1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the fdevil.2For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. 3During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”4But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
5Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,6and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ” 7Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the LORD your God.’ ”
8Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.9“I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”10“Get out of here, gSatan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.’ ”
11Then the devil went away, and hangels came and took care of Jesus.
Jesus was tempted. That alone is hard for us to imagine. You may say it was easy for Him to avoid sin because He was God, but You must remember, He was a man like us. And see how great His temptations were. The temptation for Jesus to satisfy His physical needs must have been huge. I struggle to fast for one day. He had fasted 40. Then there was the temptation to get the popularity He deserved. He was the Son of God after all, but no one knew Him. Jumping from the top of the temple and surviving would have made Him an instant celebrity. And finally, He was tempted with all the wealth of th world. I’ve lied about the age of my child to save $2 on a restaurant meal!
No, Jesus knows our temptations. He knows and understands their weight. He also s how to resist them. Each time He turns to scripture. He doesn’t depend on His own philosophy or His own will power. He doesn’t “just say no”. Jesus turns to God and the Word of God. If Jesus thought those verses were important enough to memorize and turn to when He was tempted, perhaps we should do the same. Beginner’s Online Bible Study *obbs*
