Week 6 ———  The Temptations

Matthew 4:3-11— Mark 1:13b  —  Luke 4:3-13

Jesus has endured 40 days in the wilderness, and now the adversary comes to him with three temptations.  

Matthew 4:2-4   And after fasting for days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

The accuser comes to Jesus in his time of greatest weakness.  He has fasted for 40 days.  But God has not yet proclaimed an end to Jesus’ fast.  Notice the accuser begins, “IF you are the Son of God.”  Jesus had just heard the voice of God himself proclaim him as the Son 40 days ago 

Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

First, the accuser will question your identity.  “If you are really saved, you would not have had that bad thought or done that bad thing.”  “If you were really a child of God, then your life wouldn’t be so hard or in such a mess.”  If he tried to place doubt in Jesus’ mind about his identity, rest assured you will face the same temptation at some point.  

Then the enemy will try to get you to question God’s goodness.  This strategy has been the accuser’s method from the beginning.  In the garden, “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  By exaggerating God’s prohibition from one tree to all, he places doubt in her mind and questions God’s goodness.  She questioned whether God was holding back something good for her.  This was Israel in the wilderness.  They were led into a place with no food, a forced fast.  Soon, they were doubting God’s goodness, asking why God brought them out of Egypt, where there was plenty of food, to a place where they would starve. This was also Jesus’ temptation.  You can almost hear the accuser saying, “Come on, 40 days of fasting is sure to be enough. You can end this fast now.  Aren’t you hungry?”  The temptation facing Adam and Eve, Israel, and Jesus is this: ‘surely your appetites are a better indication of what you need than God’s word.’  And that is the temptation we constantly face.  Will we seek to satisfy our appetites, our lusts for food, money, possessions, pleasure, power, etc?  Or will we strive to be obedient to our Father and seek first the Kingdom of God?

This was a real temptation for Jesus.  He was hungry, and he had the ability to make bread appear (even without stones) as he did in the miracle of feeding the 5000 or the 4000.  But he answers:

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses explains to Israel why obedience in fasting is essential:

“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

Our appetites should not be what controls our behavior.  Our behavior should be modeled after God’s word.  

Matt. 4:5-6   “Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 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.’”

One of the secrets to understanding this temptation is a knowledge of the geography of the wilderness Jesus was in.  The Judean Wilderness is full of cliffs and wadis.  Yet somehow (whether in Spirit or physically), the accuser transports Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple.  Why was this area, with many steep cliffs, not a suitable setting for the temptation?   The difference is that in the temple in the city of Jerusalem, many people would see it.  Remember that Jesus keeps his miracles mostly in isolation in the beginning.  He tells people he heals not to tell anyone.  Other than the required feasts, he stays away from Jerusalem.  Then, in the final weeks of his ministry, Jesus purposely arranges to do an undeniable miracle in front of a crowd at Jerusalem’s doorstep.  Jesus delayed answering Mary and Martha’s plea to come and heal Lazarus, delaying his arrival until Lazarus was dead for four days.  (The thought in that day was that the spirit remained with the body for three days.  Waiting an extra day makes the miracle even more undeniable.)  Jesus forces this into the public where the religious authorities can not ignore it because “his hour has come.”  And it is this miracle that forces the Sanhedrin to decide that Jesus must die.  Had Jesus demonstrated such a public miracle before his ministry even started, he would have lost his opportunity to have that year with his disciples to teach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God to them.  That explains the ‘where’ of the temptation.

For the temptation itself, the accuser quotes Psalm 91, a Psalm about the Messiah. It promises protection, rescue, and deliverance.  But we have already discussed that putting God to the test is sinful.  Jesus’ answer from Deuteronomy references Israel testing God when they were thirsty.  Again, they doubted God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them with thirst.  We easily see how jumping off a high place is a test. How is Israel testing God?

if you are thirsty and there is no water, you have two choices.  You can say:

1. “It is okay, God is over all.  He love me and will provide for me as he always has. We got hungry and he dropped bread out of the sky for us.  He will find us water”

or 

2.     Why did you bring us here to die, Moses?  We had plenty of water in Egypt. (Here they sound like my kids when they were little on a long car trip, “I’m thirsty, I’m starving to death, I’m hot, when are we going to get there?”

Again they doubted God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them with thirst.  The Bible calls that murmuring. Just before this, Israel had witnessed the beginning of the recurring miracle of bread from heaven.  And yet they doubt. 

 How many signs do you need to remember that God is good?  Apparently, ten miraculous plagues, the parting of a sea, the destruction of the Egyptian army, and raining food from the sky were not enough.  How many signs do we need that God is good?  Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we tend to groan and complain about any hardship we face.  Bad weather, the high price of gasoline, the waits at the doctor’s office, an interruption in internet or cell phone or TV service — how quickly we forget our blessings and God’s faithfulness and murmur over trivial first-world problems.  How quick we are to test God.  

This was a real temptation for Jesus.  He was the Son of God but had lived his life in obscurity.  How easy it would have been to show people all at once who he was and the power and wealth he possessed.  But that was not God’s plan.  He was to live a simple life.  For though the cattle on a thousand hills were his, he lived a life of the poor.  Though he is the power and the glory, he lived and died as the powerless and the humiliated.  At his arrest in the garden, when his disciple attacks with a sword, Jesus rebukes him, saying:

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”  Matthew 26:53-54.

It is the same temptation again: doubting God’s goodness and provision, being disobedient, abandoning God’s plan. 

The third temptation:

Matthew 4:8-10   Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

This may be the hardest one for us to identify with.  “I would never be a Satan worshiper!” we would proclaim.  It seems this temptation is no real temptation at all.  Or is it?

First, let’s deal with the satan’s promise of power and glory, all the kingdoms of the world.  Was it his to give?  Russel Moore, in his book Tempted and Tried, says this:

“Again, the Devil’s words were partly true. Because the original human rulers capitulated their dominion to the snake, Satan is now “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4: 4) and “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2: 2). The kingdoms of the world are under his sway right now because, in sin, “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5: 19). But this reign of death is illegitimate and parasitic. The cosmos itself is bucking in revolt against this dark power, groaning for the true heirs, “the sons of God” to be revealed in resurrection (Rom. 8: 19–21). Satan’s power is twofold. He incites human sin by governing people through “the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind” (Eph. 2: 3). And he stands as accuser over humanity, keeping us in captivity through fear of death and the coming judgment (Heb. 2: 14–15; Rev. 12: 10).” ¹

Indeed, these kingdoms are all the accusers (temporarily) to give.  But they would all be handed over to Jesus one day (Rev. 11:15 “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”).  Jesus was the Christ- the anointed one- anointed to be King.  Moore points out:

“Satan was not just trying to tempt Jesus; he was attempting to adopt Jesus. Satan, in all three temptations, is assuming the role of a father—first in provision, then in protection, and now in the granting of an inheritance. Satan didn’t just want to be Jesus’ lord; he wanted to be his father.”²

Jesus responds again with a verse from Deuteronomy.  He prefaces it with a command for the accuser to leave him.  He will use these exact words near the end of his ministry, speaking to Peter after Peter said Jesus should not suffer and die (Matthew 16:23).  (Peter’s statement is similar to this third temptation.)  The issue is worship.  

We think of worship as singing songs or praying, but worship is ascribing worth or value.  Billy Graham said, “Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.”  We could say the same about your calendar or day planner.  What you value is where you spend your money and time.  There is a lot more worshipping of the kingdoms of this world than we would all like to admit.  We could all use a little more practice repeating Jesus’ phrase, “Be gone, accuser, You should worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

You may never have a one-on-one confrontation with the satan, but you will undoubtedly face many temptations. Remember, your desires are waiting to lure and entice you.  Sin is crouching at your door.  Like Jesus, you will likely face the hardest temptations when you are at your weakest.  But Jesus, who was “tempted in all ways like as we are,” is interceding for you.  He is praying for you. Be ready for the battle.  Put on your spiritual armor.  The victory is the Lord’s.

1. Tempted and Tried. By Russell Moore. p139.
2. Ibid. p 136.

Just a heads up! The gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry get busy for the next five days. So look for a blog entry each day today through Tuesday. I have some tough news for those of you following Jesus with your feet. In a few days, Jesus will make the trek from the Jordan River where John was to Cana of Galilee.  It will help if you have ever run or walked a marathon.  It will be even more helpful if you have done two on consecutive days.  I’ll post an optional entry in the “Step by Step with Jesus” section of the page this weekend with information on the difficulty of determining the site of John’s ministry and Jesus’ journey to Galilee, and what he saw along the way.

Week 4 —— Testing

Matthew 4:1,2  —  Luke 4:1-2

So last time, we delved into the meanings of ‘tempt’ and ‘test,’ how the definitions of those words have changed over time, and how we must be careful, or we will get some pretty wrong ideas reading scripture.  Don’t miss the fact that any event can be a test and a temptation.  God placed the tree in the garden as a test.  The Accuser used it for temptation.  God tests us for our good so that we can grow in our faith; he never tempts us.  We are tempted by our own desires and by evil forces to entice us to sin, and those temptations may come into play during testing.  Now that we understand the words, let’s look at the concept of testing in the Bible.

Any 6th grader will tell you that teachers give tests to punish students.  Unfortunately, many Jesus followers feel the same way about God’s tests.  Why do we have tests?  I had a science teacher in high school who gave tests at least weekly.  She said, “I can’t help you know what you need to know if I don’t know what you don’t know.”  I am not sure I appreciated that idea then, so imagine my surprise when I heard those words coming out of my mouth one day while teaching Harvard medical students how to examine babies.¹

Testing is an integral part of many stories in the Old Testament.  The tree in the Garden is a test for Adam and Eve.  It is revealed to the reader of Genesis (but not Abraham) that he is undergoing a test with his son, Isaac. Judges 2:22 tells us that God tests Israel’s obedience by not driving out the Canaanites who are still in the land.  

James tells us the purpose of tests:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4

The former 6th grader in me has a little trouble with James’ attitude towards trials or tests.  But, let’s be honest, most 6th graders don’t think the goal of going to school is to learn — their real goal is to have fun. This is the secret to understanding what James is saying.  What is the goal of living on this earth? If you are a citizen of the United States of America, your Declaration of Independence says that all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  So, the Continental Congress says that God gave us the right to pursue happiness.  (How very ‘6th-grader’ of them.)   If Paul of Tarsus had been sitting in the Pennsylvania State House in 1776, he might have had a different opinion about our God-given pursuit.²

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

The goal is Jesus —conformity to Jesus, thereby bringing glory to God (see Eph.4:22-24, Rom. 8:29, Phil. 3:21).   Paul would argue with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (and I’d like to see that debate).  God gave us a goal to pursue — it is not happiness but holiness.  I am afraid this is not well understood.  My wife does marriage counseling, and it is not unusual for a spouse considering divorce to say to her, “But I know God wants me to be happy…”  It is about this time I would reveal myself as a terrible counselor because I would interrupt them and ask them to open a Bible and show me where God values our happiness over our obedience.

God wants us to be joyful; indeed, joy is not optional — it is commanded over and over in the Bible.  (For example, see Matt. 5:12, Rom 12:12,15, 2 Cor 13:11, 1 Thess 5:16, and Philippians 2:18, 3:1, and 4:4.)  But how do we have joy in the midst of pain, trials, or suffering?  We have joy not based on the changing circumstances of our lives but on the unchanging goodness of God.  Author David Mathis says, “Not that we’re dull to the multifaceted pains of life in this age, but in Christ we have access to subterranean joy that is simultaneous with, and deeper than, the greatest of our sorrows — we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).³ Our joy in Christ will only grow as we conform more to him.  Holiness is the goal, joy is found on that path, and testing is a part of the path.  And testing brings joy because we know it brings us closer to our goal.

So now we know why we are tested and why we get joy from being tested. Jesus adds more about testing in the prayer he taught his disciples.

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

So we have our usual Greek word ‘peirasmos’ that you remember can be translated as ‘test’ or ‘temptation.’  As noted in the previous blog entry, the King James Version almost always translated it as ‘temptation.’  That is because ‘tempt’ in the early 1600s had the definition ‘to prove or put to the test’ and not the idea of enticing someone to do wrong.  We will learn next time that James 1:13 tells us that God doesn’t tempt anyone.  So Jesus is well aware that God will not lead anyone into temptation. So why does he have us pray and ask God not to do something that the Bible says God never does?

 The idea of ‘periasmos’ here must be a test, not a temptation.  So the King James Version is correct if you read it with the King James era definition of ‘temptation.’  If you read it with a modern-day definition of ‘temptation,’ then you are saying God is responsible for tempting us. So it should read:

Matthew 6:13  And lead us not into a test,…

So, of course, when they released the New King James Version in 1982 with contemporary English, they changed that to the modern ‘test’ and not ‘temptation,’ right?  No, they left it the same.  All the modern translations of the Bible continue to translate it as ‘temptation’ — except a very few, one of which is the Good News Translation: “Do not bring us to hard testing”(for why they do this, see the footnote).⁴  

The Hebrew version of Matthew⁵ says, “Do not lead us into the hands of a test.”  This is also the phrasing seen in the Peshitta, an ancient Aramaic version of the New Testament still used in the East.  The Talmud, the teaching of the ancient Rabbis, has this prayer which is still prayed by Orthodox Jews daily: “Do not bring me into the hands of a test, or into the hands of shame.”  Now, whether Jesus is borrowing this phrase from a traditional Jewish prayer (which he does a good bit) or the Rabbis got it from him, I don’t know.  But I know God isn’t leading me into an enticement to sin.

So Jesus is telling us to pray and ask God to hold back from testing us today.  This idea is seen elsewhere in the Bible as in Proverbs 30:7-9, where Agur urges God not to test him with riches “lest I be full and deny you” or with poverty “lest I be poor and steal and then profane the name of my God.” 

When Jesus teaches us to pray that we not be tested, he speaks from the experience of recently enduring a 40-day test in the wilderness. He knows how difficult testing can be.  He will later sweat drops of blood in an agonizing test in a garden. Jesus understands the harshness of tests, and he has compassion for us.  Most of the tests we face are ones we stumble into while walking in the wrong direction.  God rarely leads us to tests, and according to Jesus, it is good to ask God not to lead us there. (Of course, asking God not to lead you anywhere presumes that you are someone who is following his directions already.  He won’t lead you anywhere if you are not following him.)

 So you can say the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ the way you always have but know that you are talking about testing, not tempting.

Now, we must discuss the idea that it is sinful to test God.  I was talking with a friend about God testing us and how it is not okay to test God, and my friend asked me, “Then why was it alright for Gideon to test God with the fleece?  (If you don’t know the story, read Judges 6.)  First, don’t read every story and get the idea that just because a hero in the Bible did it, it is good for you.  No, God did not intend for you to have multiple wives like Jacob, to commit adultery or murder like David, or to be a complete lecherous, reprobate jerk of a bully like Sampson.⁶  There are a lot of examples in the Bible of how not to act and what not to do.  God had already been very clear with Gideon, so Gideon’s fleece was a lack of faith and a hesitance in obedience. 

Ex. 17:2-3 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

God led Israel specifically to this place without water so they could become thirsty in this wilderness.  This was a test for them.  How would they react?  Would they endure the thirst, knowing that God would not let them die of thirst because he has promised to bring them to the promised land?  They fail.  Like Gideon’s fleece, this is a lack of faith.  They even question God’s goodness, saying he brought them there to kill them.  Their experience parallels Jesus’ first two temptations, which we will discuss more fully in a few weeks.

The Spirit leads Jesus to a wilderness where there is no food.  The first temptation is to create bread from stones, acting independently of the Father and outside God’s will to be fasting.  Jesus refused to believe God led him there to die.  He passes where Israel failed.  The second temptation is for Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and expect God to rescue him.  Once again, Jesus doesn’t act outside of the Father’s will.  There were plenty of cliffs in the wilderness to do this test, but he was taken to this very public place for a reason.

Many would have seen this undeniable miracle at this location, and that was not God’s timing of how the Messiah was to be revealed. Jesus’ ministry was initially to be very low-key in Galilee to allow time to teach the disciples before the authorities in Jerusalem dealt with him.   In the last two weeks of his ministry, Jesus does a miracle in front of a group of people just outside of Jerusalem.  He purposely makes sure the miracle is undeniable (he waits until Lazarus is four days dead), and this leads the religious leaders in Jerusalem to seek his death.  Had he done such a public miracle in Jerusalem in front of the religious leaders, his ministry would have been cut short before it began.  Jesus waits until “his hour has come” and then orchestrates his own demise.

I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.  John 8:28 

Jesus always submitted to the Father’s will.   His answer to the devil at the second temptation is, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” In other words, stay in the Father’s will and not ‘jump’ ahead of God.  God sets a path before us.  To stray from the path is a lack of trust in God. 

 Finally, there is a verse where it seems God is inviting you to test him.

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.  Malachi 3:10

Some people have explained that God makes an exception to his rule of testing because it’s about tithing, and tithing is ‘special.’  That’s convenient, but I don’t think that’s right.  Remember the occasions when it was sinful to test God; it was because you were demonstrating a lack of faith or a departure from God’s set path for you.  But in Malachi, if we participate in the test, we give as God commanded, demonstrating faith. So that is obedience, not sin.  We are being faithful, and God is proving his faithfulness to us by opening up the windows of heaven.  Every day we live, God demonstrates his faithfulness to us.  You know that because of those verses in Lamentations that you memorized (and didn’t even know you knew.)  It is one of the reasons I love the old hymns.

“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”   Lamentations 3:22-23 (KJV)  

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
there is no shadow of turning with Thee;  (James 1:17)
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning, new mercies I see;
all I have needed Thy hand hath provided:
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!⁷

This is the secret to passing tests— remember this verse (or remember these lyrics).

Israel is escaping from Egypt, and they are camping out on the shore of a sea. Then, the Egyptians come after them.  And God gives them a test.  He doesn’t tell them to attack the Egyptians; he tells them just to stand firm where they are. He doesn’t ask them to fight that vast army of chariots of the Egyptians, He doesn’t ask them to part the waters, just stand firm.  They had a choice: they could run for their lives or stand there, believing God would be faithful to what he said and watch God fight for them.  They passed.

Later, Israel was in the desert with no food or water. Should they worry, complain, and yell at Moses? No, because God is good. God’s Faithfulness is Great. He has promised to bring them to a new land. He will not let them starve. 

Abraham’s great test would be whether he would be willing to give up his only son. Would Abraham have the faith to believe that God is good, that God is faithful, and that God would keep his promise to raise up a great nation through his son, even if he were sacrificed?

In the Garden, before he goes off to pray alone, Jesus tells his disciples,  “Pray, for we all face a great test”…  one he knew the disciples would fail. One Jesus passes. Would Jesus have enough trust in God’s faithfulness to suffer and die? Would he believe God’s promise not to forsake him but to resurrect him? 

God may never lead you into a test. But if you are like me, you will stumble into enough on your own.  When you do, when things are brutal or bleak, don’t grumble and complain, don’t jump ahead of God, and don’t run away.  Just stand firm and believe that God is Good. You don’t have to fight the enemy, and you don’t have to part the waters because God is Faithful. He loves you and promises to work all things for your good. 

Please see my Bibliography for recommended books and links to obtain them.

1. Let me take a moment to thank Mrs. Puckett, Mrs. Holder, Mr. Dempsey, Mrs. Clements, and Mr. Ehman, who instilled in me a love for science and would be very surprised to know that the smart-mouthed kid became a medical doctor.
2. Of course, Paul would not claim citizenship here anyway.  “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
3. David Mathis, “Joy Is Not Optional: Why Your Happiness Matters to God” February 3, 2016, www.desiringgod.org
4. So why do most modern translations continue to use “Lead us not into temptation” even though our current understanding of ‘temptation’ is different and leads to contradiction?  In 2017, the Pope suggested changing it from ‘temptation,’ and it caused quite a stir.  It seems people become very defensive of the traditional wording of the prayer they have said all their lives.  Even when faced with sound reasoning and facts, people don’t want to let go of what they have always been taught.  Jesus had this same problem with the Pharisees, refusing to let go of their traditional interpretations, even when God himself tried to teach them better.  He said, “So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God”  (Matthew 15:6).  Please don’t let your traditions trump scripture.
5. Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, George Howard, 1995.  We have multiple copies of Matthew in Hebrew. None are Matthew’s autograph, of course.  The one quoted here is Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew, translated by George Howard.
6. Contrary to what you learned in your 5-year-old Sunday School Class, you should not want to grow up to be like Sampson.  If you want to read a great book explaining how God can use this mess of a man, here it is:  Make Your Mark: Getting Right What Samson Got Wrong, by Brad Gray.  (2014).
7. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” lyrics by Thomas H. Chisholm, music by William Runyan 1923.