The Temptation of Jesus
Text: Matthew 4:1–11 ESV
This section of Matthew we have titled, “Seeing and Savoring our Savior” because we continue to see our Lord, Jesus Christ, in ways that most were not expecting, and in ways that we often forget. Last week, we saw at Jesus’s baptism how he came knowing his mission from God and identified with his people through his own baptism. He is the promised servant of God who would be numbered with the transgressors and bear their sins for them—for me and you—that we might be found in right relationship with the Father again. What wonderful, good news!
When I was thinking about our passage last week and this week’s passage—they are really one long account—it made me think about the type of hero stories we often read and see. Almost every book or movie you have read has a familiar story-arc for their hero. He or she starts out young and unaware of so much of life. They may be bumbling, nerdy, shy, or even just a little naïve. There is usually a tragic background to their parents, siblings, or even their entire race and planet (if we are talking about the sci-fi genre). And, at some point, they realize they are different. They have a special talent, gift, or ability. But it is a partial understanding. They need to go through different quests, have chances to grow, mature, and learn about who they are and how they can be the true hero of the story. Like a young Luke or Rey Skywalker just learning about a light-saber or the force. A weak Harry Potter stumbling out of the cupboard beneath the stairs and learning about magic. A puny Captain America still needing an injection before tackling a Nazi regime.
This is the journey a good author or screenwriter often takes us on. They bring us on this journey because they want us to identify with this type of hero—and it works! It works because we are often bumbling, nerdy, shy, or even just a little naïve. We know we are lacking and we hope and want to believe that we are something special and different, that we have a part to play in this story. We want to believe that we are growing into something more than we are today, and that we have a purpose and part to play.
This works because it is part of the storyline of our life in coming to Jesus Christ. We didn’t know, or we forgot, that we are sons and daughters of God almighty—those he made in his image to praise him forever for his glory, and for our Joy. This is exactly what we looked at when we were going through Genesis earlier last year.
But this is where the story changes. You see, you and I aren’t becoming the hero of the story. We could never live the righteous life God required of us. We saw in Genesis that everything was marred—scarred and broken—by the sin of Adam and Eve. The same sin you and I would have committed had we been there, the same sins we demonstrate daily. Though God delights in knowing us, delights in changing us, we are the ones who need a true hero.
Jesus is that hero—though to call him a hero is way too small of a description, but he definitely isn’t less than that. Granted, he came weak and small as a baby in the manger, and we know from Scripture that he did grow in wisdom and stature before men and God (Luke 2:52), but he was always the God-man, the second person of the Trinity. He was the King of Kings, the Word begotten before time, and he will be the King ruling supreme until the end of time. Jesus comes and is THE HERO. He gives us his righteousness. His tragedy and sorrow is for us that we might come back into right relationship with the Father. We find in Jesus that we get to take part in his work through his power.
What Jesus has done is a very different kind of hero story. Imagine if, in defeating the emperor, Luke Skywalker or Rey Skywalker, not only saved the rebellion, but everyone who fought on the side of the good guys now has The Force and is a Jedi. Imagine if every muggle in Harry Potter now had magic in Harry’s final stand against Voldemort, and what if every mere mortal in the Avengers now had the power of Thor as Thanos is defeated. Our Jesus has done even more in his becoming the God-man, living a righteous life on our behalf, dying our death on the cross, and raising in power to the right hand of the father to reign over heaven and earth.
Last week we saw how, unlike the hero who needs come out of their shell and insecurities, Jesus begins his ministry knowing that the Father has called him to identify with his people—to carry their burdens and transgressions that they might live—and he comes to be baptized in that identity. He doesn’t come to be baptized and then realize, “Wait…I have a power to solve this and I don’t need to be baptized?” Jesus knows his Father and knows his mission. The Father confirms this in his declaration of rejoicing in Jesus’s acceptance of his call.
It’s here in today’s passage that we see again how different a savior Jesus is. Luke Skywalker works his way up to Darth Vader and the Emperor. The young Harry comes from the room in the cupboard under the stairs and slowly finds and grows in his abilities through many years before he fights Voldemort. A young Spider Man and a skinny, weak Captain America have to find out how much they can really handle and be sure they can help tackle an evil god of the universe. Here in Matthew 4, we see that Jesus doesn’t work his way up through difficulties, but rather, in the Spirit he is taken into a direct confrontation with THE ENEMY—Satan—immediately.
Led into the Wilderness
Matthew 4:1 starts here:
“Then” (Matthew 4:1 ESV)
We didn’t mention it last week, but this is one of Matthew’s favorite words. If you listen to a preacher long enough you will find their go-to phrases and even their filler words. Matthew’s is the word “then” and it is what gives his gospel somewhat the feeling of an action-thriller movie. Everyone seems to always be running around, one scene jumping to the next. We often have to slow down and decide: is Matthew really saying two engagements happened right after the other, or is he simply connecting different occasions?
Here, it seems that this happened right after Jesus’s baptism. He is there, in the Jordan river by the wilderness, and he is taken out into the wilderness. And especially when we see the temptations that Satan gives Jesus, they are directly connected with his baptism and the declaration of God, so an immediate event makes the most sense. Matthew continues:
“Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1 ESV)
Do you have a category for this? We are told that it was the Spirit, God himself, one of the members of the Trinity, who took Jesus into the wilderness with a particular goal: that he might be tempted by Satan. The language is clear, it is Satan, not God, not the Holy Spirit, who will tempt Jesus. But Jesus was led into the wilderness knowing the outcome. Do you believe that God will lead you to places of difficulty that you might learn and grow, even through Satan’s temptations?
Paul says this will happen and he has learned much from it. In Philippians 4:12 he says:
“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12–13, ESV)
God will teach us through good times and difficulties. We learn to trust him for everything we need because of difficult situations (as we will see with Jesus). It seems like this is exactly what Jesus is thinking about while he is in the wilderness. He is being taken there, by God, that he might know and trust in the Father.
Matthew continues and tells us:
“And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”(Matthew 4:2 ESV)
We have seen this type of imagery before in Matthew, and we are again to picture Jesus as the true Israel. Like Israel was brought out of Egypt and Jesus was brought out of Egypt, here we are reminded how Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness and still doubted God. Jesus will fast and be tempted in the 40 days he is in the wilderness. He will prove to be the true Israel who trusts in God and can rightly bring his word even through his trials in the wilderness.
This background helps finish setting the stage. Jesus has just identified with his people and been baptized, and the Father has announced that this is his Son in whom he is pleased. Jesus is now in the wilderness, fasting for forty days from food, replaying the same images we have seen of Israel. Jesus says in both John 5:19 and John 12:49 that he only does what the Father is doing and has called him to do. He has done that by coming into the wilderness at the direction of the Holy Spirit. He is hungry and he is about to be challenged to doubt what God has instructed.
If you are the Son of God: Trusting & Waiting
“And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””(Matthew 4:3-4 ESV)
If you are the Son of God.
While there is much we can learn from in Jesus’s temptations by Satan, this is first and foremost about a much bigger question, one we cannot begin to comprehend. “If you are the Son of God” is the foundation of Satan’s first two questions. These temptations are a challenge to Jesus’s identity.
Satan, the demons, and the angels all had the opportunity to witness what had happened at Jesus’s baptism. If there was any question that 1) Jesus really was the Son of God, or 2) that he would do what God had called him to do, there was much less doubt now. But that is exactly what Satan wants to challenge here. Will Jesus truly act like the Son of God? He has identified with his people, fulfilling prophecy with his intentions—but will that continue in his actions? Will he continue on that road even when things are more difficult, and temptation comes?
Satan is wanting to see if Jesus will trust and wait for God.
We are told it is the Spirit that led Jesus here—yet he is tired and he is hungry. Satan’s challenge is subtle. He is insinuating that Jesus ought to find fault with God’s plan for him…even here, in the very small issue of hunger. Satan says to him:
“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” (Matthew 4:3 ESV)
His challenge is not audacious. Jesus does miracles like this often. He provides for the hungry crowds through miracles of multiplying fish and loaves of bread. It is not wrong, in general, to want to provide for your life and health.
Satan is wanting to see if Jesus will trust and wait for God when things are hard. While you and I have never been tempted in this exact way (I have never wondered if I could turn a stone into bread), wondering if we can trust and wait on God when things are hard is a common problem, even for us. Here Jesus is being tempted to fix it himself, to not wait, to not trust.
It is easy to note that, in each temptation, Jesus goes to Scripture when responding to Satan. Yet, in this context, to look to Scripture, to ponder on it as Jesus did, is not just to know Scripture better in general, but to trust that God is good and to trust that he will eventually give us exactly what we need. It really isn’t faith and trust to do something you already want to do and that turns out good and easy. It is faith and trust to see God as good and to turn to him even when it is hard.
Jesus’s response here makes it clear he was self-aware of his role as the true Israel. I think passages like Deuteronomy 8:3 were already in his head as he was in the wilderness and was trusting the Father for what he was to do next. As he is in the wilderness, just as Israel was in the wilderness, he remembers the lesson they failed to remember, and he responds to Satan:
“But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””(Matthew 4:4 ESV)
When things got hard, Israel moaned and groaned. They complained about God’s laws. When God provided manna, they wanted quail. God could not get them to the promised land fast enough. They begged God to provide even when they had already seen him provide again and again. When it was hard, their God was not big enough in their eyes.
Yet the Son, the true Israel, would trust in the goodness of God and wait for his provision. Jesus responds rightly as the true Israel using the same language from Deuteronomy and affirms that God will indeed provide as he has said. Jesus will not take things into his own hands and instead trust his good Father!
So, Satan learns. He sees that Jesus is going to quote Scripture to him, so he decides he is going to use Scripture himself.
“Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’””(Matthew 4:5-6 ESV)
Again, Satan’s temptation is not audacious but strikes at the core of who Jesus is as the Son of God. Of course, Jesus has to survive until the cross. God does not want him dead before his time. Satan is reminding Jesus of that reality. Again, you and I are not the holy servant of God, but Jesus is, so he can truly claim all these passages. This is a challenge again to trust and wait for God, but it is a challenge to do that when the timing isn’t right. Yet Jesus, still aware that he is the true Israel, again goes back to one of Israel’s stories from the desert and replies to Satan:
“Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’””(Matthew 4:7 ESV)
Jesus remembers another failing of Israel. In Deuteronomy 6:16—the passage Jesus quotes—Moses is reminding Israel that they should not test God’s goodness to them. He brings back to mind for them the incident where they didn’t trust God because they hadn’t had water in a while, and they demanded that God give them water through Moses at Massah. We see here how Satan wants Jesus to not only distrust God’s goodness, but also distrust his timing. Doesn’t God want you to be safe, doesn’t his word say he will protect you? Wouldn’t it be good for everyone to see a miracle and know you are someone special? Go ahead, leap, demonstrate your worthiness of this protection through the miraculous intervention of angels.
Again, Jesus demonstrates he will trust God and will wait for God, even when he could do it differently.
Application: The Son of God!
Both of these temptations strike at the heart of who Jesus is as THE Son of God. The Son came to die—things will definitely be hard. Yes, he will be raised in power to the right hand of the father, but not now—only after he has died a sinner’s death on the cross and defeated death itself.
For Jesus to trust and wait on the Father when things are hard and when the timing isn’t right is core to his mission. Satan has seen that Jesus will identify with his people, but does he have the fortitude to wait and trust along this very difficult path? Satan has seen how God’s chosen ones, Israel, failed…will Jesus fail too? And Jesus demonstrates here, definitively, that he will make it to the end.
He is definitely a different kind of hero—of course the God-man would be. We know from these first two encounters: Jesus’s baptism and his temptations that he will make it all the way to the end. He will identify with his people, and he will wait and trust on the Father and his good plan!
Some would say that this really wasn’t hard because Jesus was God. No temptation is hard for God. Yet I would suggest that, for Jesus, the God man, who has said no to sin continually and will continue to say no to sin forevermore, he has known the difficulties of temptation in a way you and I never have. We know temptation because we have tasted of sin and want more. He knows temptation but has never and will never give in to it.
Application: Seek the Word of God
You and I will never be tempted to turn rocks into bread, and we will likely never imagine ourselves as THE savior that God will divinely protect. But we will be tempted by Satan to distrust and not wait for God. And Satan most often comes after us in these ways when things are hard, when we are uncomfortable, when we are “hungry” like Jesus.
I remember when I went through a two-year season when my stomach hurt all the time, no matter whether I ate or fasted, whether I was awake or sleeping. The doctors never found a reason, but praise God it went away. But I remember laying there, in pain, and it was in those moments that I understood the temptation to end it all—to want to stop the pain by any means I could.
I also remember, when Katie and I were engaged, the constant temptation, the always niggling thought in the back of our minds was, “We are really almost married. We know we mean it in our hearts. We don’t need to worry about waiting until we get married to have sex. There really wouldn’t be that much of a difference if we did it now.”
Whether it is the difficulty of a moment or just the timing of the moment, learning to trust and wait on God are both are found by turning back to his word. We find hope in the word of God. This is what Jesus demonstrates. He shows how Scripture is sufficient for us. He demonstrates that the true Son, the true King, is truly the “Word made flesh.” These are his words and he knows they are for good and he knows they are consistent. Your application today to go to Scripture is not just a general call, but one that says go to Scripture and see and savor your savior who you can trust and who you can wait for.
It is not just knowing the content of Scripture, but it is also knowing the breadth and depth of Scripture. As we can see with Jesus, sometimes it is remembering the content, but sometimes we need to know the context of Scripture as well. Without it, Satan can tempt us even with Scripture itself.
Don Carson once shared a favorite saying of his father, who was a minister as well, who said, “a text without context is a pretext of a proof text.” What he means is that if we don’t know the entire context of what God has said in one place of Scripture or even the whole of Scripture, we can often make Scripture say whatever we want. Context is what keeps us from turning God’s word to fit our own desires, like Satan who just quoted Scripture to try to tempt Jesus.
God has wonderful promises that are often not for today. Some won’t be for us until we are with him again in the new heavens and new earth. When we misunderstand these we can fail to trust and wait on God. We are promised a life without need and want, but not yet—today we may need to suffer, we may need to bear our cross like Jesu,s that a watching world may see and know him better through us.
Go to the word of God—go to his Scripture again and again. See what he has said and see the larger picture of what he is doing for you in Jesus and for you in this life and the next. Find his word sufficient to trust and wait on him.
Worship Me
Satan sees that the subtlety and temptation to not trust and wait on God is not working and decides to roll the dice and go for a pure power play.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.””(Matthew 4:8-9 ESV)
Satan gives the ultimate “the ends justify the means” argument. If your goal is to rule over everything, simply bow down and serve me and I will give it all to you. This is the ultimate in not trusting and not waiting. And for it to be a temptation, it has to come with a real promise. Sure, Satan cannot give Jesus the nations forever, but he could have given them in a very real way while Jesus was on earth. All temptations Satan offers comes with a real promise of temporary joy. Let’s not lie to ourselves, sin can be fun and enjoyable, even for long periods of time. But it is just that in the end—temporary joy.
Satan’s earlier temptations of Jesus were wrong because of timing and context, but this one gets to the root of all temptation questions. Who are you going to serve? This is what Jesus ultimately has to answer and what we have to answer. Are we going to seek temporary enjoyment or will we find forever joy in knowing God through Jesus Christ? Satan offers a shortcut, a way through all the difficulty, the pain, the suffering. But it comes at a cost—we must decide who we will worship. Is God worth worshipping? Is God worth Loving?
Jesus says Yes!
“Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’””(Matthew 4:10 ESV)
In the end, we can only serve either Satan or the Lord. In serving the Father, Jesus secured his authority not only on earth but also heaven as well. He is the King who reigns supreme over all things.
Temptation & the Word
You and I will be tempted to doubt God's goodness, to wonder if we can trust him and wait on him, and ultimately we will have to decide if he is worth loving and worshipping. There is much we can learn from how Jesus went back to Scripture again and again. He found in God’s word his goodness, his love for his son, and his care for us. Jesus showed us how we can trust in the consistency of what God is asking us, and how we need to understand the entire picture and not simply twist God’s words for our temporary desire for today. And Jesus points us back to how we are to trust God with everything—our heart, our soul, and our mind.
But ultimately this passage is calling us to follow this King. To treasure this Jesus. To see and savor this kind of savior. He is true to his word, he will not be contradictory, and he will always be praiseworthy. He is the hero who has already won! The story ends here. Know that Jesus as the true SON of God will always do what is right and will always look to God and his word for his purpose and joy.
You and I, like Jesus, will find, even in our temptation, that God will uphold us. Matthew ends here:
“Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.” (Matthew 4:11 ESV)
We can be sure that, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13:
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV)
So, often, that way of escape is through knowing God's word, knowing Scripture, looking to it to remind us of God’s goodness and sanity, and to see the very Word of God, his king, or savior, Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Our hero, Jesus, came to live a life in a way we never imagined. He demonstrates what the true Israel, what a true Son of God, would do. You and I can find great joy in the fact that Jesus is our hero but more importantly our Savior, who has lived and died for us that we might know our Father rightly. In Jesus we can learn to trust and wait for God, and to worship and love him with all our heart!
Our greatest joy is that it was never a question. He was not the hero who struggled in weakness, rather he was tempted but stood up underneath it in a way you and I never can. His success was always sure because he was God come for you and me!
A practical application of our passage this morning is to write the word of God on your heart. It was quick on Jesus’s lips, no doubt because of the time he spent reading it, and because he himself was THE Word of God.
If I was to give you a passage that feels like a perfect example and perfect help in the same ways as our passage today, I would take you to Psalm 25, verse 10 in specific. The Psalmist is petitioning God to protect him and Israel “in all his troubles” and to make all of God’s promises true for him. In verse 10, here is what he says about our God:
“All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.” (Psalm 25:10 ESV)
All God’s paths are steadfast love and faithfulness. Anywhere God takes you, through any amount of difficulty, will be for you love and faithfulness. Whether things are hard, whether the timing isn’t quite right yet, you will find God to be there for you in love and faithfulness. And you can claim this, even though you haven’t kept all his covenant and testimonies because you are found in the one who has—Jesus. This is true for me and you if we will identify with Jesus. Jesus is our hero, our savior, who has kept every covenant and testimony because it was he himself who gave them and ordained them. In him, you can trust that all that God will do in your life is for steadfast love and faithfulness in your identification with Jesus. He has identified with us and we want to identify with him, even in our temptations.