Introduction
Welcome, and thank you for joining us.
This series aims to highlight and emphasize the words and actions of Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, so we understand His character, nature, and mission and how to represent Him to others.
Matthew's account of John "the Baptizer" baptizing Jesus is our first gospel introduction in order of appearance in the New Testament of our Bibles. Jesus's first recorded words are found in this passage from Matthew chapter three.
(13) Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. (14) But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (15) Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. (16) As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. (17) And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Matthew 3:13-17
The hallmark of Jesus's ministry and earthly life was His obedience. John knew that Jesus was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world and that he was the one who should be receiving baptism from Him. John must have known by the Holy Spirit that Jesus was not a sinner and did not need baptism for repentance. But Jesus wanted to do everything righteously before His Father in Heaven so that nobody could make a righteous claim against Him—something critical to His earthly ministry.
The Father's words conveyed His pleasure in Jesus; "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Obedience. Love. Faithfulness. Zeal for His Father's house. Compassion for the sin-sick and diseased. Sight for the blind, hearing for the deaf, speech for the mute, and freedom for those shackled by sin and oppression were also marks of Jesus's ministry and earthly life.
Wilderness Preparation
(11) Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (2) And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. (3) Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." (4) But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" (5) Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, (6) and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'HE SHALL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER YOU,' and, IN THEIR HANDS THEY SHALL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU DASH YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" (7) Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD.'" (8) Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. (9) And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." (10) Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.'" (11) Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Matthew 4:1-11
The next sign of Jesus's impending mission makes little sense to someone wanting to start a successful ministry tour; the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to fast and pray for forty days and forty nights so that the devil could come and test him.
Though the word in verse 11 above often translates as "tempted," additional definitions help shed light on what went on in the wilderness. Here is the word in the original Greek, with the Strong's translations.
G3985 Πειράζω peirazō pi-rad'-zo From G3984; to test (objectively), that is, endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline: - assay, examine, go about, prove, tempt (-er), try. Total KJV occurrences: 39
Jesus was on display (scrutinized, assayed, examined) before all of the Host of Heaven and the entire Unseen Kingdom of God, and He would prove His worthiness (discipline) to be the sinless, spotless Lamb of God so that He would qualify to stand in our place at the crucifixion.
The first recorded test:
After forty days and forty nights of fasting (no food or water), Jesus was hungry. We can well imagine the rumblings of His hungry belly and the day's heat that doubtless brought on a considerable thirst. It was during this human weakness in the body that Satan came to Jesus and told Him if he was the Son of God, He should turn the stones into bread.
But Jesus, refusing the suggestion to prove His Sonship, did not give in to useless banter with His adversary, but went straight to the heart of the test by answering with His Father's word from Deuteronomy 8:3: "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" (Matthew 4:4)
These words were so integral to Jesus's obedience and love for His Father that later He echoed this response to His disciples at Jacob's well in Samaria; "My food is to do the will of Him Who sent me and to finish His work.
The devil's suggestion that Jesus perform a magic trick with stones to prove His Sonship was an attempt to mock and belittle the whole purpose of Jesus's mission to the World and His presence in the wilderness.
It was not a sin for Jesus to eat food. After Jesus's time of testing, including His fast, was complete, God's pure and holy angels came and ministered to Him; we can safely assume this means that they fed Him as well.
The second test:
Verse five says something surprising:
(5) "Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, (6) and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'HE SHALL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER YOU,' and, IN THEIR HANDS THEY SHALL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU DASH YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'" (7) Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'YOU SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD YOUR GOD.'" (from Psalm 91:11-12)
The Bible does not say the devil took Jesus in the Spirit. A plain reading of this verse informs us that the devil (a fallen angel of great power) could transport Jesus, who was in a human body, to the place where he would test Him.
In verse five above, the devil once more suggested that IF Jesus was the Son of God, He should prove it by jumping from a dizzying height—the pinnacle of God's Temple—and falsely implied that God's pure and holy angels would keep Him from hitting the ground as the Psalmist wrote:
(11) "For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. (12) In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone." Psalms 91:11-12
Caution: We know the devil can quote scripture. We can depend on the fact that when he does, he will take God's written words out of context, misquote them, misapply them, or in some other way use them to fool humans about God's intentions, will, and plans.
Once more, we must look at the Greek word translated here as "tempt." We saw the word peirazo; now we see that word with a prefix: "ek."
G1598 ἐκπειράζω ekpeirazō ek-pi-rad'-zo From G1537 and G3985; to test thoroughly: - tempt. Total KJV occurrences: 4
It turns out that the word ekpeirazo is better translated as "test thoroughly." The Holy Spirit set up this wilderness experience to thoroughly test Jesus so that He would prove His right and qualification to lead humankind to salvation.
Jesus rebuked the devil because Satan, a created being, had no right to test His Father by the foolish stunt he suggested or by the fact that Jesus, being God's Son, was equal to God! Neither the Creator of the Universe nor His Son had an obligation to prove a thing to this fallen angel.
The third test:
(8) Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. (9) And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." (10) Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND HIM ONLY YOU SHALL SERVE.'" (11) Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Matthew 4:8-11
The devil was the ruler of the earth at this time; Adam had surrendered his position to Satan when he fell. Satan knew well that he offered what was legally his.
(15) "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. (17) And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:15-17
How would any other human handle these tests? I don't know for sure, but I can guess:
Lust of the flesh: desiring bread more than obeying God.
Doesn't that describe us accurately? It may not be bread, but we can all fill in the blanks: "I must have _____ to be happy." As if happiness were the goal of life and God was nowhere to be found.
Lust of the eyes: Desiring something so much that you can think of nothing else.
Satan offered Jesus a kingdom that He was already scheduled to inherit! The temptation was for Jesus to take a shortcut if He would just bow down to a fallen angel whom His Father created! Satan was offering for Jesus to skip the whippings, the crown of thorns, the cross, and the crucifixion so that He didn't have to experience any pain to gain His inheritance. He needed only to allow the created being to take the place of His Father!
Note: Satan could not have predicted the results of the crucifixion—the release of his captives, his total overthrow, and his promised demise—or he would never have incited Judas to betray Jesus, and he would not have incited the crowd to shout, "Crucify Him!" Killing the Son of the Living God sealed his fate and ensured the promises of the Kingdom for all of Jesus's followers for eternity.
The boastful pride of life: forgetting to humble oneself and give thanks and glory to God, and instead, giving oneself credit for accomplishments, goods, networks, possessions, and legacy.
What if instead of rebuking Satan with God's Word, Jesus had said to Satan, "My daddy is God, so I can perform this stupid stunt and depend on His angels to save me because I am important?"
But Jesus knew all that was at stake in this deadly game that Satan was playing, and this was Jesus's answer to all people who would come to a crossroads and need to make a decision: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
(34) When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (35) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. (36) For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (37) Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (38) For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:34-38
Thank God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that Jesus overcame Satan's temptations. He qualified Himself to run the race set before Him—to heal the sick, raise the dead, set the prisoners free, and proclaim the Kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. Thank God that Jesus agreed to take on this burden of our sin so that He could redeem us!
(1) “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
Why did Jesus endure the cross and despise the shame? It was because of you and me, dear brothers and sisters. We are the reason Jesus came to make a way to reconcile us to the Father.
As we continue our quest to learn and understand Jesus's words, let us meditate on His great love for us. Let us give thanks to Him, for He is good to us.
Until next time, shalom shalom.
Pastora Cate Covert