Eve might have been the first person Satan went after, but she
wasn’t the last. Satan, in his
arrogance, even tried tempting Jesus.
One of the places we read about the Temptation of Christ is in Matthew 4:1-11 (More of this
account can be found in Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13).
Temptation is never as great as when one makes a spiritual
declaration like Jesus did when He was baptized in the Jordan.
Matthew 4:1-2: (1) Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (2) And
after He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry.
The stage is set: After
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptizer, Jesus was led into the wilderness to
be tempted by the devil. In His human
form, Jesus was at a weak point, vulnerable, alone, fasting, and ready to begin
His ministry; that was the perfect opportunity for Satan to make his strategic
attacks.
The instinct of self-preservation had to have kicked in which
made Jesus’ response even more remarkable.
Satan looks for opportunities to tempt us too especially when we’re
preparing to make choices or do something of a spiritual nature.
Matthew 4: 3-4: (3) And the tempter came
and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones
become bread.” (4) But He answered and said, “It is written:
‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes out of the
mouth of God.’”
Satan appealed to the physical side of Jesus by offering Him a
way to fill the hunger He was surely experiencing but Jesus responded with
Scripture. This points out the
importance of knowing and even committing Scripture to memory.
Had Jesus given into His hunger, He would have been placing
more emphasis on his personal desires than on God’s will. We too should question decisions that place
more emphasis on our personal desires than on doing God’s will.
Matthew 4:5-7: (5) Then the devil took Him
along into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the
temple, (6) and he said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw
Yourself down; for it is written: ‘He
will give His angels orders concerning You’;
and ‘On their hands
they will lift You up, So that You do not strike Your foot against a stone.’”
(7). Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written: ‘You shall
not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Satan tried to taunt Jesus into proving He was Who He claimed
He was. Satan tried to get Jesus to rise
to the occasion and go ahead of God’s plan instead of submitting to God’s timetable. Satan misused Scripture but Jesus responded
with the correct use of Scripture, He didn’t let him get by with it!
If Satan tried to twist scripture with Jesus, don’t think for
a minute he won’t try it with us too. The better we know Scripture, the less likely
we’ll be deceived.
It also seems that Satan was attacking Jesus emotionally,
could he have been trying to get Jesus to question God’s love for Him by
taunting Him to test God? Would he do that
to us? I think all of us who are serious
about our relationship with God know that he not only would but does!
Matthew 4:8-10: (8) Again, the devil took Him
along to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and
their glory; (9) and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You
fall down and worship me (10) Then Jesus said to him, “Go away,
Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve
Him only.’”
Satan wanted control in heaven and now it seems that he’s
introducing the ‘control’ issue to Jesus.
Could he be trying to entice Jesus with the idea of having complete
control as he seemly wanted.
Satan tried to entice Jesus to make selfish choices instead of
submitting to God. Satan might have been
trying to feed Jesus’ ego as well, the temptation was to entice Jesus to exalt
Himself. Satan knows no limits when he
strikes his blows!
And finally, Satan knew that if he could get Jesus to fall
down and worship him, then he would have won the battle that he began in
heaven. Aren’t we glad Jesus stood firmly
on God’s Plan and Word!
Matthew 4:11: Then the devil left Him; and
behold, angels came and began to serve Him.
Luke 4:13 adds additional info to the account …
“When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune
time.”
When Satan saw that he wasn’t going to successfully manipulate
Jesus into doing what he wanted Him to do, he left Him until an opportune
time. Satan conceded to losing this
battle, but he didn’t concede the war. 'An opportune time’ lets us know that he was already looking for his
next opportunity.
If Satan continually tried to tempt Jesus, he’ll continually
try to tempt us as well!
Jesus left us the example of how to overcome!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~
This series of lessons was researched, written and taught by Patsy Norwood in a ladies' Bible class in 2022.
It is my prayer that it is beneficial to you in your walk with God.
In part 4, we're going to find the answer to the question of, 'Do we even stand a chance?' I hope you'll come back for that. Part 4 can be found HERE!
May God be gloried in all that we do,
No comments:
Post a Comment