September 24, 2023

Luke 4: 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (NIV)

If it were not possible to forsake his divine status (or at least misuse it), then the temptation means nothing.*

Luke tells us that after the devil was done with tempting Jesus, he left him until an opportune time. Did he ever find that time? There are no more Jesus vs Satan stories in the Bible but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. We can be sure that the devil did not give up after one attempt to thwart God’s plan. I read somewhere that Satan really didn’t know what was afoot when Jesus walked among men but - whatever he didn’t know - he knew that Jesus’ mission would be devastating to his cause.*

So what was so tempting – and bad - about Satan’s offers? Jesus could have turned anything into bread at any time. What about all the “authority and splendor” of all the kingdoms of the world? Jesus said that he had been given all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28: 18), so he didn’t need to worship Satan in order to get it. Was he really tempted to throw himself off the highest point of the temple to see if angels would rescue him and prove that he was the Son of God? As Phillip Yancey writes, “The three temptations do not seem evil in themselves—and yet clearly something pivotal happened in the desert.”* What was it?

Jesus lived his whole life knowing the horrible way he was going to die. We know from his prayer in the garden that he would really, really rather not have to go through with it. Don’t you think that he was tempted, not by the things Satan could offer him, but by what they represented? Wouldn’t Jesus the man prefer the chance to fulfill his destiny without all that torture business? Do you think it’s possible that he was tempted to be the “thundering Messiah”* that the people were expecting? 

That pivotal happening in the desert? I believe that from that moment on, Jesus began to shake off his human nature in order to embrace his divine nature. His victory over Satan was the first step in his path to the cross and victory over death. We have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he was tempted in every way that we are (Hebrews 4: 15). When we are tempted, he will provide a way out (I Corinthians 10: 13) . . . and our eventual victory over death.

Strong as . . . [Satan] is, God never permits him to conquer the man who continues to resist him.*