Luke 4:1-13
Our Journey Through Lent—
It is a Journey to War!
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 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. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’” The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 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. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Almost everyone takes a number of journeys throughout their life. Many of these journeys are happy journeys. They are journeys of choice. We might choose to go on a journey through the mountains or a journey to another country for our vacation. We may choose to make a journey to visit family and friends we haven’t seen in a long time. Then there are the other journeys we take— journeys that are not made by choice, journeys that we would rather not make at all. Here we might think of the journeys we make to the hospital to see a friend or a family member who is ill or injured. Here we might think of the journeys we have taken to the cemetery. Most if not all of us can undoubtedly remember the journeys that we have taken in our life— both the journey’s we have enjoyed as well as the journeys that have been difficult for us to make.
Today, my friends, we begin a very special journey as the children of God. It is a journey that we take each and every year. It is a journey that paradoxically includes both great joy and tremendous sadness. Today we begin our Sunday morning journey through the Season of Lent. On each of the Sundays in Lent we will focus our attention on a specific aspect of this annual journey. Today let’s see how this portion of Luke chapter four reminds us that our journey through Lent is: A Journey to War. There are two things that we want to make sure we remember as we make this journey. First, we need to remember that Jesus has already won the war against Satan for us. Second, we need to remember that the good Lord has already given to us everything we need to win our own personal battles against Satan.
Our text for today very clearly focuses our attention on the fact that as Jesus made His journey to the cross on Calvary’s hill, His journey included confronting and conquering our most powerful enemy, Satan. Since this is a relatively well-known account in Scripture I would like to highlight some of the key points that are contained here in our text.
First, look at the opening verses of our text. Luke writes, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” There are two key points that we need to emphasize here. The first key point is found in the fact that Jesus was “led by the Spirit in the desert.” Jesus’ confrontation with Satan did not happen by “accident.” Nor was Jesus’ confrontation with Satan initiated by Satan. Directly after Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the desert to confront Satan. Yes, this confrontation was a necessary part of God’s Plan of Salvation for you and for me! Why? The answer to that question is given to us in I John 3:8. We read, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Way back in the Garden of Eden the devil successfully waged a war against Adam and Eve and convinced them to rebel against God thereby bringing sin into the human race, thereby bringing sin into God’s once perfect Creation— including into the crown of God’s Creation, human beings. But, in His grace and in His mercy God promised to send Someone who would crush Satan’s head. We, of course, know that God sent His own Son to fulfill that promise. Jesus’ confrontation with the devil in the desert is a part of the fulfillment of the promise God made in the Garden of Eden.
The second key point that needs to be emphasized here is found in the words, “…where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.” This was an intense war between our Brother Jesus and our arch-enemy Satan. The original Greek of this verse brings out the intensity of this war by revealing the fact that Jesus was tempted by the devil continuously throughout the entire 40 days in the desert. For reasons that are not revealed to us, God the Holy Spirit led the Gospel writers to record only three of the temptations that Satan leveled against Jesus. When we look at those three temptations we see how devious and how insidious Satan is.
Just as Satan’s efforts to lead Eve into sin started with the attempt to sow a seed of doubt in her mind (“Did God really say….” Genesis 3:1), so also Satan tried to get Jesus to doubt who He is. Look at what Satan says to Jesus in verse three of our text, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” After going 40 days without food Jesus was hungry! Therefore Satan tried to get Jesus to prove that if He really is the Son of God, then there was no need for Him to be so hungry. All Jesus had to do was use His divine power to change some stones into bread. How did Jesus defeat Satan’s temptation? He used the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”
Did Satan simply give up? Not at all! Just as Satan’s second temptation against Eve was a bold-faced lie (“You will not surely die….” Genesis 3:4), so also Satan lied to Jesus. Look at verses 5-7 of our text, “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.” Here is where we see how devious and how insidious Satan is. He tried to convince Jesus that He could avoid the excruciating agony of the cross (Pointing to the cross) and still be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Satan said that he would give Jesus all the authority and all the splendor of all the kingdoms of the world. All Jesus had to do was bow down and worship Satan. Lies, my friends! Nothing but lies! How did Jesus defeat Satan’s temptation? He used the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
Now did Satan simply give up? Not at all! Satan is so devious and so insidious that he tried to tempt Jesus to disobey God by misusing God’s own Word! Look at verses 9-11 of our text. Luke tells us that Satan took Jesus to the highest point of the Temple in Jerusalem and told Him, “Throw yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” How did Jesus defeat Satan’s temptation? He used the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Jesus said, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Now did Satan finally give up, my friends? Not at all! Luke tells us in the closing verse of our text, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” Satan continued to tempt Jesus through His entire ministry here on this earth— even after Jesus had been nailed to the cross. In Luke 23 we hear Satan use one of the thieves who had been crucified with Jesus to tempt Jesus. The thief says to Him, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39). The war that took place between our Brother Jesus and our fiercest enemy Satan raged on and on— probably until the very moment that Jesus proclaimed from the cross, “It is finished. I have reached my goal.” After Jesus’ burial He then descended into hell, He descended into Satan’s “headquarters” to proclaim His total and complete victory over Satan, to prove to Satan that he had lost the war! Jesus’ total and complete victory over Satan was then openly proclaimed to the world when Jesus physically rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.
As you and I once again take our journey through the Season of Lent we need to remember that Satan has already been conquered, my friends. The war has already been won. Does that mean that Satan will simply leave us alone? Not at all! Like the Russians who are trying to encircle key cities in Ukraine Satan to cut them off, Satan will try to isolate us in an effort to defeat us. He may try to lure us away from our Lord so that he can devour us and drag us into hell with him. How does Satan hope to achieve his goal? He still uses the same tactics that he has been using down through the ages. Sometimes Satan tries to plant a seed of doubt into our hearts and into our minds. He may say to us, “Did God really say that you can’t have any ‘fun’ in this world?” or, “If you really are a child of God then why do you experience so many difficulties in this life?” Since Satan is the “father of lies” (John 8:44) he has no problems lying to us. He may say, “It doesn’t make any difference what religion you follow. Everyone believes in the same god. They just call him by different names.” And yes, Satan is extremely good at misusing God’s Word. He rips passages out of context and twists them to say something that the good Lord never intended. He may say, “God is love. He would never condemn you or anyone else for anything.” Yes, my friends, even though Satan has already lost the war (pointing to the cross) he is still waging powerful personal battles against us.
What are we to do? How can we defeat Satan and his temptations? The apostle Paul addresses that situation in Ephesians chapter six. First, Paul reminds us that we must recognize that we are engaged in spiritual warfare each and every day of our life. He says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). Then Paul goes on to describe the spiritual “armor” that God Himself has already provided to us— the “belt of truth buckled around your waist…the breastplate of righteousness…feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace…the shield of faith…the helmet of salvation…” and the weapon that Jesus Himself used to defeat the devil’s temptations in the desert, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17). We always need to remember that Satan cannot stand up against the power of God’s holy inspired Word. Therefore the better we know our Bible the more effectively we will be able to use it to defeat Satan and his temptations. That’s why church attendance, Bible class attendance, Sunday school attendance and reading our Bibles at home are so very important.
It certainly won’t surprise you to hear me say that in addition to His holy Word, God has also given to us His holy Sacraments. Again, Satan is powerless against God’s holy Sacraments. When a person is baptized with water in the Name of the Triune God they are washed clean of all their sins; they are adopted to be God’s own dearly beloved child. That’s why baptism is so very important to us and for our children. Likewise, when a repentant child of God receives the Lord’s true body and blood in the Sacrament of Holy Communion they receive God’s personal tangible guarantee that their sins are forgiven. That’s why it is so important to come to the Lord’s Supper on a regular basis. Each and every day we are engaged in spiritual warfare, my friends, and these are the tools— God’s holy Word and God’s holy Sacraments— these are the tools that God has graciously given to us so that we can indeed win the battles that Satan wages against us!
My prayer this morning, my friends is this: As you and I take our journey through the Season of Lent I pray that we remember— remember that this is indeed a journey to war, remember that this is a war that our Brother Jesus has already won for us, remember that the good Lord has already given to us everything we need to win our own personal battles against Satan.
To God be the glory!
Amen
