Temptations

I was reading Matthew ch. 4 Thursday morning and I had one of those great revelations. I love those moments that God chooses to reveal something about Himself that I hadn't known before. Anyway, let me take it apart and show what I saw.

Matthew 4 begins with the temptation of Jesus which occurs right after His baptism (imagine that!). vs.1 Then Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Ok, now the first thing that jumps out at me is that Satan didn't even bother to approach Him until after He had fasted forty days and nights and was hungry. That is the first difference between Jesus and I. I am thinking about food as soon as I get out of bed, or at least coffee! It doesn't take much suffering to bring me to a place of weakness. It was much different for Jesus. After 40 days, He is now weak enough that Satan, who had been prowling around Him the whole time like a lion after the weak or injured, thought the time would be right to try to lead Him astray. Waiting, watching, planning. Jesus now feels physical hunger and no doubt, weakness. Satan moves in for the attack.

vs. 3 The tempter came to Him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Satan is soooo good at what he does. He's been at it a long time, but if you'll look closely at these verses, you'll see his tactics haven't changed much since Eve ate the fruit. First off, he challenges Jesus on who He is. "Are you the Son of God? Prove it!" "Do you really know who you are (in God)? " Or, how about this, "If you're hungry, just eat! It won't matter. If you want it, just take it. It's good food!" Ever heard that before?

His first attack is on Jesus' physical need and desire for nourishment and immediate fulfillment of genuine hunger and weakness. I love how Jesus responds.

vs. 4 Jesus answered, " It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

Bam! Take that Satan! Jesus first defensive action is to use the Word. Satan had no response. He recoiled, regrouped, then tried a new manuever.

vs. 5 then the devil took Him to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' "

Whoa. There's a lot in these two verses. His attack on physical wants and needs failed. How about His security with His relationship with the Father? "If you really are a child of God, then He will rescue you. But, He might not love you as much as you thought..." Maybe God really doesn't care about you..." Except Satan always masquerades in the first person, getting us to believe these doubts are our own original thoughts. Some are, but most are his firey darts of doubt shot at us in our moments of weakness. So in reality, it goes more like this, "Maybe God doesn't love me as much as ____" or "I just don't have as strong of faith as____ so my prayer probably won't get answered" or how about this one "I'm not that important"?

I think it's interesting that Satan, the Father of All Lies, is constantly trying to get us to believe that God is a liar, and Satan is telling the truth. He did it to Eve, He did it to Jesus and He does it to us. Jesus had just been baptized in the passage before. Heaven opened and an audible voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Matt. 3:17

I don't think the Father could have stated it any clearer. AND there were witnesses. Lots of them. Yet, I find it interesting that Satan tries to plant the seed of doubt that God won't really be there for Him. He won't rescue Him, or that He should prove it to be true.

Jesus response the the second attack is simple, yet very powerful.

vs.7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "

I love that line. You see, Satan knows the Word of God. He's been studying it for thousands of years. He knows how to twist truth, take things out of context and get us off on so many rabbit trails. He is trying to draw Jesus away from focussing on the Father and using God's own Word to do it. Very effective. However, Jesus (my hero :-) knows the context of the whole Word. He was present at creation. He was there when Satan was evicted from heaven. He did not take the bait.

Jesus had something I think most, probably all of us lack. He had complete confidence in who He was in relationship to the Father. He knew the immense love of the one who IS Love. He knew how deep, how wide, how high is the Father's love. He had that revelation. He was unshakable in His faith and position. He knew the perfect love that casts out all fear. he knew the love that goes beyond all understanding. We cannot grasp it completely, but Jesus did. Here is a human like none other. I am wondering what Satan was thinking at this point. Most of us wouldn't have made it past the bread! What Satan didn't do was respond to the truth. When Jesus responded with the word, he had nothing to say. Hmmmm....

Satan again recoils, regroups, and moves in again. Notice it is all offensive action. He has no defense against the Word.

vs. 8 Again the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

What? Are you kidding me? I struggle with how Satan could possible think this was a temptation. We have already established that Jesus knew who He was in relationship to the Father. He had to know that He was God, sent to restore His kingdom. To take back what the enemy has stolen. Maybe he was offering the kingdom to Jesus in a way that He wouldn't have to die. I don't know. If He bowed down to Satan, he would then avoid the cross? Someone once told me that what Satan was offering Jesus was to be the antichrist. If anyone has more insight on those verses, please share! What I do know is that my hero again didn't fall for it. Not for a second.

vs.10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord you God, and serve Him only.' "

Satan tried as a last ditch effort, to tempt Him with power. "All of this can be yours, if you just___." Sounds like a telemarketing scheme, too good to be true. In addition to trying to tempt Him with power, I'm now wondering if he was also trying to tempt Him with avoidance of pain, suffering, and death. Through this time of testing, Jesus did not lose focus on His mission and purpose. He used the Word of God to fight against the enemy and it worked.

vs. 11 Then the devil left Him, and angels came and attended Him.

The Bible says, "resist the devil and he will flee from you". I picture the devil fleeing from Jesus at that point. Running scared. He had met his match. There is truly none like Him, matchless is every way. Wow. Not only did overcome the temptation of Satan, He gave us His Spirit and Word so that we can overcome temptation as well. We cannot defeat Satan on our own, we are no match for him, he will eat our lunch and give us the whoopin' of our lives if we try to take him on apart from salvation in Christ. Not only do we need salvation, we need training. Young men do not join the Army, then go home and sit on the couch until there is a war. We shouldn't either!

From these verses, I noticed four things about Jesus that gave Him the ability to overcome the temptation of Satan.

1. Know the Word.

Jesus' defense was always scripture and is meant to be ours as well. that is why it is given to us.

2. Know the Father's love.

There are countless verses that come to my mind when I think of His love for me. Learn them, pray them, sing them, know them. Meditate on them day and night! Get them into your heart so when you are attacked by the enemy, you can recognize the lies.

3. Know who you are in relationship to the Father.

What is God's mission for your life? If you don't know, ask Him to reveal it to you. I still am seeking His vision for my life. If we know what our mission is, we are not as easily drawn down the paths of so many seemingly good things that aren't necessarily God's will. I take on too many good things that take time away from God. If I know clearly what my commanding officer wants me to do, I won't waste time on things that don't matter. Better time management!

4. Know your place.

Jesus was humble before the Father. He submitted to His perfect will, even unto death. Not just any death, but death on the cross. He is God, I am not. His ways are not my ways, His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Sometimes I forget that and doubt His wisdom. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, God?" is the essence of my thoughts.

Thank you, Father, for your Word. It is 100% true and reliable. It has the power to set captives free and bring light into darkness. Wash me with your word, purify me, cleanse me, make me like You. Increase my faith that I would not doubt you, or your love for me. I submit my life and my will to yours. You know better than I and I will trust you, even when I do not understand.

In Jesus name,

Amen