Observations from fact of Christ’s temptation:
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1. Temptation causes suffering, Hebrews 2:18 says he ‘suffered being tempted.’ Sometimes temptation is painful and we think something is drastically wrong with us, like a soldier deciding it is uncomfortable. It will be painful for us also. We must be aware there is an area of suffering which is unavoidable for us. It is painful in three ways: it is painful to be tempted to do what is immoral or just plain wrong for us; sometimes the nature of it is downright offensive – you don’t want those thoughts; there may be suffering afterwards as a consequence of not giving way – Christ then afterwards had three years of trial and pain, and finally death; we may also resist the overtures of a worldly person and then find afterwards they hate us.
2. His temptation proves that temptation itself is not evil. We think it is. The devil plays it both ways. In one ear he presents the temptation, in the other he accuses you. Don’t start dealing with temptation in a despondent frame of mind: lust, jealousy, doubt, worldliness. [It is true that Christ did not have a fallen nature but we do have one. His temptations came from outside, but some of ours come from within and therefore there may be sin even in the temptation. But we also have Christ to justify us (Zechariah 3:1-5).]
3. Temptations will come even if we are watchful and not exposing ourselves to them. Don’t say ‘I was careful, I prayed to the Lord, and yet I still have this pain. Christ also watched, and yet he faced temptation.
4. Resisting of temptation brings great gains. He was ‘made perfect’ (Hebrews 5:9). He was not qualified one hundred percent to be our Redeemer until he had known temptation. It would have been no good his offering himself as a perfect man without this. It also qualified him to be sympathetic to his people. How much this helps us to pray to him! It tests us, proves and exercises us, and we resist it. It helps us grow. It adds to us. Don’t think that your spiritual growth is all about study. Temptation helps us worship, for having resisted, our worship means something. What warms God’s heart more: the act of resisting temptation, or ease?
5. Escapism from temptation is no solution. Christ was not trying to escape, of course, but he went to the wilderness led by the Spirit, because Satan was to come to him there. Flight from the scene of temptation will not help you. Yes, we may need to move our sphere, but not just to escape. We must not deliberately put ourselves into temptation, especially when we know we have a weakness, but if God clearly leads us into a situation where we are tempted, we must fight the temptation which we necessarily encounter there.
6. Christ suffered more than we do. He was Satan’s number one target. He was much more sensitive than we are; he received much stronger temptation than we do. We are nothing like so sensitive to Satan’s offensive presence.
7. Temptation is an effort to put us out of service. It is opportunistic and progressive. Christ was in a weakened and low state, and then the devil struck. If we are very tired, busy, rundown, Satan may well attack us.
8. The devil will frequently misquote Scripture. A vital phrase is left out of Psalm 91quoted in verse 6 below: ‘in all thy ways’, which means in all your legitimate ways. The promise is not absolute, but conditional: in all duties. Such an one will be absolutely kept. Satan leaves it out. He is an angel of light, making some plausible arguments. One Christian duty is proposed at the expense of another. He urges us to go to an extreme in one duty, and to leave out another.
9. To resist temptation successfully, we must be prepared. Christ is the Son of God, yet he goes into this experience full of the Spirit: two are involved. How much more do we need the Spirit? We must pray for vigilance to see the temptation. Christ is a friend to all tempted believers.
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Could Christ have sinned? No, for he possessed a divine nature which must make him succeed. He was truly man, but inseparable from the divine nature. How then could he really stand in our position? How could he be tempted as we are? He could feel the full force of the temptation. This was not a phoney contest. He was not protected from having to experience what that temptation felt like; he must feel it and resist it successfully. Christ had no fallen nature, so he felt it more than we would; he was be scandalised by the temptation being offered. The devil thought he could succeedd, but his presumption was exposed for all to see.
Why was this allowed? He was led by the Spirit. Though God did not tempt him, he willed it, permitted it. From Satan’s view it was done out of malice, a desperate attempt to bring Christ down before his mission succeeded. It was allowed by God to show the true humanity of Christ. He would be attested by these temptations. There would be seen to be a deadly conflict, in order to prove his dedication to the mission of love. Satan was going to be overcome by a nature which he considered weaker than himself, to his humiliation. The Scripture would be fulfilled which said, ‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel’ (Genesis 3:15). Satan was condemned and thrown out of heaven through the agency of Christ, and now Christ comes down subject to the hostility of Satan. It gives us assurance of ultimate success over Satan. From the time of Job it was obvious that Satan does not believe there is such a thing as a converted person with true integrity. He is obsessively cynical and deluded. Satan is doing what he can to stop redemption, encouraged by his record of success in convincing angels and men to turn away from God. He thought he could turn the first person of the Trinity against the second, and corrupt the Godhead.
Matthew has a different order to Luke, and generally the conclusion is that Matthew’s order is the literal order, due to his context. Luke probably has a theological basis, even a geographical basis for his order, because he ends with Jerusalem and picks up on this.