The Temptation of Jesus

February 2

Are you ready to have some of your preconceptions about God blown away? Matthew tells us, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1, CSB)

1.) Jesus was led into temptation. The writer of the book of Hebrews knew what he was talking about when he said, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15, CSB) Jesus knows what it means to be tempted. And, unlike us, He did not fall into sin.

This is very important because it means that temptation is not sin. It also means that if we’re tempted, we don’t have to take the bait. This is why, in the Disciples’ Prayer, Jesus told us to pray that God would “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)

2.) Jesus was led into temptation by the Holy Spirit. Now, this is something to ponder! Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to be tempted? I think this is a statement of Jesus’ dependence on the Holy Spirit. Everything Jesus did, He did under the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We’ll look at this in a little more detail on April 5 when we read about Jesus’ baptism in Luke 4.

3.) The tempter acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God. In the Greek Language, there are several ways to pose a contingent (if/then) statement. The tempter told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, then….” The way Matthew uses the Greek grammar in Matthew 4:3–9 reveals that the tempter is not saying, “If You are the Son of God (and You may or may not be, so prove it that everyone may know)….” Instead, the tempter is saying, “since You are the Son of God…” The focus of Satan’s attack was to get Jesus to use His divine power unilaterally—on His own volition, instead of at the Father’s command and the Spirit’s empowerment.

The tempter takes this crafty approach in all three temptations. At no point, though, is there ever a question of Jesus’ deity. For that matter, Jesus didn’t have to prove His identity to Satan or anyone else. The tempter, of course, knew this, just as he knew that Jesus wouldn’t take the bait of his temptations because it would be completely out of character for the holy Son of God!

Application

We often blame all temptation on the devil. But sometimes we are tempted by the world, and sometimes we are tempted by our own flesh. James carefully notes this point in his first chapter. (James 1:13-15)

Think back to the last time you were tempted. It could have been yesterday. It could have been fifteen seconds ago.

Could it be that, like Jesus, you were led to that temptation by the Holy Spirit? Why would the Holy Spirit lead you to be tempted? There are several reasons, including:

1.) To bring glory to God. (1 Peter 4:16)

2.) So we can learn to resist temptation, become more like Jesus, and remind ourselves and the watching world that in every temptation God offers a “backdoor”—a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

3.) To grow us in our relationship with and dependence on God. (Romans 5:3-5)

4.) A reason we may never know in this life. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Finally, notice that each time Satan hurled a temptation that he twisted the Scriptures. In each response, though, Jesus not only reacted with the Scripture verse that countered the attack but even with the proper application of the Scriptures. So, if Jesus—God Incarnate—appealed to the Scriptures to overcome temptation (and had obviously read, studied, and put them to memory), how much more do we need to mimic the Master’s strategy to overcome temptation?

© Copyright 2026 Craig Beaman