It seems strange that immediately following the Father's endorsement and the Spirit's anointing at His baptism; Christ had to face three major temptations instigated by Satan himself. Satan hasn't changed. When a believer today tries to take a step forward, Satan will challenge that action, "you take one step forward and I'll make you take two steps backwards." The more you press on, the more active he will be. The scope and purpose of these three temptations was to tempt Christ to move out of the will of God or to abuse His privileges as the Son of God. The first temptation was linked to God's words at the baptism of Christ. God had said, "This is my Son." Satan said, "If (or since) you are the Son of God, why are you here in these circumstances? Use your own power and satisfy your natural hunger. God wouldn't want you to starve. You can't do God's work if you are starving." We could also point out that, humanly speaking, Christ was alone when He faced this attack. This is often a danger point. "Go ahead and do it. No one will know..." In resisting the temptation, Christ used the Word of God. He ignored Satan's attempt to cast doubt on His Sonship. He simply quoted a verse from a book we seldom read - Deuteronomy 8:3. Those words are remarkable. They not only defeated Satan that day but they are proven to be true in an unusual way today. A drug addict, for example, is attempting to find fulfillment and satisfaction through a physical and emotional experience. But an individual's satisfaction can only be fulfilled spiritually in Christ. We are spiritual beings and only spiritual food can satisfy that deep need. Christ stated, "No one can live only on food (or drugs). People need the lasting satisfaction that God's Word alone can give." Jesus was victorious because He clung to the will of God and knew the Word of God. Our way of victory is still the same today. Try it whenever you are faced with temptation from our constant enemy, Satan. |
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