1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
4But He answered and said, "It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."'
5Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
| "He shall give His angels charge over you,' |
and,
| "In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone." |
7Jesus said to him, "It is written again, "You shall not tempt the LORD your God."'
8Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
10Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve."'
11Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.
Jesus was just baptized by the Holy Spirit. God just announced to everyone there that Jesus is His Son and that He is proud of Him. Immediately the Sprit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Note, God was already proud of Jesus before He battled wits with the devil. I don't think the Holy Spirit sent Jesus to the wilderness so God could see how He would react to the tests. I don't think God ever tests anyone. God loves us always. He needs no proof of tests in order to love us. But the devil does test us. He does what he can to lead us away from God.
Immediately after being baptized, Jesus let the Spirit lead Him. The Spirit does not always lead us to a place where we would like to be. But remember, the Spirit lead Him to this place. I don't think the Spirit took Him there then deserted Him, but stayed with Him to help Him with the devil's temptation. The Spirit will help us too with the temptations with which we are faced.
And what did the devil tempt Him with? Jesus was hungry. He had the ability to even turn the stones into bread. I don't think the devil's temptation was as simple as satisfying Jesus' need to eat, but to use His gifts to satisfy personal desires. We are all given gifts from God. Just as Jesus could have easily used His abilities to turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger, we could easily use our gifts from God to satisfy our many personal desires. No, there is nothing wrong with satisfying some personal desires, for he didn't say man does not need bread, but that man does not need bread alone. We need food to eat. God wants us to be happy. But we must be careful that satisfying our personal desires is not our only goal. It should not be as high a priority as meeting God's desires for us.
The next temptation didn't seem to me to be anything that Jesus would easily fall for. Why would Jesus throw himself from a tall building? Why would He have any interest in seeing if the angels would protect Him? I get the impression here that the devil isn't doing this kind of test to test the doubters who are unsure of God, but to test the believers. I was surprised when I looked up the scripture this is quoted from, Psalm 91:11-12, that it is not just referring to the Son of God, but to anyone who has made the Lord God his dwelling place. God is our refuge and the angels will protect us too. But even so, we are not to throw ourselves headlong into something stupid with the assumption that God and His angels will take care of us. Expecting a miracle from God for a situation we set up ourselves is testing Him. God does not test our love for Him, we are not to test His love for us. God loves us and wants what is best for us. But He shouldn't have to prove His love in an unnecessary test.
The next temptation didn't seem like it could have been much of a temptation for Jesus either. He already has the kingdom of God. How could he possibly desire the kingdoms on earth? The devil wasn't asking Jesus to worship only him, but to simply fall down and worship him. Look at all the extra power, riches, and glory that Jesus could have had if He would simply add this one little thing, worship the devil, to what he already had in his life. There are times in our lives when it seems like we could gain so much more if we just add one little thing to devote a small portion of our lives to, be it work or play, be it power, riches, or glory. It doesn't take much time, and doesn't interfere with the time we currently spend doing what God wants. So how can it hurt, right? But if we are devoting even a small portion of your life to it, we are giving up devotion that should be given to God. God wants all of our devotion. There is no room for devotion to anything else.
The devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness. These are the same temptations we face every day. The Holy Spirit guided Jesus, and Jesus always had the right answers. The Holy Spirit will guide us too and provide us with the help we need when faced with these same temptations. And what is the best defense against these temptations? Jesus always answered the devil by quoting scripture. By studying scripture we too will be armed with the right responses to the devil.
God gave us freedom of choice. The devil will always be there to tempt us away from God. But after our battles with the devil, and we send him away from our presence, I like the thought of the angels being there to minister to us too.
By the way, I think it is interesting that when the devil quoted scripture, he left out one line. Psalm 91:11-12 says:
| 11For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. |
The devil didn't mention that the angels would do this to keep you in all your ways. Sly guy, using Scripture and leaving out key pieces for his own purposes, huh?