"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit in the desert, 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." (Luke 4:1,
2)
Now, we're going to take a look at the testing of Jesus. The synoptic
Gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke - all record this testing. John does not
record this incident because he is emphasizing His deity. The synoptic
Gospels place the emphasis upon the humanity of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus was tempted as a man. In the Gospel of Luke He is presented as the Son
of Man. Luke 3:38 says, "The son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam,
the Son of God." As we discussed last week, this is the genealogy of Mary
which traces the line of Christ back to Adam. Being a son of Adam takes Him
right back to the beginning of the race of which we are members. It was as a
human being that He was tempted in all points like we are, yet without sin.
There is a rather frightful and fearful darkness about the temptation of our
Lord. I cannot explain it. There were unseen and hidden forces of evil all
about Him. He was surrounded by powers of darkness and destruction. He
grappled with the basic problems of mankind and He won a victory for mankind.
He won a victory for you and me.
There are several preliminary considerations we need to have in mind as we
look at the testing of our Lord. We are told that He was filled with the Holy
Spirit. As man, the Son of God needed to be filled with the Spirit in order
to meet the temptation. You and I cannot face the temptations of this world
in our own strength. In Rom 7:21 Paul tells us, "So I find this law at work:
When I want to do good, evil is right there with me." In Rom 8:3, 4 Paul
continues, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by
the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that
the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not
live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." We need the
Holy Spirit.
In Deut 8:2, God told the Israelites, "Remember how the LORD your God led you
all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in
order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his
commands."
God was testing the Israelites. We are told that before the Lord was tested,
He was led, (Mark says driven,) by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. The
Lord did not seek the temptation. Even at the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed,
"Let this cup pass from me."
The Lord's temptation did not begin at the end of the forty days; rather, Luke
is telling us that after the temptation He was hungry. He was tempted of the
devil all during those forty days. Satan did not stop tempting the Lord after
the wilderness temptation either. At the Garden of Gethsemane, satan came
after Him again.
We need to understand that satan is a person. Many ministers don't think he is
a person. The Scripture, however, makes it quite clear that the devil is a
person. When he tempted the Lord Jesus, did he come in bodily form? Did he
come as a spirit or did he come as an angel of light? The Bible tells us that
the Lord met him face-to-face. We need to realize that satan is subtle. One
time he is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. The next time, he is an
angel of light deceiving even the elect if he could. "Be self-controlled and
alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour." (I Peter 5:8) And finally, "And no wonder, for Satan
himself masquerades as an angel of light." (II Cor 11:14)
