The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:1-11

GOLDEN TEXT: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”—Hebrews 4:15

THE apostles record the temptation of Jesus along the lines of selfishness, after His anointing with the Holy Spirit. Doubtless as a child and as a young man He had temptations along this line, such as are common to others, and doubtless His perfection of being made this as nothing, so all-pervading must love have been in the very constitution of a perfect being such as He was.

The thought may come as a surprise that a temptation could be as great, yes, much greater, after the anointing of the Spirit. This, however, was the case. Moreover, it is well to remember that our golden text, “tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin,” does not refer to the ordinary temptations experienced by our Lord in common with others before His anointing. It was our Lord’s trials, temptations and victories as a new creature that constituted Him the Captain of our salvation and our pattern—“Tempted in all points like as we [new creatures] are.”

We should never voluntarily go into temptation. Reverence, humility and caution should deter us. We should have such a realization of our own imperfections that we would seek to avoid temptation and pass by on the other side of it. Nevertheless, when temptations do come to us, we should be of good courage, remembering that greater is He who is for us than all they that be against us, that He has promised never to leave nor forsake us, and that His strength shall be perfected in our weakness if we will by faith accept of His aid.

Only the tried ones could ever be declared overcomers. If we be without trials, without temptations, without difficulties, we may be sure that we will never be overcomers, and never receive the crown of glory and joint-heirship with our Lord as the Head, the Leader of the overcomers. We are not forgetting the request of the model prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” But for the foregoing reasons we prefer the rendering of this verse given in the Emphatic Diaglott, “Abandon us not in temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” As our Lord declared, “It must needs be that offences [trials] come.”

Our Lord was led by His own Spirit, His own mind, to go into the wilderness and thus indirectly into trials and difficulties there experienced. So it is with the Lord’s followers. It is through their holy minds, or dispositions, the result of their full consecration to the Lord, and their reception of the begetting of His Spirit, that they too, are led into temptations, trials, difficulties, similar to those which our Lord experienced.

The account in our lesson speaks of our Lord’s temptations as occurring at the close of His forty days in the wilderness, but Mark and Luke, in referring to the same forty days, imply that our Lord was tested for the entire period. Both thoughts are evidently correct: He was tempted during the forty days, tested, tried as respects His own mind, His own disposition, to do the Father’s will, while the temptation narrated in our lesson which occurred at the close of the forty days, was a special conflict with Satan—diabolus.

And we might remark here that this name diabolus is always in the Greek used in the singular number, evidently referring to Satan, or the prince of demons. The matter is confused before the mind of the English reader by the fact that our Common Version Bible uses the word devils, in plural, whereas the Greek in such cases is a totally different word, signifying demons.

The first suggestion of the Adversary was that the Lord turn the stones into bread. After His forty days’ fast He was very hungry, doubtless, and the tempter’s suggestion to Him was as that of a friend. How insidious was this temptation! It had in it many elements of truth, and gave the appearance of being kindly and well-meant. There was just one flaw which our Lord’s keen mind discerned, and His loyal heart at once repudiated the advice.

He reasoned: This Holy Spirit, whose power I have received in My body, was not intended to be used for self-gratification; it was My begetting of the Spirit as a new creature, to the intent that as a great High Priest I might lay down My life, and sacrifice Myself as a human being. Jesus’ reply therefore was: Bread is not the only thing by which man shall live; every word of God is a Word of Life. I have been feeding upon this heavenly food, I am strong in My spirit, in My determination to do My Father’s will. I will not use improper means for My refreshment of body. The Father will be able to make up to Me whatever disadvantages accrue through My faithfulness to Him. His will be done in Me.

The second temptation suggested by the Adversary was of an easy way to attract the attention of the multitude and convince them that He was possessed of supernatural power. The suggestion was that He plunge from the roof of the Temple and God, His Father, would surely protect Him from harm in so doing. Jesus’ reply was that, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Doubtless His study of the divine plan during the preceding forty days, and the conclusions He there reached, quickly settled our Lord’s decision that He could not take such a course, that it would not be consistent with the divine plan which He saw outlined in the Law and the prophets, and that in thus leaping from the Temple parapet He would in a measure be tempting God by going contrary to the established laws of gravitation.

All of these temptations were of the devil, but from different standpoints. The third one was Satan’s own temptation in a special sense or degree, in that it was along the subtle lines which he himself had seemed to follow in all his works as an adversary of righteousness. He is the great deceiver, whom in the Millennial age our Lord Jesus shall bind that he deceive the people no more.—Rev. 20:3

In this temptation Satan intimates a sympathy with our Lord’s work, as though he would suggest that he deplored the wretched condition of the world, to which he had been a witness for 4,000 years, and that he was now ready to join with Jesus in the work of lifting the people out of their fallen state. His proposal was to turn over the entire matter to Jesus, to exert all the influence in his power which he desired amongst men, to lift them up, to bless them, to do them every good, if Jesus would but recognize Satan in connection with this dominion of earth. Our Lord’s answer came promptly. We might paraphrase it thus:

“Oh, Lucifer, it is true that you have great power, that you could co-operate, that you could also on the contrary oppose the work in which I am engaged, and to which I have just consecrated My life. You rightly judge that my flesh shrinks from such a terrible conflict as I realize is before me, and that if the work is to be accomplished in an easy, peaceable manner, it would be My joy to have it so, but I remind you that My life is not consecrated to the work, but to the Father, My God, and from this standpoint you are not only God’s opponent, adversary, but also My adversary, in that you are endeavoring to alienate My affections and loyalty from Him. Get thee behind Me, I will not recognize thee, I must follow the right course, well expressed in the Scriptures which say, ‘Thou shalt reverence the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.’ There can be no compromise. You are on one side in the matter, and God is on the other. You may oppose Me in My work in every way within your power to the extent that the Almighty will permit you. No more can you do, and if in the Lord’s providence it shall bring me trials, disappointments, pain, suffering, death, I have already pledged Myself to God to the full extent of all this.”

The temptation was ended. Our Lord’s firm and uncompromising loyalty to the Father was fully vindicated; He was prepared now for the ministry of three and a half years, and knew to expect the opposition of the Adversary in every sense of the word—even unto death, even the death of the cross.

QUESTIONS:

How could it be that Jesus was tempted more severely after consecration and baptism than before?

Explain how Jesus was tempted in all points like His brethren.

What were the three temptations presented to Jesus by Satan, and how did the Master meet them?

| Home Page | Table of Contents |