Walking With Christ

Matthew 4:3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”(ESV)

Matthew 4:6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”(ESV)

Matthew 4:9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”(ESV)

These are the three temptations of Jesus while He was in the wilderness; the temptation for physical satisfaction, the temptation of pride and testing God’s faithfulness, and the temptation of power. One powerful word is often overlooked in these verses that shows us that there is much more going on here than a casual reading would expose.

The enemy uses the word “if” as a weapon. He says, “If this is true then…” to first cast doubt on the situation. Jesus responds with truth from the written word to point back to the power and authority of the Father. Satan uses the first response and tries to twist the scripture that Jesus used as His defensive argument. Again, he uses the word “if” as a weapon in the second temptation. Jesus responded the exact same way to the second temptation and again to the third. In each case, Satan attacked the identity of Jesus with the word “if”.

The third temptation is only slightly different from the first two in that Satan was offering Jesus something that Satan actually had the authority to give. To find out how Satan got this authority we have to go back to the garden of Eden in Genesis 3 where we see him use these same temptations for the first time.

The conversation in the garden of Eden between Eve and the serpent was a failure for both Adam and Eve. Adam’s failure was not in being absent, Genesis 3:6, but in being passive. It was only because Adam had taken a passive role as Eve’s protector and thereby abdicated his responsibility and authority that the serpent was able to have the conversation unchallenged. Where Adam was passive, Jesus rejected Satan’s temptations by actively wielding the Word of God. The serpent, when speaking to Eve, said, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Notice how his first attack was to cast doubt over the conversation. Eve did well to tell him that he was wrong. She tried to correct him, but, unfortunately, she had a faulty understanding of the law. If Adam had been an active protector of Eve then there would have been no room for the doubt that was planted in her mind. It was that doubt the enemy used to twist her response to create a desire for something that was never hers.

Eve was under the impression that even touching the fruit would cause instant death. When she touched the fruit and didn’t die immediately then the seed of doubt sprouted and gave power to the lies of the enemy. Then she wanted the fruit to satisfy physical desires as well as power. This one act covered all three of the temptations that were also faced by Christ. God provided plenty of alternatives for food, but the twisted desire was for the lone forbidden fruit. Just as the temptation of physical satisfaction drew Eve’s attention away from God’s provision, the second temptation challenged her trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness, paving the way for pride to take hold. The second temptation was about the reliance on the provision of God and not putting God to the test. God had told Adam and Eve about right and wrong in the simplest terms possible just by telling them not to eat from that one tree. They were expected to trust in that provision and rely on God for the physical needs as well as the spiritual ones. Lastly, knowledge is power and coveting the knowledge that God had reserved away from them was Adam and Eve feeling entitled to something that was never meant for them. They wanted more than what they had and in reaching for their goal lost what they already had. Satan’s authority over earthly kingdoms comes from humanity’s abdication of dominion at the Fall.

Jesus, before He could even begin His ministry, had to claim the power and authority given to Him by the Father through the rejection of the same temptations that Adam and Eve had faltered on. Jesus then spent the next three years setting the foundations of what would become the church or bride of Christ. Jesus spent the next three years undoing everything that was done in the garden of Eden. Jesus’ triumph in the wilderness not only reversed Adam and Eve’s failure but also demonstrated that He is the obedient Son of God who would succeed where humanity failed. This victory set the stage for His ministry and ultimately the redemption of all creation.

What ‘ifs’ does the enemy use to sow doubt in your heart?

How can you respond with the truth of God’s Word, just as Jesus did?