A Snake in the Sand
The greatest battle between a man and Satan is the one recorded here concerning Jesus temptation in the desert. Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist and as a result Jesus is revealed as the Lamb of God as John puts it.
The Holy Spirit has come upon him like a dove and a booming voice acknowledges that Jesus is Gods son in whom he is well pleased.
Jesus baptism was his spiritual coming out party. Prior to this Jesus lived a quiet life as a carpenter. He went to the temple and followed the Jewish faith obediently. He provided for his family and no doubt set the best example a person could to his step brothers and sisters.
But now it was time to step out according to Gods timetable and put into motion the redemption of mankind and fulfill the promises made to Abraham. The Messiah had arrived at the right place and time in history and his name was Jesus of Nazareth.
Satan had been waiting for this as he watched Jesus grow day by day. No doubt Satan was perplexed about this one human being. Jesus was different he never sinned and Satan had no record to accuse him with.
This was very troubling and most likely created a sense of fear in Satan. Satan had not known that kind of fear for some time. In fact it was reminiscent of the fear he first felt when he saw that man was created in Gods image.
That was a perplexing day. What had God done by making a creature that bore the creators image? That was in fact what Satan coveted. He wanted to be like God. He wanted to be worshiped and adored. Satan wanted to sit on the throne of The Most High. Satan wanted to be God. Yet God had cast him out of heaven and onto a place called earth.
To make matters worse there was a new creature called man that had the image of God the very image that Satan coveted. This likeness, sharing Gods image kept Satan at a safe distance for a little while.
But why talk of the Garden of Eden and the fall of man? You thought you were going to hear about Jesus in the desert. Well you see what Jesus does in the desert puts right the wrong that was done in the garden.
Jesus has been without food for forty days fasting no doubt thirsty and near total physical exhaustion. Only now does Satan feel enough courage to approach only now is Jesus sufficiently vulnerable as a human being. You see Jesus is fully God yet fully man. To redeem mankind Jesus must accomplish for man what the first man could not. Jesus must resist and defeat the temptations of the devil.
Adam and Eve were not able to stand against the great temptations of Satan. Satan had kept his distance and studied the new couple then he struck and like a snake flung himself at his prey. Satan caught Eve alone and near the Tree of Knowledge. This was the same tree that God had said not to eat from. But Satan twisted Gods words. Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?
Satan knew full well that there were only two trees that were off limits the Tree of Eternal Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan used Eves hunger and the sense of sight to entice her to disobey Gods word. What is worse Eve fails to recall Gods exact words and says that if she even touches the forbidden fruit she will die but God said she would die once she ate it not touch it.
Jesus meets Satan and Jesus is hungry. Satan pulls out the same old repertoire he knows that if Jesus is tricked into using his miraculous power that the battle is over for Jesus will have responded as God and not as man by turning the rocks into bread. Jesus the man wants and needs bread and Satan knows this. But Jesus the Son of God refuses to use his divine power and instead responds with the bread of life which is Gods word.
Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Deut 8:3. Jesus responded to temptation in a way that Eve did not. Jesus quotes Gods word exactly and uses it not as an explanation but as a basis for living a life true to Gods instruction. Jesus wins this first temptation battle and we learn that in order to overcome the desires of the flesh and our human appetites for what our eyes desire we must use Gods word as a weapon against the lusts of the flesh.
Jesus is then swept away to the Holy city, Jerusalem. Satan stands him on the top of the temple. The temple represents the law of God the place where it is read, studied and revered. The temple is in a way the bricks and mortar of the law. It is all that God has said and instructed the Jews to do and live. The law is made real in the temple worship. It is there that we obtain our knowledge of God.
Jesus is fully man and as such his body is also a temple. It houses Gods Holy Spirit and an eternal soul. All that God has promised resides in the body of Jesus. The things that reside in Jesus are the promises to the Jews and the Gentiles. To destroy the body of Jesus would destroy the knowledge of the law. Jesus would latter say I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it Matt 5:17.
Long ago in the garden Satan said to Eve, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen 3:5 You will not surely die. Gen 3:4. Once again we see it is death that Satan wants to lure us to.
He wants to destroy our knowledge of God by filling it with a desire to possess a god like knowledge knowing: Good and Evil. This again is one of the things that Satan coveted: To be like God. Only God who is all holy can determine good from evil. We are a creation of Gods we are not the creator. How then should we decide what is best when we do not know how or why things were created? God alone has the right to divine knowledge and truth.
Jesus standing on top the temple tells Satan that life isnt something cheap or trivial, it is not a play thing and God is not amused when we take the knowledge of what he has imparted to us and toss it away. Even though we are protect by Gods angels that is not license to treat our life recklessly.
This is exactly what Satan did when he cast his life away attempting to dethrone The Living God. Especially since Satan knew Gods word and law. Jesus wins the battle over the temptation to put our wisdom or knowledge ahead of Gods. Life is sacred and belongs to God not to us. Again Jesus uses Gods word as a defensive weapon saying Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Well lets take a step back and see what has gone one between these two combatants. Satan had failed in temptation number one.
Satan had tried to use Jesus human needs and desires against him but with no luck. Jesus did not change the rocks into bread even though he could have. Jesus would rely on God for all things rather than bring things about according to his own desires. In effect Jesus would not taste the apple in the garden he knew God would provide for all his needs.
Temptation number two also failed Jesus did not need to assert his position in the Godhead by demonstrating his power over life and death to Satan. Jesus was following God the Fathers plan for his life and he would not be tempted to demonstrate his will over that of God the Fathers. Jesus knew he would die but it would be for God the Fathers purpose and not for a test of wills. Jesus knew respected and honored Gods authority over his life and death.
Finally Satan pulls out all stops. He realizes that Jesus is no ordinary human being Jesus, Satan surmises for some reason knows that to resist the devil you have to use Gods word. Well temptation number one did not work and temptation number two was a humiliating failure to Satan but how could he get Jesus to fold?
Satan goes for broke and now realizes that Jesus is Gods son. Jesus has proved faithful and obedient. But Satan knows from watching human beings that everyone has their price. The final temptation was going to cost Satan almost everything he possessed. Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain top and shows Jesus all the Kingdoms of the world, all their splendor, wealth and power.
This was all that Satan possessed and he was willing to give it all away for just one thing; A title. The title Satan wanted was nonnegotiable to Satan it meant everything. He would barter everything else in order to secure just one thing; that title.
That title was God Almighty, The Most High God, and The Ancient of Days that was the title that Satan coveted and lusted for. Satan could not sell his soul in order to buy Jesus worship. Satans soul was already lost and condemned. But Satan had this world and its kingdoms in his grasp. It represented a kind of kingship a kind of authority and a kind of power. But Jesus knew it was not the kind that belonged to The Most High God.
The kingdom that Satan offered was a corrupted kingdom filled with every sin imaginable and every misery that human kind had ever known.
Jesus had come to defeat that kingdom and usher in a new and everlasting kingdom of eternal life and eternal peace and eternal righteousness. No earthly kingdom could compare to what lay ahead for Jesus as the living heir of the Everlasting God. Jesus fires back Away from me Satan Back off you snake For it is written; Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only. Deuteronomy 6:13
The rebuke from Jesus represented so much more than just a quote. It was an accusation and condemnation and judgment against Satan for in those few words Jesus summed up everything Satan had failed to do.
Satan had failed to worship the Lord yet he was at one time in charge of leading the worship. Satan had betrayed God as his God by trying to take the Heavenly throne by force convincing a third of the angles to rebel. Satan had failed to serve God as we are commanded to, with all our heart, all our soul and all our strength.
Jesus restored the beauty and perfection that was the Garden of Eden while in the desolation that was the desert. Jesus was a new Adam a faithful, obedient and loving Adam who worshiped God and now Satan had a lot to worry about because his kingdom was about to fall all around him as Jesus stepped forward for mankind.
Things will change when Jesus is present.
Let us pray.
