Jesus Passes the Test! - Matthew 4

Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “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.’”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Right after Jesus is baptized and receives the commendation as God's son whom the Father loves, he is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  I think it is very interesting that the first thing that happens after Jesus receives the Holy Spirit is that It leads him into the wilderness.  What gives? Obviously there is something God the Father wanted to teach His Son.  Let's try to find out what? 

Remember the word for "tempt" is the same word for the word "test" in the original language.  Notice too that the word "tempter" is the same name given to the "devil".  Later the word "Satan" is used for the "tempter".  So we might say all three names are used to describe what we also call in the Lord's prayer "the evil one".  Now we see the nature of the devil's temptation.  

In each of the three temptations Satan tries to get Jesus to take matters into his own hands to meet his own needs.  First, Satan knew he was hungry, so he tried to get him to to turn stones into loaves of bread.  It would have been reasonable for Jesus to do this because he was really hungry but it was how the devil was doing it that was the problem.  But Jesus fights fire with fire.  Instead of giving into the temptation to use his powers before it is time, he quotes an Old Testament scripture from Deuteronomy 8. This was when God was teaching the Israelites to trust in him, as he provided them manna in the desert.  Similarly God is asking Jesus to trust in him even though he is hungry.  

Satan tempts Jesus two more times with different types of temptation but the result is the same.  Jesus uses God's Word from the Old Testament to stand up under the test.  As Jesus comes out of the gate after his baptism the first thing we see is that he relies on God's word offensively when he is tempted.  Though his emotions and needs may have tempted in him to give into the devil, it was God's word which gave him strength.  Why? Because God's Word is truth.  The devil deals in lies.  His basic lie is to try and get us to trust something other than God and his word.  

We are all tempted every day in many ways.  The value of being in God's word every day is that just as we need bread every day to eat, we need a fresh dose of the God's Word to feed us. God's Word feeds our souls so that when we are tempted, we will recognize the lies of the evil one.  Think about a way you are being tempted right now.  What is the nature of the temptation you are experiencing right now? How would giving into it be a result of not trusting in God? What would the consequences be? What verse might help you separate truth from lies?  Be strong and use Jesus' model of overcoming temptation.  It will make you stronger and more like him.  As you are being tempted remember that God always wants what is best for you and the devil wants to bring you down.  As you overcome temptation you will experience the abundant life that Jesus came to bring!