Christian Family Services Ministry

12-23-2019 – A Word to the Wise – The link between the temptations and the crucifixion of Jesus
Luke 4:1-13 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit 2 for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the n of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” 9 And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the n of God, throw yourself down from here; 10 for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,’11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (RSV)
These temptations fall into three areas; Taking care of daily needs, doing the miraculous, and basically authority over the affairs of men. Obviously, that is an abbreviation. Now what is interesting about the temptations is how they show up three and one half years later for Jesus.
The Satan takes the temptations and indicts the n of Man for His refusal to give into the temptations. Moreover, now Satan makes a mockery of Jesus’s answers. Scoffing at his prior retort me three and one half years before.
Notice the first temptation stones to bread, or taking care of physical needs. Satan’s mockery may be seen in now he taunts the weakened Lord to the point that intervention is necessary. “ As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.” Upon reaching the place of execution “ they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.” Jesus still refuses to give in and meet physical needs as He did when Satan insists He turn stones into bread. (Mt. 27:32ff) RSV
The second temptation involved throwing himself from the top of the temple with the expectation of divine intervention, a miracle. Notice Matthew 26:50-55; And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the n of God, come down from the cross.” 41 al the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the n of God.’” (ESV). Here again we find Satan in the words of the Chief Priest and others imploring Him to do a miracle to save Himself mocking the failure to do .
Finally, consider Satan’s last temptation, offering Jesus ultimate authority over the affairs of men if He would fall down and worship him. Once again notice how Satan because of the failed temptation turns it upon the Master. “Then the ldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.” Notice Jesus’ own words about what He could do; “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? “ (Mt. 26:53) RSV Satan reminds Jesus you will not worship me? The look what I will do. I will make you look foolish before your tormenters. Now who is king?
Now how is this relevant to us? We tend to under estimate the work of Satan in our life. One should never, ever underestimate the enemy. I think if we consider it we will discover early perhaps in the pre-teen years the tempter assaults us with the foundation temptations that will follow us through life. Those temptations are deceptive. Pass or fail I think we will find these temptations come back and haunt us in later life, only much more magnified with the tempter on the sidelines taunting with vile remembrances and sideline jokes about our failures.