Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
Luke 4:1-13 (NLT)
HE KNOWS HOW YOU FEEL
It seems a bit perplexing to consider the temptations of Jesus. As believers, we affirm the divine nature of Christ, meaning He is not bound by the limitations of ordinary men.
So how can human temptations really work on Jesus? If He is God in the flesh, a mere human enticement would be no match for Him, right? Part of the significance lies in the fact that while He was fully God, He was also fully man.
He felt hungry, He felt tired, He felt happy, and He felt sad—all in the same way you and I experience those things. This is not to be scoffed at; it is a pivotal element of this passage.
We have all heard the refrain “I know how you feel” before. It is a common attempt to assuage an aching heart, but it can easily seem to drip with insincerity. In one of the Harry Potter movies, Harry is being comforted after losing his godfather. He had already lost both of his parents and a close friend. His professor attempts to comfort him by saying, “I know how you feel,” to which Harry replies sharply, “No, you don’t.”
In instances like this, it can almost make things worse to try to relate to someone experiencing something you have never had to endure. We don’t want a disingenuous attempt at relatability—we want the real thing.
We want to find someone who has been through it before to tell us, “It’s okay. I made it through, so you can too.” When we lost our infant daughter, I clung to the words of parents who had been through similar loss, hoping we could find eventual peace.
When Jesus comes to earth as a human being, it is so He can look us in the eye and say, “I know how you feel,” and mean the full weight of that statement. He hadn’t eaten in forty days, was sleeping in a rocky and unforgiving desert, and stood face to face with evil incarnate.
The full intensity of His temptations, according to theologian R. C. Sproul, is said to have been greater than what any moral human could endure—and yet, He did. Now, when you find yourself worn down by the grind of life, stressed out and tired in your own personal desert, you can cling to the hope found in His resolve.
We serve a God who has been through every hurt, pain, and stress we have ever felt—even unto death. And He overcame it all. Praise God for this truth.
Though we may walk through the wilderness from time to time, if we keep His Word in our hearts and minds, He will help us overcome it all—even death.
Lee Wilson and his wife, Deanna, have been NorthStar Church members since 2010. They are parents to Everett, Henry and Roselyn. Lee is passionate about sports (Go Braves, Go Dawgs) and has the pleasure to serve on the worship team as a bassist.
