Luke 4:1-13  The Holy Spirit had "descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove...." ( 3:22)  And, now Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness.  For forty days Jesus was tempted by Satan and did not eat.  At the end of the 40 days, He was hungry and Satan struck again.

Rather than turn the stones into bread, which Jesus could have easily done, He trusted the Father's word, "Man shall not live on bread alone."

Rather than worship Satan in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world,  Jesus proclaimed, "You shall worship the Lord Your God and serve Him only."   Jesus knew that all the kingdoms of the world were His inheritance already.  He also knew that Satan had it backwards.. he should have been worshiping Jesus.

Rather than test God's word about falling off the pinnacle of the temple and having the angels catch Him, Jesus chose to stand in perfect confidence and trust in the Father's will.

These temptations have been compared to the temptations in the garden and Adam and Eve's failure to trust God.  Eve saw that the fruit was good and did not resist it, unlike Jesus who resisted the false bread.  Adam took the forbidden fruit, unlike Jesus who would not take the kingdoms from Satan's hand.  Adam and Eve believed the lies of Satan, unlike Jesus, who trusted in the Father's perfect will.

John wrote "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever."  ( 1 John 2:16-17)  This is also tied to the temptations that Jesus resisted in the wilderness. ( See the entry for April 2, 2019 for more on these verses).

Jesus is our Teacher and we are His followers.  We are tempted and tried and we must learn to trust Him and stand firm "against the schemes of the devil" by putting on the full armor of God.  The belt of Truth, the breastplate of Righteousness, the shoes of Peace, the helmet of Salvation, the shield of Faith and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.  Only then can we stand firm. All of this is what we receive in Christ, who is our Shepherd and King.

Father in heaven, keep us in Your shelter.  You are our Refuge and Strength .  It is by Your power and grace that we stand against the temptations of the world and of Satan.  Let the victorious Savior reign fully in our lives we pray. Amen.