The Life of Jesus: the Temptation of Jesus Luke 3:38-4:14 Rev. Min Chung Introduction I don’t know if you believe in Spiritual beings, but the Bible says they do exist. It’s reductionistic to blame everything on the devil, but it’s also reductionist to think that they do not exist. If you believe in God, and you believe in beings that is supernaturally good, but do not believe in supernatural evil, it is illogical. We believe in supernatural being, God, based on Scripture. Also based on Scripture, there is supernatural evil. I believe that the Bible is saying that there are evil supernatural beings working on the hearts of man, resulting in all kinds of evils in the world, including slavery, economic problems, racism, poverty, etc. We can mistakenly think that Satan is either whole problem or no problem, which neither of views is correct. Do not consider him as over-problem or under-problem. Satan is the leader of fallen angels and he has demons to work in the world against God. But Jesus Christ has defeated the work of Satan, and we can overcome Satan’s demonic power with the help of Jesus Christ. We cannot do it without Him. Satan is working all the things around the work against God, and he is stimulating your heart. But if you can say no to Satan with the great of God, he cannot do anything to you. Christian life is a fight. If you look in the Genesis, Satan comes as tempting snake. But he ends up as threatening dragon in the end in Revelation. But the problem is our heart. Our heart is prone to wander away from God. More you know that Christian life is a fight, we will be less overcome by the temptation, and we will be prepared to fight for the glory of God. I. What is the significance of the temptation of Jesus? Why does Jesus go through temptation? He’s God himself, and he can overcome temptation extremely easily. But there are things that we learn from this. A. Jesus is being tempted as the Savior- the second Adam -Luke 3:38 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. -Luke 3:22 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;[c] with you I am well pleased.”[d] -Matthew 3:17 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son,[c] with whom I am well pleased.” -Luke 4:3 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, commandthis stone to become bread.” Jesus is being tempted as the savior. The first Adam, the leader, failed. We also failed, so we cannot save ourselves. There has to be a second Adam, and the humanity has been looking for the second Adam. And the genealogy of Jesus Christ points out that Jesus was a human being while also being a God, which is why he traces back to the genealogy of Christ [Luke 3:38]. Luke traces Jesus’s genealogy all the way back to Adam because he wanted to compare the second Adam with the first Adam. So immediately after the verse 3:38 (genealogy of Jesus), comes the verse 4:1 saying that He was full of the Holy Spirit. The devil keeps asking, “if you are the son of God” and keeps challenging His leadership as a second Adam. The first Adam failed, but the second Adam succeeds. This is exactly what life is like, getting distracted by other things away from God. Satan distracts us to keep us focusing on the word of God. In the Luke 3:22, God Himself confirms that Jesus is the son of God. In Luke, it is written that God says to Jesus, ‘you are my beloved Son’. In the parallel passage in Matthew 3:17, and says ‘this is my beloved Son’. People say that this is contradiction in the Bible. But Bible is complementary rather than contradictory. Many people knew exactly that it is from God’s word, and God said the same thing, but the authors emphasized different aspects of what God said. God spoke to the first Adam directly, and addressed as him as ‘you’. This shows that just as God spoke to the first Adam, he speaks also to the second Adam. In Matthew, it is emphasized that Jesus is the Messiah and God declares to people “this is my beloved Son”. Satan keeps saying, “if you are the Son of God” because God just declared with His word that Jesus is indeed beloved Son. Satan’s tactic is attacking the word of God. Referencing to Genesis, when God commanded not to eat the fruit, Satan asks, “did God really say that?” Satan’s tactic hasn’t changed; he attacks God’s word and character. In the baptism, Satan is again attacking the word of God. But the second Adam does not fail like the second Adam. Of course Jesus overcomes the temptations of doubting as opposed to the first Adam. Why does Jesus have to overcome His temptation? Because He has to fulfill his role as a savior. He overcomes and the direct comparison between the first Adam and the second Adam is in the scriptures. B. Jesus is qualified to cancel the failure of the first Adam by living and dying for us- Justification -Matthew 3:14-15 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. What is the point of Jesus facing temptation and overcoming the temptation? It is because he was to overcome as a qualified Savior and to die on our behalf. If he failed, we have no hope. But he succeeds. Jesus is qualified to cancel the failure of the first Adam by living and dying for us. This is called justification in theological terms. In a parallel verse, John the Baptist has to baptize Jesus, and John wonders why he needs to baptize Jesus, and says “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Baptism is about cleansing, so John wonders why he needs to baptize Jesus. But this is what Jesus says, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Basically, He is saying that I need to go through this perfect life in place for you so that I can die for you. I need to be in place for you and receive the baptism and the wrath you deserve and live a perfect life and die in your place. I am here as a substitute. I am here to repent for your sins, not mine. That’s why he says ‘I need to live a perfect life’. He needs to fulfill all the righteousness, and He does. He is qualified to cancel the first Adam’s failure. C. Jesus is able to understand and help us in times of our Spiritual needs- Glorification -Matthew 3:15 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. -Hebrews 4:15-16 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Jesus can help you in times of your spiritual need to be like Jesus Christ because He lives the perfect life for us and He is resurrected with all the strength and he also understands our temptation. So He can help us. In Hebrews 4:15-16, that’s why it says that He can understand because He is tempted as a human being. Therefore, let us go for Him for help with confidence and find grace. Because He overcame, He is able to help us for His glorification. There is much debate about this: was Jesus able to sin? I believe that the Bible is saying that Jesus is not able to sin (this might hinder some of you). In His humanity, He is a perfect human being. But He did not neglect His divinity. Even though He was a God- man and lived as a human being, He had the capability of divinity with self-imposed limitation as a human being. He is a God-man, so He is a person and God, and God cannot sin. So as a person He cannot sin. God cannot sin or be tempted. He is able to understand us and our weakness as a human being. If He was not able to sin, then how can he understand us? Again, He lived as a self-imposed human being, so He can understand as a human being. And He overcomes everything, so he is able to help. Some people might say, “He never sinned, so He does not understand when I sin.” To that I say, another sinner may understand your feeling of failure, but he cannot help you to overcome because he also failed. Only the one who faced the same temptation but was able to overcome can not only sympathize, but also help you to overcome.