The Temptation of the Messiah, Part 1
Luke 4:3-8
We come to our study of the Word of God, really the high point as we worship, is worshiping the Lord in truth and the Word opens that up for us. Luke 4 is our text. For you that are visiting with us, we are in an ongoing study of the gospel of Luke, the longest gospel in the New Testament. And we have just embarked upon a study of chapter 4, the first 13 verses which have to do with the familiar temptation of Christ in which He enters into conflict with the devil.
Before we look at the text itself, just a little bit of background so you understand how it fits into the purposes of Luke and the purposes of God for Scripture. By the time you get to the fourth chapter of the gospel of Luke, you have been through three very long chapters. And in the first three chapters of Luke's gospel, Luke is endeavoring to prove beyond argument, beyond doubt, that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is the Son of God, that He is the Savior of the world. And so Luke lays down every element of that evidence, every evidence of that proof.
Summing it all up, we can say that the Messiahship of Jesus Christ has been proven by the testimony of angels. Both an angel who spoke to Zacharias and angels who spoke to Mary and Joseph, angels also who addressed shepherds in the field, affirming Jesus the One born in Bethlehem as the Messiah.
Not only had there been the testimony of angels, but there has been the testimony of men and women. Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist knew full well that their child, their miraculously born child was going to be the forerunner of Messiah who would proclaim the arrival of the Messiah which was very soon to come after the birth of the prophet John. Then there's the testimony of Joseph and Mary, both of whom knew that the child granted to them was the Son of God, the Savior of the world, Immanuel who is God with us. There was also the confirming testimony of two very godly older people in the temple, namely Anna and Simeon. There was then, as well, later on the testimony of John the Baptist who said of Jesus that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
So you have the testimony of angels. You have the testimony of people affirming the Messiahship and the Saviorhood of Jesus Christ. Going up even from there you have the testimony of God Himself who at the baptism of Jesus says out of heaven, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The first member of the trinity therefore attesting to the second member of the trinity. Then you have the testimony of the third member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit who descends from heaven and rests upon Jesus, a divine stamp, an imprimatur, signifying the deity and the worthiness of Jesus to bear the title of Messiah, Son of God, Savior of the world.
In addition to the testimony of angels, the testimony of men, the testimony of the trinity, you have the testimony of genealogy. And you will notice at the end of chapter 3 the genealogy of Jesus is given, starting at Jesus, going all the way down to verse 38 back to Adam and back to God. He is in the end Son of Adam, Son of God. His genealogy suits Him to be Messiah. He is Son of God, Son of Adam, He is Son of Abraham and He is Son of David, therefore He is of the royal lineage and has the right to be God's anointed King.
All of this in three chapters is a summation of the evidence to indicate that Jesus and no other is the Savior of the world, the Son of God, the Messiah. There is one other issue, however, in order to validate His Messiahship and that is His ability to conquer the devil and sin. It's fine to have all of these evidences, all of these proofs, all of these credentials in place. But the ultimate question is...can He save sinners from sin? Can He save sinners from the destroyer? From death and hell? That's the compelling question. Can He overturn the curse? Can He get us paradise regained? Can He undo what the destroyer did with the first Adam? Can He conquer Satan? Can He conquer sin and therefore conquer death and conquer hell not only for Himself but for us? And if He can't for Himself, then it's for sure He can't do it for us. And so the compelling question that is answered in the fourth chapter of Luke is the question, can Jesus conquer the devil and sin? And there is a ringing yes to that question.
Here He is engaged in conflict with the devil. It is not a conflict that comes about because Jesus inadvertently finds Himself involved somehow with the devil rather by accident. It is not a conflict that comes about because Jesus made some mistake or made a bad choice and ended up in a compromising situation where He was somewhat vulnerable to Satan. He enters into conflict with Satan prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is not as if Satan came after Him, it is rather as if He came after Satan. The Spirit of God literally driving Him, says one of the gospel writers, into the wilderness, into this conflict because it was absolutely critical at the outset of His ministry that He be given the ultimate test of the power of Satan against Him to see if He could stand that, essential to His messianic credentials.
He had been being tempted as all people are tempted throughout the 30 years of His life up until this point. The writer of Hebrews says, "He was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin." He was tempted as an infant, He was tempted as a small child, tempted as a young child, tempted as a teen ager, tempted as a young adult, tempted as an adult the way everybody's tempted. He never sinned. But here at the launch point as He engages in His ministry, there is a concerted work of temptation not just by the system around Him but by the devil himself, intending to, of course, destroy Him as Messiah. But from God's viewpoint, intending to validate Him as the Messiah because Satan cannot succeed in any way in drawing Him into sin.
So Messiah's credentials then must include His ability to demonstrate power over Satan. This isn't the only time He did it, He did it for 30 years up until this time. He does it here in a monumental conflict. He will do it through His entire ministry as He overpowers the kingdom of darkness and casts out demons anytime He wants in any volume He wants, and can send them to the pit, as we see indicated in His actions. He also demonstrates great power over the force of temptation in the garden and greater power yet as He conquers Satan even in death as He hangs on the cross, and then comes three days later out of the tomb. This is not the only time that He enters into conflict, and, of course, verse 13 says, "The devil departed from Him, only till an opportune time." He was back and he was back on numerous occasions. But this is an initial and monumental conflict that starts His ministry which adds to His credentials as the Messiah by demonstrating His power over Satan and His power over sin. And again I say, if He is not adequate to conquer sin and Satan himself, He certainly can't do it for us. If He is defeated by Satan, then we all lose, there is no salvation, and we are damned.
The Jews knew that Satan had conquered the sinless Adam. The question was, could Satan conquer the sinless Jesus? And the Jews knew that Adam was in a perfect environment. Here we find Jesus in the most imperfect of all environments. If Adam was in Eden, Jesus is in anti-Eden. He is out in the devastation, as George Adam Smith calls it, the rocky precipitous dangerous area in the Judean wilderness that is in the crevices and the cracks, and the canyons between Jericho in the Jordan valley and Jerusalem up on the plateau. It is a very dangerous area. It is an isolated area. It is a barren, dry, desolate area where Jesus finds Himself engaged in conflict with Satan. If Adam had everything, Adam had all that he ever needed to eat, Adam had a kingdom that spread across the whole world, the pinnacle of which was expressed in the magnificence of the Garden of Eden, Jesus was in the opposite situation, He had no food at all and He had no kingdom and possessed absolutely nothing.
So we find Him at the very opposite end in terms of circumstances from Adam. Adam had everything. Jesus had nothing. If Adam was vulnerable, certainly Jesus is more vulnerable if the first Adam collapsed at the first temptation, maybe the second Adam will collapse at this temptation, though He has succeeded in many before this. Maybe the circumstances finally are enough to crush Him and there is no Savior. That's the question that needs to be answered. The answer is that Jesus conquered Satan and He conquered him in very triumphant ways, as we shall see.
And so, Luke tells us here that we have a Savior who can overturn the curse. We have a Savior who is not like the first Adam. We have a Savior who can take all of the fury of the devil and all of the onslaught of temptation and never wince and never budge and never move and never ever even internalize a solicitation to evil. He comes out triumphant and with that Luke consummates, caps off the credentials that identify Jesus as the One and only Messiah and Savior.
Let's read the text. "And Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan, was led about by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, tell the stone to become bread.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone.' And he led Him up and he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and the devil said to Him, 'I'll give You all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be yours.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.' And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand 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 give His angels charge concerning You to guard You and on their hands they will bear You up lest You strike Your foot against the stone.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.' And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time."
If Jesus had fallen to the temptations of Satan, salvation would be impossible and we would all be damned. He is the only substitute. He is the only Lamb. He is the only sacrifice. He is the only one perfect. He's the only one suited to die for sinners. It is absolutely crucial that He win this battle with the enemy, this consummate battle, this pinnacle of all battles, and as the text indicates, He did. The question asked certainly by anyone who understands the process of redemption is...is there someone...is there someone who can conquer sin? Is there someone who can conquer Satan? Is there someone who can reverse the curse? And the answer is, there is, it is Jesus and He has demonstrated His power here. Where the first Adam failed, the second Adam succeeded. In the first Adam we all died, in the second Adam we all live.
So in this text the Son of God is tested, He's tested as to His ability to resist temptation. He's tested as to His impeccability and He is found to be impervious to all temptation. He did only what the Father wanted Him to do. He did always what the Father wanted Him to do. And when God said of Him after 30 years of life, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," God was saying, "He's never done anything, never thought anything, or said anything that didn't please Me." The Father having given that testimony, that testimony is then put to the test in this temptation. It is a temptation which God Himself inaugurates by the Spirit driving Him into conflict with Satan, rather than Satan approaching Him. Because He is triumphant, we can say He is in fact the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has been and continued to be from this point on until His death tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.
This is such an incredibly important account in the life of Jesus that it is recorded also by Mark in chapter 1 and by Matthew in chapter 4. And you will see varying details when you compare those passages.
Now last time we looked at the first point that I wanted you to see, the preparation for battle, the first two verses. Jesus prepared for battle by being full of the Holy Spirit. That is He was permeated or saturated with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Remember now, He is God, He is also man...fully man, fully God. But He as the God/Man set aside the independent use of His deity. He set aside the independent use of His deity and submitted Himself to the work of the Holy Spirit. God's will would be done in His life by means of the power of the Holy Spirit, as we've seen in the past. So the Spirit of God literally permeates Him. The Spirit of God fills Him. You remember God didn't give Him the Spirit by measure, He didn't give out a limited dose or amount of the Spirit but an immeasurable amount. The fullness of the Spirit belongs to Jesus so He moves into His ministry from the Jordan River where He has been baptized and confirmed and commended by God and the Holy Spirit. He moves into His ministry in the fullest measure of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the trinity completely empowering Jesus to do the will of the first member of the trinity who is God the Father.
The Spirit leads Him into the wilderness, into the devastation, into a 35 by 15 square mile area of precipitous cliffs and ravines and rocks, a place of scorpions and snakes and wild animals, a place uninhabited, a place where nothing grows, a desolate part of the Judean desert that rises from the Dead Sea 1500 feet or so below sea level to Jerusalem up on the plateau, about a mile distance. It is a precipitous and dangerous area. And Jesus is there for 40 days and for all those 40 days He is in a conflict with the devil. It is an intense battle, so intense that Jesus doesn't eat anything for 40 days. And during that 40 days He is not even conscious of being hungry because in verse 2 it says that "When they had ended, He became hungry." He has no sense of His hunger. Some of us get hungry if we miss lunch. Some of you are hungry already and you had breakfast. It is hard to imagine someone being 40 days and not being hungry unless you understand the intensity of that struggle that is going on. He is so totally focused on the conflict, so focused on the enemy, so focused on the will of the Father, so focus on doing what is right that there is no thought of anything human or mundane. It is the conflict and the conflict alone that engages Him.
The Father has commended Him. The Spirit has descended on Him to mark out the fact that He is under the full power of the Holy Spirit. The prophet has proclaimed Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The people of Jerusalem and Judea have been prepared by a baptism unto repentance for His coming. He is aware of His divine nature, fully aware of it. He is fully aware of His divine mission. His sacred humanity is under the full power of the Holy Spirit. He is filled with joy because now since all of this was planned before time began, He has waited all this time, He has waited for 30 years in the obscurity of Nazareth. He has now had His official launch at the Jordan. He is at the highest point of anticipation, ready to enter in to His ministry and in that Spirit He engages in the devil...in the conflict with the devil to demonstrate one final great essential credential, and that is His ability to conquer sin and Satan. This is the moment in which He will verify His holy perfection.
So for 40 days the onslaught goes on. It is a preparation, in a sense, for the final battle which we'll see in a moment. But for 40 days it goes on and Satan is unsuccessful in the 40 days because, as John 14:30 says, "Satan has nothing in Me." There was nothing in Jesus, there was nothing in His nature as the God/Man to which the devil could hook a temptation and make it successful. Jesus had no capacity to internalize a temptation. All temptation that came at Jesus came from the outside, none of it came from the inside. There was no internal solicitation for evil. There was nothing in Him that could respond in that fashion. So every response to temptation was immediate. Every response to temptation was precise. And you never ever read about any kind of internal battle going on as if Jesus is fighting off some tendency within Him for iniquity. Satan has nothing in Me, John 14:30.
But after that 40 days of struggle is over, Jesus who is a man, fully man, feels hungry. Satan senses in that hunger a new vulnerability. He senses that in the fact that Jesus is feeling hunger, that Jesus is beginning to feel His mortality, he moves in for what he thinks might be the kill. What happens is three temptations that Satan devises that are the most brash, the most ruthless and the most clever. He keeps them until he finds in Christ this moment of vulnerability.
That takes us from the preparation for battle to the pattern of battle in verses 3 to 12. We'll look at the postmortem when we finish next time. But the pattern of battle is very, very important. The temptations directed at Jesus Christ are unique to Him, and I want you to understand that. What the devil tempts Jesus to do here would not be a temptation to us. We could not be successfully attempted to turn...tempted to turn stones into bread. We could not be successfully tempted to imagine that somehow we could rule the kingdoms of the world, nor could we take a dive off of a 450 foot precipice and expect a safe landing. These are not specifically temptations that could come to us but they are temptations that could come to Him.
However, though specifically they couldn't come to us, categorically they could, and I'll show you that as we go. These temptations come not only with specificity, but they come in a category. The specificity doesn't connect to us, the category does. And you'll see that as we go.
The first temptation is a temptation to distrust God's love...to distrust God's love. Now when I say that you can understand that categorically. Not only can you understand it, you've been tempted to do it, to distrust God's love. You've been tempted to say things aren't going the way I think they ought to go, if God really loved me, I never would have wound up marrying this man. If God really loved me, if God really loved me I wouldn't have wound up in this circumstance. If God really loved me I wouldn't have this illness. If God really loved me my kids wouldn't turn out this way. If God really loved me I wouldn't be living with so much disappointment. If God really loved me He wouldn't have plopped me in this community where things are so difficult. If God really loved me, it wouldn't be the way it is. I wouldn't have gone down the path I went down that is sort of locked me in for a career that I really don't like. If God really loved me I wouldn't be missing the things I think are so important to a fulfilled life. If God really loved me, He'd enable me to do things for my family that I'm unable to do. If God really loved me, I wouldn't be bearing so many burdens. If God really loved me I wouldn't be asking why do the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper?
We can understand that categorically, can't we? That's there. I can't turn stones into bread but I can be tempted to distrust God's love for me. And the question...why it is that I don't have the things that I think would be given to me would be measures in some way of God's love for me. And that's precisely the category, but the temptation is specific. Let's look at it.
Verse 3, "The devil said to Him," all the way through the devil speaks, by the way, with a measure of truth. Deception only works if it somehow has partial truth in it. And so when the devil speaks, he starts from a point of truth. That's the subtlety of his deception. So the devil said to Him, "If...or probably better translated...since," this is a first class conditional with a particle a which is ei in the Greek, and a first class conditional does not presume doubt, it does not presume doubt. So he's really saying..."Since...since You are the Son of God." This is true and this is the measure of truth with which Satan launches the deception.
And by the way, that is the purpose of the first three chapters, to prove He is the Son of God, that He is that holy offspring that the angel described to Mary, that He is the Son of God. And that's what's been going on for three chapters. We've been learning that indeed He is the Son of God. That's not questioned. And I would just remind you, by the way, that the devil never questions the deity of Jesus, the devil doesn't question the deity of Jesus, demons don't even question the deity of Jesus, only the liberals question the deity of Jesus.
That is patently obvious in the Bible that Jesus is God. And it is patently obvious to the demons. They've known Jesus as God before they fell. They were holy angels before they enjoined into Satan's rebellion. They knew Jesus to be God, they still know He is God. There is never a denial of that at any time by any demonic power. No demon has ever recorded to have denied the deity of Jesus Christ, they know He is God and it is always assumed in all their conversations. That's why in Matthew 8:29 the demons say, "What do we have to do with You, Son of God?" They know who He is. You see the same in Luke 4:34 and Luke 8:28.
Satan comes to Him, the devil comes to Him, diabolos as we saw last time, the slanderer, the accuser, "Since You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Or as Matthew puts it, "Tell these stones to become bread," putting together maybe Satan said something like...Tell these stones to become bread, in fact, tell that stone to become a loaf right there. That is the first solicitation to evil.
Now at first glance you look at that and you say...Hmmm, is this a temptation? What's a temptation? It is certainly not a temptation to make bread, bread isn't sinful. Certainly not wrong to eat bread if you haven't eaten in 40 days. In fact, I think bread is a very reasonable thing to eat after a fast of that length. It certainly isn't wrong in itself to create bread if you have the power to create it. Eating bread is not sinful. This is certainly not gluttony. This is not overeating. Satisfying your hunger is not sinful. It's certainly...I mean, hunger is what God gave us in order that we would eat and supply the necessary fuel for our bodies. This is not a temptation either to show off because there isn't anybody there to show off to, this isn't some kind of grandstand play to demonstrate something to a crowd of people because there's absolutely nobody there but Jesus and the devil. This is not some temptation to excessive self-indulgence or satisfaction. And it isn't a sin to meet your own basic human need for food.
What's the deal here? What's the problem? Well it kind of goes like this. The implication here is to distrust God's love. The implica