“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”’ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”’ And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

There are many – ultimately innumerable things that make Jesus amazing. He is the Image of the Living God, and so all that there is to be fascinated and amazed by that might be found in the Father, is also revealed in the Son. Part of what is so staggering to try to wrap our minds around is something that we’ve discussed previously – the fact that Jesus was fully human. God is not some distant, aloof deity, detached and unconcerned as the pagan gods so often are displayed. In Matthew 10:29–31 Jesus says,

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

God holds an intimate knowledge of all creation, and a concern for those that He has made in His image. But just as God is the very embodiment of Love, Truth, Peace, and Wrath, all things that we are all acquainted with to some degree, He is also vast and unknowable. He states in Isaiah 55:8–9,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Because of the overwhelming gap that exists between God’s perfection and our unrighteousness, His omniscience and our profound limitations, we can sometimes lose sight of the pieces of Himself that He’s revealed. So often when we look at Jesus we see only the Man, or only God, and we lose all sense of what it means that He was perfectly, fully both simultaneously. In Luke 3 we saw the testimony of John the Baptist that the Christ was coming, we saw the baptism of Jesus, the testimony of God concerning the Son, and the descension of the Holy Spirit – the Trinity displayed in one picturesque scene, and God revealed in the person of Jesus. We then looked at the genealogy, this extensive list of names, tracing Jesus from the first son of God, Adam, highlighting the authenticity of His humanity. But despite the evidence, it’s something we still lose sight of, constantly combating the ignorance of our flesh, only truly understanding through the enlightenment of the Spirit, that Jesus Christ came as both God and Man. The gospels are saturated with examples of both, inviting us to see the Truth, and recognize the reality of what God has done for us, and one fascinating example of this is the passage we find ourselves in today – the temptation of Jesus. This event is recorded in all three synoptic gospels, with Mark having the briefest account, saying in Mark 1:12–13,

“The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.”

Matthew and Luke meanwhile give almost identical breakdowns, their only significant differences being that the second and third temptations are presented in alternate orders. We’ll talk about that a bit later and why it’s in no way the issue that some will try to make it out to be. Regardless, what we’re given in every description, more fleshed out in Matthew and Luke, is something that perfectly displays the indescribable harmony manifested in Jesus’ complete humanity, and His complete divinity. Because God can seem so distant from us, and because Jesus is God, we can sometimes see Christ as this sterile, caricature of a person. Jesus is painted as a shining human imitation, perfect without effort, in no way challenged by His flesh. This is something that is really fed into by the Gnostic idea that Jesus was never actually human, but was a spiritual being that only appeared human, and acted His way through the events of His life, including His crucifixion. The problem (one of the many problems) is that this isn’t at all what Scripture has to say about Jesus – nor is it even what secular history has to say about the person, Jesus of Nazareth. By historical accounts, He existed, was crucified under the authority of Rome, and rose from the dead three days later. By Biblical accounts He was a Man, born from a human woman, who grew from an infant into an adult. He wept, He bled, He experienced fatigue, sorrow, joy, and anger – and He experienced temptation. Hebrews 4:15 states the extent to which Jesus personally experienced and understands human temptation, saying,

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

And this is the point that highlights the intersection between humanity and divinity, because while every man who has ever lived has felt the pull of temptation, and the subsequent yielding to sin, Jesus was tempted without sinning as no other human ever has. James 1:12–15 tells us,

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

When we are tempted in our flesh, we sin. Maybe not every time – though there are certainly those unbridled monsters who give themselves over to every desire and passion – but as an eventuality, we do not stand firm against the lure of sin, but will ultimately give in to it, cherish and delight in it. Jesus did not just face a single temptation without yielding to sin, He didn’t just endure forty days of spiritual pressure and harassment from the enemy, culminating in the three great and specific temptations that we read of in Matthew and Luke – Jesus lived a lifetime of humanity under the weight that we all experience, and yet He did what no man could ever do and did so perfectly without sin. Jesus as a Man did something that God alone could do, because Jesus is also God. Bearing this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the temptation of Jesus, the victory found in Him over sin and death, and the deliverance that is known through Christ, and Christ alone.

The Might of Christ before the Tempter

1. Deliverance in the Provision of God

“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”’”

Jesus stood before Satan and his temptations without sin, not just because He was some really good guy, or because He was super smart, but because He was God made flesh. Jesus was not lured or beguiled by the offerings or suggestions of the enemy because He was entirely about the Father’s business, because He was the very manifestation of the His will. We’ve talked before about the wilderness not necessarily being a bad place, but a place of refinement, testing, and drawing closer to God. While Jesus had no need of refinement, already being full God, this is still a hugely significant event. Jesus didn’t require a baptism of repentance, being sinless, however the baptism showed His obedience before the will of the Father, and revealed God’s approval and testimony concerning the work of His Son. Similarly, Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness was not a needed time of testing for Jesus, but serves to display the reality of His perfection and obedience as a Man under the Law. It is yet another proof and assurance that God offers us that we were in no way owed, and the account stands as both testimony to the might of Christ, as well as assurance as to how we may know deliverance in Him. Paul writes in Ephesians 6:10–18,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication…”

The armor of God, the defense we are so graciously afforded against the spiritual forces that seek to kill us in a very permanent way, is a deep well to explore. There are things we can take away from each piece, and great comfort and assurance that we can know from how we have been equipped. But for now, what I’d like to draw your attention to is the last and singularly offensive piece of the armor – the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Word of God, His eternal will and Spirit, is manifested in Christ, which is testified to in John 1:1–3,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

The Word is also found within Scripture – not the leather and paper of the Bible, but the Spirit that marks every word of every line. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16–17,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Hebrews 4:12 states,

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

When John witnesses the glorified Jesus while exiled on Patmos, he writes in Revelation 1:16,

“In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

Later in Revelation, at the end of the battle at Armageddon, we read in Revelation 19:21,

“And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.”

Returning to the armor of God, the armor that we as Christians are dressed in, we can see that the sword of the Spirit, the sharp, two-edged sword that is the Word of God, is something that we can know and see come to life in our lives through the movement and enlightening of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. This is something that Jesus illustrates through the process of His temptation, as He doesn’t stand on individual authority as a Man when combats the words of Satan, but cites Scripture, standing upon the inerrant authority of His own eternal Word. Each of the three temptations has a different angle, a different style of appeal, while all being a lure into sin. The first is fairly straightforward – Jesus has been in the wilderness, enduring temptations for forty days, and during this time He hasn’t eaten. Satan’s first attempt is that Jesus sate His hunger, and turn the stone that is before Him into bread. We know from the miracles that God displayed in the Old Testament, and the ones worked throughout Jesus’ ministry that producing food from essentially nothing was not only well within the infinite scope of the power of God, but seems comparatively simple when set next to the grand works we see unfold at His hand. What then is the issue, where exactly is the sin? There’s a few things to consider, firstly the way that Satan poses his statement,

“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

This isn’t some practical encouragement for Jesus to satisfy His hunger after His fast, it’s a challenge that He prove who He says He is. In Matthew 16:1–4 we see one of the many encounters between Jesus and the religious rulers,

“And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, ‘When it is evening, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.” And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’ So he left them and departed.”

Jesus did not provide signs on command, He did nothing to answer the whims of the world, or their continual desire that He prove to them who He was. Consider conversely, those who came to Jesus seeking signs and miracles out of sincere and desperate faith. Matthew 8:2–3 says,

“And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”

In Matthew 9:20–22 we read,

“And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well.”

And Matthew 9:27–30 tells us,

“And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’ When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’ And their eyes were opened…”

When Jesus acted, when He answered the needs of the people it wasn’t in response to a request for some parlor trick, and it also quite notably wasn’t in service to Himself. He makes this abundantly clear when He tells His disciples in Matthew 20:25–28,

“… You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

And Jesus acts out this teaching in John 13:12–17,

“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

So, returning to the temptation, where was the sin in what Satan was encouraging? It was a call for Jesus to use His own miraculous power to satisfy the mortal needs of His flesh, and an attempt at manipulating Him into performing this miracle just to prove that He is who He says He is. But Jesus doesn’t launch into an explanation as to why He’s the Son of God and doesn’t have to prove it to Satan, and He won’t be coerced by the enemy – instead Jesus quotes part of Deuteronomy 8:3, which says in full,

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

If you’ve ever fasted before, even for just a day, you can appreciate what lack of food does to a person. There are many health benefits credited to fasting, and in our current culture it can almost be seen as a fad at times, but the simple matter is, it’s not exactly pleasant. Hunger can shorten your temper, sharpen your words, and cloud your judgment. There comes a point where almost any food sounds desirable, and I can only imagine the hunger that would grip a body after fasting for forty days. It’s no coincidence that Satan’s first temptation is food, and it is no small thing that in this moment Jesus is not beguiled or enticed, but rests completely and fully on the provision of the Lord. Bread in the wilderness calls us back to Exodus 16:4,

“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.’”

And to Jesus ultimate declaration that in John 6:47–50 that He Himself is the bread of life,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.”

And so we can see in how Jesus stands firm through the first temptation, speaking the Truth of the Word, and looking entirely to the provision of God, both the nature of His own victory, and how we are delivered into the same.

2. Deliverance in the Worship of God

“And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’”

As I mentioned earlier, Matthew and Luke present the second two temptations in alternate order, with this offer of worldly power taking place third in Matthew’s account. As I also alluded to, this is something that critics and opponents to the Truth of Scripture will latch onto as an inconsistency and claim that it discredits the entire account, or the inerrancy of Scripture as a whole. There are a few reasons why this simply isn’t the case, that those who blow this ordering out of proportion are simply using this as an excuse and not a sincere critique of the text. First, there’s the fact that the same pieces of information are communicated in both accounts. It’s not as if each author lists different temptations, they’re just presented in a different order, and they’re one off. A common take is that, as with many other things, since Matthew is writing with a particular appeal to the Jews, and Luke with a particular appeal to the gentiles, they each order the temptations to help illustrate something to their particular groups. I understand this, and I’m not saying it’s wrong, but I think there’s something larger to consider, that we’re clued in to by the language that Luke uses,

“And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time”

In a moment, Satan shows all the kingdoms of the world, everything that is under his control, handed over to him in its sin-stained condition – which, if you think about it, isn’t even all the kingdoms that exist at that point in time, but all that would ever exist until the end of days, each under the power and sway of the one that Paul calls “the god of this world” in 2 Corinthians 4:4. Was the temptation of Jesus a real event that took place over the course of human history? Absolutely. But it would be a mistake to think that something that is unfolding in the spiritual realm, that exists in time and yet has qualities that operate throughout and across time, must somehow be nailed down to an exact order or be deemed invalid. Matthew and Luke’s ordering have a slight variance, and that’s worth noting and considering, but it doesn’t merit questioning their account as whole, or compromise inerrancy. Returning to the point of Satan’s wording here, interesting because as I mentioned, he’s certainly offering all the kingdoms of the age, but he may very well be offering all the kingdoms that will ever be. To a human, this sounds like a power that would be established forever, but it’s not, because there’s a distinct difference. To be offered authority that lasts until the end of time, is not the same as being offered something that is eternal, because time will come to an end – this entire universe, and all the heavenly bodies along with it will ultimately come to a final and fiery end. Satan is trying to coerce Jesus, not only with a world that He holds final governance over, but with something that is diseased and dying. Jesus tells Pontius Pilate in John 18:36,

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

And so Satan’s attempt to entice Jesus with the lure of worldly power is, to no one’s surprise, remarkably shortsighted and beyond foolish. That being said, it would be a mistake for us to think that it was an empty offer or that it held no appeal. Scripture makes it clear that in its fallen condition, the world is handed over to Satan, and is under the influence of his spirit. Jesus doesn’t call Satan out for offering something he cannot give, because as the tempter says,

“… for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.”

We also have to remember that while He was fully committed to the Father’s will, Jesus didn’t want the agony of the cross or to suffer the wrath of God poured out upon Him. Mere hours before His crucifixion, we see as He prays in Matthew 26:39,

“… My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

And again in Matthew 26:42,

“… My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

The desire of the crowd was that their Messiah would come and take the world by force, that He would overthrow Rome and establish Jerusalem as a permanent world power. The temptation of Satan here is not just that Jesus betray the righteous Truth that God and God alone is worthy to be worshiped, but that He would forsake the plan for the world’s salvation and pursue a path of expedience and power. But Jesus’ will is God’s will because the Father and Son are One. What Satan offers is not the path that Jesus knows was laid out before Him, not the cup that He was to drink, and so His desire, and His obedience was to the will of the Father, not the desires of His own flesh.

“And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”’”

Again, as Jesus denies and counters the temptation of Satan we see as He quotes from the Old Testament – combating the enemy not with words newly delivered in the moment, but Scripture that was written hundreds of years prior. Deuteronomy 6:12–15 states,

“then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.”

In many respects it doesn’t matter if you bow down before an empty idol who cannot see, think, feel, or do anything to enact its non-existent will upon the world, or if you worship Satan who has the authority to hand over all the kingdoms of man and all imaginable worldly power – any worship that is devoted anywhere but God is blasphemous and sinful, because there is no one and no thing that is worthy of worship but God and God alone. It doesn’t matter what is being offered, it doesn’t matter how alluring or practical we think the powers of the enemy to be – they are poisoned gifts leading only to death as is the only wage for sin. Jesus states in Matthew 16:24–26

“… If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

There is no prize worth forsaking the will of God, no power or token worth rejecting the One who is worthy of all praise, taking what is due to Him alone and throwing it away on something else. Jesus doesn’t bother articulating all the reasons that Satan’s offer is worthless and toxic, but returns us to Scripture, to the core of the matter and draws us back to the fact that it is God alone who is our deliverer, and He alone who is worthy of our worship.

3. Deliverance in the Trust of God

“And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.”

“Here we see an interesting turn as Satan moves from simply speaking on his own, to quoting Scripture himself in an attempt at coercion. What Satan quotes here after setting Jesus at the highest point in the high city of Jerusalem is Psalm 91:11–13, which states,

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up,    lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.”

His quote itself isn’t twisted, but the context it’s presented in and the counsel it’s used to justify most certainly are. Psalm 91 begins by saying in verses 1–2,

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’”

And the Psalm closes by saying in verses 14–16,

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Will God provide for and care for His children? Absolutely. Is it within the power of the Lord to save from any threat of danger? Without question. But what Satan is doing here is the same thing people so often do with passages like 1 Peter 5:7, where they focus entirely on this verse,

“… casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”

Suddenly God is your therapist, He’s the place for you to dump every festering care and worry, He’s your source of warm fuzzies. People neglect the verse that comes right before, where 1 Peter 5:6 frames up the context for how we come before God, saying,

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you…”

Because we are informed and taught through the Word, it is the great temptation to chop Scripture into pieces and use them individually to justify our desires and actions. But a section of Scripture, taken out of context and abused no longer abides in the Spirit that made it Scripture to begin with. Our strength is not in our own might, or our own ability to take and manipulate what God has given us into something our flesh finds desirable, but in the Lord Himself and His mighty hand. His strength is not lavished upon us by abusing His love and kindness, but by trusting in and surrendering before His righteous will. Psalm 28:7–9 tells us,

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. The LORD is the strength of his people;          he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.”

And Romans 8:31–39 says,

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We suffer here because we’re still sinners in a fallen world, praising God and testifying to His mighty work, in spite of the hardships we face, the suffering we endure, and the brokenness of our condition. This does not mean that we cast ourselves into harm’s way, somehow imagining that we can abuse God’s power to intervene and manipulate our Creator into action. We place our faith in our Father in heaven, our love and trust is for Him and Him alone, and this shapes our relationship with trials and suffering. Not that we recklessly throw ourselves into danger, abusing God as our lifeline, but that we freely trust and believe in His deliverance in the face of hardship. Paul writes in Romans 5:1–5,

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

We live with a boldness because of the assurance we have in Christ, a fearlessness known only through His eternal security – but this doesn’t mean that we test God, that we attempt to force His hand to reveal more of Himself than He has, or to behave recklessly, presuming upon His grace and favor to save us from the peril we’ve thrown ourselves into. To seek to manipulate God is to imagine that we somehow have control over God, and to think that we have any control over the Lord is to deny that He is Lord at all. At the conclusion of these things, we see as Satan withdraws, but Luke pulls attention to the fact that this is “until the opportune time.” The Devil has just come to Jesus at a time where, in His flesh he was more worn down and depleted than we can imagine, having fasted and already endured countless temptations for forty days in the wilderness. Each temptation has its own flavor of appeal – the bread that would feed His empty belly, the worship that would win Him the kingdoms of the world, the deadly feat that would seek to manipulate the hand of God into action. Despite the allure of each temptation Jesus denies them all, He walks away from His encounter with the enemy, just as blameless as when He entered. He has refuted lies and deception with the righteous Truth of the sword of the Spirit, battering Satan’s darkness with the Light of Scripture, and is fully victorious against the schemes of the enemy. And Satan, defeated as he has been every time he has sought to oppose God, shows that he has again learned nothing. The serpent shows no repentance, he shows no comprehension for the wickedness of his ways, or even any discernment to the utter idiocy and impracticality that he somehow thinks to gain any ground in a war against God. He is a fool, as well as a liar, and a deceiver, and a murderer, and apparently the stupidest creature to ever wander the planet because the fool learns nothing as he loses again, and again, and again. He knows nothing of God’s deliverance because he stands eternally condemned – he looks, but does not see the provision of God that is displayed in Christ and in the lives of all believers, the right worship of God that Jesus shows in His humanity, and that the children of God are joined together in, the enemy cannot comprehend the trust we are afforded in our Father, regardless of the trials the mortal world brings upon us. Satan clearly has no inkling of these grand and wonderful things – but praise be to God, we do. We are given a clear and beautiful depiction of them through the endurance and victory of Jesus Christ as He stood before the tempter and emerged without spot, we are called to and reminded of our eternal hope as we see the One who is fully God and fully Man triumph where no other could, and we may know an eternal security in the work that He has both started and finished, that all who are saved by Him may be reconciled to God, now and for all eternity.

Pastor Chris’ sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIfFAoe5k4s