Triumph Through Temptation

In an earlier chapter we saw that Jesus' human nature and divine nature are different, yet unified, leading to some wonderful mysteries.10 As a picture of His humanity, Jesus was asleep on a boat in the middle of a storm (8:23). Then, as a demonstration of His deity, He stood up and calmed the wind and the waves (v. 26). He was (and is) fully human and fully God. So, in His humanity, Jesus was tempted as we are. Yet, in His deity He was not tempted, for God cannot be tempted (Jas 1:13). These are mind-boggling realities, for which an illustration from Russell Moore may help.11

Think of the person in this world that you love the most. Picture their face, and then ask yourself, "Could I murder that person?" Immediately you're thinking, "Absolutely not!" And in that response, what you're thinking is, "I don't have the moral capability of murdering that person." But if you understood my question, "Could you murder that person?" in terms of physically performing an action, though it's unfathomable to you, it would be physically possible. Even so, Jesus, in His deity, as the light of the world in whom there is no darkness, could not have sinned. He is morally incapable of such an action. Yet at the same time, Jesus could have sinned in the sense that He was physically capable of eating bread or throwing Himself off a temple or bowing the knee to Satan. In this way, Jesus was fully tempted as we are (Heb 4:15).

Matthew 4:1-11

Having looked at some difficult questions related to Jesus' temptations, we now turn to the temptations themselves. When we look under the69 surface of each of these temptations to see their core, we will see that we are tempted in exactly the same ways. And most importantly, we will see how Jesus conquered each temptation on our behalf.

In verse 3 we see the first temptation: self-gratification. After 40 days of fasting, the Bible says Jesus was hungry. This seems like an understatement from Matthew. The Devil tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread as proof that He is the Son of God. He is sowing doubt by asking, "If You are the Son of God, the beloved of God, then why are You out here in the wilderness starving? You desire food. Is Your Father not providing and caring for You? Satisfy Your desires now." It's not difficult to see the self-gratification that every one of us craves in the depths of our own hearts.

We are tempted to fulfill our wants apart from God's will. All of us have desires that God has built into us, desires that are good—needs in our bodies and cravings in our souls. But God has also created us to look to Him as a good Father who satisfies those desires. That was the point of the garden of Eden, wasn't it? Satan suggested to Adam and Eve that God was withholding good from them, so they decided to fulfill their desire apart from God's will. That's when sin entered the world (Rom 5:12). It's the same story behind God's testing of Israel in the wilderness. In Deuteronomy 8:2-3, the passage that Jesus quotes from during His temptation, we read the following:

This was a testing of the heart to see if the Israelites would trust the goodness of God to fulfill their desires according to His word and the counsel of His will. This same kind of testing accompanies every temptation in our lives. We have desires that are good and God-given, desires for food, water, sleep, sex, relationships, companionship, etc. This is the place where Satan works—at the level of our wants. You desire food, and he tempts you toward undisciplined overeating. You desire sleep, and70 he tempts you toward apathy and laziness. You desire sex, and he tempts you toward such sins as lust, pornography, adultery, and homosexuality. And at the core is a desire for self-gratification that says, "God is not providing for me in the way I want, so I will seek my own gratification apart from Him." Satan tempts you to fulfill God-given wants apart from God's will.

The Enemy is so deadly in the way he attacks our desires. He has convinced many followers of Christ that their desires for sin define who they are. But that is not true. Christian, you are a child of God. And just because you are His child does not mean that you will never want something that doesn't accord with God's will. You will fight with some temptations for 40 days, or in some cases 40 years; you may even have to battle your entire life. So how do you win, day after day, year after year? You do what Jesus did.

When He was hungry, Jesus trusted the all-satisfying, all-sufficient goodness of the Father. Don't tell God when and how your desires should be fulfilled; trust God to fulfill your desires in His way according to His Word. Trust that God your Father is good, and realize that any attempt to satisfy your wants apart from His will ultimately leads not to delight, but to destruction. As soon as Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit, they realized what they had done, and everything—around them, within them, and between them—changed for the worse. What they thought would lead to delight led to destruction.

We see foolish and deadly decisions similar to those made by Adam and Eve throughout Scripture. In Genesis 25:29-34 we read that Esau was so hungry that he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. After filling his belly he realized the foolishness of his decision (see Heb 12:16-17). Or consider Judas, who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. He got the money he wanted, and that money eventually led to his death (Matt 27:3-10). What Esau and Judas thought would lead to delight led to their destruction. Mark it down: The bread of demons always destroys. The will and Word of the Lord, on the other hand, always satisfy. So trust the goodness of the Father. Jesus did, and by the end of Matthew 4 Jesus' desire for food was supernaturally fulfilled.

After looking at the temptation of self-gratification, we move next to the second temptation: self-protection. This temptation is probably the most difficult to understand because we struggle to see what is so enticing71 about the possibility of Jesus jumping off a tower. But this was no normal tower; this was the top of the temple, the place that was intended to be a visible demonstration of God's presence and protection among His people. Satan quotes from Psalm 91, a song about God's protection, and he tempts Jesus to prove that God will be faithful to Him as His Son: "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down" (v. 6). Once again, Jesus' reply helps us understand the core of the temptation here. He quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16, where Israel received the following command: "Do not test the Lord your God as you tested Him at Massah."

The reference to Massah in Deuteronomy 6:16 takes us back to Exodus 17, where the people of God put God to the test by demanding that He provide them more water. They asked, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exod 17:7). Their questioning proved a lack of trust in God. They didn't trust His presence with them or His protection of them. The same thing can often be said of us. Just as Israel was tempted in the Old Testament, and Jesus was tempted in the New Testament, we are tempted to question God's presence and manipulate God's promises. Jesus was tempted to put God to the test by manipulating Psalm 91 into forcing the Father to prove His [Jesus'] sonship by miraculously delivering Him. This would be tantamount to asking God for proof of His presence and protection. But that kind of callous experimentation with God is a clear example of a lack of trust, and it shows up in all kinds of ways in our lives.

We are tempted to twist God's Word around our personal preferences. We are tempted to question His plans for us when they don't go the way we would like. We are tempted to doubt His love for us when something goes wrong. We are tempted to ask for signs that He is still with us even though He has shown His faithfulness to us over and over and over again. We are tempted to complain to Him about the circumstances of our lives, boldly thinking (if not saying) just like the Israelites did, "God, are You with me or not?" So how did Jesus react to such temptation?

Jesus rested in the shelter of the Father's unshakeable security. Jesus knew He had no reason to test the Father. It's no wonder, therefore, that Jesus' message to us repeatedly in the book of Matthew is, "Don't worry" (6:25, 31). In the Sermon on the Mount, which starts in the next chapter, Jesus points to the Father's care for the flowers of the field and the birds of the air as evidence that His children need not worry (6:26-30). If God cares for plants and animals, He will surely provide for His children.72

I love spending time with my kids, and I would do anything to protect them and care for them. Yet, according to what Jesus says in Luke 11:13, I am an evil father. That is, even with my good intentions and the kindness I show to my kids, I am a sinner who fails repeatedly to do what is right. Consider that God is a good Father, and everything He does in our lives is good. How much more, then, can we trust Him? Like Jesus, we can rest in the shelter of the Father's unshakeable security.

Having looked at the temptations of self-gratification (4:3-4) and self-protection (4:5-6), consider now the third temptation: self-exaltation. In verses 8-9 Jesus is taken to a very high mountain, either a physical mountain or at the very least a very high vision, and He is shown all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor (France, The Gospel of Matthew, 134).12 You may be wondering why this would be such a great temptation if Jesus already knew these kingdoms would be His. But remember, Jesus also knows that the road ahead leading to such authority is filled with sorrow, suffering, and ultimately a violent death. He was tempted to try and seize God's reward right then, apart from the path of pain. "You're a Son," the Devil said, "so why be a Servant? You're a King, so why be crucified? Take them now; they're yours."

That's precisely what Satan whispers in our ears today. He points to all the things of this world—the successes, the accomplishments, the pleasures, and the possessions—and he says, "Get them now." He promised Adam and Eve that they would be like God if they ate the fruit, and they believed him. They ascribed worth to Satan instead of worth to God.

We are tempted to do the same thing that Adam and Eve did. We are tempted to assert ourselves in the world while we rob God of His worship. Instead of a simple, humble, difficult obedience to God in this world, in our pride we seek to attain what we want in the way we want to do it. This pride is at the root of all our rebellion. We all struggle with pride, wherein we bow the knee to the prince of this world and seek to dethrone the one true God who alone is worthy of all worship. Once again, we need to see how Jesus resisted this temptation.73

I'll quote directly from Russell Moore again, as I can't improve on his words: Jesus refused to exchange the end-time exaltation by the Father for a right-now exaltation of a snake (Moore, Tempted and Tried, 131). Jesus, the beloved Son, knew that the supreme duty of everyone and everything is to worship God, and He knew that everyone who humbles himself before God will be exalted (Matt 23:12). Jesus chose to live a life of suffering obedience to the Father instead of sinful submission to Satan, and in the end, all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him (Matt 28:18).

The temptations Matthew records for us in this chapter are directly relevant to the battles we face every day. Self-gratification, self-protection, and self-exaltation are always trying to allure us. And we'll continue to face these battles until the day when finally and eternally Christ will be crowned as King. Two thousand years ago He conquered sin as our Savior. Each of these wilderness temptations is ultimately connected to the cross. This bout in the wilderness was just a picture of the temptation Christ would endure on the way to Calvary. The crowds taunted Him, "If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!" (Matt 27:40). Jesus knew that He had authority to call down 12 legions of angels to save Him from the cross (Matt 26:53), yet He refused to bow the knee to Satan's temptations. In worship, He cried out, "Father, glorify Your name" (John 12:28), and then in obedience, He walked the hard Calvary Road on your behalf and mine. He died for sinners and rose again, conquering sin as our Savior. And His work on our behalf is ongoing.

Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven where today He fights alongside us and for us through His Spirit. To use Paul's words, "We are counted as sheep to be slaughtered," yet "we are more than victorious through Him who loved us" (Rom 8:36-37). Paul puts it beautifully in Romans 8:31-34:

God has given us His Spirit, the same Spirit who led Jesus not only into the wilderness, but also through the wilderness unscathed. This same Spirit is alive in you! You cannot triumph over temptation, but Christ can. And Christ is in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27).

We must consider the danger we are in as a part of this cosmic and very personal spiritual war. But we also need to see how empowered we are to resist the Devil, and when we do resist him, he will flee from us (Jas 4:7). There is a way of escape, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, and it is Christ. Therefore, live in Him until one day He will reign over all as our Sovereign.

On that last day, Jesus will once and for all assert His authority over all creation, and when He does, Satan will be cast down in defeat. Be assured that the accuser will be arraigned, the serpent will be sentenced, and the Devil will be destroyed. Revelation 20:10 says, "The Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Christ will be crowned as King. Satan will be cast down in defeat. So what about the church?

God's Word makes clear that on the last day the church will rise up in victory. That's right, victory is assured. For all sons and daughters of God, it may be wartime now, but peacetime is coming. As children of God in Christ, let's trust the all-satisfying, all-sufficient goodness of our Father! Let His supreme love be the satisfaction of your soul. Trust Him—His Word, His will—for He knows what is best for you. He is not your rival; He is your Father. In light of this, as children of God in Christ, let's rest in the shelter of our Father's unshakeable security! We have no reason to fear, worry, doubt, or question God. We shouldn't complain or in any way be concerned about the Father's presence, power, and protection for us. Christ has secured all of these things for His people, so that we can now rest in Him.

All of this leads to the final encouragement: As children of God in Christ, let's refuse to exchange our end-time exaltation by the Father for75 a right-now exaltation of a snake (Moore, Tempted and Tried, 131)! You may ask, "What do you mean by our end-time exaltation?" Remember that there is coming a day when we will receive the ultimate reward of our salvation as we reign with Christ in His kingdom.