LUKE 4

1 And Jesus being full of the holy spirit returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Why was he at such a time

"driven of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil"?

We may note here an illustration of the principle proclaimed by the Lord himself that to whom much is given, of them is much required.

Jesus endowed with an increased measure, yea, a measureless portion of the power and favour of the Father, had to be put to a proof equal to the new greatness conferred upon him.

For thirty years before, during a private life at Nazareth, he had been subject to the common temptations of men; now, anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, it was meet that he should be subjected to a corresponding test of faithfulness before going forth in the plentitude of this power to bear the Father's name before Israel.

From this we may deduce the lesson practically applicable to ourselves, that our trials and our temptations will be commensurate with our opportunities, powers, and privileges. The privileges of the apostles were greater than ours; so were their troubles. The privileges of some at this present time are greater than others living at the same time; so are their temptations and afflictions, and so also will be the measure of their stewardship.

Seasons 1.51.

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

"Jesus groaned within himself, and was troubled." (Jhn 11:33)

Jesus was tempted by both the Diabolos and a Satan. These were both concerned in the trial to which he was subjected; and as the one co-operated with the other, they are spoken of as if the same.

Jesus was "led up," or "driven," of the Spirit, into the wilderness "to be tempted of the diabolos; " or that which causeth to transgress, and "hath the power of death" - sin's flesh.

This was subjected to the long abstinence of forty days, at the end of which he felt a hunger that must have been very keen. We all know what would be the promptings of our flesh in a like it situation. "Hunger," it is said, "will break through stone walls." It is very obstreperous, and will do any thing to satisfy itself. If any one had the power, under the pressure of intense hunger, he would convert stones into bread and eat them.

Jesus had that power; and there was one acquainted with the Scripture, introduced himself to his notice at this crisis, and suggested that he should use it. Paul doubtless alludes to this personage in 2 Cor. 11: 14 saying,

"the Satan is transformed into an Angel of Light."

Such an angel is a messenger enlightened in the word, who handles it in such a way as to test the fidelity of others to it. Such an one becomes a Satan in suggesting a course of action in conformity with the promptings of the flesh. And if Deity became Satan to Israel, and to Job, it is not to be denied that an angel may have assumed the same attitude in the case of Jesus Christ.

Eureka 12.15.

It is more than probable that Christ's temptation, like that of Adam and all his brethren, included an external tempter and those internal feelings to which he could appeal. It certainly was not his flesh nature merely, because it is testified that when the temptation was ended, "the devil left him for a season," which his flesh nature did not do. Who the personal tempter was cannot be decided, because there is no testimony.

Seasons 1.51.

3. And the devil SAID TO HIM (with serpent reasoning), If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

An agent provocateur

The form of Christ's tempter in the desert is not revealed any more than the identity of Job's Satan,‭ ‬and to contend strenuously for a particular view is unnecessary where the fact of the temptation is admitted.‭ ‬The statement that Christ was tempted it all points like as we are does not prove that the tempter was not external and personal.‭ ‬We have external and personal tempters as well as internal susceptibilities.‭

The latter indeed cannot be thoroughly put to the test without the former.‭ ‬We may be tempted by our feelings,‭ ‬doubtless,‭ ‬but never so powerfully as when those feelings are appealed to by a second person.‭

Your argument lowers Christ to too low a plane.‭ ‬The same nature he truly was,‭ ‬but you must remember there are many varieties and conditions of our common nature—from the untutored savage of the common felon to the balanced mentality of refinement and culture.‭

Human nature in the hand of God was a form not known to men.‭ ‬We must not give Christ the lowest but the very highest place.‭ ‬He was the work of God for righteousness,‭ ‬and therefore immeasurably above‭ "‬mere men,‭" ‬though tempted in all points like them.

The Christadelphian, Nov 1886 p614.

This was as much as to say that the proof of his Messiahship required him to do what was proposed, and that if he failed to do it, he would give his tempter ground for doubting the proclamation that had just been made on the banks of the Jordan.

Thus Christ's desire to testify the truth was cunningly brought to the help of his hunger to incline him to provide himself with food. But the power to make bread at will, which Christ possessed, as afterwards shown by his feeding a multitude with five loaves and two fishes, was not given to him to provide his own natural wants, but to exhibit his Father's name to Israel. Consequently, though he had the power which the tempter challenged, he was not at liberty to put it forth at the time and for the purpose proposed.

...Bread, with the Word of God believed and obeyed, will be a stepping-stone to life that will never end (and it is in this sense that the Scriptures speak of men "living"). In fact, in this connection, bread becomes part of the pathway to eternal life, for without the bread first to develop and sustain the natural man, the Word of God could not have that ground to work on which leads to everlasting life (first, that which is natural; after-wards, that which is spiritual).

But bread with the Word of God disobeyed, is "bread alone," so far as life-giving power is concerned; for the Word of God confers no everlasting life on the disobedient. Consequently for a man to obtain bread on terms that involve his non-submission to the Word of God (and this was the tempter's proposal), is to take his stand on "bread alone."

... We may not wrongly use our powers or opportunities in the gaining of daily bread. It is customary in times of stress in this matter, to say, "We must live."

... It is a sufficient answer to say, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." If he chooses, for the sake of bread, to ignore obligations and duties presented by the word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, he chooses bread alone, and that, too, a bread that perishes, with which he too will perish. There are many cases and situations to which this will apply. Men of discernment and the fear of God will be able to make the application.

Seasons 1.51.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

It may be asked, How can we imitate him in the rejection of an offer we shall never receive? Well, we shall never be offered power and wealth in the form in which it was offered to him; but we have the same temptation on a smaller scale.

There is a continual and silent offer to every saint (and sometimes the offer is not a silent one) to possess this world's advantages on condition of falling in with the worship of the world in some form or other. Sometimes the worship proposed is ecclesiastical ("join our body, and it will be to your advantage"); sometimes it is political ("it will pay you to take part in politics sometimes it is social ("come out, good fellow, make yourself one of us you will not regret it"); sometimes it is undisguised, by pleasure-seekers and the immoral.

In every case, there is an implied proposal to serve that old serpent, the devil and Satan, which is incorporate in, and deceiveth the whole world, backed up with a guarantee that we shall be rewarded. There is only one safe answer for every brother of the Lord Jesus. Do not parley: repel the advance decisively:"Get thee hence, Satan." We cannot serve God and Mammon.

...The consideration of his resistance to the suggestions of the tempter will help us in all our exposures to similar trial. Is it proposed to us to gratify some craving of the flesh in a forbidden direction? to make a vain-glorious or presumptuous use of spiritual privileges? to obtain temporal advantage by paying court to the enemies of God in any form?

Cast our eyes to the wilderness of Judaea, and remember the principles asserted by the Lord in Scripture quotations, in answer to similar proposals.

Seasons 1.51.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

How was this to be met? By the assertion of a principle ignored in the tempter's application of Scripture -- a principle which all divine promises presuppose, and which would have been violated by compliance with the tempter's challenge; that there must be no familiarity or presumption towards God: that we must make a wise and full use of all that He has put in our power, and that divine help is only for the need that remains after there has been a humble, wise and loving employment of the means already in our hand.

This principle Jesus asserted by quoting Scripture: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Had he thrown himself down, as the tempter proposed, he would have done what the Scriptures thus forbid, and would have forfeited his claim to the promise to which the tempter so sophistically appealed. The protection promised in that passage was protection from evil beyond control, and not from evil rashly and presumptuously incurred.

The application of this to the brethren of Christ is obvious. They are not to tempt God by running into evil on the strength of promises that are for those only who in wisdom and the fear of God act the part of wise stewards of what God has already committed to them. They must learn rightly to divide the word of truth, and not, like the tempter, exalt one part of the word to the destruction of another.

It is written, "Cast thy bread to the hungry": they are not, therefore, to scatter their entire substance to the beggars of the street for it is also written,

"He that provideth not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

Ministration to the poor is to be in the measure allowed by the provision of home. It is written,

"Seek not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you."

We are not, therefore, to neglect the means of livelihood; for it is also written,

"If any man will not work, neither shall he eat." "Provide things honest in the sight of all men."

We are not to make temporal ends the object of life and the springs of our actions; we are to give this place to the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, we are to be "diligent in business while thus serving the Lord." It is written,

"Take no thought for the morrow." "Have faith in God." "He careth for you." "He knoweth what things ye have need of." "He will feed and clothe you."

We are not, therefore, to sit down in idleness, make no arrangement and put forth no effort, expecting the bread to be brought to our doors, for it is also written,

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise." "Labour with your hands, providing the thing that is good." "Commit the keeping of your souls to him in well-doing."

We are to find the harmony of these various directions of the word in an un-anxious, trustful, well-doing industry which we trust God to bless and prosper for the ministering of seed to the sower and bread to the eater.