Luke 4

LUKE THEN WRITES that Jesus, having come up from the Jordan full of the Spirit, is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. His life is so predestined. Luke tells us Jesus lived in the wilderness 40 days without eating; he does not mention drinking. Evidently, Jesus was communing with God the Spirit and God the Father, a communion of God's word. We see the devil waits until Jesus is weak in the body to approach Him.

The devil says three things:
If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread

if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours (the world and its wealth)

If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here

The three temptations are thought to be about hunger, the world's wealth, and testing God. In the first temptation Jesus answers the devil with Deuteronomy 8.3--Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. In other words, every human being is a spirit, made in the image of God and not just a body which becomes hungry. The devil can tempt the body but not the spirit, which belongs to God Almighty. Scholars have noted for years that Jesus answers the devil as every Christian can, using the Word of God.

Then the devil shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. He says the kingdoms of the world have been handed over to him; he will give them to Jesus if He will bow down and worship the devil. Jesus answers with the first of the 10 Commandments--you shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only, 4.8. This tells us the 10 Commandments were not just for Israel or the world, but for the angels in heaven and hell.

We might note in passing that the glory of all the kingdoms of the world will be brought to God in the new Jerusalem, Revelation 21.24.

The devil has failed twice, so he hurls the greatest temptation upon Jesus he can. He puts Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple to say--If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here, then quoting Psalm 91.11 that the angels in heaven would guard Him. What the devil does not quote is 91.2--My God in whom I trust. Jesus then answers with Deuteronomy 6.16--You shall not force a test on the Lord your God.

We might note that the three temptations might very well be the devil's acts of rebellion against God that make him what he is. These would be the devil separating himself from God, ruling the world without God, and testing God.

The devil left but Luke notes, he will return--until an opportune time.

This was the challenge of the devil against God, which was foretold in Genesis 3.15, the bruising the devil on the head. The devil is not dead--that will come in Revelation 20--but he knows his time is short. We can notice these three challenges are temptations for Jesus, not real confrontations like Achilleus and Hector in The Iliad. These temptations are readily defeated by the Word of God, seeming almost easy for Jesus. His power is so great that He can cast out demons by His finger, Luke 11.20, Exodus 8.19.

But for the devil, he knows he cannot harm God by fighting Jesus; he will have to deal with the followers of Jesus.