, and he digs at them constantly, laying trap after deadly trap in front of us, just hoping we’ll step in.
Why does God allow this to happen? Why doesn’t He make the road before us smooth, with no traps to fall into? Because He wants our faith in Him to grow, and He wants to show us where our strength lies – in HIM and His Word, not in ourselves. And there’s another reason… Remember the children of Israel ? Deuteronomy 8:2 (NIV) says, "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." Like the children of Israel , God wants us to prove that we will obey Him. And we can’t learn to obey without obstacles.
God wants our faith and our love and our obedience. It is through these things that we glorify His name here on earth. The next time you’re faced with temptation, remember whose child you are. Remember that you have a powerful weapon that’s easily within your reach, so don’t let it gather dust. And remember that it is just a test.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"
Jesus replied, "Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
Put yourself in John’s shoes. Here he is, fulfilling his purpose in life, preparing the way for the Lamb of God. John knew who he was. John also knew Who Jesus was. He had recognized Him when they were both still within the womb (Luke 1:39-45 NIV) and he had recognized Him again the first time he saw Jesus (Luke 1:29-34 NIV). Imagine John’s feeling of confusion when the Son of God stood before him, asking to be baptized. John knew Jesus was the Son of God. He knew Jesus was without sin. John knew his own unworthiness. He felt like he needed to be baptized by Jesus, not the other way around!
So why was Jesus baptized? He was without sin, so why would He need baptism? He didn’t. But He did want to "fulfill all righteousness." Jesus was going to take away the sins of the world, so first, He had to identify Himself with that sin… like Nehemiah, Ezra, Moses and Daniel had done, He confessed sin on behalf of the nation (the world). He was demonstrating His support for what John was doing by participating in it. He was inaugurating His public ministry. And He was placing Himself on the side of the penitent people, rather than with the self-righteous, sanctimonious, hypocritical Pharisees who stood by and watched. Jesus, the Son of God, didn’t need baptism. Rather, He accepted baptism in obedient service to the Father, demonstrating what He would have us all do.
It took six long years from the day I was saved until the day I was baptized, because I didn’t really understand what baptism was. I had been “sprinkled” as a baby, baptized at a revival when I was nine, and baptized twice into a pseudo-Christian cult. I figured I’d been dunked enough! So even though a few people tried to convince me to be baptized, I always turned it down. Then, one Sunday morning, when my pastor was getting ready to baptize a new believer, he gave a short “sermonette” from the baptistery, explaining the significance of baptism as an act of obedience by a believer. No, baptism wouldn’t save me. I was already saved. And baptism wouldn’t “wash away my sins” – they had already been washed away by the blood of Jesus. But baptism would show the world that I had accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and that as a believer, I wanted to be totally obedient to Him. I realized that I had never been baptized as a believer – so no matter how many times I’d been sprinkled and dunked, the only baptism that would have any significance had yet to occur. So, that afternoon, I went to my pastor’s home and told him what I was thinking. He was overjoyed, and agreed to baptize me that evening! My baptism inspired him to give another “sermonette” to the congregation, one that inspired (or convicted) five other people to be baptized the following week!
If you are a believer but have not yet followed Jesus in baptism, please consider doing so as soon as possible. No, baptism will not save you… believing in Jesus and accepting His sacrifice for you on the cross is what saves you. No, baptism won’t wash away your sins… they can only be washed away by the blood of Jesus. And no, whether you are baptized or not makes no difference in whether you’ll get to heaven. The only thing you need to get you through those pearly gates is your faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for your sins. But baptism IS an act of obedience… an extremely important one… one that says you want to be obedient to the Lord in all ways, including following Him in baptism. Do you want your walk with Him to be complete?
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights.
Though I should lose my job… though my bills are piling up… though I can’t get along with anyone at the office… though others ridicule me because of my faith… though my health is failing… though my car breaks down… though the IRS is after me… though my roof sprung a leak, and it’s going to cost a fortune to fix… though my insurance rates went up… though I caught my child smoking pot… though my son got sent to war… though my relatives are trying to bleed me dry… though no one ever calls me… though I should lose my spouse… though not one single dream of mine has ever come true… though there is war and murder and unbridled crime in the streets… though I am getting older every day… though I haven’t had a date in a year… though my spouse and I have had one fight after another for six months… though I learned that I have cancer… though I had my third car wreck in as many months - yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights!
Need we say more?
"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten —
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm —
my great army that I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
The Lord gave me this scripture during a time in my life when it seemed I was losing everything I’d worked so hard to gain. Two different women contacted me on the same day and said that God wanted me to read that scripture. Since it was in such an obscure book (just finding the book of Joel was a challenge!), I felt it might be a promise from Him to me, personally. That feeling was confirmed the next day when my neighbor – the third person to do so - shared the same scripture with me!
I doubt that there is anyone living who does not have years that the locust has eaten. I have about twenty, with an emphasis on four or five really tough ones in the late 1980’s. During those years, I clung to the promise in Psalm 37:4 (NIV), "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." And I tried to stick by my part of the bargain, although I was far from perfect in doing so.
But God is not like me. He is faithful. He doesn’t drop the ball. He doesn’t welch on a deal. He sticks by what He says. Finally, I began to see that promise come true in my life. I believe when He gave me this scripture, He was telling me that what I was going to see over the next few months - and years - was just the beginning of His fulfillment of that promise.
If you are His child and are faithful to follow Him, I believe this promise is also for you.