(A)

Hebrews 5:8 (as above) reveals that Jesus learned obedience from what he suffered. It may seem puzzling to some of us why Jesus had to learn obedience. Is it not true that Jesus was always obedient to his Father and there was no occasion when he disobeyed the Father?

The verse actually explains that Jesus learned what obedience requires, costs, and involves through the experience of actually doing his Father’s will – this culminated in his obedience to the Father to ‘drink the cup of wrath’ on behalf of mankind and his declaration to the Father, “Not my will, but your will be done.”

Jesus’ being tested in the wilderness described how He learned, under much duress, what obedience to His Father requires and what it involves, and how much it costs. As believers, we are asked to follow the Master, to deny ourselves and to take up our cross; Jesus is our supreme example and He is the perfect man – hence as we look at His life of obedience to the Father, we can learn, by the Spirit’s enabling, to follow in His steps.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,…was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.” (Luke 4:1-2).

It was at this point that the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell the stone to become bread.”
Jesus’ response: “It is written, ‘People do not live on bread alone.’

Firstly, we note that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This means that it was the Father’s intention to test him in the wilderness with the temptations of the devil. If the incarnate Son of God had to be tested in learning what obedience to his Father involved and what it required, we, as his disciples, must also learn these important truths for ourselves as we seek to follow the Master.

Notice that Jesus was tempted at his extreme point of need: he was hungry and had no food for 40 days, and to use his divine power to produce food for himself would truly be most satisfying for most people facing the same context. But the Son chose not to use his divine power but to respond as the perfect man; instead, he quoted the Scripture and stated the wonderful truth that people do not live on bread alone; here he was pointing to the principle that true satisfying life includes, and in fact, centres on obedience to God even when it is most difficult and extremely costly – this he later fulfilled in going to the cross despite knowing the agony and pain that awaited him. But here in the wilderness was the initiation for him to learn what it involves to say ‘yes’ to the Father and ‘no’ to the devil. To reject a way to receive food when you are extremely hungry is truly an almost impossible task; but many of us, in similar situations, would choose the easy way out, the most satisfying option, and even rationalise that it is acceptable to do so especially when the situation is most taxing and extreme. How many of us are prepared to deny ourselves of basic essentials like food, sleep, and rest, in the process of obeying God and doing His will? The apostle Paul was one who was prepared: he spoke of knowing what it is to be in need, and to be content in any and every situation whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. His secret: “I can do all this through Him (Jesus) who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

The ‘wilderness’ reminds us of Israel wandering in the wilderness on the way to enter the promised land. Israel failed to obey; she failed to face the ‘sufferings’ and testings in the wilderness, and forgot the goodness and provision of God in the exodus, and His care for them throughout the journey. She constantly complained of the lack of meat, water, and even longed to go back to Egypt (the land of bondage). But Jesus triumphed in the wilderness in the face of extreme circumstances and severe testing; He is the true “Israel’ of God! We shall consider more on how he learned obedience from what he suffered and how this is the pattern for us to follow in the path of discipleship.

(B)

“The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.

Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Luke 4:5-8)

In the first temptation, the devil concentrated on the physical need of Jesus, the man (God-incarnate), and he sought to cause him to put his physical need as primary and foremost, even at the expense of disobeying his Father (for if Jesus had used his divine power to do that, he would not remain as the perfect man who will fulfil God’s intention for him to be the substitute for mankind at the cross, and to demonstrate that man can choose obedience to God and not rebel, as Adam and Eve did).

Now, in the second temptation, the devil showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and told him that the authority and splendour of all these would be his if he would worship him (the devil).

It is interesting to note that the devil, in offering this to Jesus, stated that what he offered had been given to him and he could give it to anyone he wanted. The Bible refers to the devil as ‘the prince of the world’; yet he is not the king; his power and authority are subject to God and His sovereignty. Even in the book of Job, the devil had to have God’s permission to inflict Job. Nonetheless, it is true that he is a formidable enemy; God has allowed him ‘room’ to test and to tempt mankind and believers for the ‘moment’ and it is God’s sovereign will to do this to prepare a people for Himself, one that would reflect His true image and glory, beginning with Jesus as the head of the new humanity and people of God.

So the enemy is given the ‘room’ to offer mankind authority and splendour of this world; but to receive this offer would be tantamount to worshipping the devil instead of God, who rightly deserves all the worship, honour and glory.

Jesus understood this clearly; subsequent to this incident, Jesus Himself declared that ‘what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.’
But for many of us, it is not even the whole world; it is not all the kingdoms of the world with their authority and splendour – we cower before the enemy even if we are offered a minute-tiny fraction of authority, wealth and splendour of this world.

Is it not true that humans, including so-called believers, long for authority, power, status, wealth, and splendour for their lives on earth? And this pursuit is carried out at the expense of integrity, compassion, kindness and right values!

We need to recognise that the reception of such an offer and a pursuit of the ungodly values and desires lead to eternal and spiritual disaster and judgment. What is received in taking this offer is a ‘mirage’, a ‘delusion’, – it is transient and it does not truly satisfy the real needs and desires of humans made in the image of God. It ends up with losing our souls!

At the root of this offer is “worship”. Do we worship the devil or do we worship God? God the creator is majestic, transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and He who created us in His image knows what truly is good and satisfying for those He created. And He, the Creator, is deserving and worthy of all worship, honour, and glory.

But the devil, in his pride, desires to be god. He seeks to usurp the throne of God and to rally mankind and the negative spiritual beings to his side. Here in the second temptation of Jesus, the enemy did not resort to frontal attacks; instead, he used the lust of the eyes and the pride of life as the bait – look at all the splendour, the attractions – imagine all the prestige and authority that one can have if he receives this offer. And all he asked is just ‘bow down and worship him’. But if this fails, he would not draw back but will resort to frontal attacks, spiritual opposition, persecution that involve physical, emotional and mental ‘pains’. At the cross, the devil and his minions ‘unleashed’ all the ‘ammunition’ and attacks on the Lord Jesus with great intensity and in a prolonged manner, but Jesus took them all and ‘exhausted’ all their vicious destructive power and assaults, without retaliation, and He overcame them all at the cross, including enduring and receiving the rightful wrath of God against sin of mankind – thus He destroyed the guilt of sin, the power of sin, the power of death, and the bondage of sin and the devil, by paying fully the penalty of sin and giving the enemy no more ground to accuse and to enslave all those who are united with Him in His death, resurrection and ascension. Indeed, “it is finished”.

But this victory was secured after many battles with the enemy and overcoming all the temptations and ‘assaults’ all along His journey on earth, beginning with the temptations in the wilderness. He sits now at the right hand of the Father, still ministering to believers, interceding for them and through the Holy Spirit He and the Father sent to us, He intends to keep us safe in the temptations and the persecutions we too would encounter in our pilgrimage towards the heavenly city. But we must not compromise our worship of Him. We must know that worshipping ourselves, giving way to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life – all these amount to worshipping idols, ‘false gods’ – and in fact we are worshipping the devil and all he can offer in this world. We are in fact displacing God from the throne and putting ourselves and the enemy with all that he offers on the throne.

This scenario will be played out in the end times when the devil, the false prophet and antichrist would seek to be the false trinity. The temptations, the frontal assaults to cause believers to give up their loyalty to the Triune God would be at their most intense level. If we seek to be victorious and not to compromise, it has to begin with all the temptations and ‘sufferings’ the enemy can ‘impose on us in our journey on earth, and our determination not to give in, but to worship God despite all the ‘pressures’ and temptations to do otherwise.

Indeed, it is written, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” ‘It is written’ reveals Jesus’ wholesome knowledge of the Word of God (the Old Testament in this case) and His application of the Scripture. It is evident that the battle to overcome temptation requires the understanding of God’s revelation through Scripture and the ministry of the Author and Interpreter of Scripture, the Holy Spirit.

Let us not ever imagine that we can overcome without knowing the Scripture and the power of its application; neither can we hope to overcome by depending on ourselves and not on the Spirit of God. Remember we have a formidable enemy in the devil and if we underestimate him and lose our vigilance, we are easily overcome.

True godliness is a gift of God by which man is made willing and able to serve God. He no longer lives according to the lusts of the flesh, as the ungodly do, but according to the will of God revealed to us in His Word. For this reason, the godly life in which we give ourselves over to the service of God so that we live no longer for ourselves but for God, is called our reasonable service (Rom.12:1-2). This means we regulate our service to God according to the direction of God’s Word, not according to our own notion of understanding (1 Peter 2:2). They who render sincerely this reasonable service show in every respect how much they value, highly esteem, and treasure the Lord their God. They show thereby to the whole world that they subordinate all their own interests to the Word of the Lord and to His holy will, to their honour and to His service.

(C)

“The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
Jesaus answered, ‘It is said: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (Luke 4:9-13)

We have been looking at Hebrews 5:8: We noted how Jesus, though he was the Son, learned obedience through sufferings – he learned what obedience to his Father requires, costs, and involves through fulfilling the will of the Father when he was on earth – and this culminated in the completing of his mission on the cross.

We noted also the initiation of this learning as he faced the temptations of the devil in the wilderness.

In the third temptation, the devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. The Jews always regard Jerusalem and the temple as the place where God dwells and where the people worship in His presence. The devil also knew this and it is to be noted that the enemy sought to cause the Son to succumb to his temptation at the very place of worship of God.

If we think that the devil cannot work in the church and among God’s people, we need to reconsider: here he not only brought the Son to the temple in Jerusalem but he had him stand at the highest point of the temple.

Next, take note that the devil not only can quote Scripture; he also was deceitful enough to quote the passages which seem very relevant to the situation. Is it not true that God will always take care of His servants, especially His own Son? Is it not true that God has at His disposal myriads of angels and He could simply command them to protect His servants, in particular His Son?

Notice how the devil used the phrase, :”If you are the Son of God” in verse 3 and also here in verse 9. Obviously, he sought to cast doubt in the mind of Jesus regarding his identity and his relationship with the Father. But Jesus probably remembered the declaration of the Father in Luke 3:22: …:And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” This declaration took place just after the baptism of Jesus, when he identified fully with mankind in being baptised, and as he was ‘anointed’ by the Spirit to begin his actual ministry and mission.

Do we recall how, in the garden in Genesis, the devil asking Eve, “Did God say?’ He sought to distort God’s Word and command and he eventually succeeded to fool Adam and Eve. We need to be vigilant to know the Scripture accurately and also the meaning and the context of the text quoted.

In the face of temptation, even when Scripture is quoted and referred to, we should deny our natural mind and let ourselves be guided by the Spirit of God. We will not be happy and blessed unless we follow the Lord’s counsel, for a true spiritual life cannot be modeled after our own insight, but rather, must be formed according to God’s Word (Psalm 119:6). we see that the only true measure of diligent and godly exercises is not derived from worldly sources or from our imagination but is found in the Word of the Lord.

Jesus answered, “It is said: “Do not put the Lord.your God to the test.” The devil has earlier said the same words used by Jesus previously – “It is written” but the Son knew the devious intention of the enemy.

Although some of the statements of the devil were true, and even the Scripture quoted was and is accurate in its meaning, yet what the devil suggested to the Son was putting God to the test and casting doubt regarding, not only Jesus’ identity, but also his mission.

Jesus was clear of His identity; he was also sure of His mission and ministry. The devil sought to assault against His mission and ministry, as well as to sow doubts regarding his identity. The enemy proposed other and less costly options. Why not win the world by satisfying its hunger, by a sensational display of power, or by striking a bargain with the devil – in each case bypassing the cross? The devil loves to persuade us that the end justifies the means.

Jesus refused to listen to the voice of the devil. Immediately, instinctively, vehemently, he rejected each temptation. There was no need to discuss or to negotiate. The matter ahas already been settled by Scripture.

Still today there is a confusion of voices, even in the church. We forget that we need to do God’s work in God’s way, according to God’s revelation and teaching in the Scripture.

The devil speaks through the secular culture surrounding us, and God speaks through His Word. Which shall we listen to? Will we obey God despite what obedience costs, requires, and involves? It is by our daily dogged discipline of BIble reading that we allow the devil’s voice to be drowned by the voice of God.

Notice the closing verse: “When the devil has finished all the tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” The devil does not sleep and he works all the time. Lest we think we have overcome the temptations today, do not forget that the enemy still waits for an opportune time to assault, frontally or by deception.
Prayerfulness, vigilance and teachability in the midst of Christian fellowship, – all these are called for. We must put on the whole armour of God.