Temptation in the wilderness

In Matthew chapter four (and Luke 4) we find a situation when Jesus had the opportunity to work miracles, yet He refused to do so. We have seen that we have no right to command God what to do, whether to supply what we think we need or work a miracle that we think is legitimate.

In fact there are occasions when it might be wrong to ask for a miracle, and this is the aspect of the temptation in the wilderness that we will consider on this page.

Why did Jesus refuse to use His powers? At the time, He was very hungry. Surely hunger is a legitimate need? If you do not eat for forty days, you come perilously close to starving to death. If Jesus had died of hunger, He would have been unable to die for our sins on the cross. Logically, it seems He should have miraculously made some bread so that He would not die. There was no problem with His ability, as He showed on later occasions, providing bread and fish for thousands of people at once. Why did He not perform a miracle? What can this story show us when we are eager for miracles of supply, protection, healing etc.

Matt 4:1-11

1 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.

Jesus refused to work any miracle purely on His own behalf. He refused to claim any power of His own, but rather looked to His Father in heaven for authority.

The first test, in verse three, was when the Devil tempted Jesus to command a miracle for an apparently good purpose. This shows us just who may be the inspiration behind our desire to command God what to do. The Devil fell because He wanted to be like God (Isaiah 14) and would delight in getting us to act like little gods, pompously ordering God around.

Jesus was sent to earth with His primary mission to redeem us to God, to become the mediator between God and man through His death on the cross. Although He healed the sick and fed the hungry, His main goal was to provide Himself as the living bread, and to die that our spirits may be healed. The Devil here tempted Jesus to yield to the desires of His own flesh first, that He would then become no more than a provider of physical well-being, instead of the Saviour of our souls.

Jesus’ response was to trust what God had said, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone…’ Note that Jesus did not ‘claim a verse’ in the way we have been taught in the Family or in various churches, He did not use the Old Testament promise (Deuteronomy 8:3) as the means of miraculously surviving without food for forty days or for supplying His needs. He was merely stating the fact that man lives on the words of God. He would therefore trust God, and that was that. Jesus was also stating the simple fact that God’s word is more than sufficient to sustain us when we suffer any kind of physical temptation. In this case, Jesus was hungry, but it could be any kind of human urge or bodily desire. Jesus did not fight with His hunger, forcing it down and subduing it with a verse from His promise box. Neither did He yield to His physical need. He stated the fact that God’s word was enough, and that was that.

How often do we misuse the word of God by praying presumptuous prayers like, “Lord you promised to supply my needs (Phil 4:19) so now you must honour your word and give me…”? That is not faith in God. That is misplaced faith in miraculous power, or even trusting in our own faith. Philippians 4:19 was not give as carte blanche to request whatever we want. Rather it is a statement of fact, that God will supply all our needs. Demanding that God give us something is not trusting God, for He has already told us He will supply our needs. In fact our demanding, commanding attitude may be a lack of faith in God’s supply. He supplies in whatever way He chooses, exactly what we need and we cannot command Him how or from what source He needs to supply.

If we think that we need to insist that God gives us what we need before He acts, we make a mockery of Jesus’ words for He gave specific instructions for the times when we may be in need. Did He tell us to claim a promise and insist that God fulfil His word? Did He tell us to issue a command to the most high God of the universe?

Matt 6:25-33

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 “Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

29 “and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Jesus said, “Don’t worry!” The things we are to concern ourselves with are the kingdom of God − our own entrance therein, and the entrance of others − and God’s righteousness dwelling in us. We can say that seeking first the kingdom of God is living the things Jesus talked about in the passage from which the above verses are taken, the sermon on the mount. It means knowing God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, and living with the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

The second temptation was that Jesus perform a miracle that people would flock to Him. It was not a miracle of protection as the Devil did not push Jesus off the temple roof. Jesus knew the verses that the Devil quoted (Psalm 91:11,12) and could reasonably enough have claimed this promise, insisting that God keep His word.

It was a temptation to do a ‘showy’ miracle in a public place. As with the previous test, we can read where showy miracles were performed on other occasions. We can see however that Jesus refused to work a miracle to glorify Himself. His only concern on earth was to glorify His Father in heaven.

John 17:4 “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.

John 12:28 “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

Similarly, our purpose is to glorify God in Heaven and Jesus Christ our Saviour. We have not been given a mandate to build a particular church or to bring credit to the Family. Exalting a church − any church − does not glorify God, it glorifies that church or group. The Bible speaks of divisions between believers as ‘carnal’.

1 Cor 3:4-7

4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

This church is nothing, that church is nothing, the Family is nothing. Our fierce and loyal defence of any particular group is dismissed in the Bible as carnal, unspiritual, infantile. Our only purpose should be to bring glory to God Who gives the increase.

Jesus’ reply to the Devil when He was tempted to attract people to Himself was, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” This shows that this was more than a personal decision for Jesus to make. Rather, it was another attempt for the Devil to give instructions to God Himself. Remember what the serpent told Eve?

Gen 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

It is the Devil who tempts us to command God, then lies to us, disguising the temptation as a legitimate need, or giving us a good reason for the miracle to occur.

The third temptation (in Matthew 4:9) was for power: pure, unadulterated power. Jesus reply? “Worship God alone.” We who would seek miracle-working power should be very careful lest we be found listening to the Devil himself. Family members who look to the power of ‘the keys of the kingdom’ would do well to redirect their worship to the God of Heaven and Jesus Christ His Son.

Conclusion

There are times when it is definitely wrong to insist on a miracle. In particular, God has already promised to supply our needs, and while we may pray and ask Him for help, we should not demand Him to work a miracle on our behalf, regardless of how much we are in need. Secondly, we are not to desire miracles in order to draw attention to ourself or to our church or to our program, no matter how good or godly we think it is. We should glorify God, and God alone. Thirdly, power for the sake of power is another temptation that we should resist as it can only draw us away from God.

The Temptation in the Wilderness (Matthew Henry)

[1.] Christ began to be hungry, and therefore the motion seemed very proper, to turn stones into bread for his necessary support. Note, It is one of the wiles of Satan to take advantage of our outward condition, in that to plant the battery of his temptations. He is an adversary no less watchful than spiteful; and the more ingenious he is to take advantage against us, the more industrious we must be to give him none. When he began to be hungry, and that in a wilderness, where there was nothing to be had, then the Devil assaulted him. Note, Want and poverty are a great temptation to discontent and unbelief, and the use of unlawful means for our relief, under pretence that necessity has no law; and it is excused with this that hunger will break through stone walls, which yet is no excuse, for the law of God ought to be stronger to us than stone walls.

Secondly, “Thou hast now an opportunity to show that thou art the son of God. If thou art the Son of God, prove it by this, command these stones” (a heap of which, probably, lay now before him) “be made bread, v. 3. John Baptist said but the other day, that God can out of stone raise up children to Abraham, a divine power therefore can, no doubt, out of stones, make bread for those children; if there thou has that power, exert it now in a time of need for thyself.” He does not say, Pray to thy Father that he would turn them into bread; but command it to be done; thy Father hath forsaken thee, set up for thyself, and be not beholden to him. The Devil is for nothing that is humbling, but every thing that is assuming; and gains his point, if he can but bring men off from their dependence upon God, and possess them with an opinion of their self-sufficiency.

[1.] Christ refused to comply with it. He would not command these stones to be made bread; not because he could not; his power, which soon after this turned stones into bread; but he would not. And why would he not? At first view, the thing appears justifiable enough, and the truth is, the more plausible a temptation is, and the greater appearance there is of good in it, the more dangerous it is. This matter would bear a dispute, but Christ was soon aware of the snake in the grass, and would not do any thing, First, That looked like questioning the truth of the voice he heard from heaven, or putting that upon a new trial which was already settled. Secondly, That looked like distrusting his Father’s care of him, or limiting him to one particular way of providing for him. Thirdly, That looked like setting up for himself, and being his own carver; or, Fourthly, That looked like gratifying Satan, by doing a thing at his motion. Some would have said, To give the Devil his due, this was good counsel; but for those who wait upon God, to consult him, is more than his due; it is like enquiring of the god Ekron, when there is a God in Israel.

Note, It is possible for a man to have his head full of scripture-notions, and his mouth full of scripture-expressions, while his heart is full of reigning enmity to God and all goodness.

[2.] as it would be requiring a special preservation of him, in doing that which he had no call to. If we expect that because God has promised not to forsake us, therefore he should follow us out of the way of our duty; that because he has promised to supply our wants, therefore he should humour us, and please our fancies; that because he has promised to keep us, we may wilfully thrust ourselves into danger, and may expect the desired end, without using the appointed means; this is presumption, this is tempting God. And it is an aggravation of the sin, that he is the Lord our God; it is an abuse of the privilege we enjoy, in having him for our God; he has thereby encouraged us to trust him, but we are very ungrateful, if therefore we tempt him; it is contrary to our duty to him as our God. This is to affront him whom we ought to honour. Note, We must never promise ourselves any more than God has promised us.

(from Matthew Henry’s Commentary)

The Temptation in the Wilderness (Scott Grant, Peninsula Bible Church)

The first two temptations begin with the words, “If you are the Son of God ... “ The devil is not so much tempting Jesus to question whether he is the Son of God as he is tempting him to fulfill his vocation in a different, easier way - a way contrary to God’s will, a way that would leave us in our sins.

The temptation is to use his power to turn the stones into bread. It would have come to Jesus something like this, “If you are the Son of God, God can’t want you to go hungry, can he? Where is God, anyway? Doesn’t he promise to meet your needs? Certainly he’d meet the needs of the vaunted ‘Son of God.’ If he cares at all, he’s got a pretty warped idea of who the Son of God is. This vocation of yours - you know, the one that involves saving the world - I don’t think God’s going to be with you in this one. I mean, look how it’s starting out - hunger in the wilderness and all. God gave Israel manna in the wilderness. Where’s your manna? I think you’d better make your own manna. If you are the Son of God, you have the power. Go ahead. Then you can get on with your mission, and you can do it your way with your power, both of which, as you can see by the evidence, are more reliable than God’s way and God’s power.”

Jesus responds to Satan’s temptation by trusting God’s word. The Spirit of God led him into the wilderness, and this fast was evidently God’s idea. Jesus experienced need in the wilderness, just as Israel (Exodus 16:2-3). But whereas Israel grumbled against the Lord (Exodus 17:2), Jesus does not. He trusts God to meet his needs, though he had every ability to meet them himself. Jesus lives on the word that comes out of God’s mouth, not the food that goes into his. Food is not unimportant, but what God has said about it is more important. In the face of tremendous temptation to break his fast, Jesus chooses to trust God.

Jesus refuses the temptation to use his own power and chooses to trust God for his vocation as Son of God. The devil presented a compelling case that God had the wrong idea, but Jesus rejected the notion. His choice was consistent with the eternal choice he made to not to exploit his divine power but to set it aside, depending completely on God’s provision (Philippians 2:5-8).

Jesus thus begins by choosing to fulfill his vocation in God’s way. Thank God he did! When we get to the end of Matthew, we find Jesus taking some bread, breaking it, giving it to his disciples and saying, “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). Because he didn’t turn the stones into bread, he was able to offer himself up as bread - our bread, the bread of life. Listen to Jesus: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). He who comes to Jesus!

In the first temptation, the devil tried to get Jesus to use his own power, but Jesus trusted in God. Integral to the vocation of the Son of God is that he trusts God. The devil says, “Very well, you trust God. Here’s an opportunity to trust him.” The devil, using Psalm 91:11-12 as an incentive, invites Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple in the belief that God would send his angels to rescue him.

What is the nature of this temptation? Jesus knows that God’s way to Jerusalem is not easy (Matthew 16:21). God wanted his king to fight all the “wrong” battles. If Jesus was intent on not trusting in himself but trusting in God, and his vocation involved winning Jerusalem, and Jerusalem would be difficult to win, he’d better have God on his side. Although Jesus trusted God in the wilderness, perhaps God still hadn’t proved all that trustworthy. Jesus refused to turn the stones into bread, but he still had no bread. Thus, the devil brings Jesus to the temple, emblematic of the kingdom, and encourages him to indulge in a little test case - a test flight! - to see if God will truly be with him in this impossible task. Angels worshiped Jesus when he was a child (Luke 2:13-14), and they, along with humanity, were supposed to submit to his sovereignty. (We see angels doing precisely that in Revelation 5:11-12.) It would be a good test to see if God would send angels to him in Jerusalem; the humans in Jerusalem would be a tougher case. The devil is saying to Jesus, “See if God will be with you in this little thing. Make God prove himself before you enter this frightening arena.” Ultimately, jumping off the temple would be a way of proving himself to himself - that as the Son of God, God is with him. Presumably, the successful test case would open the door for Jesus to saunter into Jerusalem and take control.

What if Jesus had given into this temptation? What if he had tested God in this way and marched into Jerusalem to take over, instead of stumbling to a hill outside Jerusalem to hang on a cross? If he had tested God in this way, none of us would survive God’s test of us (1 Corinthians 3:13).

The devil offers Jesus the ultimate fulfillment of his vocation, the fulfillment of his deepest dreams. The call to bring righteousness and peace to the entire world is deep in his being, and that dream is now spread out before his eyes. This is the goal of his call, where it all leads. And he can have it all now! And he can have it without suffering! God’s way to universal sovereignty is long and arduous and, from all appearances at the outset, darn near impossible. The temptation is to cut to the chase, to get on with it, to take the easy way. The temptation is to forget the cross. The temptation to avoid the cross would dog Jesus for the rest of his life.

In the first temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to use his own power. In the second temptation, the devil tempts Jesus to force God to use his power. In the third temptation, the devil says, “Here, take my power.” The devil is the ruler of this world (John 12:31). The devil has one condition. He will give Jesus universal sovereignty if Jesus will worship him.
Each of the three temptations contains the word “if.” All three uses of the word pertain to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and give him the opportunity to fulfill the vocation that comes with the identity. In each temptation, Jesus is challenged to do something in order to get something - the ultimate fulfillment of his call.

Jesus recognizes this as the devil’s last and best play and commands the devil to leave his presence. He calls the devil “Satan,” which means “enemy.” He is the enemy behind all enemies. He is the true enemy.

If Jesus had given into this temptation and assumed sovereignty on the devil’s terms, what kind of world would he be leading? What kind of world would we be living in now? What would be the prospects for eternity? One thing’s for sure: It would be an unredeemed world. It might be something along the lines of hell: no righteousness, no peace, no joy - no God. Because Jesus resisted the devil, creation is redeemed, including all those in the kingdoms of the world who want for redemption.

(from Scott Grant, Temptation in the Wilderness)

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