God’s Devil - Points to Ponder, Part 6
THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS
Temptation is a fundamental spiritual experience and it bears strongly on the outcome of each life. The first temptation (in Eden) caused a spiritual catastrophe, and began to flow the river of evil which has flooded the world. From the second temptation, of the Messiah in the wilderness, flowed the living water of good that makes alive the dry souls of the lost, giving them strength for the holy battles to follow. In the first one, man was defeated and from it man became a slave to sin and death. John told us in 1st John 5:19 that the world was placed under the power of the evil one.
In the second temptation, Satan is defeated and he then realizes that he will be driven away from dominion over mankind. The serpent raged against the Lord, and used all of his powers left to arrange the death of Christ. In the wilderness temptation, mankind found the long awaited redemption promised long before in Genesis 3:15.
One of the limits God places upon Satan is his inability to command the will of man. If man does not want to sin, he can choose not to do so. Satan can urge the will toward sin by seduction but cannot bend it to evil himself. We freely choose sin.
It took the Incarnated Word to face down and defeat Satan. No man could have done so. Because of that fact, we should remember that we deceive ourselves if we think we can defeat Satan by our own strength. We can do so only with the strength of Christ.
Satan knew he was in the presence of the Son of God. So he issued his three challenges to tempt Jesus to take one step toward sin. The Son of God prepared Himself by forty days of fasting, purifying Himself for the battle. The evil one waited until the end of the fast to begin his work, when Jesus was surely hungry and tired in His likeness of human flesh.
He challenged Jesus with twisted logic, just as he had succeeded with Eve. He gave three temptations saying “if you are the Son” turn the stones to bread. He next took Jesus to a high point on the Temple and challenged Jesus to leap off since scripture said He would be protected from harm. Next he took Jesus to a place to show Him all the world's kingdoms, and promised them to Jesus for one moment of worship from Christ. In each case Jesus answered with scripture “It is written”. Jesus prevailed over Satan and cast him away from Himself.
There is an end to each temptation we face. But Luke teaches us in 11:26 that the evil one rearms for greater tempting. After the victory of Jesus angels came to minister to Him. Each time we gain even a tiny victory over sin and Satan we become part of the victory of Christ.
BE READY FOR SATAN IS EVER CALLING