There
are many lessons that we can draw from this incident. First, we see in it many
wonderful truths about Jesus. We observe his humility in allowing himself to be
attacked by the devil. It would not have been difficult for Jesus to destroy the
devil. But that was not the kind of victory that was required from Jesus.
Instead, he was to succeed where Adam failed. Adam failed in disobeying the
word of God. Jesus succeeded by obeying the Word of God consistently.
We
are not to imagine that Jesus succeeded merely by quoting verses at the devil.
His triumph was the outcome of living according to the requirements of the
Bible. If Jesus had not been living according to the Bible, the devil would
have focussed on those areas. There was nothing in the life of Jesus that gave
the devil an opportunity to defeat him.
Nor
are we to imagine that Jesus, because he was sinless, was tempted less than we
are. Often when we are tempted we give in very quickly. Those who hold out the
longest feel more of temptation’s power. Jesus broke the power of temptation by
refusing to give in to any of the ones suggested by the devil.
We
should also note that all of the temptations that Jesus faced came from outside
of him. They did not arise from within him. This is a reminder of his perfect
holiness. In him was no sin. We can be tempted by an action because we want to
do it. Often we don’t mind being tempted. Jesus hated the experience of
temptation and despised the possibility of succumbing to it. There was nothing
in him that was attracted to the devil’s suggestions.
Jesus
is the perfect example of resisting the devil and doing so until the tempter gives
up. The obvious response to temptation is to say no, and keep on obeying the
instructions of God. It is also the case that we need to understand the Bible
because sometimes the devil can misuse it in order to persuade us to do
something wrong.
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