Temptation Luke 4

Luke 4

If you are anything like me, the wild-west showdown between Jesus and Satan is one of the most fascinating stories in the bible. Satan tries to take Jesus using scripture and temptation. On one hand it is ridiculous to the point of being comical. On the other hand, what if Jesus had responded like a normal man - when offered satisfaction, riches, miraculous superpowers, what if he said yes? The world would be a very different place.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man shall not live on bread alone.'" 

Come on Jesus, do a party trick! Show me some miracles - if you have supernatural power, why not use it for your benefit? Because the point of miracles is not to satisfy selfishness, it is to reveal the power of God!

Lets look at the passage in context: "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and 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 ancestors 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. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you." (Deuteronomy 8:2-5 NIV)

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 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. If you worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" Deuteronomy 6:13.

This temptation is almost humorous to me. The thought that Jesus would worship a fake God is ridiculous - he came from heaven, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. But he responds with a short, simple answer - my dad gets ticked when people worship fake gods.

It may be comical to tempt Jesus with this, but when we are offered the world, we will often take it, thinking that power is something to be snatched, achieved, or taken. Check out this quote by Napoleon, one of the greatest military leaders in history when he was chained up at St. Helena speaking with a guy named Montholon:

"I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself have founded great empires. But our empires were founded on force. Jesus alone founded His empire on love, and to this day millions would die for Him. I think I understand something of human nature, and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man. Jesus Christ was more than man.”

“I have inspired multitudes with a devotion so enthusiastic that they would have died for me. But to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, my words, my voice. Who cares for me now removed as I am from the active scenes of life, and from the presence of men? Who would now die for me?”

“Christ alone across the chasm of eighteen centuries makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks more than a father can demand of his child, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart. He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally, and forthwith His demand is granted.”

“Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man with all its powers and faculties becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers.”

“Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame. This is what strikes me most. This is what proves to me quite convincingly that Jesus Christ is God.”

Jesus did not come to snatch, steal, coerce, or force his authority - he gave and gave and gave and gave. True power is not ruling the world, it is serving the world. True riches are the riches of love, of sacrifice, of humbleness. Jesus, who 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. Philippians 2:6-8

Napoleon is right, Jesus is the king of hearts. He has come not to rule the world, but to rule our hearts. Get behind me Satan! I am not here to conquer the world, but to give my life for it.

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. For it is written:

"'He will command his angels concerning you

to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered, "It is said: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Deuteronomy 6:16

The second part of this verse is "Do not put The Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah". There is context behind what Jesus was saying:

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."

Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?" But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." The Lord answered Moses, "Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:1-7 NIV)

The Israelites were supremely whiny! They had been led out of Egypt, straight through the Red Sea, they followed God, who appeared as a pillar of fire and smoke. They saw Moses have showdowns with Pharaoh and watched the frogs, locusts, hail, and the angel of death avoid their homes and attack the Egyptians. But they were stupid and they grumbled (grumble, grumble, grumble). They mistrust God so strongly that they want to kill Moses.

The Israelites got what they wanted - miracle water gushing from a rock. Why is that so bad? Because God had bigger things planned for them; a promised land flowing with milk and honey. A secure home where they would not wander in the desert and live in tents. God didn't want to give them water for a day, he wanted to give them water forever.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. (Deuteronomy 8:7-18 NIV)

Have you ever heard the phrase, the greatest enemy of the best is the good? God wants to give the people the best, but they force his hand and he must give them the good. He wanted to give them the promised land, a place where they could be forever satisfied, but they wanted water NOW, food NOW, a God NOW (golden cow), and when they refused to march into the promised land, God made them wait in the desert for forty years until everyone who had marched from Egypt had died. I want a miracle now - but had they patience and trust, they would have received anything they could ever want!

Jesus, thankfully is not shortsighted like the Israelites. He is able to stand on top of the temple and know, yes my father could send angels to catch me. Yes, he could even let me hit the ground and raise me from the dead. My Father can do anything! But he has a mission for me, I trust him, an I am not going to jeopardize the salvation of the world to experience a party-trick-miracle.

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

When would the opportune time be?

Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present. (Luke 22:1-6 NIV)

While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:47, 48 NIV)

Satan waits for a more opportune time, when Judas will sell Jesus out. Satan of course is fired up about this notion that Jesus would die, he thinks he has actually defeated the son of God. But in reality, Jesus is forfeiting one battle in order to win the war.

How did Jesus defeat Satan?

How do we defeat Satan/temptation?

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NIV)