Last Sunday, February 21st was the first Sunday in Lent. No doubt we heard read, and preached on, the account of the Lord Jesus being tempted for forty days in the desert. In the little country church where I was taking the communion service they use the Book of Common Prayer, which has Matthew's version in chapter 4 of the account of the Christ's temptations. In preparing to preach on this Gospel I was impressed in a new way with the importance of, and significance of, this episode in the life of Jesus.
We are told that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. This was the first action of Jesus after his baptism which marks the opening of his earthly ministry. We pray in the Lord's Prayer not to be led into temptation. Here we are told that Jesus was deliberately led into the desert to be tempted.
Jesus was beginning his great work to put right the terrible consequences of the sin of Adam in the garden of Eden. He came to provide deliverance from Satan's dominion, under which Adam's sin placed ever human being.
Surely what we see here in Christ's temptations is Christ engaging to win where Adam failed. In his human nature as the second Adam he reinacted the conflict fought in Eden, which Adam lost so very quickly. He fought in his human nature alone as the second Adam. He was tempted more severely than Adam was tempted because of his fasting for so long. The devil brought against Jesus every cleverness in his power. He even twisted Scripture to suit his purpose.
In every way Jesus routed the devil, and remained sinless and pure. If Satan had caused Jesus to submit to his insinuations Jesus would have lost, and redemption and salvation would not have been possible. Jesus was victorious, and so at the beginning of his journey to Calvary where he would suffer to save us from our sins, he remained the 'Lamb without blemish' – a perfect sacrifice for sin.
What a mighty and glorious Saviour we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to know, and be confident of, that faith in Jesus will never prove worthless. We have the victory through Christ, for he is the victor over sin, Satan, death and hell.