TEMPTATIONS OF JESUS Luke 4:1-13

This post discusses the temptations of Jesus and lessons therefrom.

The temptations of Jesus occurred in the wilderness when He was hungry, Luke 4:1-2: “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he hungered.

 At this point, the devil brought a temptation based on Jesus’ hunger, Luke 4:3-4:

“The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”  

Three key points emerge from these two verses.

First, the devil said, ‘if you are the Son of God.’

In this way, the devil tried to introduce doubt into the mind of Jesus as to His identity as the Son of God.

Second, Jesus answered with a quote from Deuteronomy 8:3 about the unimportant nature of food relative to pleasing God.

Thirdly, note that the Holy Spirit led and directed Jesus.

This means that God knew about the temptations of Jesus.

We do not know how it happened, but somehow, the devil gained control of the kingdoms of the world, probably by tempting the leaders of these kingdoms. For the second temptation the devil took Jesus up, showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and tempted Him to worship him to gain these kingdoms, Luke 4:7, “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 about worshipping only God, Luke 4:6:

“You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.”

We learn from Jesus in these two temptations that knowing and quoting scripture provides an excellent way to defeat temptations.

As a third temptation, the devil took Jesus to a high place in the temple and then quoted from Psalm 91 that angels would catch Jesus if He should ever fall. Thus, the devil shows that he knows scripture and will use it to tempt Jesus. For this attempt to test Jesus’ faith in His Father’s care for Him, Jesus quoted from Deut. 6:16 as His answer, Luke 4:12: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

If we follow Jesus, we will never try to test the faithfulness of God.

What do the three temptations of Jesus teach?

1.Quoting scripture repels the devil, his temptations, and builds trust in God.

2.Worship only God.

3.Sufficient trust in God prevents testing of Him.

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