The battle of temptation

 

The story of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness gives us a number of powerful insights into the nature of temptation and if we apply these insights to our lives, we can “stand against the devil’s schemes.”  One of the most powerful insights we can gain from this story is that this was a spiritual battle between Jesus and Satan.  It is easy to think of temptation as something far less serious than it is, but the reality is that every temptation of the enemy is an actual fight in the ongoing struggle between light and darkness.
Once you see this story as a spiritual battle, several things jump out at us.  The first thing that stands out is the site of this battle.  In Matthew 4:1 we are told that, at a physical level, this battle took place in “the desert.”  This word translated “desert” in this verse literally means, “lonesome or solitary.”  This word is used many times in the New Testament, and is translated as “desert,” “wilderness” and “desolate.”  The idea this word conveys is a deserted, lonely place forsaken by men.  And this is the same battleground upon which Satan loves to wage his temptation battles against us – when we are isolated and feeling alone and forsaken.

We are also given some insight about the spiritual site on which this battle was fought – the battleground of the mind.  We are not told whether the devil actually appeared in a visible form to Jesus or not.  But certainly on most occasions the devil does not appear visibly, choosing instead to fight us in the gray-area of our mind.  Through our own fears, doubts and desires, the devil wages war “against our soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)   This type of warfare is far more effective for the enemy, because it is so subtle that we often do not even perceive his part in it.

Another thing that stands out in this story is the timing of the battle.   Jesus had been in the wilderness fasting for 40 days before this temptation took place.  Matthew 4:2 tells us that, at the end of these 40 days, Jesus “became hungry.”   It is a physiological fact that after a period of several days of fasting, the sensation of hunger goes away; but it is also a fact that after several weeks or more, hunger pains return again with severity, after the body has burnt up all its reserves, and begins to starve. 

It was at this point of great hunger that the enemy came to Jesus.  One of the enemy’s tactics is to wait until we are at a point of great hunger, weakness or frustration before he comes to tempt us with some evil.  The enemy is willing to pass up a number of lesser opportunities to tempt us for one extremely well timed opportunity.  We can see this in Luke 4:13, which tells us that, after the devil had “finished every temptation” he left Jesus alone “until an opportune time.”  In the same way, the devil will often wait for those “opportune times” in our lives to tempt us.

Another thing that stands out in this story are the weapons used in this battle.  The devil’s weapon of choice is deception, through which he tries to get us to doubt God’s word.  But notice that Jesus answered each of the devil’s temptations with “it is written” and then a quote from scripture.  Jesus was using the “sword of the spirit” (Ephesians 6:17) to counter the devil’s attacks.  But notice also that the devil tried this same thing himself, saying, “It is written” and then quoting from the 91st Psalm. (Matthew 4:6)  We must remember, in seasons of temptation, that the devil can and will quote scripture too, though he will always twist it to say what he wants it to say, as he did in this story.  But we have the guarantee in such times of temptations, that if we “Put on the whole armor of God” then we will be able to “stand against the wiles of the devil.”  (Ephesians 6:11)