Matthew 4:3-4 - Christ's Temptation

  

3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”. 4 But He answered and said, “ It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. ’” (Matthew 4:3-4)

It is always been interesting to me that Satan sought to to tempt the very Son of God. It could not have been because he did not know Who Christ was, or because he did not understand our Lords nature. It could not have been because he did not understand that divinity was, by definition, sinless, obviously was well aware, having been cast from Heaven because of his own sin. No, I think were forced to conclude that Satan came and tempted Christ for two reasons:

First, he came because it is his nature can come and to seek to deceive, tempt, and to destroy. He is "the adversary", and as such, he can do nothing but but seek to oppose that which God is working to accomplish. That is what we see him doing here.

Secondly, we see his attack on the Lord Jesus as an example for those who would follow in faith. As is many times the case in the Scripture, God allows undesirable, even futile things to occur in order to use them as an example for those who would follow. As our Lord was Divine, as fully God as the heavenly Father was, there was no chance that He would submit to Satan's temptation. It is completely unreasonable to think that Satan was unaware of that as he approached there on the mountain. Evening ego as arrogant as Satan is not quite that foolish. We might think that he was desiring to insult our Lord, yes we could go for that! But the fact that he had any hope of tearing our Lord down into sin?, No we find that difficult to believe.

One further question though, does the fact that our Lord had a Divine nature and thus, was "unable to sin", mean that the temptation was not real temptation? Adam was perfect in the garden before the fall and yet his temptation was real and he fell. But we must remember that Adam, though he was perfect in every way before the fall, was not Divine. God was holy, separate from him, and he was not.

In like fashion, when Christ came to earth, He took on the form of man. He was like man in every fashion. And even though He "laid aside His Deity, He did not fully give it up in that He ceased to be God. He merely ceased any visible demonstration or expression of that Godhood. Thus, when Satan came to tempt Him, that Deity was still in full force insofar as his person went. Yes, it was wrapped in a mortal, flimsy shell of humanity; but it was Deity nevertheless.

It speaks reams about the arrogance and malignity of the enemy of our souls that he went and stood before his Lord and Maker, seeking to tempt Him to sin, not once, but three times. The scene grows greatly in drama when we think of it in these terms. Moreover, it speaks of the great mercy and forbearance of our Lord, as He tolerated that awful presence not once but three times as Satan spoke his lies spewed his awful venom. Rather than cast him aside or bar him, He allowed him to come, not because there was any benefit to Himself but that the event might be recorded for your benefit and for mine! How marvelous and mercy of God and how wondrous His Grace. If only we have eyes to see!