1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”

5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. (Luke 4:1–15, ESV)

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When a space shuttle travels to space, the launch phase is of utmost importance. Even minor issues can botch the entire mission. If it does not gain sufficient velocity, stay on the right trajectory, burn fuel at the correct rate, or stand up to the violence of take off, the vehicle will fail, and the results can be catastrophic. The massive significance of the launch phase is the reason so many are postponed. If the weather isn't perfect, if the math doesn't compute, or if the crew isn't healthy, the launch is scrapped. Too much is at stake. If it doesn't go right, nothing goes right.

The same could be said for the launch of Jesus' ministry. It is this beginning phase of his mission—one much more critical than any to outer space—that we are going to consider over the next four weeks. Sometimes long books of the bible can be studied in smaller, digestible pieces, and since we've gone through all the gospels in recent years, this study will give us a chance to refresh ourselves in the all-important ministry of Christ. We are going to begin here, with Jesus' temptation alone in the wilderness, and conclude with Jesus' invitation to his first disciples at the Sea of Galilee. He will begin this launch phase in solitude, but come out of it with a team. As we study this short section of Luke's gospel, we are going to consider Jesus' preparation, mission, focus, and method. We will rediscover him as a Son, Servant, Savior, and Strategist.

So we start today with Jesus' forty day period of temptation in the wilderness. He ate nothing during those days (2). I take Luke to mean that Jesus ate nothing at all during his entire time in the wilderness, but should admit that many fine, biblical scholars take the phrase to mean that he was fasting, which could indicate that he ate only what the desert provided or did not eat for the majority of each day. Regardless of how you take it, Luke, who was a doctor, is clear that Jesus was in a weakened and hungry state when the temptations reached their climactic point (2).

But how should we view these three temptations? To answer that question, we need to look backward in the text. Right before this, Luke traced the genealogy of Jesus back to Adam, saying Jesus was the "son of Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38). And before that genealogy was Jesus' baptism when the Father said, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:21-22). And now, in the wilderness, the question is simple: what will the perfect Son of God do when tested? Will he fail like God's original man, Adam? Or will he succeed? What does God's Son do? Satan will even preface some of his temptations to Jesus by saying, "If you are the Son of God" (3, 9). He tried hard to undercut the relationship Jesus had as the Son of God with Father God.

This is an important framework to bring to this episode because it can be difficult to relate to what happened to Jesus. I have never been tempted to turn a rock into bread, had an opportunity to become the king of the universe, or thought about jumping off a tall building as a way to demonstrate God's power to catch me. I have never fasted as long as he did. And I have never been under the same heightened spiritual pressure he was under.

But, as a believer, the Bible teaches I have been adopted into God's family. I am his child. And there have been countless times I have struggled to trust him, love him, or follow him as I should. In those moments, my relationship with my Father is under attack. And as Jesus defeated these temptations, he did not falter in his relationship with his Father. So how did he endure them?

1. My Father is Trustworthy (3-4)

Jesus endured the first temptation by confessing that his Father is trustworthy. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread" (3).

Now what would be wrong with Jesus turning a stone into bread? It should be obvious that it's fine for Jesus to use miraculous means to produce bread—he fed the 5,000 and the 4,000 this way. It should also be obvious that it is perfectly fine to eat. The story of the Bible is a story of meals—the bounty of Eden, the Passover Lamb, the bread and wine of the New Covenant, and the ultimate marriage supper when Christ returns.

The key seems to be that the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness. Luke is the gospel writer who focuses most on the Holy Spirit, and he is clear to tell us that Jesus went out to the wild led by the Spirit and full of the Holy Spirit (1-2). He was in that barren land as a direct result of God's will and purpose. To shortcut that purpose would have been the equivalent of saying, "I don't belong here. The Father's will is foolish. He cannot be trusted." It was the devil's way of saying, "God has abandoned you out here. You should take care of yourself because he quite obviously cannot."

This is backed up in the way Jesus combatted the temptation. As he did with all the temptations, he used the Bible to overcome this test. And every Scripture he used came from Deuteronomy 6 and 8. Here, at the first temptation, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 when he said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone'" (4).

The original Deuteronomy passage happened after the original exodus. God's people began wondering how they were going to survive in the wilderness. They needed food. And God supplied manna—a bread from heaven—as a way to demonstrate that we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God's mouth. God gave the word—the directive—and Israel ate. So what does it mean that man lives by more than bread, but by every word that proceeds from God's mouth? For them, it meant that they weren't living because of the manna, but because of God's directive that manna be provided.

And God gave the word—the directive—for Jesus to go into a barren wilderness, so Jesus too would survive. By rebutting Satan, Jesus was saying, "My Father is trustworthy. He brought me here. He loves me. I am good."

This was an important temptation for Jesus to stand up to. It was a precursor to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed the ultimate prayers of trust in his Father's plan. Fleetwood Mac's You Can Go Your Own Way was fading into the score, but Jesus resisted and went his Father's way instead—and we praise God that he did, because through his cross we are saved!

But we are also often tempted to doubt God's trustworthiness and go our own way. You might even have a radical backstory of God's goodness, like Jesus' baptism at the Jordan or Israel's baptism through the Red Sea. But now life has set in and the trials are mounting. You find yourself in a dry wilderness period. But just as the Father had a deeper plan for Jesus' life out there in the wilderness, so he has a deeper plan in yours as well. Stay faithful. Stay abiding. The Bible says that "those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy!" (Ps. 126:5).

I recently read an interview with the musician and producer Beck. He was responding to a study done by acoustic scientists that showed how lead singers have been getting quieter over the years in recorded music, especially in pop songs. He said the reason he (and others) produce their songs that way is that they want "the track and rhythm to be at the forefront to move people." The goal, he said, it to "get the tracks louder and louder. Mostly beat, a little vocal, and maybe one little element of music."[^1]

It's a great illustration for what often happens to us. The word of God—whether the Bible or his sovereign plan for our lives—often gets drowned out by the constant drumbeat of trials, emotions, and feelings that tell us we need to take matters into our own hands. Instead, we have to get back to the vocals—we do not live by bread alone, but by every sovereign, planned, strategic, decisive word that God speaks over our lives.

2. My Father is Best (5-8)

Jesus endured the second temptation by confessing that his Father is best. The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will" (5-7). The vision of all the kingdoms of the world was attached to a simple offer. If Jesus would worship him, Satan would give the authority and glory of all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus, including the supreme Roman Empire that dominated the world in that day. All Jesus had to do to become more powerful than Caesar was to change his allegiance from his Father to Satan. Now, even though the Bible calls Satan "the ruler of this world" and "the prince of the power of the air," this offer was likely a bluff (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11, Eph. 2:2). Satan was writing checks with his mouth his body couldn't cash.

He offered Jesus all the power, influence, glory, and fame of the world, but without the cross. And the cross was the true way Jesus would obtain the true version of these things from God. As Paul said to the Philippians, because Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, "God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9–11).

Jesus again responded with the Bible, summarizing Deuteronomy 6:13-14 when he said, “It is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve'” (8). This passage had come on the heels of Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

The quotation Jesus used is fascinating because the one he used in response to the first temptation originally had to do with Israel's response to the barrenness of desert life. But this one came to them as preparation for a time of blessing once God gave them land, houses, crops, and flocks (Deut. 6:10-11). He warned them that they needed to make sure not to forget God amid all their prosperity, but instead to maintain lives of worship (Deut. 6:12-13).

No matter how good life got, they had to be sure not to forget God. By rebutting Satan this way, Jesus was saying to him, "My Father is best. Nothing you offer me can turn me. I already have the very best there is, and I won't do anything to jeopardize that relationship. I will get everything he has planned for me his way, not yours."

The Corinthian church could’ve used this understanding when they began flirting with sexual immorality. Some in the church used an argument from culture: “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” (1 Cor. 6:13a). The comparison, to them, was simple: Our stomachs are satisfied with food; food is for our stomachs. Likewise, our bodies are only satisfied with sex. Just as food is needed, so is sex. Paul instructed them, however, “The body is…for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor. 6:13b). Their analogy didn’t work. Food is for the stomach, but our bodies are for the Lord. Sex isn’t our big “need,” God is. He is best. There is no unfulfilled desire, no dream, no measure of fame, no personal security, or any other thing that measures up to him.

In the face of temptation we must declare, “I cannot be satisfied with anyone or anything lesser than God. Only God completes me. My Father is best!"

3. My Father is Good (9-12)

Jesus endured the third and final temptation by confessing that his Father is good. The devil took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone’” (9-11). Satan abused the plain meaning of the Bible when he quoted Psalm 91—The psalms says angels will help you and guard you, Jesus. Throw yourself off this structure and demonstrate God's power. You're his Son; he'll protect you.

This line of temptation is deadly, and we experience it often—If God loves me, if I am now His adopted child, then why am I enduring such pain? Why this sickness? Why this trial?

It is the temptation to believe God is not good, that he has withheld from us. And every time anything bad happens to us, everything from striking our foot against a stone to things much worse, we might wonder if God is good.

This line of temptation often tempts us to forget the gospel. It is there we find ultimate protection from sickness, sorrow, pain, and trial. God chose to embrace the pain on the cross in order to make a way out of our suffering. Though the spiritual resources at our disposal as Christians are limitless, the physical blessings of that way of escape are future, not in the here and now.

Jesus’ battle against this line of temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (12). The fuller quote continues, “As you tested Him at Maasah" (Deut 6:16).

Maasah means “the place of testing.” It had gotten this name because Israel had tested God there. It happened after coming out of their captivity in Egypt. God had done much for them up by the time they arrived at Maasah. They'd seen a lot in the previous six months. The ten plagues. The Passover. The pillar of cloud and fire. The parting of the Red Sea. The healing of the waters at Marah. The manna from heaven. But here, facing another water crisis, their question was, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7).

The shortsightedness of Israel would be laughable if it weren’t so present in our own hearts. After all God had done, they had begun to doubt His goodness towards them. “Is he with us or not?" That was their question. And it is so often ours.

But Jesus would not go there. He would not ask that question. He did not need to throw himself down from the temple to see a display of God’s goodness. He would not test the Lord like that. He already knew the Father was with him. By rebutting Satan this way, Jesus was saying, "My Father is good. Even if I were to dash my foot against a stone—or worse, die naked on a Roman cross—I know he is good. He is with me. I do not need to test his goodness."

To know of God’s goodness is a great protection against temptation. Temptation has embedded within it the idea God is holding out on us, that he hasn’t been entirely good. But when we are able to look at the cross and declare, “He’s been good to me,” we are in a healthier place. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). He is our good Father.

And with that, the perfect Son of God had trusted his Father, worshipped his God, and believed in God the Father's goodness. After every temptation, Satan fled and Jesus returned to Galilee in power (13-15). He was now ready to embark on his public ministry. His shuttle had safely launched. And I pray we would trust, worship, a believe in our Father's goodness just like Jesus did so many years ago.

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[^1]: Restrepo, Manuela López. 2023. “There’s a ‘Volume War’ Happening in Music.” NPR, May 5, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/05/1174381307/beck-music-adele-beyonce-volume-pop-indie-alternative-study. [^2]: Merrick, Britt. 2012. Big God with Study Guide: What Happens When We Trust Him. Baker Books.