"And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, " 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'" And he took him to Jerusalem and set him 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 command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4:1-13 ESV – see also Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13)
The Bible tells us that after Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit "drove" (Gk: ekballei = bring forth, to lead forcibly) Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days as Angels ministered to Him (Mark 1:12). The number 40 is mentioned 146 times in the Bible. It generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial, or probation.
- God flooded the earth by having it rain for 40 days and nights (see Gen 7:12).
- Moses lived 40 years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of
slavery (see Ex 2:1-15)
- Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions, receiving God's laws (see
Ex 24:18, 34:1-28).
- Moses sent spies, for 40 days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (see Num
13:25, 14:34).
- Jonah, the Prophet, warned the people of Nineveh for 40 days that destruction would come because of their
many sins (see Jonah 3:4).
- The prophet Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Judah's sins (see Ez 4:6).
- Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb (see 1 Kings 19:9).
- Jesus appeared to the Disciples and others for 40 days after His resurrection (see Acts 1:3).
- 40 different people wrote down the 66 books of the Bible over 1500 years (see 2 Tim 3:16-17).
The Bible tells us that Jesus did not go to some lush and serene mystical place for divine visions, contemplation, or spiritually cathartic introspection. It was a desert wilderness that could have been the desolate and mountainous region now called 'Quarantania' by the people of Palestine, or the great desert of Arabia that was filled with wild animals/beasts and associated with demonic activity (see Deut 32:10; 8:15; Hos 13:5; Jer 2:6; Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:1-14; Luke 11:24). The Old Testament presents the wilderness as a place of wild beasts and was the appropriate location for sin (see Lev 16). When a person was in distress in the desert, the angels of God ministered to them (see Deut 29:5; Ps 91:11, 103:20).
THE TEMPTATIONS
At the end of 40 days and nights of fasting in the wilderness, Jesus was hungry, and the temptations began (Matt 4:2). The word 'tempted' (GK: “peirazo”) means to test, scrutinize, entice, discipline.
The evil one tempted Jesus in person and appeared to Him in a visible form. He spoke to Jesus in an audible voice and then physically moved Him via either a vision or by supernatural means (see Matt 4:5; Luke 4:9).
The first temptation was to turn flat stones found in the desert wilderness and looked like the flat round loaves of Middle Eastern bread into bread. Jesus replied with the words, "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut 8:3 NIV). In response to the challenge to turn stones into bread, Jesus affirms that the Bible, God's Word, is the ultimate, true sustenance.
The second temptation was at the pinnacle (Gk: pterugion = a small winglet of a ledge) of the Temple wall in Jerusalem, where Jesus was challenged to jump off. The devils dare was accompanied by a Bible quotation that God's angels will rescue and bear up God's anointed (see Ps 91:11-12). Replying to the challenge to throw Himself off the wall of the Temple so that the angels could come on a spectacular rescue mission, Jesus cites the commandment not to tempt God (Deut 6:16). In rejecting the offer of all the world's kingdoms in return for allegiance to the evil one, He banishes him with the reminder that God alone merits worship.
The Rabbis taught that there was a specific pinnacle of the Temple where the Messiah would suddenly appear and jump off, floating down to earth sustained by Angels. Jesus responded by quoting the Bible that one should not tempt "the Lord your God" (Deut 6:16)
Before each of the first two temptations, the enemy mocked Jesus with the insinuating phrase "If you are the Son of God." The Greek also permits the translation, "Since you are the Son of God" (Matt 4:3-5; also Luke 4:3,9 ESV).
The third temptation was on a high mountain from which the kingdoms of the world could be seen. The enemy promised to deliver the kingdoms to Jesus. Jesus shut down this temptation by quoting the Bible again and commanding the evil one to leave (see Deut 6:13). The devil left, and then Angels ministered to Jesus.
There are some who believe that the temptations represent the three main categories of all human temptations, “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16 NIV), or the three appeals of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for Eve (see Gen 3:6).
The temptations were a test of Jesus' human commitment to the role the Triune God had prepared for Him. Throughout the temptations Jesus showed the following:
1. His obedient nature as God, the Son, in human form.
2. His humiliation by becoming 100% human.
3. He proved He had power over the tempter.
4. He showed His Disciples how to have victory over temptation and the evil one.
5. By being victorious over temptation, Jesus proved He is able to comfort and rescue those who are tempted
(Heb 2:13, 4:15).
The enemy was trying to force Jesus to be a bread Messiah, a spectacular Messiah, and a compromising Messiah. Jesus continuously faced these challenges throughout His ministry and to the end of His life. When Jesus refused to continue to be a ‘bread’ Messiah, the crowds left Him (John 6:25-68). When Jesus came to the Temple, it was not to perform miracles but cleanse it (Matt 21:12-17). When the people came to make Him king, He evaded them, choosing instead to be exalted ("lifted up" in Greek) on the Cross.
Jesus was continuously tempted/tested throughout His ministry.
- The Jewish leaders hounded Him with questions (Matt 19:3; 22:15-18; Luke 11:53).
- The people demanded supernatural signs and tried to take Him by force and make Him King (Matt 12:38;
16:1; Luke 11:16; John 6:15).
- Even His bothers tested Him (John 7:2-5).
- In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus struggled against the human temptation to avoid the crucifixion, to the
extent that "his sweat became like great drops of blood" (Luke 22:44).
The enemy wanted Jesus to reject the way of the Cross in favor of following a political and nationalistic hope of His countrymen for a Messiah who would deliver them from their oppressors.
Each of Jesus' replies to the evil one were quotes from Scripture as the only authoritative answer to his challenges (Deut 8:3; 6:16,13).
The departure of the evil one at the end of the intense wilderness temptations "until an opportune time" does not contradict the demonic opposition Jesus continued to encounter in the exorcisms or even in Peter's rebuke of Him (Luke 4:13 NIV; Mark 8:33).
The intense conflict would be repeated when the evil one came to Jesus through the treachery of Judas, who was His friend and follower; in Gethsemane and on Golgotha (John 6:71; 13:27). Jesus was thoroughly and relentlessly tempted, yet the evil one could not find Jesus guilty of committing any sin (see Heb 4:15; John 14:30).
The enemy’s purpose of the temptation of Jesus was to do God's will his way. The evil one sought to have Jesus be a Messiah some other way than the way of suffering God had appointed. Jesus did not yield to this great temptation, nor did He yield to temptation at any point. The purpose of Jesus was to follow the will of God.
THE HYPOSTATIC UNION
Jesus came to earth 100% God and 100% human. He retained all of His divine attributes but refrained/emptied Himself from using them. The historical doctrine of God becoming human is known as the Hypostatic Union.
The words “He emptied Himself” in Philippian’s 2:7 comes from the Greek word ‘ekenose,’ and its root word ‘kenoo,’ which can mean "to empty" (Phil 4:7.) The Greek word has also been translated as “He made himself of no reputation," ‘made void,” “none effect,” “to be in vain” (see Rom 4:14; 1 Cor 1:17, 9:15; 2 Cor 9:3). These references refer to abstract principles, such as faith, preaching, or boasting, and none of them refer to a person or even to an object. The use of the word “ekenose” is unique.
The Hypostatic Union is the merging of the divine nature of the infinite God with human nature through the incarnation where the two natures found in Jesus were forever united in such a way that there was no mixture or loss of their separate identity and without loss or transfer of any property or attribute from one nature to the other. His human nature always remains human, and His divine nature always remains divine.
The Hypostatic Union is the greatest paradoxical mystery of the Cosmos that the Creator of all things emptied Himself by taking the nature or form of a servant and slave. It must be accepted by faith (1 Tim 3:16). Jesus fully experienced human life and maintained His humanity while remaining the eternal Creator God without losing, or being without, any of His divine personality or attributes. He embodied His deity and divine qualities while choosing to set aside His divine attributes as His primary method of ministry and was never without them.
Jesus came to earth 100% fully eternal God and 100% fully human so that He could become the final perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of all sin. Jesus never sinned, but He was acquainted with the devastation sins causes. He created ALL things, which includes the enemy and all his minions. God cannot be tempted/tested by evil - period!
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15 ESV)
The Father had the Holy Spirit lead Jesus “into the wilderness” because He was “pleased” with Him and wanted Him to be put to the test as a human by the devil (see Matt 3:17). While the Angels ministered to Jesus during His 40 days of fasting, He was given tests as a human and presented with the option to submit to evil one, who wanted to see if Jesus would, which He did not – ever!
It is because Jesus "suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted" (Heb 2:18 NIV). Jesus is able “to sympathize with our weakness" and is "one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning" (Heb 4:15 NIV). Jesus suffered every general category of temptation. His ability to identify with His people's sufferings is not diminished by His sinlessness but enhanced because only one who has fully resisted temptation's harshest onslaughts can know its full force.
The Bible does not answer the question, if Jesus is divine how could He sin when the devil tempted in the Wilderness? However, it does affirm that He was tempted but did not sin and that He was both 100% fully God and 100% fully human.
Jesus is the Creator God of all things, including the evil one (See John 1:3). God cannot sin or be enticed or tempted with “evil” (Gk: ‘kakos’ = wrong, wicked, evil, destructive, pernicious). The evil one is all those things and more. He lost the fight with Jesus in the wilderness and was ultimately defeated by His shed blood on the Cross. God is not so weak that He still has to fight the enemy constantly. There are still many battles to be fought, but the war of Heaven against Hell was won and victory assured.
During the temptations, the enemy insulted his Creator by his prideful and ignorant attempt to divert Jesus from accomplishing His mission (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:3). It is pure arrogance that the created would think that they could test their Creator to bow down to them. That is why the evil one was defeated at the Cross. It also explains why God resists and opposes anyone who walks in pride but gives grace to those who walk in humility. God is still sovereign and in control. When a person walks daily in humility, esteeming everyone more highly than themselves, God shows them favor in all they do as they submit to Him, and the evil one must flee!
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:6-7 ESV)
Because of their sin nature, every Born-Again Christian must put on the armor of God. They alone remain in a daily struggle “against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).
