The Lord Jesus had taken His place among men, and the heavens had opened upon Him. He had been sealed and anointed with the Holy Ghost, and the Father had owned Him as His beloved Son. How blessed that He should come down here and take our place at the cross. We, through redemption, may now have His place. For heaven is now open to the believer; he is owned as a son of God and the Holy Ghost is given to him. He is loved with the same love with which the Father loves the Son.
But grace provokes the enemy. It is when souls are thus blessed that Satan’s temptations are apt to come.
The Lord must now pass through a time of testing. He goes forth from that blessed event at the Jordan into a different scene — the wilderness — to be tried by the one who had caused Adam to fall. Satan would find out whether this Man would succumb to his wiles. How different the circumstances were in which Jesus was tested from those in which the tempter first found Adam! The Lord was in the wilderness among the wild beasts (Mark 1:1313And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. (Mark 1:13)), but Adam, when tempted, was in a wonderful garden where everything was provided for his benefit by his Creator. Ever since then Satan has been tempting mankind. Over and over again it has been proved that man cannot withstand his wiles.
Jesus Resists Satan With the Word
But what about the One who came to take man’s place and to answer to God for him? Would He be able to stand? Satan stood ready to challenge Him with all that he had learned in dealing with men over the centuries.
“And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterward [hungry].” It would appear that the temptation was going on all during those forty days, but after they were passed the tempter comes with the challenge: “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” This temptation grew out of the Lord’s circumstances. However He was a man who had no other will than His Father’s will and so He answers, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Though hungry, He would not act upon Satan’s suggestion to satisfy His hunger, which would take Him out of that place of dependence upon God. He would wait upon God. He rested upon the Word of God. To Him it was everything. He lived by it. Faith knows that God will take care of one who trusts in Him. It is a faith-filled person’s business to keep God’s Word. God will not fail to watch over and protect him.
It is interesting to notice that the three scriptures the Lord uses in silencing Satan are quotations from the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy contains the instructions and warnings given by Moses to the people just before they crossed the Jordan to enter the land of Canaan. If they were to possess and enjoy the land God gave them, there must be obedience to Him and dependence upon Him. Satan found in the Lord Jesus only perfect obedience and perfect trust in God. It was this that gave such power to His word. Thus He was preserved from the snare of the enemy who was utterly beaten. It will be so with us if we seek grace to follow the pattern He has set for us.
Further Meditation
1. What does the testing of the Lord Jesus by Satan show us?
2. How many different natural disadvantages did Jesus have in dealing with Satan compared to Adam?
3. An excellent set of thoughts on the Lord’s humanity can be found in The Holy Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ by W. Kelly.