Immediately following his baptism “Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil” (Luke 4:1-2). This temptation of the devil occurred at the very beginning of Christ’s earthly public ministry. Note that the devil is a real person, not some evil force. Many, if not most, people in our society today do not believe in a real devil. Yet the Scriptures are plain in attesting to the devil’s personhood.
During this time in the wilderness, Christ was tempted of the devil in three specific matters. The first of these temptations sought to take advantage of the Lord’s hunger, a natural physical condition following his fasting for forty days. “And in those days, he [Jesus] did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, if thou be the Son of God, command that this stone be made bread” (Luke 4:2-3).
There is much to learn through Christ’s encounter with the devil in this first temptation. First, the devil knew that Jesus was the Son of God. The word “if” speaks to a condition that is true. We might use the word “since” to make the statement clearer. The devil was not tempting Jesus to prove he was the Son of God, but rather to cause him to act independent of God’s will for him. The Spirit of God led him into the wilderness, and it was the Spirit’s filling that enabled him to fast those forty days.
Second, note that it is possible to sin while satisfying natural desires. Hunger is a natural condition that we all experience frequently in our lives. Yet satisfying our hunger can easily get out of hand and lead to outright gluttony if we are not careful. Sexual desires are likewise natural. However, satisfying those urges outside the boundary of marriage is sinful and condemned in Scripture. “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4).
The devil will have us believe “if it feels good to do then do it”. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Christ gave the right response. “And Jesus answered him [the devil], saying, it is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). Jesus quoted the Old Testament words of Moses to the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 8:3. The Israelites were soon to cross the river Jordan into the promised land and Moses reminded them how God fed them for forty years with manna in the wilderness.
Jesus’ example revealed that our choices are shaped by God’s word and are obeyed through the enabling of the Spirit of God in our lives. God created us with natural desires, but even these desires must be harnessed and exercised in accordance with God’s truth. Many lives and labors have been destroyed by failure to govern these natural desires rightly. The Apostle Paul acknowledged the necessity for such self-control when he likened his own preaching ministry to a race and himself a runner. He testified “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached unto others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Corinthians 9:27). Our society is characterized as a people that have abandoned restraint. Such abandonment is at the root of many of society’s ills today.
From the Chaplain 