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"Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting for forty days and forty nights. That left Him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: "Since You are God's Son, speak the words that will turn these stones into loaves of bread."Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: "It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God's mouth."
For the second test the Devil took Him to the Holy City. He sat Him on top of the Temple and said, "Since You are God's Son, jump." The Devil goaded Him by quoting Psalm 91: "He has placed You in the care of angels. They will catch You so that You won't so much as stub Your toe on a stone."
Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: "Don't you dare test the Lord your God."
For the third test, the Devil took Him on a peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, "They're Yours---lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on Your knees and worship me, and they're Yours."
Jesus' refusal was curt: "Beat it, Satan!" He backed His rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: "Worship the Lord Your God, and only Him. Serve Him with absolute single-heartedness."
The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus' needs," Matthew 4:1-11.
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Jesus finds the Holy Spirit compelling Him forward into the wilderness where He will prepare for a test from His adversary, the one most vested in His failure, the devil. It’s interesting that the Holy Spirit, so often called the Comforter, takes Jesus to this place of no comfort; a savage aloneness where His only companion will be wild animals and the devil, for 40 days.
The devil has been awaiting this confrontation. It’s been a long time since he was forcibly thrown from heaven. God, his enemy, has sent an emissary into the world to be the exact representation of Himself to the people. How dare He, he is the ruler of this broken world (John 12:31) and now here comes God messing with what he feels is his to control. The Father is giving the people Himself and this must really have infuriated Satan. The devil’s chief desire in this life is to separate us from God and now God is sending Himself, in the form of His Son, to broadcast His great love!
I wonder about the preparations the devil went through for this challenge. Derailing Jesus at the start of His public ministry would have been the devil’s crowning achievement and oh how he must have ached to see this happen. Satan is well acquainted with a desire to usurp God; it’s the sin that gave him his walking papers from heaven. It appears the devil’s attack is very calculated and precise as he challenges Jesus’ authority. He takes a three fold attack. First he will offer relief from the most pressing need, hunger. Next he will challenge Jesus to question the Father’s love for Him, ‘throw Yourself to the ground, won’t Your Father protect You?’ Lastly, he woos Jesus with visions of earthly kingship, the same vision that well intended Israelites will cast repeatedly during Jesus’ ministry.
The devil has been awaiting this confrontation. It’s been a long time since he was forcibly thrown from heaven. God, his enemy, has sent an emissary into the world to be the exact representation of Himself to the people. How dare He, he is the ruler of this broken world (John 12:31) and now here comes God messing with what he feels is his to control. The Father is giving the people Himself and this must really have infuriated Satan. The devil’s chief desire in this life is to separate us from God and now God is sending Himself, in the form of His Son, to broadcast His great love!
I wonder about the preparations the devil went through for this challenge. Derailing Jesus at the start of His public ministry would have been the devil’s crowning achievement and oh how he must have ached to see this happen. Satan is well acquainted with a desire to usurp God; it’s the sin that gave him his walking papers from heaven. It appears the devil’s attack is very calculated and precise as he challenges Jesus’ authority. He takes a three fold attack. First he will offer relief from the most pressing need, hunger. Next he will challenge Jesus to question the Father’s love for Him, ‘throw Yourself to the ground, won’t Your Father protect You?’ Lastly, he woos Jesus with visions of earthly kingship, the same vision that well intended Israelites will cast repeatedly during Jesus’ ministry.
The Mark and Luke account of this temptation actually say that Jesus was tempted for the 40 days. My initial response to this story (probably under the influence of Hollywood) was that Jesus was hanging out in the wilderness, communing with the Father for 40 days and at the end Satan came to tempt Him. I had never really considered the fact that He was facing temptation from Satan the entire stay in the wilderness.
While studying this passage with the boys, we searched for what we learned from Jesus’ example in the wilderness. We came away asking if we were prepared to meet the challenges that Satan will present to pull us away from God. We talked about how Jesus prepared and how we prepare to face something that will tempt us to choose self over God? Satan can’t read our minds, but he does see our daily choices. When we regularly choose to spend 3 hours on tv/web and 3 minutes in God’s Word, he takes note of how prepared we are to face temptation.
I asked the boys to imagine showing up to run a marathon wearing high heels after having trained for one day. Ridiculous. Yet that’s exactly what we do when we enter into challenges, with no preparation, calling out to God at the last minute, desperate for help. We get pummeled and wonder, ‘why wasn’t God there to rescue me?’ It seems God’s prepared these challenges to draw us closer to Him, to teach us growing dependence on Him. He has not prepared these challenges to reinforce a rub the bottle genie mentality that we default to when in a jam.
What I find most pulling in this story is that when the test was completed the Devil left. He tried, he tried again, and he tried again and failed-- then he left. Not after his first failure, or his 2nd, but his third failed attempt and then Satan beat it. Perhaps this explains the 40 day preparation in the wilderness! Luke records the cautionary “when the devil had finished all his tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”
An opportune time for the devil, looks like what, I wonder, to us? When the Father feels distant? At the conclusion of the testing, most beautiful of all, the Bible records that when Satan left, ‘in his place angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.’ God provided for Jesus’ needs. He demonstrated, in love, that when temptation comes, it can come powerfully and persistently, yet so will His rescue. I am convicted to hold out strongly against the temptation to fill my own need with some cheap substitute for His provision. Temptation will come and call you to what you most crave, what gives you an illusion of control, and what explores your fears of trusting God. Jesus demonstrates that God is trustworthy and His care is sufficient to meet each need.
While studying this passage with the boys, we searched for what we learned from Jesus’ example in the wilderness. We came away asking if we were prepared to meet the challenges that Satan will present to pull us away from God. We talked about how Jesus prepared and how we prepare to face something that will tempt us to choose self over God? Satan can’t read our minds, but he does see our daily choices. When we regularly choose to spend 3 hours on tv/web and 3 minutes in God’s Word, he takes note of how prepared we are to face temptation.
I asked the boys to imagine showing up to run a marathon wearing high heels after having trained for one day. Ridiculous. Yet that’s exactly what we do when we enter into challenges, with no preparation, calling out to God at the last minute, desperate for help. We get pummeled and wonder, ‘why wasn’t God there to rescue me?’ It seems God’s prepared these challenges to draw us closer to Him, to teach us growing dependence on Him. He has not prepared these challenges to reinforce a rub the bottle genie mentality that we default to when in a jam.
What I find most pulling in this story is that when the test was completed the Devil left. He tried, he tried again, and he tried again and failed-- then he left. Not after his first failure, or his 2nd, but his third failed attempt and then Satan beat it. Perhaps this explains the 40 day preparation in the wilderness! Luke records the cautionary “when the devil had finished all his tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”
An opportune time for the devil, looks like what, I wonder, to us? When the Father feels distant? At the conclusion of the testing, most beautiful of all, the Bible records that when Satan left, ‘in his place angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs.’ God provided for Jesus’ needs. He demonstrated, in love, that when temptation comes, it can come powerfully and persistently, yet so will His rescue. I am convicted to hold out strongly against the temptation to fill my own need with some cheap substitute for His provision. Temptation will come and call you to what you most crave, what gives you an illusion of control, and what explores your fears of trusting God. Jesus demonstrates that God is trustworthy and His care is sufficient to meet each need.
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"So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and He’ll be there in no time,” James 4:7.
"So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and He’ll be there in no time,” James 4:7.
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