In the first article of this series we briefly explored how we can know that Jesus was in fact tempted and by whom. We considered how Satan introduced mankind to temptation through the employment of outright lies and deliberate misquotation and misinterpretation of God’s word as he deceived Eve and put Adam to the test. We saw how Adam’s ambition led him to sin and we took thought of a few ways Satan might challenge us in our day-to-day lives. Let’s continue now by examining more closely what is specifically disclosed in the record of Jesus’ temptation, beginning with where it happened and why it happened in such a place as it did.
Matthew 4:1 says, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil,” and the latter parts of Luke 4:1 and Mark 1:12 describe the scene in the same way as “the wilderness.” In each record a form of the Greek eremon (or desolate place) is translated to the word “wilderness.” We might envision such a place as being a barren wasteland, remote, inhospitable and unfit for human habitation. Perhaps it was even a downright hazardous place to be; altogether it was surely an unpleasant place to spend time. So why would Jesus, the Son of God, go to such a place? Because it was the venue chosen by God for this episode to occur; it was where the Spirit of God led Jesus to go, and in a moment we’ll look more closely as to why Jesus was isolated there.
Consideration of the latter verses of Matthew chapter 3 or Luke 3:21-22 as well as Mark 1:9-11 tells us that the leadership of the Spirit to this place occurred immediately after Jesus’ baptism in Jordan. The Greek anEchthE is translated “led” in Matthew while Egeto (a synonym) is found in Luke. Mark uses an even stronger verb – ekballei (compelled or cast) – to communicate what happened. Setting the context, Jesus has just been baptized and those in attendance have seen heaven “…opened.” They saw the Holy Spirit in the bodily shape of a dove as it descended upon Jesus and they heard a voice from heaven identifying Jesus as God’s “…beloved Son” and unequivocally pronouncing of Him, “in thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21-22). Jesus knows it is now time for Him to go about the next order of redemptive business by submission to a trial by Satan, not only for proving Him but for instilling within Him and demonstrating for us His complete understanding of humanity; He feels urgently compelled to answer this calling and won’t be satisfied until it has been accomplished because He knows he must in the flesh be able to sympathize with us in all ways. Being God, Jesus then allowed His actions to be “led” by God’s Spirit. Mark 1:12 says the leading into the wilderness or casting into this desolate place happened “immediately.”
When our spirit is in tune with God’s Spirit we too can be led to do God’s will in countless ways, motivated to accomplish His will in our lives, the lives of others or both. Such opportunities might take shape as the offer of roadside assistance to someone with a flat tire or the cutting of our neighbor’s grass a time or two as he recuperates from a brief illness. Maybe our neighbor is elderly and his illness is debilitating so that chores stack up with which he and his wife require assistance from time to time. It could be that she’s a widow and too independently-minded to ask for our help, but we should never lack compassion or be so proud that we fail to recognize the needs of others and proactively offer to help when we can. We may be led to offer our time and energy a few hours weekly at an outreach shelter, or our mentoring and support to a youth group at our church. Maybe our opportunity is something as simple as cheerfully retrieving an item from the top shelf in the market at the request of a wheelchair-bound person. Whether we realize it or not the people around us take notice of such things and through our actions see the love of God working within our hearts and through our hands as we follow the leadership of the Spirit in these matters. Such acts may open a conversation during which we can share the Gospel. God may also give us opportunities to perform less-noticeable acts of compassion as well, like surreptitiously keeping watch over the blind woman crossing a busy intersection or foregoing our favorite evening television program to answer our coworker’s questions about the Gospel when he calls privately. One can surely see an endless list of possibilities, and whether we pause to think about it or not our actions do not go unnoticed by either God or the people of the world around us.
Contrary to the leading of God’s Spirit we can also surrender to the ‘leadership’ or tempting offered by Satan and his demonic subjects. Do not be deceived my friends, they’re a busy at their tasks. Satan or one of his demons may whisper into our ear something like, ‘You’ve got places to go and things to do. Keep driving! So what if that pregnant woman with two children in the car has a flat tire?’ or ‘Your elderly neighbor’s grass is no concern of yours unless it detracts from the value of your property,’ or ‘So what if the old widow next door needs her gutters cleaned because her husband died of cancer last year? They were never friendly toward you anyway.’ Satan may say, ‘Why do you want to volunteer at a shelter for the homeless? You have a job and a home of your own to look after,’ or he may ask, ‘What’s the big deal about a youth group? You’re too old to be of any relevant or positive influence in the life of a young person.’ He may ask of the blind person at the crosswalk, ‘She has a white cane in her hand, so of what concern is her safety to you?’ Satan may turn the tables of temptation toward something more eternal: ‘Joe wants to know about the Gospel? Yeah, how ‘bout tomorrow over lunch, ‘cause this week’s episode of All I Ever Wanted was Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll is on the tube?’ Now why would we, as disciples of Christ, be watching a program like that anyway? Maybe it’s because we’ve already been drawn away and yielded to temptation. Satan invariably wants us to turn our attention upon gratifying ourselves and away from serving God and others.
According to Luke 4:1 “Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness…” This (Greek plErEs) fullness is indicative of being saturated, overflowing or beyond containment, which is correspondent to Mark’s description of Jesus being compelled. How often are we as God’s children and Jesus’ disciples “full” of the Holy Spirit to such an extent? Does it happen in a worship service? As we sit at the dinner table with our family while offering heart-felt thanks for not only the food before us but also the oft-overlooked blessings God so freely bestows upon us? Surely it should happen at private times of study, prayer and meditation. It might happen at some opportunity to extend the hand of God to someone through service. Maybe our lives would be better and easier if we were “full” all the time.
How Long Was Jesus In The Wilderness?
The three accounts under consideration are in agreement that Jesus endured “forty days” of inhospitable conditions in the wilderness, but was the specificity of this number significant? Perhaps. It is broadly accepted that in Scripture the number ‘4’ and its multiples are symbolic of totality, carrying over into our thoughts today when we think of the ‘four corners of the earth’ or make mention of the ‘four winds.’ There are four cardinal directions on our compasses. The number four figured prominently in Old Testament construction of the temple and the altar. Israel spent forty years in the desert. The New Jerusalem described in Revelation chapter 21 is built “four-square.” Forty, being the sum of four multiplied by ten, is likely important when we consider in a moment that it exemplifies the totality of Jesus’ physical, emotional and spiritual conditions in the wilderness.
To us six weeks of isolation in an unfriendly environment would surely be perceived as a very long time, and in purely human terms Jesus must have viewed it in much the same way. As humans it is often difficult for us to look beyond the here and now, the immediately-needed or ardently-desired to fully focus our vision on anything longer-term than a human span of life. In spiritual terms, though, forty days may have seemed to Jesus as only a moment because He had a view toward a much larger picture – our eternal future and the sacrifice He would soon make for the redemption of the world.
What Did Jesus Do During Those Forty Days?
All three accounts are in agreement regarding the duration of Jesus’ stay in the wilderness. Mark’s brief account (only two verses) says little of what went on but Matthew says in 4:2 that Jesus “fasted.” Luke writes in chapter 4 verse 2 of his record, “And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they (the forty days) were ended, he afterward hungered.” To fast in this context is to physically abstain from food as a release of the mind and body for the purpose of concentration upon prayer and spiritual things, and it was to that end that Jesus secluded himself for this extended period. Now, forty days is a long time for anyone to survive without food. While there are cases where twenty days or even a few more are recorded in secular history they are exceptionally rare, but the Bible is clear that Jesus endured for twice that long. Luke’s words “he afterward hungered” would then seem to be a gross understatement but can surely be taken literally, as these are the Spirit-inspired words God has provided for our insight and understanding. You may recall from the previous article that Jesus’ human body was subject to all the same frailties as are our bodies. So intense was Jesus’ concentration upon spiritual matters during this time and so intimate was His communion with God the Father that physical care of self was a secondary consideration as He prepared for what was to come. After forty days without food the physical body would surely have been weak and susceptible to any and every temptation to acquire sustenance or satisfy the flesh. That condition precipitated the first of Satan’s attempts to challenge and tempt Jesus.
What Happened Then?
To answer that question let’s first take a look at the event as Mark recorded it in chapter 1 verse 13: “And he (Jesus) was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.” Peirazomenos is the Greek word here translated “tempted.” We may recall from prior analysis that in this form the word indicates the on-going action of being tried, leading this writer to conclude that the temptation likely began immediately upon Jesus’ arrival in the wilderness and was a continual and ever-escalating trial that reached its zenith with Satan’s personal presentation of himself to Christ. When we later consider the end of the episode the point will probably become more clear.
The semicolons in Mark’s account are also of important note. On a casual reading one might determine that Jesus was surrounded by wild animals and attended by angels throughout His forty-day test. The semicolons, though, separate the Hebrew phrases into individual structures. Jesus was in the dwelling place of wild beasts, a description of the wilderness; He received the ministry of the angels only after the trial. As Matthew 4:11 says, “Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came (afterward) and ministered unto him.”
Both Matthew and Luke state that Satan opened his dialogue with Jesus using the words “If thou be the Son of God.” He didn’t ask ‘Are you the Son of God?’ as though there was any question requiring clarification but rather to present a bait to which he hoped Jesus would rise. How ludicrous! Jesus of course knew who He was and so did Satan, and when Jesus didn’t take the bait Satan eventually abandoned the tactic, as we’ll later see. Consider that by removing Himself not only from food, comfort and companionship by secluding Himself in a desolate and abandoned place, there was no one else near so that Jesus was without the support of family or the encouragement of friends. Except for His spiritual communion with the Father and the presence of Satan Jesus was utterly alone, but he could never lose his identity as the Son of God. His stomach might have been empty and his human emotional state one we can’t fathom but remember – He was “full of the Holy Ghost” for attendance to spiritual matters.
Then Satan issued a challenge that Jesus “command that these stones be made bread (Luke’s account says “this stone”). As evidenced by Jesus’ many subsequent miracles, He certainly had the spiritual power to have commanded any stone or many stones to become bread or any other form of food He desired or that his physical body needed. Here, then, enters the temptation and the significance of “forty” and its symbolism of totality. Jesus was totally weak at this juncture and totally bereft of any physical comforts, human companionship or friendly encouragement, yet even in the most totally weakened physical state we can imagine, even in a state of total emotional isolation like none we might envision Jesus was able to exercise total restraint of His body because He was prioritizing the kingdom of God, as He later instructed his disciples to do in Luke 12:31 when He said, “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things (food, clothing, shelter and material needs) shall be added unto you.” It’s likely that by now you’ve identified this as Satan’s appeal to the lust of the flesh of which John wrote in 1 John 2:16. There are two other basic types of lust we’ll consider as we go along.
How Did Jesus Respond To Satan’s First Temptation?
To begin with, Jesus knew precisely who he was dealing with – fallen Lucifer. Just as Jesus didn’t lose His identity when He was alone in the wilderness neither does Satan lose his identity simply because he puts on the dog. Just as the believer can never lose his or her identity as a child of God, Satan and his demons will always seek to masquerade as something they are not. Unlike Genesis chapter 3, the Scriptures do not here describe the form Lucifer assumed for his encounter with Christ, but as was the case with Eve in the garden of Eden it seems probable Lucifer would want to make himself as presentable as possible to give himself the best chance for success. His goal was to draw Jesus away from truth and righteousness and to entice Jesus with self-gratification, thereby to thwart the redemptive plan of salvation. If Jesus had yielded to temptation and thereby sinned He would no longer be qualified to offer Himself as the sacrifice mankind so desperately needs and Satan would have won his struggle for possession of the world and the kingdom that is rightly Christ’s. Satan would have wanted to begin his celebration immediately and strut his stuff for everyone to see. Were I to wager, my money would be behind him wanting to look his black-hearted best for the occasion.
This was a ploy Jesus easily saw through. Matthew 4:4 reads: “But he (Jesus) answered (to Satan) and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” This is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 8:3 which says, “…that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” Parenthetically I’ll insert here that translation of words and phrases from one language – Hebrew in Deuteronomy to Greek in Matthew and Luke – is often problematic, and it is likely that Jesus’ native tongue was Aramaic. Yet another language – Old English – was introduced into the formula in 1611. While as translated this is not a word-for-word quote the thought conveyed is doubtless the same. The record of Christ’s reply in Luke 4:4 is not much different: “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Jesus had His flesh under control because His concentration was upon the word of God.
This is one example of why it is so important for us to memorize Scripture. When faced with temptation Jesus not only chose to reject temptation but to successfully counter it with the word of God. Such knowledge and the employment of it at critical times can work for us just as it did Jesus when we seek the “way to escape” of which Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “For there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it,” while seeking the kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke. We may conclude from this citation that it is God who provides the way to escape but it is we who must constantly be on the lookout for it as we enter any situation, and when temptation does beset us it is we who must choose to actively seek the way out. Having the Scriptures ready to hand and at the forefront of our minds is one way to escape temptation. Beyond merely memorizing Scriptures, learning the underlying precepts and principles they convey is also of paramount importance to their proper application.
Satan Tries A Different Approach
When he approached Jesus for the purpose of tempting him directly Satan first appealed to what we might perceive as the most urgent of Jesus’ needs – the physical demands of the flesh. The human body requires food, clothing and shelter to survive for any appreciable period of time. Jesus was likely dressed adequately if not comfortably for His time in the wilderness, as Scripture makes no mention of it; he must have had sufficient if not comfortable shelter from the elements, perhaps in a small cave or under an overhang of rock but we aren’t told about that. By this time of testing what Jesus’ body required was food, so that was the first enticement Satan offered. When that approach failed and Jesus did not “lust” to satisfy his “flesh” Satan “taketh him (Jesus) up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple” according to Matthew’s account. Recall the comments above regarding translation and two things will be noted as we consider this phase of temptation and the one to follow. First, Matthew and Luke have them recorded in reverse chronology yet otherwise in total harmony. Second, although the two translations differ in wording they are completely harmonious in conveyance of the event under consideration – Satan’s appeal. Luke’s account says, “he (Satan) brought him (Jesus) to Jerusalem (the “holy city” of Matthew’s account), and set him (Jesus) on a pinnacle of the temple.” Matthew writes that Jesus was taken to this lofty place while Luke writes that He was “brought” to the peak of the temple in Jerusalem. In either case, Satan was right there alongside at what was likely something on the order of 180 feet or more above the ground. We may also want to remind ourselves that Jesus is God and Lucifer (Satan) was created, meaning Satan is in no way greater than his Creator. Jesus cannot be forced to go anywhere he doesn’t wish to be even though we find him here indulging Satan’s crafty wiles to some degree for the purpose of proof; in the end Satan will be cast by force into the lake of eternal fire and damnation (see Revelation 20:10).
From a height such as the pinnacle of the temple one could surely have gazed far into the distance; Jesus was neither dizzied by the height nor impressed by the view, but as they were taking it in Satan combined the ploy he had just unsuccessfully used against Jesus with one he had successfully used with Eve about four thousand years before – he misquoted Scripture. Satan began by once again trying to introduce the challenge of doubt, “If thou be the Son of God…” as though that identity weren’t already well established in both his mind and Christ’s, and continued with the challenge “cast thyself down.” Without delving into the physics involved I’ll just point out that such a leap, whether deliberate or accidental, would certainly be fatal to the human body. Jesus knew that and Satan knew that Jesus knew, so he introduced another element into his assault – the deliberate misquotation and thereby misapplication of Scripture. To tell the most convincing and passable lie one must incorporate a least a measure of truth. Satan knows that and it’s a tactic he uses often. “And (Satan) saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone,” (Matthew 4:6).
The Scripture to which Satan referred is Psalm 91:11-12 which reads: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” What Satan actually said, though, is subtly but significantly different. Did you catch it? Satan deliberately omitted the phrase, “to keep thee in all thy ways” when he said, “…He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Satan took away from Scripture through omission and deliberately added the phrase “lest at any time.” What Satan quoted might at first seem accurate in and of itself but it was incomplete and amended and therefore both inaccurate and misapplied as he tried to turn the word of God toward his own dark purpose.
As we encounter temptation we must be careful for the appearance in which it is presented. As already speculated, when he approached the fasting Christ in the wilderness Satan had probably assumed a very appealing visual aspect of some sort. After forty days without food Jesus’ physical body must have appeared haggard and worn and weak while Satan probably strutted before Christ as though to say, ‘Look at me, fleshed out and well-fed and feeling fine. All you have to do is use your power – if you have any – to turn that rock into a cheeseburger.’
When that alone wasn’t enough to draw Jesus away from his own righteous purpose Satan again attempted to introduce doubt before issuing a challenge, a sort of schoolboy ‘I dare you’ taunt for which Jesus was prepared. Satan’s misapplication of Scripture didn’t fool Jesus in the least and He replied with an accurate rejoinder quoted from Deuteronomy 6:16: “Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Careful consideration of the broad Hebrew text regarding temptation carries thoughts of probing, pricking, poking at or even doubting. Jesus’ response was to quote Scripture accurately, completely and properly applied within the instructional context of Deuteronomy chapter 6. There are those today who either innocently or maliciously do the same thing as Satan and we must be on guard not to fall into the trap of ‘Oh, that sounds good,’ or ‘Yeah, that’s close enough’ or to agree complacently with ‘Whatever.’ We must also be careful to recognize the dares and challenges Satan issues for what they are and not attempt by our own will anything God doesn’t want us to do. That important phrase omitted by Satan, “to keep thee in all (Hebrew b-kl, a non-exclusive term) thy ways,” is inclusive of body, mind and spirit. Here Jesus overcame another another category of temptation – the pride of life.
There may be times when we are tempted to do something ‘just because we can’ or to try something because Ed can do it and we feel a need to prove that we’re at least as good as Ed with a sort of ‘I can do anything you can do but I can do it better’ attitude. We want to show off. If Jesus had succumbed to such a prideful demonstration by giving in to Satan’s dare instead of restraining Himself and deferring to the power of the Father at least two things would have happened. First, as God in the human form and being the Son of God, Jesus’ physical life would have certainly been preserved because God’s word is true and sure but second, because God’s word is true and Jesus would have sinned we, you and I and all others ever to live on earth, would have been eternally doomed and without a sacrificial Savior. John 3:16 identifies Jesus as God’s only Son – there is no other, and no one of solely human birth is qualified to sacrificially bear our sin debt.
The Third Time Around
If we envision the pinnacle of the temple as being at a great height and the view of Jerusalem far below as impressive then the next place Satan took Jesus and the view that accompanied it must have really been something to see. Convinced that his first two gambits had failed, Satan attempted one more appeal. Mark 4:5 tells us “And the devil, taking him (Jesus) up into an high mountain…” and Matthew 4:8 describes this venue as “an exceeding high mountain…” so that it was probably the highest peak we can imagine. From such an altitude the grandeur and beauty spread in all directions before us would likely leave any of us breathless but Satan, abandoning an attempt to instill doubt or issue a challenge and knowing he was running out of options, decided to go all-in – as well as fleshly satisfactions and bragging rights he offered Jesus wealth and the influence it brings on its coattails. Matthew tells us the second part of this third ploy, that Satan “sheweth him (Jesus) all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” Luke’s account (4:5) clarifies that this happened “in a moment of time (Greek stigmE or instant),” or as we might say, ‘at the snap of a finger.’
The Greek word translated “all” here is pasas, a form of the word panta which is a term that is comprehensively inclusive and excludes nothing. It is likely then that in the “moment of time” of which Luke wrote Satan spread before Jesus’ view every human kingdom that had existed to that point in history as well as every one that ever would, from least to greatest. Even when considered at its lowest degree it was surely the most splendorous sight Satan could offer. His appeal to the fleshly gratification associated with ruling as a king was coupled with the pride associated with influential position before he added a third element – lust of the eyes. Jesus was not, as we will see momentarily, in the least bedazzled.
Kingdoms are ruled by kings, and kings are proud and wealthy folks. Nothing within their realms can be denied them, there is no place within their domain they are forbidden to go. Wealth beyond imagination? They have it, often by means of taxing their subjects to the point of abject poverty or even starvation. They wear only the most elegant attire and eat only the finest foods, live only in the most immaculate palaces and sleep on only the most comfortable beds. They command armies and acquire more territory, wealth and influence by conquest. At the height of kingly debauchery they indulge in any sensual pleasure they wish in the moment before tossing that distraction aside to grab hold of another. But Jesus didn’t view these kingdoms in that way at all and he neither then nor now places any value on being that kind of king. Jesus had then as He has now a broader and longer-range view, for while what Satan offered was material and might in some immediate sense have been satisfactory to the flesh or bolstered Jesus’ pride it could only have been temporary at its best. Surely all the finery looked enticing and would have satisfied the lust of the eyes of which John wrote, but Jesus’ eye was upon the spiritual rather than the material, upon the everlasting rather than the temporal.
Jesus stands in line to inherit a kingdom that puts all those of the world to shame – the kingdom of God which He will righteously rule as the “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” prophesied in Revelation 19:16. Satan’s lie here is that he could somehow empower Jesus to rule all the kingdoms He could see, to amass all the wealth spread before Him and to exercise all the influence that went with such a position, but Jesus knew those things are temporary at best; His coming kingdom is eternal, and it is toward that kingdom that Jesus looked not with the physical eye but with a spiritual vision.
Satan introduced a condition at this point in his attack on Christ: “if thou wilt fall down and worship me,” Matthew’s account says, while Luke’s says, “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.” This condition is so utterly false as to be totally discounted by Jesus and should be, therefore, by us. Satan had no power to give anything to Jesus because everything Satan showed Jesus already belongs to Him anyway. As if that point weren’t enough to turn Satan away Jesus quoted Scripture again, this time from Deuteronomy 10:20. Satan could neither twist toward his own purpose nor in any way attempt to refute the Scripture that reads: “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.” While once again we see slight differences in the quotation based on translation from one language to another to yet another we can easily grasp the concept. The Hebrew word translated “fear” is thira, or reverently worship. “Swear” (Thshbo u-b-shm-u in Hebrew) means to keep your commitments by His power and in His name. Unlike philosophical points, all three of Jesus’ quotations in response to temptation incorporate God’s commands, and when faced with this one Satan had no answer.
Satan Gives Up… For A While
In my mind’s eye I can envision the scene developing something like this… Jesus is baptized in Jordan and immediately led into the wilderness. Satan follows and observes from a distance for a while, just to see what’s up. Then Satan sets on a plan of action and sends a demon to remind Jesus that He’d be far more comfortable with a blanket and goose-down pillow than sleeping on a bed of straw and stone – all Jesus has to do is snap his fingers. Satan then sends another demon to point out that Jesus’ stomach wouldn’t be growling if he’d only envision his favorite meal appearing before him – it would be quite a nosh. A third demon is sent to tap Jesus on the shoulder and prompt him to invite a few friends over to share conversation and maybe even a flask of wine or two just to loosen everyone up and get the party started on a good foot. All three of these demons fail in their assignments so that Satan eventually does what any attacking general would do in a battle he thinks he can ultimately win – he sends reinforcements, who also fail. This goes on repeatedly in a seemingly-endless cycle as Satan continually steps up the efforts of his demonic underlings until demons are swirling around Jesus’ head like bugs around a summertime street lamp but all to no avail so that at last, after forty days of ever-more intensifying assault, Satan recalls his troops and tells them, ‘Step aside, boys. I’m the heavy hitter; let me show you how it’s done!’
As he approaches Jesus, Satan might have thought he had our Lord in just the right place at just the right time and in just the right physical, emotional and psychological condition to win the day. Jesus is debilitated and physically weak, alone and isolated. Outwardly Jesus looks vulnerable and Satan has decided on a plan of attack. As the episode unfolds the devil tries his various lies and deceptions, his multiple enticements to fulfill needs or desires, he issues challenges and exerts pressures that are in all cases met face-on and thwarted. He appeals to Jesus’ immediate physical needs, he dares Jesus to manifest His power in pride and he waves trinkets before Jesus’ eyes, yet still Satan is foiled at every turn until at last the devil is left no recourse but to withdraw from the encounter scratching his head and asking himself how his magnificently-conceived plan could possibly have fallen so miserably short of his evil goal.
Here’s how – Satan isn’t God. God is Creator; Lucifer was created. God’s plan for the redemption of mankind is eternally perfect; Satan’s plot is to destroy anything and everything associated with God. God is omnipresent, meaning He is in all places at all times while Satan is limited as to what he knows and where he can and cannot go (we’ll expand on that point in a future article). God is omnipotent, meaning He is powerful and sovereign over all things; Satan’s power is limited to what God allows him and he is sovereign over nothing. God is omniscient and knows all; there are some things Satan doesn’t know – about either Jesus or you and me. Again, these points will be considered and expanded upon in subsequent articles. Some people acknowledge that God is God but mistakenly equate Satan with Him while that isn’t at all the case. Is the intricately devised and artfully constructed watch in some way greater than the mind that designed it or the hand that manufactured it? Is the painting in some way greater than the painter? God is the Creator of everything and gives physical life to us all with the eternal desire, motivated by His unbounded love for us, to provide redemption and establish eternal communion with us. Satan is the enemy of mankind and desires only to destroy as many people as possible, but if Satan could be everywhere at once he needn’t have to be on the prowl as Peter the Apostle warned us when he wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, like a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).”
God has a perfect plan for the world, the people in it and for our redemption. If you haven’t yet read the Future History series concerning the Revelation on this website be warned that I’m about to spoil the ending for you – we win, not by our own power but by the power of God the Creator manifest in Jesus. Victory already belongs to all who place their faith and trust in Christ. In the next and subsequent articles we’ll take up what happened after Satan departed the scene and begin to consider how all this works into God’s plan as well as how Jesus, and thereby we, benefited by the trial He endured.
Until then be vigilant, be studious, be prospered and be blessed…
Tom