Jesus - A Glimpse Of God Part 9

 

Jesus' Temptations

 

Welcome back to our series, AGOG - A Glimpse of God. We are on Day 9 of our adventure, looking together at the life of the most amazing person in human history - Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Today we will look at Jesus' temptations as He starts his public ministry.

Reading from Mark 1:12-13 At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

After his baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert. Matthew and Luke both give a more indepth report than Mark does into what occurred there.  Jesus' temptation experiences in the desert were all part of God's plan at the start of Jesus' public ministry, in order that the type of Messiah Jesus was, would be revealed.

These temptations reveal Jesus' perfect and full humanity. Not only is Jesus fully God but it he is also fully human. Knowing Jesus to be both God and man, satan started his plan of attack against him. After forty days of fasting, prayer and wandering in the desert, Jesus is confronted by satan with three temptations.

First temptation - satan starts by saying "So you are the Son of God." As if to say, "If you are really who that voice speaking at your baptism says you are, then prove it to me. You must surely be hungry by now, so why don't you turn these stones into bread and feed yourself". Satan wanted Jesus to disobey God the Father's will by using His powers for selfish purposes and to doubt God the Father's love and care. Jesus answered satan by using Scripture "'Man does not live on bread alone." (Deuteronomy 8:3). For Jesus, instead of relying on His own power to create food, it showed His trust in God the Father to take total care of Him.

Second temptation - This is satan's encouragement for Jesus to engage in false worship. Satan says it's all yours if you just bow the knee and worship me. Of course satan is as always telling a deceiving half-truth. Though satan has great power, he has no authority to be able to offer Jesus everything he said he would give. He is also not worthy of worship, as his power is always destructive and leads to wanton disobedience and unfaithfulness. Jesus' reply again is from Scripture, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only'" (Deuteronomy 6:13). Jesus here is saying that He will only serve one Master - God the Father.

Third temptation - Here, satan encourages Jesus to take God the Father up on His promised protection. "Throw yourself off the top of the temple. If God is faithful and true, God will catch you and protect you as you start off on this ministry of yours!" Satan also here quotes Scripture in order to make the temptation much more appealing (Psalm 91:11-12). However, this is a misquote, because he doesn't add "in all your ways". Jesus however, quotes Scripture back "Do not put the Lord your God to the test" (Deuteronomy 6:16). In quoting Scripture back at satan, Jesus gives balance to the total expression of God's will and not just part of it.

God the Father fulfilled his promise to care for Jesus, by sending angels to care for Jesus' needs and to protect him. Jesus emerged from the desert experience, the victor, and to continue his ministry. Jesus refused to acquiesce to the lures of satan, and his demands to test God the Father's faithfulness on his own terms. Jesus knows the struggles we undergo, because He has also undergone them. He is not unsympathetic towards us when we are being tempted. What can you learn from Jesus in dealing with your own temptations?

Come back tomorrow for Day 10 of our series AGOG, as we continue to look together that extraordinary man, Jesus Christ, through the Gospel accounts! Tomorrow we will start to look at Jesus' Teaching and how he interacted with people.

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