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The tempter came and said to [Jesus], “If you are the Son of God…”

᛭ INI ᛭

After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. For 40 days and 40 nights Jesus fasted, didn’t eat food. No wonder “he was hungry”! Jesus spends 40 days and nights in the wilderness to be faithful because the people of Israel weren’t when they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, but that’s to get a bit ahead of myself. He’s faithful in every temptation not only for Israel but also for you, but, again, that’s getting ahead of myself.

The devil appears to Jesus. And, first, I’ve got to say: yeah, the devil’s real—just as real as you and me. We’ve got physical bodies, live in a physical world. Now, the devil can obviously appear in our world, but he’s not flesh and blood like us. (It’s why he’s a snake in Eden…) He inhabits the spiritual realm. He’s part of “all things invisible” as the Nicene Creed says.

He’s an angel, maybe even an archangel (Is 14:12). He led a rebellion against the LORD. (We use the term “demon” for these angels.) He brings darkness, death, and destruction upon the world, always under the costume of “light,” life, and progress (2 Cor 11:14). He accuses God’s people of sin, not to bring repentance but instead unbelief toward God and doubt in the forgiveness of sins. He’s “the ruler of this world” (Jn 15). He orchestrates all nations against Christ, Christ’s Church, and whoever believes in Christ. (Dan 10) That’s why Satan offers Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Mt 4), because they’re part of his “domain of darkness.” (Col 1)

So, what’s he up to with Jesus? And what’s Jesus up to with him? Well, Jesus is, again, being faithful where we aren’t. He endures temptation, conquers it, and sends the devil packing, at least for awhile… (Lk 4:13) Each temptation is just a meme, a youtube short, a short story… Each one is the tip of a much larger biblical iceberg. (So, I can’t focus on all three, today…) The devil has the same idea with each and every temptation! Whether it’s recored in Matthew 4 or Genesis 3 or Numbers 21 or even what you experience in your daily life as a baptized child of God.

(2. What’s the devil up to with Jesus and you?)

At His Baptism the Father said this about Jesus: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mt 3) So, Satan’s tempting Jesus to doubt that Word and not act like the Son of God: To use His power selfishly to eat, to misuse the Bible selfishly, and even to avoid the cross completely! “You’ve come to save the world? To die for it? You don’t need to do that! Just worship me, and it’s Yours!”

Satan started a game of chicken with Jesus that day. After the events of Matthew 4, Satan kept tempting Jesus to avoid the cross. (Mt 16) At Calvary, Satan kept tempting Jesus: “Come down from the cross…” (Mt 27) The devil knew his goose was cooked by Jesus’ death. He just didn’t grasp (1 Pet 1:10–12) that Jesus’ game plan for playing chicken was to cause the wreck! He’d die, defeat the devil, and rise from the dead! (Heb 4)

The devil uses the same temptation for all God’s children. You’re baptized. Through water and Word, you were baptized into “the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Baptismally adopted, the Father says the same thing about you that He said about Jesus, “This is My beloved son, with whom I am well pleased!” And the devil doesn’t want you to believe it or live like it!

He tempts you to ignore God’s Word. Not only His promises, like you’re baptized, but also His commandments, too! The devil tempts you to live for yourself, not fervently and sacrificially loving the people in your daily life, as God lays that out for you in the 10 Commandments. He tempts you to do the opposite of God’s Word! To blame God or other people for your sins instead of confessing your own sin. To live your life separated from God, by disobeying God’s Commands, not believing God’s promises, ignoring God’s Word. Daily and much we fall into such temptation! We betray ourselves! (See, James 1 and Ash Wednesday’s Sermon about that…) Finally, he tempts us to fix ourselves! (Like Judas…)

That’s Genesis 3! The LORD said, “Don’t eat.” The devil said, “Eat.” They ate, covered and hid themselves. Adam blamed the LORD and Eve. Eve blamed the devil. In Eden, Satan only needed one temptation! Eve then Adam gave in to pleasure, to their bellies, their appetites, their senses. How often our “God is our belly!” (Phil 3:14; 2 Pet 2:2) Following the flesh with its passions and desires. (Eph 2)

(1. What’s Jesus up to with the devil and you?)

Jesus goes out to fix that problem! That’s what He’s up to! Jesus, probably skin and bones by then, “was hungry.” He didn’t look to Himself for daily bread but only to His Father. He did what Adam and Eve didn’t. He fasted, something our gluttonous and covetous society only does for vain physical appearances. (The “how to” of biblical fasting falls outside the time allotted for this sermon and last Wednesday’s! Just ask me about it!) Jesus only ate when “the angels ministered to Him.” He did what the Israelites couldn’t do! He waited for angelic service, while the Israelites rejected “Angel’s Food” (Ps 78:25) the Manna from heaven, and were killed by venomous snakes! (Num 21)

The Garden of Eden, the Mana and snakes in the Wilderness, and Jesus’ temptation to eat bread in the wilderness are all connected! (In more ways than I have time for here…)

To Adam, the LORD said, “Don’t eat; you’ll die!” Satan successfully tempts Adam and Eve—they ate! Sent out to die, become dust, and be devoured by the serpent… (Gen 3) With Israel, the LORD said, “Eat the Manna and live!” (Ex 17) A daily miraculous meal! They eventually reject the Lord’s Word and gift, “We’re starving and hate this worthless bread!” (Num 21) Unbelief makes them “brood of vipers” (Mt 3:7), spawn of Satan, the ancient Serpent (Rev 12:9), and “a great many died.” (Num 21)

When the Lord says, “Don’t eat.” He won’t say otherwise. It’s the devil saying, “Eat.” When the Lord says, “Eat.” He won’t say otherwise. Though He might outline proper eating: faith! (That’s just the Small Catechism…) It’s the devil who slickly and smoothly says, “Don’t eat!” Might even use Scripture! (Watch out, he knows the bible better than all Christians combined!) Only Jesus, its Author, knows it better… In Paradise the devil drove eating, and at the end of 40 years, just on the outskirts of the promised land, a picture of paradise, Satan strove to stop eating. “We are not ignorant of his designs…“ (2 Cor 2:11)

The only escape from Satan, his lies, from the unbelief and misery and death he wants to work in your life is Jesus! Jesus not only provides the way of escape— He is the way of escape! (1 Cor 10) He’s the promised Seed who crushes the satan’s head (Gen 3:15). He’s the true snake on a pole (Jn 3), whose death delivers you from him who has the power of death, that is, the devil. (Heb 4) In Holy Baptism, the Father brought you out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col 1) Christ’s “Cross and Passion” (LSB 421:2) are the way of escape for God’s Baptized Children, and the “eating and drinking” of His passion, too, as the LORD says, “eat My body given for you; drink My blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Just like the Israelites “were baptized into Moses … in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food,” (1 Cor 10) the Manna. Jesus says the Manna’s a foreshadowing of His flesh in John 6.

(Conclusion)

The devil’s out to get you. So, he tries to get Jesus, too, that you’d be his and lost forever. Jesus is out to get him. Christ gives Satan a pretty hefty kick today… The final blow was Calvary. The game of chicken has begun!

Christ endured temptation for your sake, and He is your way of escape—your only way of escape!—from the devil and temptation! By faith, Jesus’ enduring temptation counts for you, and he gives the means to endure temptation: His suffering and death and resurrection, your Baptism into His death and resurrection, also His flesh and blood so that you would, He says, “remain in Me and I in you, and I’ll resurrect you on the Last Day” to “be with Me in Paradise,” forever.

᛭ INI ᛭