For a long time I struggled to understand this passage, and I always wanted to know its significance. Some people give it a socio-economical slant. At times, I have resonated with that. But today while reading it, I heard a new, simple understanding. It is nothing profound, but just a simplistic, face-value view of the temptation of Jesus.
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Satan is a deceiver. All of his temptations are twisted words that are made to sound appealing but do not attest to the sovereignty of God. Satan uses a conditional statement here: “If you are the Son of God…” I realized this temptation honestly wouldn’t make sense to Jesus. Because Jesus IS the Son of God, he KNOWS he has no need for bread, but only for God. Satan’s conditional statement is scewed from the beginning. There are no if’s. Jesus IS the Son of God and therefore he knows that all man truly needs is God. And even in the midst of an intense hunger for physical food, Jesus knows He can still trust in God above all. So because of his knowledge of God, he resists the temptation to satisfy his hunger with by turning stones to bread.
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Satan offers Jesus back reign over all the kingdoms of the world. Why wouldn’t Jesus want to have the reign back over the kingdoms of the world? Once again, Satan’s if-then statement is completely wrong. Because Jesus is God, He knows He can ONLY worship the Lord who is the giver and taker of all authority. This is interesting, because, yes, God might have given Satan temporary reign over the kingdoms of the world as even other Scriptures affirm, but God has the final authority. Jesus knows this, and worships God alone. Why? Because He completely trusts God’s perfect plan and sovereignty in giving and taking away authority. Therefore because of his knowledge of God, he resists the temptation to have the authority Satan offers and has faith in the plan of God which will turn out to give all authority in Heaven and Earth to Christ.
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
These passages must make us aware of Satan as the Father of lies. Everything he offers us is manipulated and essentially wrong. Satan gives Jesus another conditional statement that does not attest to God’s sovereignty. Satan’s statement offers to Christ to prove his sonship through only one means: to jump. In light of Jesus’ trust, faith, and knowledge of God, this temptation would not make sense. Because Jesus is God in human flesh, He knows he doesn’t have to prove himself. Jesus has complete knowledge of who He is in God. He completely trusts God’s plan to reveal his glory at the perfect time. Only because of Jesus’ perfect knowledge of the nature of God, can he resist Satan’s temptation to prove his sonship.
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
My question is: Why does Satan tempt Christ in the first place??? I don’t understand this. Does Satan not know the sovereignty and authority of Christ to understand the perfect knowledge of God and therefore have the strength to resist ALL temptation?? I guess not. I think that is what makes him Satan. He doesn’t acknowledge the final authority of God and humble himself to it. He shows this by attempting to tempt Christ, the Son of the all-powerful, all-knowing God. There are no if’s about it. His deceit has no power over Jesus. Jesus’ knowledge of God keeps him safe from temptation. Knowing God inevitably produces trust and faith in Him. Having faith in God alone makes nothing Satan offers appealing. I think that is where our brokeness comes in. If we aren’t filling ourselves with the knowledge of God’s goodness and power, we have no trust and faith. Therefore we have nothing to keep us from falling to the appealing offers of Satan. We attempt to feed our hunger with things that don’t truly feed us. In times of trouble or darkness that will come, we don’t trust in God’s perfect plan and reign. And we are led to attempt to prove ourselves in countless ways when we can in actuality do nothing apart from God.
Jesus is the perfect example of resistance to temptation. His perfect knowledge of God gives him the power to understand the lies and deceit which takes away their appeal. In our waiting for everything to be made new, we too must fill ourselves with the knowledge of God.
