Ephesians 6:17; Jesus’ third temptation in the wilderness: ambition.Wednesday July 13,2022A reminder of the first two temptations (remember the principles that you can).
Mat 4:1-7 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "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 on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" 5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand 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 will give His angels charge concerning You';
and
'On their hands they will bear You up, Lest You strike Your foot against a stone.'"
7 Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
The third temptation: Ambition (one last mad assault).
Temptation 3: Ambition – grab hold of something “similar” to God’s will. Clue: it can only be had in a wrong way.
Mat 4:8-11 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'" 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
Satan leaves out, “If you are the Son of God,” which he postulated on the first two temptations, probably because that title is so at odds with bowing down to the creature Satan.
The theories as to whether this is some literal mountain or whether what kingdoms Jesus beheld were in a vision, are distracting from the main idea. The glory of the kingdoms of the world are all offered to Jesus by the devil who is allowed to give it.
Luk 4:6-7 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”
The offering of the glory (all the wealth, power, influence, prestige, etc.) of the world shows us that the offer is more than a position of service, but of paramount status in all the world.
Universal dominion over all peoples is a theme of some Old Testament hopes for the people of God or their royal Messiah.
Psa 2:8 'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.
Psa 72:11 And let all kings bow down before him, All nations serve him.
Dan 7:14 And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language Might serve Him.
Zec 9:10 And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.
Therefore, Jesus knows that the Father is going to give Him the kingdoms of the world to rule, which Jesus would desire, not out of ambition, but because He is the only one qualified to rule in righteousness. His rule is the only way for righteousness and peace.
Isa 9:7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
Jesus doesn’t want to rule for the same reasons that anyone else would.
If the Father is going to give the kingdoms to Him there is no need to attempt to change the timing on that. The proposed route to rulership, to worship Satan, is unacceptable for many reasons.
It is an offer of something that looks like the right end, and it comes by the wrong means.
Satan’s idea of ruling the kingdoms of the world would not be the same as Christ’s rulership. Jesus will rule as a servant of all and He will not seek paramount glory like the devil would. Jesus will receive glory, but as one submitted to the will of the Father. So we would say that Satan’s offer only looks like the right end, and because it is not exactly the goal of the Father, its achievement is in a wrong way.
Christians have entered into situations or conditions that looked to be godly but were not. None of us are perfectly freed from being deceived. However, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, it won’t be long before we realize that the “thing” is not from God and then and there we must abandon it. Jesus told us that we would know them by their fruits.
Mat 7:15-18 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
Not only can people be bad, but situations can be as well, and generally because they involve bad people. Note that bad people or things cannot produce good.
A lonely Christian enters into a relationship that initially looks like it might be godly, a discouraged Christian takes another job that seems like it may be from God, a bored Christian takes up a kind of entertainment that looks harmless …, etc., and when the wrongness of the thing shows itself, we have to have the courage to make an about face and get behind Christ rather than standing in front of Him.
The true things from God can only be attained God’s way.
Marriage is right only when both husband and wife operate in the manner they are told by God. If that is not the case and one member of the marriage is to be right, they must operate in the divine love to handle the hardship with endurance and joy as well as operate in their role. A soul is only right when it thinks and lives righteously. Wickedness will eventually starve and decay a soul to death. A church is right when the members operate in their gifts and supply one another as is fitting for each one. A church is right when the word of God and its purpose, to make Christians into the image of Christ, is its top priority. Family is right when the proper lines of authority are established and virtue is its top priority.
Jesus can only rule as the Father’s chosen Servant from Isaiah. He is the one in whom the Father delights (Isa 42:1). He is the one who is to gather Israel back to God (Isa 49:5). He is the one who would have to be like a lamb led to slaughter (Isa 53:7). These roles and tasks given to Him to accomplish in His first advent, He has to be a perfect Servant, doing all things according to the will of the Father.
Satan’s offer is not a bluff. Multiple times in the New Testament, he is described as the ruler of this world (Joh 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2Co 4:4; Eph 6:11-12; 1Jo 5:19; Rev 12:9-17). Yet still, the devil can only act under the sovereign will of God.
The Lord’s answer is again from Deuteronomy (16:13), but not before He demands, “Away with you!” Jesus is not just terminating the interview: He is sending the adversary packing.
Notably, Jesus used the same word (hupage) when He told Satan to be gone as He addressed Peter.
Mat 16:23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
It is important to make the connection between this encounter between the Lord and Peter and the Lord’s third temptation because Peter fell into the third temptation. Messiahs are supposed to rule, have all power and authority; they are not supposed to suffer and be killed. Peter is partially right, but he is missing something. Peter is like the blind man who only saw shadows after our Lord first healed him. Peter has set his faith in something that looks like the plan of God, but he does not yet know that it is missing something.
We all want to cut Peter some slack and on some level wonder if our Lord is being too harsh. How could Peter have known all that was supposed to happen? He couldn’t, and none of the disciples, men or women, understood what needed to happen to their beautiful and adored Messiah. Still, they are without excuse since the Lord Himself told them that it had to happen that He should suffer and be killed and that should have been enough. It wasn’t someone else telling them the disturbing news, but the Lord Himself.
This rebuke of Peter is remarkably severe. Even the body language adds to the effect. Peter took the Lord aside and the Lord “turned” so as to face Peter and issue a public rebuke. Jesus adds “behind Me” to his rebuke of the devil in Mat 4:10. Calling a man “Satan” is unprecedented and it has no parallel anywhere. That it would be done to a lover and loyal follower of Jesus is even more remarkable.
We must stay the divine course no matter what. God promises it will all work for good.
Jesus’ choice of epithet suggests that behind the human thoughts of Peter is an attempt to divert Christ from His chosen course, which is very similar to what the devil tempted Him with in the wilderness. Peter was speaking for Satan while Peter thought he was very good and right in doing it. Any of us might be used in this way when we are ignorant of certain important things, and we always are lacking wisdom on some level.
Peter falls for the third temptation of Satan in the wilderness. Satan suggested that Jesus achieve worldly power by an easier course than what was necessary and Peter also sees it this way – suffering and death are not necessary. Peter’s vision is that the Lord should take power; not lay Himself down to the authorities of the world.
Jesus had just told Peter that he was a rock upon which He would build His church, but now Peter’s lack of understanding has become a stumbling block sitting in between Jesus and the cross. Peter gets in the way of God’s purpose with what is natural for the human mind. It is natural to think that the Messiah who has all power and authority would never allow Himself to suffer and be killed, especially at the hands of evil men.
Things that seem good to our human thinking may stand in the way of God’s purposes and derail our realization of those purposes in our lives.
I don’t think there is any greater waste of a human life than to not see the fruition of God’s purposes in the course of that life. We are terribly stupid as fallen men and women, thinking that fulfillment in life somehow lies somewhere else than in God’s will and righteousness. If our lives fit the image of the house built upon the sand then we will fail to see what comes after the storms and the sun comes out again.
Temptation 3: Ambition – grab hold of something “similar” to God’s will. Clue: it can only be had in a wrong way.
The devil has been defeated and leaves the field. Matthew does not say, as does Luke, that his withdrawal was temporary, but the narrative that follows will contain many further encounters with the demonic forces.
Though Jesus is victorious, He is weak and hungry. From many of our fights with temptation we will emerge with cuts and bruises (figuratively) though we are victorious.
Mat 4:11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
The angels thus fulfill their protective role as it was promised in the devil’s quotation of Psa 91:11. They bore Jesus up.
The protection from God and through His angels is not to prevent us from tribulation or hardship, but to get us through it. As the storm and the winds crash against us, housed upon the rock because we trusted in God so as to act upon His word, we know that we will not fall. We wait while we continue to do God’s will, and when the storm is over, we will see what God has in store for us and what strengths and wisdoms He has given us, when the storm has passed.
Still, there is another aspect to the third temptation that is easy to miss.
Jesus’ destiny is to rule heaven and earth, not just earth. Satan cannot offer the heavens to Him.
Mat 28:16-20 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
This temptation lacks subtlety. Sometimes temptation is not disguised.
Yet once again the indomitable enemy of souls rallies his shattered forces and hurls them on the Saviour in a last mad assault.
1. An open attack. Disguise is now useless; so Satan scorns any longer to use it. There is a certain fascination in ugliness. If serpents do not glide up to their victims unseen, they approach them most openly, paralyzing them with horror; sin itself has a hideous attractiveness in its naked blackness.
2. A powerful appeal. Christ is to have the world for his possession. He comes to be the King; here is his kingdom, and an easy way of reaching it.
3. A diabolical condition. To worship Satan. This is just to make evil principles the rule of life. Such principles lie very near to the hand of the public man. Macchiavellian politicians cannot see how they are to be avoided. Pander to the passions of men, and you will win their applause - that is gaining kingdoms by the worship of the devil.
4. A bold rejection. We need not behave to the tempter with courtesy. It is dangerous to treat with him. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." It needs an effort to do this. With Christ it meant the rejection of all worldly success and the deliberate choice of the way of the cross. Yet this choice is rewarded by angel-ministry.
Note the perseverance of the tempter: foiled in one attack, he immediately makes another. Observe his versatility: seeing that one line of assault is ineffectual, he shifts his basis.
Luk 4:13 And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
All three of the temptations of our Lord turned on the abuse of His power of deity in His Messianic ministry, which just began. The reason for the temptations to be directly at the front of His ministry may have been to show the devil at the start that he was going to face a Man in the battle and not divine omnipotence. Whether this was the purpose of God or not, it is impossible to know, but it does reveal that what God purposed to do in the world was shown clearly and directly from the beginning. Jesus was publicly baptized. It was not a private ceremony in order to hide His identity.
Mat 3:16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him,
Directly after His baptism it was announced from heaven:
Mat 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Isa 42:1).
The sword of the Spirit does not need marketing tricks or subterfuge – just the word of God.
There was no need for the art of subterfuge to fool the enemy. There was no need to withhold the plans and the means from the enemy. The enemy has no chance against the plan of God. God needs no scheme or trick to gain an advantage. The plan hinges on the faithfulness, love, and sacrifice of the Son of Man.
We also do not need any tricks or techniques which people have devised over the years to gain an advantage. We wield the truth with confidence. We have nothing to hide, and really, any gain is for God and others. We are fearless in the presence of the enemy because we know that it is the Lord who fights for us.
The gifts given by the Holy Spirit will be the same as was given to the Lord.
Isa 11:1-5 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
The sword of the Spirit came from the Lord’s mouth. The sword of the Spirit is in our speech: wise, pertinent, gracious, fitting, gentle, cutting, and powerful.
We do not slay anyone or judge anyone, but the six-fold blessings from the Spirit are the same to Christ as they are to us, as can be easily shown in the New Testament.
Jesus had a full-time ministry from the Holy Spirit because He submitted His will to the Father’s, and thus the Spirit’s.
His sword is also associated with His mouth in: |