Our Lord Jesus Christ was perfect from beginning to end. This makes Him unique and worthy of worship. This idea is made clear in many places. Especially in the Gospel of Luke, the Lord becomes great to us in this regard. There it is emphasized that He was human like us—except for sin—and yet completely unique and incomparable.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus is tempted by the devil. Three specific temptations are mentioned. In each of these temptations, He overcomes the devil, so that the devil finally had to leave Him for a time. His attempts had not succeeded with the Perfect One. With Christ, however, it was quite different. After the temptations, He continued to live out what He had said and done in the temptations. This is particularly evident in the places where He was tempted by the devil at the beginning: the desert, the high mountain, and Jerusalem. Let us consider this and marvel at the One who is perfect, our Lord and Savior.
Perfection – proven at the beginning
Luke 4:1-13 describes how the devil tempted the Lord. We also find this in Matthew, although he lists the temptations in a different order[1]. Each of these temptations takes place in a specific location and has a particular theme. Each time, the devil separates things that belong together. In addition, an impressive characteristic of the Lord Jesus always becomes apparent.
The first temptation
But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” (Luke 4:1-3)
The place of the first temptation was the desert – and the theme was fitting: it was about something purely earthly, namely food. Christ had not eaten for 40 days, and in the end He was hungry. He was human like us, but He was also God. It was precisely in this that the devil tempted Him: “If (or because) you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” With this request, the devil wanted to separate the spiritual from the earthly. In other words, he challenged Christ to satisfy an earthly need without acting in spiritual dependence on God.
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:4)
But Christ was perfect. This was evident in his dependence. When he answered that man should not live by bread alone, he fully accepted his position as a human being, but acted perfectly. For he wanted to do only what God wanted. That is perfect dependence on the thoughts and will of God.
The second temptation
And he led him up to a high mountain and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “I will give you all this power and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:5-7)
In the second temptation, the devil led Christ to a very high mountain. A mountain symbolizes earthly power and greatness. And so the devil showed the Lord all the kingdoms of the world in a moment and offered to give Him this power and glory. But as always, the devil has a condition for his offer. Christ was to worship him. In this way, the devil separated this power and glory from God. He knew full well that Christ would only claim dominion over the nations from the hand of God (cf. Psalm 2:8).
And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only. (Luke 4:8)
Once again, Christ answered with the Word of God—and once again, perfectly. He did not think of Himself, nor did He correct the devil’s false view that everything belonged to him (and not to Christ). No, He did not want to “please Himself” (Rom. 15:3). He was concerned only with God, with what He wanted: worship and service for Him alone. This is perfect devotion, seeking only the glory of God.
The third temptation
But he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” (Luke 4:9-11)
In the last temptation, we read about the city of Jerusalem—and more specifically, the pinnacle of the temple. We quickly understand that this will involve religious themes. This time, the devil even used the words that Christ himself had used against him: “It is written.” And that is precisely what made this last temptation so difficult. For this time, the devil came with the word of God (cf. 2 Cor. 11:14). But he took the verse from Psalm 91 out of context and left out crucial points. He tried to separate the path from the goal. For these verses of Psalm 91 describe what the remnant in the kingdom of peace will one day say about Christ: God will have preserved the Messiah in all his ways (v. 11). Throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple was not part of those ways. The path to the goal of his reign was to lead through suffering.
And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God. (Luke 4:12)
In the third temptation, too, the perfection of the Lord shines forth. He replied that one should not tempt God. But why not? Because He knew that God was on His side. He could trust His God completely and did not need any proof of this. That is perfect trust.
The result of the temptations
And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole region. (Luke 4:13-14)
The end could hardly be clearer. The devil gave up and departed from Christ for a time. He had used everything he had to offer. But he failed. How different it was with Christ! He overcame the devil and even bound him (cf. Matthew 12:29; Mark 3:21). To use the image of David and Goliath: although Goliath demonstrated all his power, one stone was enough to bring him down.
(to be continued)