Luke 4

Read: Luke 4

Jesus quickly went from being commissioned in chapter 3 to being tested in Luke 4.  The Israelites went through the Red Sea and then faced forty years of trials. Jesus in a similar fashion faced forty days of temptation by the devil.  Here, Jesus was starving…. can you imagine not eating anything for 40 days? I think I would have given up after a few days! Jesus was at one of his weakest points recorded in scripture, and of course this is where the devil moved in to take a shot at him.  

First, the devil tempted Jesus to make bread to sustain him in his hunger.  Jesus created bread in other places (see Matthew 14:13-21), but for Jesus to do so here would have been disobedience.  That is the interesting thing about Jesus. The Bible tells us he was tempted in every way we are (Hebrews 4:15), but I think he was tempted far beyond what we are!  Think about it… If you are hungry, can you turn stones into bread? Yeah… I didn’t think so. Jesus could have done that! He had all the power in the universe to do whatever he wished, but during his time in his earthly body he was submissive to his Father’s will (see Philippians 2:5-8).  Not to submit would have been to sin, and if Jesus hadn’t lived a life without sin then his sacrifice would not have had any ability to atone for our sins.  

The devil then tried to get Jesus to worship him in order to receive authority over all.  Basically the devil was giving Jesus a shortcut. Jesus would receive all authority and dominion upon completion of his mission on earth anyways, but the devil tempted him by offering it sooner if only Jesus worshiped him.  Lastly, Jesus was asked to test the Lord by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple. Imagine how much easier it would have been to convince people he was the Messiah if he had jumped off the pinnacle of the temple and a host of angels swooped down to protect him from falling to his death!  But that was not the Father’s will for him; the cross was. Yet again, the devil offered a shortcut and Jesus rebuked him.  

When Satan tempts you, how do you respond?  He is sneaky, and a lot of the things he throws at us don’t sound half bad.  Sometimes, he may even use scripture and twist it to make it sound ok. That’s why it is important to know God’s word and to seek his wisdom for our lives.  Satan will tempt us to take shortcuts or take advantage of us. If we don’t know what is right, he will lead us off the path God wants us to travel down. If you’ve never read the Pilgrim’s Progress or watched the movie, I highly recommend you do that for a great illustration of this.  Satan usually doesn’t attack us in blatantly obvious ways. We must constantly be vigilant and keep an eye out for his craftiness.