The Hero

The Wilderness Temptation

Picture: The Wilderness Temptation 3TC 65.1

This chapter is based on Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13.

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” 3TC 65.2

Jesus did not invite temptation. He went to the wilderness to be alone, to think about His mission. By fasting and prayer, He was to brace Himself for the bloodstained path He must travel. But Satan thought this was the best time to approach Him. 3TC 65.3

Mighty issues were at stake. Satan claimed the earth as his and presented himself as “the prince of this world.” He declared that humanity had chosen him as their ruler and that through human beings he held dominion over the world. Christ had come to disprove Satan’s claim. As the Son of man, Christ would stand loyal to God. This would show that Satan had not gained complete control of the human race and that his claim to the world was false. Anyone who wanted deliverance from his power would be set free. 3TC 65.4

Satan had known that he did not hold absolute control over the world. In humanity, there was a power that withstood his reign. See Genesis 3:15. In the sacrifices that Adam and his sons offered, he saw a symbol of communion between earth and heaven, and he set himself to intercept it. He misrepresented God and misinterpreted the rites that pointed to the Savior. He led people to fear God as one who delighted in their destruction. The sacrifices that should have revealed His love, they offered only to appease His wrath. 3TC 66.1

When God gave His written Word, Satan studied the prophecies. From generation to generation, he worked to blind the people so that they would reject Christ at His coming. 3TC 66.2

When Jesus was born, Satan knew that One had come to dispute his rulership. The Son of God had come to this earth as a man, and this filled him with alarm. His selfish heart could not understand such love. Since he had lost heaven, he was determined to cause others to share his fall. He would cause them to undervalue heavenly things and set their hearts on things of earth. 3TC 66.3

Satan Determined to Win

From the time when the Commander of heaven was a baby in Bethlehem, the evil one continually attacked Him. In the councils of Satan with his angels, it was determined that He must be overcome. 3TC 66.4

The forces of evil followed Him closely to engage in warfare against Him and to overcome Him if possible. 3TC 66.5

At the Savior’s baptism, Satan heard the voice of Jehovah testifying to Jesus’ divinity. Now that Jesus had come “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), the Father Himself spoke. Before this, He had communicated with humanity through Christ; now He communicated with humanity in Christ. Now it was clear that the connection between God and mankind had been restored. 3TC 66.6

Satan saw that he must either conquer or be conquered. He rallied all the energies of apostasy against Christ. 3TC 67.1

Many look on this conflict between Christ and Satan as having no particular effect on their own life. But within every human heart, the conflict is repeated. The enticements Christ resisted were those we find so difficult to withstand. With the weight of the sins of the world on Him, Christ withstood the test on appetite, on the love of the world, and on a love of display that leads to presumption. These were the temptations that overcame Adam and Eve and that overcome us so easily. 3TC 67.2

Satan had pointed to Adam’s sin as proof that no one could obey God’s law. In our humanity, Christ was to succeed where Adam failed. But when Adam was attacked by the tempter, he had none of the effects of sin on him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing full vigor of mind and body. Surrounded with the glories of Eden, he was in daily fellowship with heavenly beings. 3TC 67.3

It was not this way with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to cope with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took on Himself the weaknesses of degenerated humanity. Only in this way could He rescue us from the lowest depths of our degradation. 3TC 67.4

He Took All Humanity’s Liabilities

Many claim that it was impossible for Christ to be overcome by temptation. If so, then He could not have been placed in Adam’s position nor have gained the victory that Adam failed to gain. If in any sense we have a more trying conflict than Christ had, then He would not be able to help us. But our Savior took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear that He has not endured. 3TC 67.5

With Christ, as with Adam and Eve in Eden, appetite was the subject of the first great temptation. “And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’” 3TC 68.1

These first words betrayed the tempter’s character. “If You are the Son of God.” Here Satan introduced a hint of distrust. If Jesus would do what Satan suggested, He would be accepting the doubt. Satan had tried to plant the thought in Eve’s mind that withholding such beautiful fruit contradicted God’s love for them. Similarly, the tempter now tried to plant his own sentiments in Christ. “If You are the Son of God.” In his voice was an expression of utter disbelief. Would God treat His own Son like this, leaving Him in the desert with wild beasts, without food, without companions, without comfort? He hinted at the idea that God never meant His Son to be in such a condition as this. “If You are the Son of God, show Your power. Command this stone to become bread.” 3TC 68.2

The Temptation to Doubt

The words from heaven, “This is My beloved Son,” were still sounding in the ears of Satan. But he was determined to make Christ disbelieve this testimony. The Word of God was Christ’s assurance of His divine mission; the Word declared His connection with heaven. Satan intended to make Him doubt that Word. If he could shake Christ’s confidence in God, Satan knew that he could overcome Jesus. He hoped that under the force of despair and hunger, Christ would lose faith in His Father and work a miracle in His own behalf. If He had done this, the plan of salvation would have been broken. 3TC 68.3

Satan made the most of his supposed advantage. One of the most powerful of the angels, he said, had been banished from heaven. The appearance of Jesus indicated that He was that fallen angel, forsaken by God and deserted by everyone. A divine being would establish his claim by working a miracle: “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Such an act of creative power, the tempter urged, would be conclusive evidence of Divinity. It would bring the controversy to an end. 3TC 68.4

But the Son of God was not to prove His divinity to Satan. If Christ had followed the suggestion of the enemy, Satan would still have said, “Show me a sign that I may believe you to be the Son of God.” And Christ was not to exercise divine power for His own benefit. He had come to bear trials as we must, giving us an example. His wonderful works were all for the good of others. Strengthened with the memory of the Voice from heaven, Jesus rested in His Father’s love. 3TC 69.1

Jesus met Satan with Scripture. “It is written,” He said. The weapon of His warfare was the Word of God. Satan demanded a miracle from Christ. But a firm reliance on a “Thus says the Lord” is greater than all miracles. It was a sign that could not be disputed. As long as Christ held to this position, the tempter could gain no advantage. 3TC 69.2

In the time of Christ’s greatest weakness, Satan attacked Him with the fiercest temptations. This is how Satan has taken advantage of humanity’s weakness. See Numbers 20:1-13; 1 Kings 19:1-14. When we are perplexed or afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan is there to tempt, to attack our weak points of character, to shake our confidence in God. Often the tempter comes as he came to Christ, pointing out our weakness to us. He hopes to discourage us and break our hold on God. But if we would reply to him as Jesus did, we would escape many a defeat. 3TC 69.3

Christ said to the tempter, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In the wilderness more than fourteen hundred years before, God sent His people a constant supply of manna from heaven. This was to teach them that while they trusted in God and walked in His ways, He would not forsake them. By the word of God help had been given to the Hebrews, and by the same word it had been given to Jesus. He awaited God’s time to bring relief. He would not obtain food by following Satan’s suggestions. It is better to endure whatever may happen than to depart in any way from God’s will. 3TC 69.4

Often the follower of Christ is brought to the point where it appears that obedience to some plain requirement of God will cut off his means of support. Satan would make him believe that he must sacrifice his honest convictions. But the only thing we can rely on is the Word of God. See Matthew 6:33. When we learn the power of His Word, we will not follow Satan’s suggestions in order to get food or save our lives. We will obey God’s command and trust His promise. 3TC 70.1

In the last great conflict with Satan, those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse to break His law, they will be forbidden to buy or sell. See Revelation 13:11-17. But God has promised the obedient one, “He will dwell on high; ... bread will be given him, His water will be sure.” Isaiah 33:16. When the earth will be wasted with famine, he will be fed. See Psalm 37:19. 3TC 70.2

Intemperance Corrupts Morals

In all ages, temptations appealing to the physical nature have been most successful in corrupting mankind. Through intemperance, Satan works to destroy the mental and moral powers. Thus it becomes impossible for people to appreciate things of eternal worth. Through sensual indulgence, Satan seeks to blot from the soul every trace of likeness to God. 3TC 70.3

Christ declares that before His second coming, the condition of the world will be like it was in the days before the Flood, and like it was in Sodom and Gomorrah. We should understand clearly the lesson of the Savior’s fast. We can only estimate the evil of unrestrained indulgence when we see the inexpressible anguish Christ endured. Our only hope of eternal life is through bringing our appetites and passions into subjection to the will of God. 3TC 70.4

In our own strength, it is impossible to deny the urges of our fallen nature. But by passing over the ground we must travel, our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome. He would not have us be intimidated and discouraged. “Be of good cheer,” He says, “I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. 3TC 70.5

Anyone who is struggling against the power of appetite should look to the Savior in the wilderness of temptation. See Him in His agony on the cross, as He exclaimed, “I thirst.” His victory is ours. 3TC 71.1

“The ruler of this world is coming,” said Jesus, “and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30. Nothing in Him responded to Satan’s deceptive reasoning. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. It may be this way with us as well. Christ’s humanity was united with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to grasp firmly onto the divinity of Christ, so that we may reach perfection of character. 3TC 71.2

Christ has shown us how to accomplish this. By what means did Christ overcome Satan? By the Word of God. “It is written,” He said. And every promise in God’s Word is ours. See 2 Peter 1:4. When temptation strikes, look to the power of the Word. All its strength is yours. See 17:4; 17:4. 3TC 71.3