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Satan’s temptation (Mk 1:12-13; Mt 4:1-11)
This event is recorded in detail in both Mt 4:1-11 and Lk 4:1-13. Mark does not give details of the ‘temptation’ experience probably due to the author’s tendency of recording Jesus’ ministry. Likewise, the event of Jesus’ birth is recorded in detail in both Matthew and Luke but not even mentioned with any word in Mark. While Matthew and Luke have recorded many parables and preachings given by Jesus, Mark focuses mainly on his service of the people. Mark starts out with the ministry of John, which serves as an introduction of Jesus’ ministry. Since Mark misses the details of the temptations for Jesus, we need to make reference to the other two Books for more detailed information.
(why did the Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted by Satan?)
After the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, “immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan (受撒但的試探)” (v12) Matt 4:1 states more clearly, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan? Certainly the Spirit did it on purpose. Will the Holy Spirit put us in a situation like Jesus in order to be tempted by Satan? First of all, let us understand what ‘temptation’ is all about. And then we will examine what are the relationships between temptation and God as well as Satan.
James 1:14 says, “every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed (乃是被自己的私慾牽引誘惑的).” That is to say, temptation is something that can entice us to sin, because we want to satisfy our own lust. Satan is crafty to take advantage of our lustful desire and set the trap to seduce us to sin. He wants to see that we are hooked to sin forever and die of sin. He is the “tempter” (Mt 4:3) to keep us in the darkness of evil. Therefore, James 1:15 continues to say, “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” That’s why Peter warns us in I Peter, “Be sober, be vigilant (務要謹守、警醒); because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist steadfast in the faith (你們要用堅固的信心抵擋他).” (I Peter 5:8-9)
On the other hand, James 1:13 clearly says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man (他也不試探人).” As mentioned above, we are tempted because of our own lust that we want to satisfy. “God cannot be tempted with evil”, meaning that nothing can tempt God because God hates evil by nature. But angels can be tempted and overcome by evil. Satan used to be the chief angel in heaven. He was tempted by his own pride and disobeyed God. As a result, he left his honourable position and has become a fallen angel, awaiting the eternal judgment of God. “Neither tempteth he any man”, meaning that God will not tempt us to sin, since God is good (“There is none good but one, that is, God”, Mk 10:18).
Jesus is the Son of God. Why would God’s Spirit lead him to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness? First of all, after Jesus received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he was officially given the task of preaching the gospel of God’s kingdom. Since he bore human nature now, he had to go through the tests of temptation to prepare him for the future road of the cross. James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried (試驗), he shall receive the crown of life.” Second, through the experience of the temptations, the Son of God would understand more the weakness of human nature. His success of overcoming the temptations proves to us that although we have human lust and have tendency to sin, we can overcome temptations by the power of God. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” The Lord himself has been “tried” and “tempted” and has endured temptation “without sin”. The one who “tried” him was God, but the one who “tempted” him was Satan. Since he had human nature, he also had human lust. He could have fallen into temptation without the indwelling of the Spirit. Therefore, while the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, the Spirit was with him all along and helped him face and overcome the temptations. Jesus’ temptation has become a perfect example for us. Temptation is an acid test of our faith (I Peter 5:9). We must wholly rely on the power of the Spirit to overcome our own lust and Satan’s temptation.
So, the temptations ahead were a key part of the spiritual training exercise for Jesus before starting his ministry. Although the temptations were an acid test for him as a human being, he was already fully prepared to accept the challenges ahead with the indwelling of the Spirit.
(first temptation)
According to Matthew, the first temptation is to tempt Jesus’ hunger with food—a physical need of our body nature. During the forty days in the wilderness, he kept fasting days and nights (Mt 4:2). Was he not hungry at all during these days? He certainly was! Most of us begin to feel hungry even by keeping ourselves from enjoying just one meal! We can be sure that he had been suffering from hunger throughout the forty days and nights, due to his physical need. But why did he keep from eating for forty days, not shorter or longer? Generally, the Bible commentators claim that the number 40 carries a special meaning in the Bible, which stands for a testing period for the people of God. Examples are: 1. Moses had been living in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years before God revealed to him in the midst of the burning thorns; 2. The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness of Arabia for about 40 years before they succeeded in entering the land of Canaan. My thinking is that depending on our physical fitness, each individual can endure without eating for a different period of time. And the length of forty days could be the maximum limit for Jesus’ human body. Jesus had been enduring successfully and disallowing himself from eating. The primary reason for his success is that he redirected his attention from physical need to spiritual fervor. I believe that in those forty days of fasting, Jesus was not just hanging around in the wilderness. He must be meditating on God’s word every day and kept his prayer with the Father every night.
When Satan challenged him, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (Mt 4:3), Satan’s challenge tells us that Jesus had the power to turn anything (even stones) to food for eating during these forty days. He simply did not exercise this power. If he didn’t have this power, the temptation would not even exist! And there is every legitimate reason for him to exercise such power since he was only stopping his hunger—the very basic need of a human body. He was not tempted to eat more than required by his physical need, unlike our situation of enjoying buffet dinner in which we may keep on eating and trying delicious food even when we are already full. Satan’s temptation for him was indeed extremely great, especially when he suffered to the maximum limit of his own body. Just imagine how great the temptation is when all the delicious food is placed right in front of you at the moment you are extremely hungry. As for Jesus, even when the physical limit was reached, he still insisted on refusing to exercise the power given him. Why? I gather that he wanted to prove to us that even our greatest physical need can be endured and replaced by our spiritual fervor—not to speak of any physical desire beyond basic need.
In our daily lives, the greatest temptation is to satisfy our needs (mostly our desires) when we have the authority or strength to do as we want to in a particular situation. A common example would be for the men to call for sex service in China. They may even rationalize their sinful act by claiming it’s part of their business relationship or they are only satisfying their ‘basic’ sexual need. For the believers who are without job, they may perceive that getting a job always has the higher priority than personal encounter with God or serving God. As such, they will see the need of searching for a job greater than their spiritual need.
However, if we can take Jesus’ answer seriously by faith (“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Mt 4:4, which is quoted from Deut 8:3), we should not worry that much about our basic living but should cherish more of our constant communication with God. Sadly, most of the Christians care for their physical need (and desire) far more than their spiritual need. In Matt 4:4, Jesus is reminding us not to ignore the need of our spirit which can only live and be fed by the word of God. Since Jesus has the power to change stone to bread, why do we need to worry about our daily living?!
(second temptation)
In the second temptation, Jesus was taken to the “pinnacle”(殿頂) of the temple in the holy city (Mt 4:5). The top of the temple is a symbol of the top religious position, similar to the post of the Vatican Pope. The Pope is honoured by civilians as well as presidents in most countries. In our church, we can become proud as we get more involved in church service and become famous in church. There is a temptation for us to grab and keep the highest seat for our personal honour and achievement.
According to Matt 4:6, Satan challenged Jesus to descend from the top of the holy temple by quoting Psalm 91:11-12. Why would Satan ask Jesus to jump down? Since a great crowd of pious worshippers visited the temple every day, you can imagine how impressive it was for Jesus to descend from the top of the temple like angels! What if the worshippers really honoured Jesus as God when he followed Satan’s request? Did Satan really want to see that happen? If not, what was the point of the temptation then? I think that Satan might not truly believe in the words of Psalm 91:11-12 that God’s angels would protect Jesus from hurting himself as he threw himself down. Judging from the reply of Jesus (“Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”, Mt 4:7), Satan was actually tempting God in that he was testing if His promise in Psalm 91:11-12 would come true.
Notice that Satan quoted the Psalms in this second temptation, seeing that Jesus quoted the Bible when he answered back in the first temptation. He thought that quoting the Bible might persuade Jesus more effectively. You see, Satan knows the Bible more than you and me! If you look at the verses that Satan quoted, you must admit that Satan is very smart in tempting the Son of God: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:11-12) In other words, Satan was telling Jesus that angels would protect him from any injury when he jumped down from the top of the temple.
Now take a look at the next verse that Satan didn't use: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder(虺蛇); the young lion and the dragon (大蛇) shalt thou trample under feet.” (Psalm 91:13) See, this third verse tells us that the first two verses that Satan quoted is actually very useful in protecting yourself from the trap of Satan by the angels around us, and the third verse even empowers you to defeat Satan himself! But the devil was so crafty that he quoted only the first two verses to tempt Jesus. Of course, Jesus was so acquainted with the Bible that he immediately counter-attacked by quoting another verse, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Mt 4:7, quoting from Deut 6:16). He was using a Bible verse to fight back again. His answer not only implied that Satan was tempting God, but he himself too if he really listened to Satan and jumped down from the temple top. Hence, he refused to follow Satan’s request.
Suppose that Satan now puts you into temptation with a Bible verse, can you react like Jesus to quote another Bible verse immediately to fight back? If he can use Bible verses so wisely to tempt Jesus, he can do the same to us. In fact, he is using our own guns and bullets to shoot back at us! In cult religion, the cult leaders also quote Bible verses but interpret them wrongly to proclaim their false doctrines. Christians can be easily confused by those false doctrines if they are not well founded in the Bible. This is a concrete example of how Satan uses our Bible to attack ourselves by misinterpreting the Bible verses and putting us in confusion! You see how dangerous he is! Are you biblically strong enough to fight back against such a fierce enemy? If you are tempted to commit a sinful act, are you strong enough to come up with a Bible verse and tell yourself at once not to commit that sin? Hence, it is very important for us to memorize Bible verses that we think useful for us as a handy weapon to counter Satan’s attack. At critical moments, the Holy Spirit will help bring to mind the Bible verses that we have kept in our memory to ward off the temptation.
(third temptation)
In the third temptation, Jesus was offered the sovereignty over “all the kingdoms of the world”. (Mt 4:8) While the second temptation was a religious one, the temptation at this time was a ‘political’ one—the globally highest seat of political power. Satan showed him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them”, and promised to give Jesus all of them, “if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” (Mt 4:8-9) This is indeed what the Father is going to offer him:“[God] hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church (使他為教會作萬有之首).” (Ephe 1:22) Jesus knew that he came to the world for a mission. After the mission was finished, he would receive the glory far more than any glory on earth. Phil 2:5-11 said, “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God…took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men…he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” When Satan or the Jewish people kept challenging his godly status, he refused to perform all kinds of miracles to prove that he was the Son of God. Satan’s temptation of course could hardly change Jesus’ decisive mind of being a servant on earth. He even reminded Satan to worship God with the Bible verse: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Mt 4:10) Satan has been unwilling to subject to God’s sovereignty. In Matt 16:22-23, when Peter called Jesus not to go to Jerusalem in danger, Jesus rebuked him as such, “Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offense unto me, for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (你是絆我腳的；因為你不體貼神的意思，只體貼人的意思。)” (a similar tone in Mt 4:10a, "Get thee hence, Satan" (撒但退去罷) ) In this temptation, Satan deliberately ignored who was truly the Lord of the world. While he proudly claimed that he could give the kingdoms to anyone he liked, he is just a device in God’s hand. Sadly again, many who chase after all the worldly things can fall into his hand and be led farther away from God.
Ambitious people want either high social, religious or political status. When the disciples argued for the highest seat in Jesus’ kingdom, he said, “whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister; And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:43-45) That’s exactly the main theme of the Book of Mark—servitude. We always want others to subject to us. In that case, we are already tempted to claim authority or control over others. Jesus himself has served a perfect example of being our servant, not master.
After living in the wilderness forty days without food but “with the wild beasts”, Jesus must have been very weak. After he had overcome all the three temptations, “the angels ministered unto him”. (v13) If we persist to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to fight against Satan’s temptations, we will triumph in the end and enjoy God’s comfort and peace.
(reflection)
We can face all kinds of temptation at any time. Greed is the main cause for compelling us to satisfy our desire in all aspects of our life—our desire for material stuff, fame, or even lust. The apostle John admonishes us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (I John 2:15-17) We cannot love both the world and God. We have to take it seriously now which life to choose to enrich: the materialistic life or the spiritual life. If we ignore the fact that our spiritual life can only live by the word of God, we will surely ignore God’s word and the growth of our spiritual life while caring more about our materialistic life. We will then find ourselves spending most of our life time chasing after the worldly stuff, which is the basic scheme of Satan to lead us away from God until our spiritual life withers away. Sooner or later, we will become the worshipper of the things that we hotly pursue, without knowing that Satan has been tempting us behind the scene. To that end, we will unconsciously become the worshipper of Satan instead of God.
To counter the worldly temptations, we must be well trained and equipped with God’s word. Paul exhorts us in his final message of Ephesians, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles (詭計) of the devil…and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephe 6:10-11,17) That’s the weapon that our Lord used to overcome all the temptations of the tempter.