Luke 4:1,2

CHRIST IN THE WILDERNES[1]

‘Jesus … was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil.’

Luke 4:1

[1] In the volume on Matthew, twenty-four pages are devoted to the Temptation. It seems convenient, therefore, that Luke’s account should be treated more briefly.

Christ Jesus, in becoming man, voluntarily subjected Himself to the discipline of temptation.

I. Tempted of the devil.—Christ became incarnate to redeem the world from sin, to restore the authority of God on earth, and to destroy the works of the devil. Is it then to be wondered at, that the devil, who had seduced man to sin, and whose rebel kingdom had been set up on earth, should rouse himself at the very outset of Christ’s mission for a desperate struggle to retain his authority?

II. Tempted as our Representative.—Christ was the Head and Representative of the human race. It is in this light that the temptations of Christ reach their fullest significance. Christ came to restore a fallen race to its loyalty to God and, in the place of the usurped kingdom of Satan, to set up once more the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven. His first victory over the devil is at once the prophecy and pledge of His final triumph over sin, and of the redemption of His people.

III. A contrast.—Adam was the first head and representative of our race, and as such he had to endure, as Christ had to endure, the temptation of the devil. But how different was Adam’s temptation from that of Christ! Adam was tempted in the midst of plenty, Christ in the midst of poverty. Adam was tempted once only, Christ was ‘forty days tempted of the devil.’ Yet Adam fell, while Christ overcame! And this overcoming is the first act in the redemption of our race.

—Rev. Canon Duncan.

Illustration

‘As great movements in human affairs have each their wilderness, so every individual life that is truly great has its times which are filled with what seem mere delays and hindrances, and which are really preparations. We mark this in the wanderings of Abraham, the long tuition of Jacob before he became Israel; in the captivity of Joseph in Egypt, and the exile of Moses, as in the persecuted youth of David. These are ancient examples; but the experience which they represent is never old. The lesson of the wilderness is written broadly over sacred history, and it is deeply marked in modern life as well.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE CONFLICT

From a position of honour and glory Christ passed immediately to a season of conflict and suffering. The portion of Christ will often prove the portion of Christians. From great privilege to great trial there will often be but a step. Mark:—

I. The power and unwearied malice of the devil.—If he cannot rob us of heaven, he will at any rate make our journey thither painful.

II. The Lord’s ability to sympathise with those that are tempted.—This is a truth that stands out prominently in this passage. Jesus has been really and literally tempted Himself.

III. The exceeding subtlety of our great spiritual enemy, the devil.—Three times we see him assaulting our Lord and trying to draw Him into sin. Unbelief, worldliness, and presumption are three grand engines which he is ever working against the soul of man, and by which he is ever enticing him to do what God forbids, and to run into sin. Let us remember this, and be on our guard.

IV. The manner in which our Lord resisted Satan’s temptation.—Three times we see Him foiling and baffling the great enemy who assaulted Him. He Who was ‘full of the Holy Ghost,’ was yet not ashamed to make the Holy Scripture His weapon of defence and His rule of action.

—Bishop J. C. Ryle.