Temptation and Beginning Galilee Ministry

The Preparation of the Son of Man for Public Ministry (3:1-4:13)

Jesus had gone to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist—the same place the Israelites crossed when coming out of Egypt to enter the Promised Land, where Yahweh had promised they could live with God.

The metaphor of going to the Jordan to be baptized could not be clearer—this was a new exodus for the Israelites of Jesus’ day. Jesus had come to deliver Israel from their slavery to sin, and Luke devoted the rest of his book to explaining just how Jesus was going to bring Israel out of their slavery into their promised land. 

Here was the catch: the promised land Jesus was bringing Israel into was not so much a place on the earth as it was a Person. Just as Adam was the beginning of all humanity, Jesus was going to be the beginning of the new Israel. Jesus was going to fulfill everything God had wanted Israel to be and, at the same time, become everything He wanted Israel to become. Jesus was going to become the ultimate Promised Land and the ultimate Israel of God. 

As people committed to following Jesus, they would be included in God's new Israel. Just as all humanity was born into Adam's race, all of humanity would be invited to the new Israel through the true Israelite, Jesus.  

This is the imagery of Jesus’ baptism, to help people see Jesus as the new Israel—the Israel without sin.

The temptation of Christ was meant to contrast with the temptation of Adam, who sinned by eating from, worshiping, and testing God's love at the forbidden tree (Genesis 3). The temptation of Christ was also meant to contrast with Israel's temptation when in the wilderness, journeying from Egypt toward the Promised Land.  

The Temptation of Jesus (1-13) 

After Jesus was baptized, He was described as being full of the Holy Spirit. It was not as if Jesus, being God's Son, was not already full—He was. Luke is making the point that Jesus is also fully human. Being human, His life and ministry were devoted to dependency on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide Him. 

Being fully led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus went to the wilderness for 40 days of seclusion, fasting, and prayer, and also temptation by the devil. The contrasts, again, couldn't be more evident—Adam failed his temptation, and the children of Israel failed their wilderness test. Jesus is the new Adam; the true Israel of God fares much differently (1-2). Jesus encountered the devil personally, and the devil (his name means “slander”) stepped up and began to slander God to Jesus. 

It might be important to note here that Jesus does not necessarily encounter the visible figure of the devil but more likely engages a series of good ideas impulsively arising from His natural thinking. These may have been, humanly speaking, common-sense ideas for a leader whom God was making His sovereign. Jesus must figure out how He must rule, deliver, and throw off the oppression of Rome, especially the devil himself. At the heart of these temptations is God helping Jesus learn what kind of a leader He will be, and He is to be a leader who has not been compromised by ideas in His head which He is arguing with until they become too alluring to oppose any longer.

• Temptation One

  The devil slandered God’s ability to provide and suggested that Jesus provide for Himself. The devil tempts by asserting that sometimes God delays and sometimes God is absent. During these times, God expects us to use our own power to fix basic needs problems. Jesus must answer the question every human has gotten wrong from the beginning. What is more important—your essential needs or loyalty to Yahweh? The children of Israel, when they were hungry in the wilderness, sought to return to Egypt to satisfy their hunger. Jesus referred to Scripture written when Israel was in the wilderness, verses they could have used to combat their temptation, to battle the devil. When the devil slandered God's ability to supply, Jesus countered with, “Man shall not live by bread alone” (3-4) (Deuteronomy 8:3).

• Temptation Two

  The devil slandered God’s ultimate authority and His worthiness to be worshiped. Essentially, the devil asserts, to compromise a bit of affection and devotion for the cause of winning people cannot be a vice, right? To fill a building to fulfill a pastor’s vision and aspiration for size at the expense of lacking a dedication to inner formation cannot be a corruption, right? As it was a custom of the day to make images of animals ridden by great gods, Aaron made an image of what the Israelites imagined God may have ridden on when leading them out of Egypt. Then, they worshiped the calf image in their impatience for Moses to come down from the mountain. Jesus countered the devil with, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve” (5-8) (Deuteronomy 6:13). 

• Temptation Three

  The devil slandered God’s ability to fulfill Jesus’ destiny. The devil sought to have Jesus seek to demonstrate His own deity by having God do a spectacular feat: throw Yourself down into something. Throw Yourself into something so massive that others will believe only God could have done it. Throw Yourself into some accomplishment that you can brand Yourself as so spectacular that people will be deceived into thinking only God could have done the sensational You project.  The children of Israel had become thirsty in the wilderness; they doubted God’s ability to get them to their destiny, the land of promise (Exodus 17:1-7). Jesus countered the devil with, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (9-12).

  We may not be tempted exactly like Jesus was, but everyone is tempted in their various vocations to choose loyalty to pragmatism over fidelity and allegiance to Yahweh. 

  Every demonic lie can only be resisted by God-breathed Scripture which perpetually chooses allegiance and trust to Yahweh over all else. The only power that can resist temptation is the loyalty of Yahweh formed in our hearts, which He shapes to be our greatest prize. This loyalty is being embodied by Jesus and will become the foundation of salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). 

  Jesus used the Scriptures, God’s word, to chase the devil away, showing us how we too can resist temptation with God's word. These same Scriptures were the ones Israel failed to trust while being tempted in their wilderness (13).