Matthew 4:1-11
1 “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
3 During that time, the devil came and said to Him, “if you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
5 Then the devil took Him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple, 6 and said, “if you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,
‘He will order His angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even have to hurt your foot on the stone.’
7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘
‘You must not test the Lord your God.’
8 Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,’
‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.’
11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
I was meditating on these verses this morning, and the Spirit of Revelation overwhelmed me. I have been going through a season of testing; I’m in my wilderness season ya’ll and it sucks. It’s painful. It’s uncomfortable. But the fruit that will come from it is so so good. So let’s break these verses down as Holy Spirit has made them known to me.
First, we see that the Spirit of God is what led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Not the devil himself. But the Holy Spirit. This is already mind-blowing to me. Why would the Spirit of God be the one to initiate the leading of Jesus being tempted by the devil? Now, Jesus is God, and God is Jesus. If you don’t agree, you don’t need to be on this page and I will pray for you. This is for people who believe in Him. Jesus was not surprised by any of this. Jesus knows all, sees all, has all, and is all. He is the Creator of the universe.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” – John 1:1-5 (ESV)
Jesus is the Word that John was writing about.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14 (KJV)
I have often wondered why God allows for us to be tested (in conditions such as this no less). Hopefully you know that shortly before this, Jesus was baptized by John and that’s when Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Now Holy Spirit leads Him into a time of testing so we must not be surprised when it is our time to be tested for the stronger the fire, the stronger the steel. This is also a redemption and a parallel to our first parents in the Garden of Eden and their temptation with the devil. Jesus is the second Adam. This is the foreshadowing to His ultimate victory over temptation, death, and sin.
Fasting should not be a new concept. Our flesh can impede what is really important. Jesus consecrated this time by fasting for forty days and forty nights, focusing on prayer and fellowship with the Father while also being tested by the devil. Why forty days and forty nights? The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years; Moses also fasted for 40 days and forty nights. It is symbolic of redemption and victory of Jesus’ time in the wilderness. Even though Jesus was not surprised by the temptation, He did it to show what all believers and followers would experience and what we should do when we are tempted so we too can be victorious.
What are those tests from the devil? Three different temptations that all humans are susceptible to fall into if you don’t take care to watch your step. Now, hear me out, the devil tempts Jesus with the lust of the flesh first (which, let’s be honest, is the obvious route because he’s been fasting), the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes. Let’s break these down further.
Lust of the Flesh
When you fast, it is an intimacy with God. It is about relationship. Whenever you fast, no matter for how long, you experience the sharp pangs of hunger. These pangs are symbolic of the hunger of our spirit for God and His Word. We are often distracted and can be held captive by the demands our bodies make on us. Fasting should be inconvenient. But also intentional and God-led. You remove the distraction of a satiated body to reveal the truth about how hungry your spirit truly is for Him. This intimacy is something the devil wants to take away from you. He wants you distracted. He wants you to move away from God the Father, and then he will try to plant weeds in your garden about how you view God. He will tempt you with temporary relief to then shift the blame and condemn you for falling prey to his schemes.
Jesus was focused on his relationship and intimacy with God. He knew how much He would need to rely on Him through this temptation and He wasn’t alone. Holy Spirit was with Him. He also did this to show us the truth. That people do not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4); there’s that reference back to Jesus Christ. The Creator of the Universe, who holds everything up by the Word of His mouth, is the difference between us being here and us going home to Him. His Word is what causes the lightning of His cloud to shine, the skies to spread apart, the snow to fall on the earth sealing up the hand of every man, and causes the beasts of the earth to go into their lairs and remain in their dens (Job 37:15, 37:18, 37:6-8).
He is the reason for all existence. The only thing He does not have is our free will. So what we do with that existence is up to us. And He wants people who are going to love Him like He loves us, even though we never could do what Jesus accomplished. Father God also said Jesus was His Son in Whom He was well pleased before He started His ministry and healed people for the Kingdom of God and proclaimed the good news.
So how do you combat this? Know the truth. That you are going to be tested in this way. This is the obvious way to be tested that the devil will try to convolute and pervert your relationship with God. Don’t let him win. Most of us will deal with his minions: demons. Jesus went face-to-face with the devil. Continue to put your armor of God fully on that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, that no fiery dart will penetrate your mind or your heart.
Pride of Life
The second way Jesus was tempted was through the pride of life. Now, this one was interesting to me because I feel like you have to really slow down and know the posture of your heart before proceeding. If you’re not careful, this can become very sticky.
This temptation was meant to target Jesus’ ego (praise God He is meek and humble and loving and gracious and literally everything good and not prideful). The devil brought him to the pinnacle of the temple, which was about 300 feet above the floor of the Kidron Valley. The devil wanted to manipulate Jesus with Scripture, intending to plant a seed of achieving an enthusiastic following, not considering the Father’s will for any of it.
If anything in your mind has to do with your own glory, it probably needs to die. And I say that lovingly. Doing things for your own gain while hiding behind the guise of “doing it for the Kingdom” or for God is a deception. And a big one. But if you’re not paying attention, you could play the hypothetical game in your head of things that aren’t real and idolize them. Where do these seeds start? Discontentment. Discontentment that breeds distrust of God. And the enemy loves that. Be aware that any mistaken beliefs you have about God can be used as a weapon by the devil.
Even though it’s not totally biblical, the show The Chosen is one of my favorites to watch, and this is something you see play out in Judas’ character. He had his own ideas of how he thought the Messiah should save everyone, and he idolized those ideas and those weeds choke out every good seed he had to begin with. Instead of learning the Father’s will like everyone else, he continued to impose his will on the group from a time and place he should have let die and grieved. He was meant to be a new creation. But his heart wasn’t changed. And the weeds grew and grew until they consumed him.
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.” – C.S. Lewis
Jesus taught us through His time here that He was still submitted to the Father and His will. Not His own will. As it must be with us.
So, how do we combat pride of life? Consistently check your heart posture and be honest. If you’re reluctant to have that conversation with God, the devil will have the conversation with you. Have the conversation with Father God about what He wants you to know about Him, so that the seed the devil will try to plant, and the dart he will throw hard (but accurately), cannot grow or hit you. He will tell you and show you Who He is.
Lust of the Eyes
The Scripture says that the devil took Jesus to a very high place. He was elevated, just like He was at the temple. Except this is higher. It’s not just 300 feet above the ground for Jesus to see the kind of influence He would have for the people below, in, and around the temple. In this instance, Jesus could see all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Matt. 4:8). Satan was showing Jesus everything he had dominion over at the time. He showed Jesus what he could give him. This is where Jesus directly tells Satan to leave and he must obey. But not before he is cut to pieces with the sword of the Spirit. Jesus tells Satan that man must worship and serve only God the Father. Can I get an “Amen!”?
What does this mean? We must examine our lives for what might take the place of God in our everyday and ask ourselves the question whether it’s worth your relationship with Christ or not. Could you imagine if Jesus had caved? The first temptation wasn’t even an outwardly bad thing to someone who doesn’t know and understand what’s really at stake or what was on the table. The first temptation was food. Something our Father knows we need. Can there be a pendulum swing to the other side and have a terrible relationship with food on either side of the spectrum (with not eating enough or eating too much)? Absolutely. The difference is heart posture.
So even a “good” thing can turn into an idol. For some the temptation might be power, influence, accolades or notoriety; for others it might be relationships. And even for others, it might be food, or exercise, or grinding at work and never resting, or money, or sex/porn, and many many more. For some it might not even be something tangible. It might be expectations or fantasy. This is not an all-inclusive list. The point is, ask Holy Spirit to search you and know your heart and have Him tell you whether there is anything that grieves His Spirit and He will lead you in the way everlasting (Ps. 139:23-24). We all have something that grieves Holy Spirit (which is kind of the point and part of the journey with God).
Service flows out of worship; what we adore and love, we obey. Worship isn’t something we just do on Sunday or Wednesday nights. It’s what we do all day, everyday. If you aren’t worshipping God with your career, your health, your mind, your friends, your money, then what are you then worshipping? Who are you doing those things for? We are called by Jesus to confront evil with Scriptural truth (our sword), and worship God alone. With our whole lives. With our whole hearts and with all of our strength. Especially when it sucks or it’s something we don’t want to do. This is what separates us from the world. This is what it means to be a true child of God.
Conclusion
Christ lived a perfect life. He kept His priorities on the source of everything and all life: our Father God. Thank Him that you or I didn’t have to carry that weight. That impossible weight that none of us could survive if we had to journey. Jesus our Savior, did that for you and me. And that was just the beginning.
It is my prayer for you that you feel exhorted, convicted to know Jesus, to check your heart posture, and to put on your full armor of God to stand firm against the enemy’s schemes. Have that conversation with Him. He is waiting for you to come to Him with everything you have. He loves you so much. He took you into account when He was being tempted in the wilderness. Could you say the same if you were in His place?
In Christ,
Megan