Listen here.

Matthew 4:1-11

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,

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

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ 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.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ 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.’”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Grace, mercy, peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus, the Son of God, true God and true Man, is the only one who can undo what happened in the Old Testament lesson – the Fall (Gen. 3:1-21). So if the devil can get Jesus to sin in just one, tiny way, there would be no Savior, no one to undo the damage of the Fall. But, praise be to God, the devil fails.

The Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. It is interesting to see these three temptations in light of Genesis 3.

The first temptation of Jesus is the, “Eat this,” temptation. “Here Jesus, eat this. If you are the Son of God, You can command these stones to become bread.”

The same happened in the Garden. The devil had asked Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Since it worked so well on our first parents when they weren’t even hungry, the devil tries it on Jesus.

But Jesus trusts God. Forty days earlier, God declared at Jesus’ baptism, “You are My beloved Son. In You I am well pleased.” And Jesus trusts His Father’s word, so He responds, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus trusts God’s provision.

The second temptation of Jesus happens at the pinnacle of the Temple. The devil says to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, go ahead. Throw Yourself down. God will protect You from harm. He will not let you even strike Your foot against a stone.”

The same thing happened in the Garden of Eden. The devil made a false promise to Eve, “You will not surely die.” It worked then, so the devil tries it again.

Again, Jesus trusts God. “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” God’s Word is enough, Jesus doesn’t need to test God’s promise.

The third temptation of Jesus is on the high mountain. The devil shows Jesus the kingdoms of the world and all their glory and promises, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

The same thing happened in the Garden when the devil told Eve, “You will be like God. You can be something more than what God has already made you to be.” It worked then, so the devil tries it on Jesus.

But again, Jesus answers with God’s Word. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. So, get out of here, Satan.” Jesus stands strong where we did not.

Jesus resisted all of Satan’s temptations. The devil fails, and failing, he flees.

There is all sorts of talk today about “fake news.” Some stories that get reported are blatant lies, stories of things that never happened. But “fake news” can be much more subtle than that. Adding a little information here, or omitting a little information there turns the truth into a lie.

This can happen on a larger scale too. People will impose our 21^st century ideas on historical events and try to re-write what happened in the past. It’s called “Revisionist history.” Both of these things are bad. They are lies and break the Eighth Commandment.

Why do I bring this up? Glad you asked. In the Temptation of Jesus, we see Him obeying God and not giving into the temptations of the devil. In doing this, Jesus doesn’t just re-write history, instead, Jesus re-writes history truthfully. The one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so Jesus’ one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men (Ro. 5:18).

Jesus has done what was demanded of you, but you failed to do.

Your first parents wrote a terrible history for humanity – a history full of sin and death. But Jesus’ obedience has written a new, truthful history for you.

Jesus always obeyed God. He actively obeyed His Father and never gave into sin. Because of that, you who are in Jesus, you who believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection, God now looks at and sees Jesus.

When Jesus resisted temptation, He resisted it for you. When Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, He did it for you. When Jesus was hung on a cross to endure God’s wrath, He did it for you. When Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again, He did it for you.

So now, when God looks at you, He sees one who did not eat from the tree. He sees one who did not fail to trust God’s Word. He sees one who did not bow down and worship Satan. He sees one who did not ever break the first, fourth, second, or any of the Commandments.

God looks at you and sees Jesus and His perfect obedience that we see in this text and in all the Scriptures.

Now, what does God say to you? He says, “Come back to the Garden. Be guiltless again. Here, eat this. To undo the curse of sin and the curse of the Fall. Take, eat. This is My Body given unto death for you. Take, drink. This is My Blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.