Our Champion's Contest
Introduction: The Arena of History
We are accustomed to thinking of history as a meandering river, a series of unfortunate accidents punctuated by the occasional good intention. But the Bible presents history as a battlefield, an arena. From the moment God declared war in the Garden, promising that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head, every event of significance has been a skirmish in that great war. And here, in the wilderness of Judea, we come to the central, pivotal contest. This is not a preliminary bout. This is the championship match.
Just before this, at His baptism, the heavens were torn open. The Father declared from Heaven, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well-pleased." The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form. This was the coronation. This was the public declaration of the King's identity. And what happens the moment a true king is announced? The usurper, the pretender to the throne, immediately comes to challenge his claim. The devil does not waste his time on those who pose no threat to his grubby little kingdom. The temptation of Jesus is the necessary consequence of the baptism of Jesus. The declaration of His sonship must be followed by the testing of His sonship.
And so the Spirit, who anointed Him for His mission, now leads Him into the arena. This is not an accident; it is an appointment. The wilderness is the chosen venue for a great rematch. The first Adam was tested in a perfect garden, surrounded by every delight, and he fell, plunging us all into ruin. The nation of Israel, God's corporate son, was tested for forty years in the wilderness, and they grumbled, rebelled, and fell. Now the second Adam, the true Israel, the beloved Son, enters a barren wilderness, weakened by hunger, to face the same ancient dragon. He is there to win back what Adam lost, and to succeed where Israel failed. He is there as our champion, our federal head. His victory will be our victory.
The Text
Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was being led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had finished, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.' "
And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this dominion and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours." And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.' "
And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here, for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,' and, 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.' " And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.' "
And when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
(Luke 4:1-13 LSB)
The Setup for the Fight (vv. 1-2)
The contest begins with the Spirit setting the stage.
"Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was being led around by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had finished, He was hungry." (Luke 4:1-2)
Notice the Trinitarian reality of this warfare. The Father has declared the Son, and now the Spirit leads the Son into battle. This is a planned invasion of enemy territory. God is not reactive. He is not playing defense. He is pressing the attack, and He sends His Son, empowered by the Spirit, as the tip of the spear. The Christian life is not about trying to avoid the wilderness; it is about being led by the Spirit through it, armed for the fight.
The forty days are pregnant with meaning. This is a direct echo of Israel's forty years of testing, Moses' forty days on Sinai, and Elijah's forty-day journey. Jesus is reliving the history of His people, but He is doing so in perfect faithfulness. He is succeeding where they failed. He is the true Israel, the obedient Son who will trust His Father in the wilderness.
And at the end of it, He was hungry. This is a crucial detail. Jesus is not fighting as God, with a divine force field deflecting every blow. He is fighting as man. He is fighting as our representative. The temptation is real because His humanity is real. His stomach was empty, His body was weak. The devil comes to Him at His lowest point physically, which is precisely when we are most vulnerable. But Christ's strength is not in His physical condition, but in His perfect reliance upon His Father and the Word.
Round One: The Lust of the Flesh (vv. 3-4)
The first attack is aimed at the gut, at the basic appetites of the flesh.
"And the devil said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' And Jesus answered him, 'It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.''" (Luke 4:3-4 LSB)
The devil begins with a sneer: "If You are the Son of God..." He is questioning the Father's declaration at the baptism. This is the serpent's native tongue, casting doubt on God's word. "Did God really say...?" "Are you really His Son?" The first move in all temptation is to get us to doubt who God is and who we are in relation to Him.
The temptation itself seems subtle. What is wrong with eating? Hunger is a legitimate need. But the temptation is to use His divine power for His own ends, on His own timetable, apart from the will of His Father. It is the temptation to live by bread, to make physical satisfaction the ultimate priority. It is the lie of materialism, the lie that says your life consists of what you consume. Our entire advertising industry is built on this one temptation.
Jesus' response is His weapon, and it must be ours. "It is written." He does not engage in a philosophical debate. He does not argue from His own authority. He stands on the authority of the Word of God. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, which is God's commentary on why He let Israel hunger in the wilderness, so that they might learn that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus is saying that His true food, His true sustenance, is obedience to His Father. He will eat, but He will eat when and how His Father provides. He trusts the Word more than He trusts His stomach.
Round Two: The Lust of the Eyes (vv. 5-8)
Having failed to make Jesus serve Himself, the devil now tempts Him to serve Satan for a glorious prize.
"And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this dominion and its glory... Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.''" (Luke 4:5-8 LSB)
This is the temptation of the shortcut. The devil offers Jesus what is rightfully His. The kingdoms of this world do belong to Christ. The Father has promised to give the nations to Him as His inheritance. The devil's offer is to give Him the crown without the cross. To give Him the glory without the suffering. All it will cost is one small compromise, one little bow of the knee. Just a moment of "pragmatism."
This is the foundational temptation of all worldly politics and compromise. It is the offer to achieve righteous ends through unrighteous means. It is the temptation to build the kingdom of God with the devil's tools. And notice the devil's audacious lie: "it has been handed over to me." He is a usurper. He is the prince of this world only because fallen men have handed him the keys. He is a squatter, not the rightful owner. Jesus knows that the world is His, but it will be His through conquest at the cross, not through compromise in the wilderness.
Again, Jesus unsheathes the sword. "It is written." He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13. Worship is the central issue. There is no divided allegiance. There is no serving God and mammon, or God and Caesar, or God and self. God, and God alone, is to be worshipped and served. This is the principle of absolute antithesis. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan are at war, and there is no neutral ground. Jesus refuses the shortcut because He is absolutely loyal to the King.
Round Three: The Pride of Life (vv. 9-12)
The final temptation is the most insidious. It is a religious temptation, and the devil even comes quoting Scripture.
"And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple... 'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here, for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,'... And Jesus answered and said to him, 'It is said, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.''" (Luke 4:9-12 LSB)
The devil is a twisted theologian. He takes a beautiful promise of God's protection from Psalm 91 and turns it into a dare. The temptation is to test God, to force His hand. It is the temptation of presumption. "If God has promised to protect me, then I will force Him to make good on that promise in a spectacular way, proving to everyone how special I am." This is the root of all spiritual pride, the desire to use God's promises as a way to glorify ourselves.
It is a temptation to trade faith for sight, to demand a sign, to make God perform for us. The modern church is riddled with this. We want God to be a cosmic vending machine. If we put in the right prayer-coin, He must give us what we want. We treat His promises not as a basis for faithful obedience, but as a blank check for our own ambitions.
Jesus' response shows us how to handle the Word rightly. He uses Scripture to interpret Scripture. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." He knows that God's promises are for those who walk in the path of obedience and trust, not for those who leap off of temples in arrogance. True faith trusts God's character without demanding a circus act. He will not test His Father.
The Battle Won, The War Continues
Having exhausted every category of temptation, the devil makes a tactical retreat.
"And when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time." (Luke 4:13 LSB)
Jesus wins. He wins decisively. He wins where Adam failed. He wins where Israel failed. He wins as our champion. But the war is not over. The devil retreats, but he is looking for another opening, another "opportune time." That time will come in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. There, the devil will throw everything he has at the Son. And there, on the cross, Jesus will absorb it all and crush the serpent's head forever.
Because our champion has won, we do not fight for victory, but from victory. We face the same three temptations every day: the lust of the flesh (live for comfort and consumption), the lust of the eyes (compromise for power and influence), and the pride of life (use God to make a name for yourself). But we do not face them alone. We are in Christ, the one who has already defeated the enemy.
Therefore, our strategy is the same as His. When the tempter whispers his lies, we do not argue. We do not negotiate. We do not trust our feelings. We take up the only offensive weapon we have been given, which is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We say, with our King, "It is written." And as we stand on that Word, we stand in the victory He has already secured for us.