Luke records three specific temptations that the Lord Jesus
was faced with by the devil in the wilderness just before He begins His three
and half years of ministry. The devil’s main focus for all his temptation is to
distract us, or discourage us, or derail us, from accomplishing God’s will and
His plan and purpose for our lives. God plan and will for our lives always involves
the ministry of redemption and reconciliation for the world of people around us
(2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
The devil’s temptations that we face are the same he has
used from the beginning of time when he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden. They
will involve the “lust of the flesh”, “the lust of the eyes”, or “the pride of
life”. (1 John 2:15). The devil tempted Jesus to satisfy His hungry flesh by turning
a stone into bread. Next, he tempted Jesus with the “lust of the eyes” by
showing Him the kingdoms of the world and promised to give them to Him if He
would fall down and worship him. Now in verses 9-13, the devil tempted Jesus
with the “pride of life” by asking Him to do something spectacular in front of
everyone by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem.
It is also interesting to note that Satan questioned the
Father's love when he tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread. He questioned
His hope when he offered Jesus the world's kingdoms this side of the Cross (see
Heb. 12:1-3). Satan questioned the Father's faithfulness when he asked Jesus to
jump from the temple and prove that the Father would keep His promise (Ps.
91:11-12). The enemy attacked the three basic virtues of the Christian life, faith,
hope, and love. Satan continues to do the same in our lives today!
The pinnacle was probably a high point at the southeast
corner of the temple, far above the Kidron Valley. Satan can tempt us even in
the Holy City at the highest part of the holy temple! Following the example of
Jesus, Satan decided to quote Scripture, and he selected Psalm 91:11-12. Of
course, he misquoted the promise and besides he omitted "in all thy
ways." The devil loves to deceive us into using passages from the Bible to
make excuses for our selfish desires to do what we want to do.
When a child of God is in the will of God, he can claim the
Father's protection and care. But if he willfully gets into trouble and expects
God to rescue him, then he is tempting God. (For an example of this, see Ex.
17:1-7.) We tempt God when we "force" Him (or dare Him) to act
contrary to His Word. It is a dangerous thing to try God's patience, even
though He is indeed long-suffering and gracious.
Our Lord's reply was, "on the other hand, it is
written" (Matthew 4:7); and He quoted Deuteronomy 6:16. Jesus balanced
Scripture with Scripture to get the total expression of God's will. If you
isolate verses from their contexts, or passages from the total revelation of
Scripture, you can prove almost anything from the Bible. Almost every false
cult claims to be based on the teachings of the Bible. When we get our orders
from God by picking out verses from here and there in the Bible, we are not
living by faith. We are living by chance and tempting the Lord. "For
whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23), and "faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17).
Satan tempted Jesus to do something spectacular in Jerusalem
where the religious world was watching to get their attention to begin His ministry.
Jesus answered with God’s Word and reminded Satan that He knew Who He was.
Jesus claimed here to be “the LORD your God”. Jesus basically was saying,
“I know who I Am, and I don’t have to do something spectacular to prove it.
My friend, knowing who we are “in Christ” is our great
protection and provision for overcoming sin and all the temptations of the evil
one. (Roman 6 & 8). The Lord is not wanting us to do something spectacular but
to simply walk faithfully every day in the will of God by the Word of God.
God bless!
