Tempted but Without Sin

Matthew 4:1-11 

Satan Tempts Jesus

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.

The temptation of Christ by the adversary lasted 40 days; that is more than a month and a week of waiting while fasting before facing such an effort to cause the Son of Man and God to fall into disobedience as he had done with Eve in the beginning (Genesis 3:1, 4-5, 2 Corinthians 11:3).  The difference was of course that Jesus was not just a man but also God in the flesh of a man.  His human side was controlled perfectly by the divine and He resisted all temptation with steadfast obedience and did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).  He did this so when He died as a perfect sacrifice without any blemish of disobedience or selfishness He could then pay the price once and for all as He Himself also ministered that offering for us as our High Priest as well.  The first temptation to disobey was a mocking that said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  The ‘if’ questioned Christ’s divinity and the rest was a twisting of God’s word to satisfy self instead of obedience to God’s word in context of spirit and truth.  Jesus answered with the word of God from Deuteronomy 8:3 which pointed to living according to God’s word and trusting His provision in His providence and not with demands for immediate needs to be met immediately.  This would be a lack of faith and disobedience to living as the LORD God would have us to in humble reliance.  He set the example for us to likewise live by faith and not demand our needs from God our Father.  The devil then attempted to get Jesus to throw Himself off a building and let God provide angels to catch Him.  Firstly, this was off the temple and not just any building, suggesting a religious justification for such an act to tempt God to keep Him safe while doing a foolish thing.  We are not to listen to such temptations to test God either by running into danger and imagine that He will keep us from getting killed as such an act of tempting God would bring to us.  Jesus therefore told the enemy that it was written, "You shall not tempt the LORD your God.”  Finally, the adversary tempted our Lord by offering power over all nations and kingdoms with all their glory.  How ironic and shortsighted to offer the Lord of all what He already possessed as the Sovereign King of all kings!  Nonetheless, the example was also for us to not desire to pursue our own glory and power of political pride over trust me worship of God who raises and brings down rulers (Daniel 2:21, Romans 13:1) in His predetermined plan of all history.  Jesus as the Son of man refused to worship any but his Father in heaven and as the divine Son of God was unable to do so.  We as mere mortals have only our humanity to answer the tempter from, yet that nature has God’s Spirit living within us to enable us to answer the same way as our Lord Jesus Christ did now!  Thus we are able to say, “Away with you, Satan!” when tempted with the desires of our eyes, flesh, or pride of life and do the will of God according to His word instead (1 John 2:15-17).  Jesus was tempted without sin for our sal; when we are tempted, we must not allow ourselves to be led away by our desires (James 1:12, 14-15) but pray for His Spirit to give resolute strength and guidance to overcome these attempts to make us disobey as our fallen natures are accustomed to.