Letters to the Family of God

Dear friends,

Jesus' early Galilean ministry began after His baptism. His first act of service for our salvation was to undergo temptation in the Judean desert.

Temptation

To be tempted is an awful experience. It is not sinning, but every Christian knows the emotional, physical, biological, deeply telling, and spiritual reality of temptation. Jesus did as well.

Satan sought to tempt Jesus in three different ways, each more significant. First, trying to excite His desire for food, then urging Him to display power sensationally, theatrically—and finally promising Jesus’ authority and glory with no cross to bear if He would ascribe worth to (worship) him.

The third temptation was the most telling—the avoidance of the cross. You see, Jesus wasn’t going to the cross to reform religion but to end it and replace it with Himself. Therefore, the final temptation was pointing to a cross-less Christianity, and a cross-less Christianity isn’t just an incomplete Christianity; it’s the same old satanism of human works.

Temptation works best when future consequences are concealed, hidden from view, or outright denied. That's what took place in the Garden of Eden, where the first temptation happened. What was true in technique in Satan's temptation of Adam and Eve was equally in His temptation of Jesus. But where Adam and Eve gave in, rebelling against God’s will and bringing death into the world, Jesus withstands the temptation, holding to His Father's will. Instead of death, He brings life into the world, by His death, for all who will trust in Him.

In Adam's fall, we see our sin. In Christ's obedience, we see our righteousness. Small wonder, the ultimate aim of Satan’s temptation was to make Christ choose by sight, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and not by faith, in the Father’s plan. God’s intent is that people know and trust Him by faith, not by sight or self-reliance.

Through faith, we even receive Christ’s perfect submission to every bit of the Father’s will as if it were our own! And when temptation comes, as it inevitably will, we set our minds to the perfect work of Christ. His strength in our victories, His forgiveness in our defeats. We are forgiven by His grace, filled by His grace, and we can withstand temptation by His grace (1 Cor. 10:13). So, when our accuser comes calling, we can plead Christ’s obedience. Sin is our fault, but it ends, thanks to Jesus.