1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy
Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2 being
tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and
afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the
Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high
mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this
authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered
to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all
will be Yours.” 8 And
Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan!
For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord
your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” 9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him
on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God,
throw Yourself down from here. 10 For
it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ 11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear
you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” 13 Now when the devil had ended every
temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Luke’s Gospel having presented to us all the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly lineage as the Head of the human race, now takes us back to the time right after Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River. This then is the time of Christ’s temptation by the devil, where Jesus Christ the Son of God in bodily form as the Son of Man must now face the devil. Jesus must then face him alone, in the wilderness, in full human flesh and frailty and fragility on behalf of us all, so that by His overcoming him in the flesh, God can likewise aid and empower and enable and ultimately justify us all who could never do so, by Jesus Christ’s having first done so for us. Now there are several things to note here, first is that Jesus after being baptized by John was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now this did not come upon Him because John water baptized him by immersion (which is the only form of baptism in the Bible) in the Jordan River, for John the Baptist did not have the Divine Power or Authority to impart the Holy Spirit upon Him, just as you and I cannot impart Him upon anyone else). Neither then did the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus because He was baptized in the Jordan River, as if there were some sort of Divine power at work there. The reason the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus when He was baptized by John was simply because in allowing Himself to be baptized by John the lessor, Jesus was obeying the Will of God our Father, which is the sole means for us all receiving the Holy Spirit baptism (consider Acts 5:32; Heb. 5:9). Thus, when anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and thus puts their faith and trust in Him, thus obeying God the Father and Christ the Son, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit. For no one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of God is exempted from this. And so, having been filled with the Holy Spirit for obeying the Will of God His Father, Jesus is now led out into the wilderness by Him. It is here then when He is all alone that Jesus will be tempted by devil for forty days, during which time He ate nothing, thus rendering Himself fully dependent upon God His Father to sustain Him, while being utterly physically weak and exhausted and defenseless before him. Now the Scripture says that after forty days Jesus was “hungry”, which really doesn’t underscore that Jesus was now on the verge of starving to death. And so, it will be at this time when Jesus is at His weakest, that the devil will now seek a direct confrontation with Him, to try to tempt Him to forgo the Will of God and seek His own self-interest or preservation.
Vs. 3-4 (the First Temptation) 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
With Jesus being on verge of starvation, the devil now confronts Jesus directly and says to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Now the devil knows the Jesus is the Son of God and he knows that Jesus can make stones into bread, and so by saying as much to Jesus, when He is weak and starving is his trying to get Jesus to use His Divine Power to not only save Himself, but also to prove to the devil that He is the Son of God. However, Jesus is not about self-preservation, nor does He have anything to prove to the devil or anyone else that He is the Son of God (nor will He). Therefore, Jesus will not forgo the unbearable suffering that He is currently under at the promptings of the devil, because to do so would be absolutely untenable and the consequences unimaginable. Therefore, Jesus doesn’t mince Words with him, but rather looking back to how God tested and provided for the Israelites in the desert, He says to him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” Deut. 4:4
Vs. 5-8 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Having appealed to Jesus’ essential need for food as a Man suffering and on the verge of starvation to try to get Him to obey him, and yet he failed. The devil now takes Jesus up on a high mountain and shows Him all the Kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and says to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” Vs. 6-7
This then is the very thing that ensnared the devil when he himself lusted after all of God’s Glory, Power, and Authority and sought to usurp it all for himself (see Isaiah 14:12-21, vs. 14; Ezekiel 28:11-14). And so, the devil (and those like him) always think that people are moved and motivated by the things that they themselves are moved and motivated by (consider Job 2:4-10). In the first instance it was self preservation that the devil thought would move Christ to obey him, but in this second temptation the devil appeals to Christ’s Rightful Place and Heir of all that God has (Rev. 11:15), without having to go through all the trials and tribulations of being a rejected Man, whose end will be to suffer death on the Cross. That is the essence of the devil’s temptation here, that he will give to Jesus Christ all that has been temporally granted to him as the ruler of this world (consider John 12:31; 14:30; 16:8-11; Eph. 2:2) if Jesus will fall down and worship him. Jesus though will have nothing to do with the devil, and thus He will not worship him, and exalt him above God Himself. Therefore, Jesus immediately and sternly rebukes the devil, saying to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
In this finial temptation of Christ, the devil will seek to get Jesus Christ to have His Father save Him from a certain mortal death to prove that He is the Son of God. Now in this the devil modifies his tactics and seeks to use the very Scripture which Jesus is trusting in, and has been quoting to him to tempt Him to prove He is the Son of God (psalm 91:11-12). The temptation then is for Jesus to prove not just that He is the Son of God by throwing Himself off the pinnacle of the Temple to have God send angels to save Him from a certain mortal death, but for Jesus to see if God is really with Him to save and protect Him while He is in this mortal life. The Temptation then is real for though God is always with Him, as a Man (just as every man, woman, and child may wonder) can God be trusted with all of my person and life. The solution then is not test God to see if He really is amongst us, but rather to believe that He is, and not listen to the devil, or any other voice which seeks to have us prove to ourselves or others that He is. Therefore, Jesus refutes the devil with the Scripture once again, by saying, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Citing the passage from Deuteronomy 6:16 where Moses warned the Israelites before they entered the promised land not to tempt/test God as they did at Massah and Meribah (see Exodus 17:1-7). The devil then having ended every temptation, and thus been defeated by Word of God, now departs from Jesus waiting for an opportune time (vs. 13). And that is the cunning nature of the enemy of our souls, for he is not always actively tempting us, but very often he withdraws himself and remains on the periphery of our lives, waiting for an opportune time when he might lure us away from trusting and seeking God, and into trusting or seeking something or someone else.
Commentary
Vs. 1-2 1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy
Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for
forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when
they had ended, He was hungry.Luke’s Gospel having presented to us all the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly lineage as the Head of the human race, now takes us back to the time right after Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River. This then is the time of Christ’s temptation by the devil, where Jesus Christ the Son of God in bodily form as the Son of Man must now face the devil. Jesus must then face him alone, in the wilderness, in full human flesh and frailty and fragility on behalf of us all, so that by His overcoming him in the flesh, God can likewise aid and empower and enable and ultimately justify us all who could never do so, by Jesus Christ’s having first done so for us. Now there are several things to note here, first is that Jesus after being baptized by John was filled with the Holy Spirit. Now this did not come upon Him because John water baptized him by immersion (which is the only form of baptism in the Bible) in the Jordan River, for John the Baptist did not have the Divine Power or Authority to impart the Holy Spirit upon Him, just as you and I cannot impart Him upon anyone else). Neither then did the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus because He was baptized in the Jordan River, as if there were some sort of Divine power at work there. The reason the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus when He was baptized by John was simply because in allowing Himself to be baptized by John the lessor, Jesus was obeying the Will of God our Father, which is the sole means for us all receiving the Holy Spirit baptism (consider Acts 5:32; Heb. 5:9). Thus, when anyone who believes in Jesus Christ and thus puts their faith and trust in Him, thus obeying God the Father and Christ the Son, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit. For no one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of God is exempted from this. And so, having been filled with the Holy Spirit for obeying the Will of God His Father, Jesus is now led out into the wilderness by Him. It is here then when He is all alone that Jesus will be tempted by devil for forty days, during which time He ate nothing, thus rendering Himself fully dependent upon God His Father to sustain Him, while being utterly physically weak and exhausted and defenseless before him. Now the Scripture says that after forty days Jesus was “hungry”, which really doesn’t underscore that Jesus was now on the verge of starving to death. And so, it will be at this time when Jesus is at His weakest, that the devil will now seek a direct confrontation with Him, to try to tempt Him to forgo the Will of God and seek His own self-interest or preservation.
Vs. 3-4 (the First Temptation) 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
With Jesus being on verge of starvation, the devil now confronts Jesus directly and says to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Now the devil knows the Jesus is the Son of God and he knows that Jesus can make stones into bread, and so by saying as much to Jesus, when He is weak and starving is his trying to get Jesus to use His Divine Power to not only save Himself, but also to prove to the devil that He is the Son of God. However, Jesus is not about self-preservation, nor does He have anything to prove to the devil or anyone else that He is the Son of God (nor will He). Therefore, Jesus will not forgo the unbearable suffering that He is currently under at the promptings of the devil, because to do so would be absolutely untenable and the consequences unimaginable. Therefore, Jesus doesn’t mince Words with him, but rather looking back to how God tested and provided for the Israelites in the desert, He says to him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” Deut. 4:4
Vs. 5-8 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Having appealed to Jesus’ essential need for food as a Man suffering and on the verge of starvation to try to get Him to obey him, and yet he failed. The devil now takes Jesus up on a high mountain and shows Him all the Kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and says to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” Vs. 6-7
This then is the very thing that ensnared the devil when he himself lusted after all of God’s Glory, Power, and Authority and sought to usurp it all for himself (see Isaiah 14:12-21, vs. 14; Ezekiel 28:11-14). And so, the devil (and those like him) always think that people are moved and motivated by the things that they themselves are moved and motivated by (consider Job 2:4-10). In the first instance it was self preservation that the devil thought would move Christ to obey him, but in this second temptation the devil appeals to Christ’s Rightful Place and Heir of all that God has (Rev. 11:15), without having to go through all the trials and tribulations of being a rejected Man, whose end will be to suffer death on the Cross. That is the essence of the devil’s temptation here, that he will give to Jesus Christ all that has been temporally granted to him as the ruler of this world (consider John 12:31; 14:30; 16:8-11; Eph. 2:2) if Jesus will fall down and worship him. Jesus though will have nothing to do with the devil, and thus He will not worship him, and exalt him above God Himself. Therefore, Jesus immediately and sternly rebukes the devil, saying to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Vs. 9-13 9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him
on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God,
throw Yourself down from here. 10 For
it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you,’ 11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear
you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” 13 Now when the devil had ended every
temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
In this finial temptation of Christ, the devil will seek to get Jesus Christ to have His Father save Him from a certain mortal death to prove that He is the Son of God. Now in this the devil modifies his tactics and seeks to use the very Scripture which Jesus is trusting in, and has been quoting to him to tempt Him to prove He is the Son of God (psalm 91:11-12). The temptation then is for Jesus to prove not just that He is the Son of God by throwing Himself off the pinnacle of the Temple to have God send angels to save Him from a certain mortal death, but for Jesus to see if God is really with Him to save and protect Him while He is in this mortal life. The Temptation then is real for though God is always with Him, as a Man (just as every man, woman, and child may wonder) can God be trusted with all of my person and life. The solution then is not test God to see if He really is amongst us, but rather to believe that He is, and not listen to the devil, or any other voice which seeks to have us prove to ourselves or others that He is. Therefore, Jesus refutes the devil with the Scripture once again, by saying, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ” Citing the passage from Deuteronomy 6:16 where Moses warned the Israelites before they entered the promised land not to tempt/test God as they did at Massah and Meribah (see Exodus 17:1-7). The devil then having ended every temptation, and thus been defeated by Word of God, now departs from Jesus waiting for an opportune time (vs. 13). And that is the cunning nature of the enemy of our souls, for he is not always actively tempting us, but very often he withdraws himself and remains on the periphery of our lives, waiting for an opportune time when he might lure us away from trusting and seeking God, and into trusting or seeking something or someone else.
Scripture Quotations
New King James Version. (1982): Thomas Nelson
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