Luk 4:1 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord is baptized. The Holy Spirit, by Whom He was conceived and Who is always fully present in Him, has descended on Him as a sign that He can begin His service. Before He begins His service, He is led around by the Spirit, with Whom the Father, God, has sealed Him, in the wilderness ( ). He is the true Son Who is led by the Spirit of sonship. He is not only led to the wilderness, but He is also, when He is in the wilderness, led around in the wilderness. The initiative of the temptations comes from the Spirit Who brings the Lord to the area where it should happen. The Spirit does this to show us what the Man is according to God’s thoughts and to be an example to us. The Lord is not tempted as the eternal Son, but as the Son of God Who is Man. Therefore He can be an example for us. The goal is to undergo the temptations under which Adam failed. Adam was tempted and failed, being in the most ideal circumstances. The Lord endures the temptations in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, not in those in which Adam was. By withstanding the temptations He has bound the strong man, the devil, and can begin His service work of delivering people from the power of the devil ( ). Luke does not give the temptations in historical order (as Matthew does), but in a moral order, i.e. an order according to the content of the temptations. This order corresponds to the order of the elements of the world as given by John in his first letter: “The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” ( ). The Lord is first tempted in view of His physical needs, then in view of the glory of the world, and finally the devil has a spiritual temptation for Him by proposing to Him to claim His right as Messiah. The first temptation is aimed at the lust of the flesh, the second at the lust of the eyes, the third at the pride of life. The temptations of the devil concern the whole Man, His body, soul and spirit (cf. , where the order is the other way around). All these temptations have the effect on the Lord that His perfection shines all the more. He can say that the devil in Him finds no connecting point for sin ( ). We cannot say that, but we can still stand like Him when temptations come our way. Victory is not achieved by thinking we are above it, but by following the example of the Lord in using the Word of God. The Word of God should always be the normal guideline for the direction of our life in all our circumstances. That means we only act if it’s God will and we act in trust in Him. That is true obedience and dependency. That is how the Lord acts. What can the devil do with a Man Who never goes outside the will of God, and for Whom God’s will is the only motive to act? The Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days. The three that are recorded for us are his last and most severe temptations. Here the devil does everything in his power to bring the Lord to an action that is independent of a command from His God. How weak has He become when He has eaten nothing for forty days? This is the choicest moment for the devil to come with his last temptations. Moses did not eat and drink forty days either, but he was alone with God all this time, without the devil having access to it ( ; ). The Lord was of course with God all this time, but He was exposed to all the temptations of the devil.

‏ Luke 4:1

Tempted by the Devil

The Lord is baptized. The Holy Spirit, by Whom He was conceived and Who is always fully present in Him, has descended on Him as a sign that He can begin His service. Before He begins His service, He is led around by the Spirit, with Whom the Father, God, has sealed Him, in the wilderness (Jn 6:27). He is the true Son Who is led by the Spirit of sonship. He is not only led to the wilderness, but He is also, when He is in the wilderness, led around in the wilderness. The initiative of the temptations comes from the Spirit Who brings the Lord to the area where it should happen.

The Spirit does this to show us what the Man is according to God’s thoughts and to be an example to us. The Lord is not tempted as the eternal Son, but as the Son of God Who is Man. Therefore He can be an example for us. The goal is to undergo the temptations under which Adam failed. Adam was tempted and failed, being in the most ideal circumstances. The Lord endures the temptations in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, not in those in which Adam was. By withstanding the temptations He has bound the strong man, the devil, and can begin His service work of delivering people from the power of the devil (Mk 3:27).

Luke does not give the temptations in historical order (as Matthew does), but in a moral order, i.e. an order according to the content of the temptations. This order corresponds to the order of the elements of the world as given by John in his first letter: “The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (1Jn 2:16). The Lord is first tempted in view of His physical needs, then in view of the glory of the world, and finally the devil has a spiritual temptation for Him by proposing to Him to claim His right as Messiah. The first temptation is aimed at the lust of the flesh, the second at the lust of the eyes, the third at the pride of life. The temptations of the devil concern the whole Man, His body, soul and spirit (cf. 1Thes 5:23, where the order is the other way around).

All these temptations have the effect on the Lord that His perfection shines all the more. He can say that the devil in Him finds no connecting point for sin (Jn 14:30). We cannot say that, but we can still stand like Him when temptations come our way. Victory is not achieved by thinking we are above it, but by following the example of the Lord in using the Word of God.

The Word of God should always be the normal guideline for the direction of our life in all our circumstances. That means we only act if it’s God will and we act in trust in Him. That is true obedience and dependency. That is how the Lord acts. What can the devil do with a Man Who never goes outside the will of God, and for Whom God’s will is the only motive to act?

The Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days. The three that are recorded for us are his last and most severe temptations. Here the devil does everything in his power to bring the Lord to an action that is independent of a command from His God. How weak has He become when He has eaten nothing for forty days? This is the choicest moment for the devil to come with his last temptations. Moses did not eat and drink forty days either, but he was alone with God all this time, without the devil having access to it (Exo 24:18; Deu 9:9 ; 18). The Lord was of course with God all this time, but He was exposed to all the temptations of the devil.