Lesson 2:Temptations in the Devil’s Domain
Right after God shakes the darkness with his declaration of The Son of God on Earth the Holy Spirit leads Jesus Christ into the wilderness. Into the desolate place. Where the Devil, that old dragon, waits to tempt him.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Luke 4:1-3
Right off the bat we see how the Almighty is on the offensive. The wilderness and the desolate place is associated with rebellious gods and their twisted offspring. The pagan and the ancient chaos that man was sent to tame in creation as we’ve gone over in previous lessons. (Gen. 1:28) The land the Great Satan betrayed his master and creator for.
After declaring his Son and chosen savior of creation God sends him right into the lion’s den, the wyrm’s lair so the Devil can throw his worst at him. Not physically, not yet. God’s protection is over him, but here we see the power move. The Almighty’s God of Heaven’s Armies is so confident in his chosen one and only begotten son that he sends him to be tempted by the great deceiver himself before his ministry even begins. The one who had corrupted watchers, angels, and legions of men against their Father in Heaven. The Old Red Dragon isn’t stupid he surely knows The Almighty has a scheme in mind, but he isn’t going to let an opportunity like this go to waste either. So the temptations of Christ begin, and the world hangs in the balance on if he will fall like so many sons of God before him. The Devil is in for a rude awakening though because this is The Son of God called begotten for a reason.
The temptations are a fascinating section of the Bible to read, because one gets to see just what would tempt The Son of God made manifest with flesh. The Devil for his part appears to also be feeling out his enemy. Just how infallible has this Begotten son become now that he’s been made flesh? Starting with if Jesus Christ could be tempted with the desires of the body, and to prove his power in the presence of mockery.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
Luke 4:3-4
Fasting is an interesting animal that I myself need more research, and prayer to understand, but we can see that fasting is listed as a necessity for fighting certain demons (Mark 9:29 in 99.5% to 99.9% of manuscripts say “prayer and fasting.”), spiritual warfare, and begging for forgiveness for great sins. We shouldn’t be surprised then that Jesus prepared for his showdown with the Devil by fasting a massive amount of time. Forty days.
If you have never fasted I recommend not starting with forty days, but all of God’s children will need to fast in their walk and for their fight. We should remember that even Jesus Christ himself prepared his flesh for his struggle with the great betrayer Satan. How can we expect to do otherwise in our own fight with evil and the wayward desires of the flesh?
However, the Devil is always crafty, and seeing the weakened state challenges Jesus to break his fast mid battle as a hidden stratagem. Not only prove how strong he is, but to also feed his flesh that is crying for food as well. Jesus’ response is telling.
Not on bread alone. Yes we can bring that standard churchian response that isn’t false but one dimensional. Spiritual matters are more important than your fleshly needs, but there is another angle here. If fasting to contend with specific demons is necessary than how much more so is fasting needed for confronting the god of demons himself?
We also know that if given the opportunity the Devil does not hesitate to kill Jesus as we see on the cross later, and as we will see in the last temptation the original rebel is well aware of the protection Christ has at this moment. Jesus is saying that bread won’t keep him alive in this fight. He is in the dragon’s lair, and he is protected but any sin like breaking his fast early might very well sever that protection. And even a moment was all the dragon needed. Christ though was ready for this trap.
The first ploy ended with failure, but the great deceiver is still feeling out his opponent. His next temptation will be to the point. To the very reason why the savior has come.
And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”
Luke 4:5-8
This temptation is insidious. The Devil is giving his whole kingdom over to Christ if he only chooses another master. Why go through the struggle and sacrifice if you could just take the world for yourself, and not have to give it over to the Almighty? Jesus responds with more scripture and loyalty to his Father in Heaven. A stark contrast to Lucifer himself who betrayed his father for those very kingdoms and spoils of creations. Burned again, and here we see the possibility of frustration with the Devil.
He takes Jesus to high place and says to throw himself and prove his power before the whole world. Prove your power to the god of this world, and who you are to the people of the land. Jesus' response is expected at this point but telling for us.
And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said 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 strike your foot against a stone.’”
And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Luke 4:9-12
Do not test the Lord. How much more so should we not test the Father when Christ himself refused to do it? It’s one thing to be protected from attack, it’s quite another to throw yourself in harm's way, wasting God’s power on foolishness. Would everyone have followed Christ if he had revealed himself to be protected by angels? No, many miracles would be shown and all ignored by those who choose to ignore them. The only thing that would’ve been accomplished was giving into temptation and testing God.
So much so in our faith and walk in life that we should mitigate useless risks, both physical and spiritual. We have a template here for spiritual warfare that we shouldn’t ignore.
- Preparation, prayer, fasting, and forgiveness for sin is paramount to our protection and struggle against spiritual attacks.
- The Devil will attempt to corrupt what he cannot destroy, so keep a strong hold on your fleshly desires with self control and discipline.
- Do not test God by putting yourself in harm's way pointlessly. God may command you to walk the Valley of Death, but don’t just go to prove a point or feel powerful.
- Scripture is a key weapon against the god of this world’s machinations.
This isn’t a complete list, but a useful starting point for spiritual warfare given to us in Christ’s own fight with evil. Notice that we aren’t necessarily told all of the temptations Jesus went through in the wilderness. These are just the three the Gospels shares with us. There very well could’ve been more that Jesus never told his disciples about, and thus was never written down. Regardless of how long these temptations took or how many there truly were, the Devil is defeated utterly. With his task done and the danger past Jesus breaks his fast, and is ministered to by angels.
The Devil has been smacked down in his own domain in front of his minions, but he isn’t beaten yet and that is half the plan. God’s will progresses forward without the old dragon, his rebellious watchers, or their twisted children suspecting their true danger. The shadow of God’s great trap is falling over his enemy who is too obsessed with the bait to notice the looming threat. The stage is set. Now all Christ has to do is make disciples before the main event so the nations can be saved.
Next lesson the demons are about to experience a taste of their eternal reward and damnation and they aren’t going to enjoy it.
Questions
- Mark 9:29 has a small discrepancy where the vast majority of manuscripts include the phrase “and fasting.” after prayer when contending with a specific demon. The number could be as much as 99.5% and up. The claim amongst certain theologians and scholarly useless sorts is that the infisis on fasting in the early church led to the majority of the men copying the manuscripts to add the phrase on their own accord. Do you think this is a fair assumption or an unnecessary edit that goes against the vast majority of texts? Do you think the change is important?
- Our temptations with the flesh and Devil’s machinations will different than Christ’s. The demons will craft a specific temptation for all of us. How can we use our Savior’s tactics against the devil in our own fights? How might we need to adapt them to our specific weaknesses?
- Why did Satan think these sets of sins would have tempted Jesus? Do you think he knew or was just guessing at what God’s Begotten would be tempted by?
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