Luke 4:1-12

Jesus Goes Into The Wilderness To Prepare For His Life's Work and Is Tempted by the Devil (4:1-12).

So as He contemplates His future ministry Jesus has to consider the way in which He will go about it, and for that purpose He goes into the wilderness as John had done previously. (Mark says that the Holy Spirit ‘drove' Him there). There as He considers the way ahead He has to face the Tempter. Whether this was just in His thoughts (spirit to spirit - consider ‘led in the Spirit in the wilderness'), or whether He actually saw the Devil (diabolos = ‘slanderer') we do not know. If the latter we can be sure he came, not in any grotesque form, but disguised as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). It may well be that towards the end of His lonely vigil Jesus met an attractive stranger in the wilderness through whom the Devil spoke with the subtlety of the serpent, as later he would take Judas and speak through him. We certainly come across such evil possessed men later (e.g. Acts 13:6). (Compare how Jesus can even address Peter as ‘Satan' (Mark 8:33).

The story of the temptations of Jesus is paralleled in Matthew, but not in Mark where it is only referred to in summary. There is, however, a difference in the order of the temptations from Matthew. Both Matthew and Luke saw the story as a whole and presented it in that way, drawing out three examples, the threeness indicating the completeness of His temptation and His victory over it, and putting them in the order that suited their purpose. Indeed over the period of forty days the same temptations no doubt came again and again in differing orders and in different ways, as Jesus wrestled with how he should approach the future. Both Mark and Luke certainly seem to suggest that they covered most of the forty days (Mark 1:13, and see Luke 4:2; Luke 4:13 which agrees), for there Jesus was facing up to His future, and how He was to use the awesome powers over which He now had control. There can therefore be no question of a specific order for them, and to speak of one order being more correct than the other is to simplify a complex situation. What is described here is the culmination of His being tempted over the whole forty days on how to conduct His ministry, illustrating the essentials of what was involved, not a stage managed three part drama. (We may also note that it is only the leading temptation that is actually said to be after the forty days were almost up. It is we who assume a chronological order. The ‘then' (tote) in Matthew 4:5 can mean ‘at that time' and need not be specific). What is not mentioned is that at the same time He worked His way through to what His paths should be. That will be unfolded in what follows.

But what is significant in Luke is that He is depicted as ending up with the temptation in Jerusalem as the climax of the temptations. The order is not chronological but thematic. The idea of Jerusalem is central in Luke's Gospel. In this Gospel Jesus makes a set path for Jerusalem (Luke 9:31; Luke 9:51; Luke 9:53; Luke 13:22; Luke 13:33; Luke 17:11; Luke 18:31; Luke 19:11; Luke 19:28) even in childhood (Luke 2:22; Luke 2:41) and when it comes to His resurrection appearances we are only told about those that occurred in Jerusalem. To Luke, as a Greek writing to Greeks, Jerusalem symbolised Judaism and Israel. All therefore to do with the Messiah centres around Jerusalem. Thus to manifest Himself in Jerusalem is the climax of His temptations, and foreshadows His final victory in Jerusalem. There He will reveal Himself in His resurrection, a far greater ‘sign' than is suggested here, but a sign with a purpose. In Matthew, where the Kingship of Jesus is emphasised, it is the expression of world Kingship that is the ultimate temptation on which to end. Here it is the temptation to perform a spectacular sign in Jerusalem. Both were temptations He probably faced again and again as he prayed in the wilderness.

The temptations of Jesus illustrate 1 John 2:15. The desires of the flesh are prominent in the temptation after bread when He was hungry, the desires of the eyes in terms of seeing all the kingdoms of the world as possibly belonging to Him, and the pride of life in the temptation to demonstrate to all in the wrong way His supreme power and authority and importance to God. But as John points out concerning such temptations, ‘these are not of the Father but are of the world', and in each reply Jesus makes, this is made clear.

We will deal further with the significance of the temptations as we go through the text, but it is important to recognise that throughout the temptations, which occur while He is meditating on His approach to His new ministry, loyalty to God is what is central. How He will approach His mission in that light is what is in question, together with what His attitude towards concerning His God-given gifts will be. This comes out in each reply. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone', ‘you shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve', ‘you shall not put the Lord your God to the test'. His reply is thus that He will succeed only by being God-centred, and seeking to do only His will, and it is then revealed as not His will to use His powers for selfish ends, or in seeking glory and power, or in performing extravagant signs. His purpose must be to let God shine through. It is a mission therefore that to some extent, whether high or low, we can all participate in (Matthew 5:16).

One last word may be said about the temptations, and that is that they place Jesus firmly in the line of those who had gone before. Adam, the first man, was tempted in Eden (Genesis 3). Abraham was tested with regard to Isaac his son (Genesis 22:1). David was tested with regard to his kingship (2 Samuel 24:1 /2 Chronicles 21:1). And so also was Job, the man with whom God had said that He was well pleased (Job 1-2). Now here was the new Adam, the Fulfiller of the Abrahamic promises, the Greater David, the One in Whom God has declared Himself well pleased. He was a sitting target for the Devil.

But what did the Devil see? He saw the kind of man he hated, one of those who sucked up to God. He saw one Who had come to fulfil the prophecies which were bad news for him. He had seen the details of His birth, and what had been said about Him, He had seen His attendance at ‘His Father's House'. He had even seen what had occurred at His baptism. It was not good. But he remembered back to Eden. There too there had been a ‘son of God'. There too everything had been against him. But with extreme cunning, a little deceit, and a knowledge of human nature he had won. And now he could win again. For with all his knowledge and perception he saw One Who was only a man. How could he have dreamed that God would humiliate Himself to such an extent as to become man? It was beyond His distorted perception to appreciate. So while he recognised that God had fortified this Man with huge powers, and had set Him apart as His ‘Holy One', every man had his weak spot. It was simply a matter of probing until he found the weak spot of Jesus.

The passage may be analysed as follows following the pattern which occurs a number of times in the Pentateuch where there is a threefold pattern:

a Jesus goes into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1 a).

b There He was led in the Spirit for forty days being tempted by the Devil (in Matthew by the Tempter) (Luke 4:1).

c Temptation 1. Command that this stone become bread (Luke 4:3)

d Answer. It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone' (Luke 4:4).

c Temptation 2. All the kingdoms of the world to be given to Him if He will bow down and worship the Devil (Luke 4:5).

d Answer. It is written ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve' (Luke 4:8).

c Temptation 3. Throw yourself from the pinnacle of your Father's House, for has He not promised to protect you (Luke 4:9).

d Answer. It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord you God to the test' (Luke 4:12).

b And when the Devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him for a season (Luke 4:14).

a And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and fame went out concerning him through all the region round about, and He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all (Luke 4:15).

Note that in ‘a' Jesus goes into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit and in the parallel returns in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. In ‘b' He is tempted by the Devil, and in the parallel the Devil ceases his temptation. The three temptations and the answers are the central part of the chiasmus, centring on what is important. (This threefoldness occurs in chiasmi a number of times in the Pentateuch. See for example our treatment of the Balaam narratives in Numbers).