Temptation is an issue that we all deal with, including Jesus himself. In Matthew 4:1-11, we are given the account of when Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days, and, of course, became very hungry. At that point Satan came to tempt him. In this article I would like to share what we can learn from the way Jesus dealt with temptation.
Weakness in the Desert
This temptation occurred when Jesus was at an extremely weak point—famished, exhausted, and in the desert. Just as Jesus experienced the desert, we too have desert experiences in life. Desert experiences are universal to all of us. One can see a correlation between the forty years of the Israelites’ wandering in the desert with the forty days of Jesus going without bread in the desert. Just as the Israelites had to learn to depend on God for their daily bread (for their needs), we also have to learn to depend on God for our needs.
God said the following to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:2-3: “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. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (NIV). This same Scripture was used by our Lord to strike down Satan’s first temptation. Satan 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.’”
Jesus was understandably hungry. As a man, he had need of food. He said, “Man does not live on bread alone” (underline added). We all have physical needs; we all have material needs. Of course, we want those needs to be met. However, God doesn’t want us to be governed by our physical and material needs. He doesn’t want our need for food, for example, to be the dominant force in our lives. He doesn’t want us to be focused on material possessions. He desires us to be governed by the Holy Spirit—to realize that our most important need is that of spiritual nourishment through the Word of God—to live on “every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Word of God
Of course, one lesson that we learn from how Jesus defeated temptation is that he used the Word of God. He answered every temptation with Scripture. We need to know and confess the Word of God; we need to use this Sword of the Spirit to ward off the temptations of the evil one.
First Temptation
However, let’s go deeper. Let’s look again at the first temptation. Jesus was very hungry. Satan told Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” That must have been very tempting for Jesus, hungry as he was. Why not tell these stones to become bread? It would have been very easy for Jesus to use God’s power to meet His need. However, Jesus demonstrated a very important principle for us to learn from: that our need for God’s Word is more important than using God’s power to meet our personal need—to meet whatever purpose that we may have. Fundamentally, we have a need for God’s Word—which is our very nourishment, our food—which is more important than even having our physical and material needs met.
Second Temptation
With the second temptation Satan took Jesus to the highest point of the temple and said, “If you are the Son of God, 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.” What is the issue here? What can we learn from this temptation? The temptation here is to expect God to miraculously save us from our foolish actions or trying circumstances simply because we “trust” Him—in a presumptuous way. We are not to “test” God in this way. We are not to be in a posture of demanding that God miraculously rescue, protect, and provide for us. As the hymn so well expresses, God simply calls us to “Trust and Obey.”
We live by faith, not by sight. What if God doesn’t miraculously save us out of our situation? What if He doesn’t rescue us out of the trying circumstances that may be of our own doing? Do we get angry with Him? Do we say with our attitudes, “Why don’t you save me?” Do we become doubtful of God’s working in our life? Do we say in so many words, “God is not coming through for me?” Or do we learn to walk by faith, trusting that God is in control of our life and believing that He knows what is best for us even when enduring serious trials? Jesus responded to this temptation by saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Third Temptation
For the third temptation, Satan took Jesus to a lofty mountain and showed him all of the world’s kingdoms with all of their glory. Satan directly attacked Jesus’ character and purpose: “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” The issue here was the temptation for Jesus to seek power and possessions without enduring the cross. In fact, Satan’s temptation, if followed, would lead Jesus to replace the cross with that of idolatry (worshipping things other than God, in this case Satan himself). Although Jesus is the King of kings and all things are given him by the Father, Jesus knew his mission: to be the suffering servant who would die on the cross for the sins of the world. After that work on the cross was accomplished, then Jesus would be exalted. This process of glorification is described in Philippians 2:6-11:
Who [Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Although Jesus would one day be exalted to the highest place with all humanity bowing to Him, He knew that he could not short-circuit the process. Jesus knew that He was setting up a different kind of Kingdom as the suffering servant dying for the sins of the world.
Likewise, we must embrace the cross of Christ. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). As true disciples of Christ, we must not be deceived by the message—preached in some circles today—of seeking power and possessions without the reality of embracing the cross of Christ. We must be committed to the cross of Christ as our purpose more so than pursuing things as our purpose, which can become idolatrous. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matt. 6:24).
Jesus answered this temptation of power and possessions by declaring to Satan: “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” For us likewise, may we answer the temptations of this world by proclaiming God’s Word, worshipping the Lord, and serving Christ and Christ alone. Jesus’ example teaches us to embrace the cross, live by faith, and find our nourishment in the Word of God.
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