How Did Jesus Deal With Temptation? pt. 4
by on Sep 28th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
So, Satan has failed to unsettle Jesus’ faithfulness to the Heavenly Father’s provision and leadership, but he thinks that he has one good chance remaining. He takes Jesus to the edge of the temple and tries to corner Jesus’ desire to obey God’s Word by using Scripture against Him.
“Throw yourself off this wall and fulfill Psalm 91:11-12,” is what he recommends to Jesus. After all, if Jesus wants to follow God’s Word He wouldn’t refuse to act on what is written. If Jesus wants the people to recognize Him as Messiah, which He is, then what better way could there be to prove it than by attempting suicide and forcing divine intervention to come into clear view of the spectators below? They will see a man rescued from certain death and treat Jesus as special, which is what Jesus ultimately wants. Again, the means are thrown aside by Satan because the end seems justified.
The temptation for Jesus is to force God to act by creating a test for Him. If Jesus jumps, He will die if He is fully human, which He is. He must not die prior to atoning for our sins on the cross so the Heavenly Father will have to intervene and rescue Him. Therefore, Jesus will be acting foolishly just so He can manipulate God the Father into bailing Him out of imminent trouble.
Jesus’ response from Scripture is evidence of the nature of the temptation. He quotes from Deuteronomy 16:6, which states, “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test” (ESV), but there is more to the verse, and it states, “as you tested him at Massah” (ESV). The story of Israel at Massah is recorded in Exodus 17:1-7. They were in the Wilderness and wanted a guarantee that they were being led by Yahweh to their liking, so they demanded that water be provided to them. God provided them the water, but He saw their pleas for what it was: a test born of doubt, impatience, and selfishness.
This type of testing is exactly what Satan is trying to get from Jesus. He wants Jesus to double-check and see if God really supports Him. The Father has not commanded Jesus to jump. The revelation of His majesty as Messiah is to be revealed at another time, but Satan wants evidence and action immediately.
Though the degree of Jesus’ temptation far outweighs anything we might face, the temptation to test God in this way is as real for us as it was for our sinless Savior. We are often tempted to take a pay advance on God’s promises or test the strength of God’s Word by forcing Him to intervene in clearly foolish situations. Let me give you some examples of how this happens:
- We decide to entertain a thought or engage in a clearly sinful activity knowing that we can feel sorry for it later, ask forgiveness, and get it based on God’s claim to be merciful. This is presuming upon God’s grace.
- We overeat and don’t exercise for decades. Then, when such a lifestyle catches up to us, we call out to God for deliverance or get angry with Him for allowing the consequences to come to full term (as an overweight person, I’m aware of the intensity of this temptation).
- We desire to marry a young woman whose parents do not approve. Instead of using caution and restraint, we dive into the marriage thinking that they will have to support you as a couple once the marriage is official and there is no reversal of the condition.
- We go into severe debt either privately or as a church and then have the audacity to claim that we did it just to show how “God will provide.” He either has to provide or our household or church will fail. This is a rejection of God’s provision, and it forces Him to act as if we are in charge.
We must be careful that we learn to live within God’s provision and not take rash action just to see if God is still there leading us. Unlike the Israelites at Massah, we must trust His ability to bring His promises to pass even if all we see is barren Wilderness.