War in the Wilderness

Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 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. 3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." 4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 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. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours." 8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" 9 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. 10 For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" 12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

From last Sunday to this Sunday we go from the mountain to the wilderness. In the church year we travel from the Mount of Transfiguration to the Desert of Temptation. In Jesus’ life, He was traveling still dripping wet from His Baptism by the hand of John in the Jordan, full of the Spirit and the testimony of the Father, and goes into the arid wilderness for forty days of fasting. Not as a punishment, but as a time of preparation for His public ministry; for the work He was about to begin. And while He is out there, alone and hungry, Satan takes advantage of the opportunity to tempt Jesus to sin and fail before He even gets started.

Why did Jesus have to be tempted in this way? Ever wonder? Why go through forty days of hunger, of isolation, of temptation? Why even bother with the devil, that old liar? It goes back to the Garden and the threat that was a promise between God and the serpent: “I will put enmity (hatred) between you (Satan) and the woman, between her seed and yours.” This is war. In the wilderness. What the devil did to humanity would be undone by God enfleshed in humanity. Where the devil’s lie was successful in getting Adam and Eve to disobey, he would fail in the second Adam, the new head of humanity. Jesus does what Father Adam did not do and what you and I cannot do. He resists the old evil Foe. “On earth is not his equal,” until the Son of God put His very human foot down on serpent’s neck and said, “No.”

The temptation of Christ was greater than the temptation of Adam. Where Adam fell, Christ stood. Where Adam yielded, Christ conquered. Where Adam listened to the Lie, Christ remained faithful to the truth. Where Adam betrayed himself and God, Christ remained true. In Adam all became sinners and all die; in Christ all are justified and all are raised to life.

In the Garden, man exalts himself to be a god in place of God (Gen. 3:1–21). He succumbs to the temptation of the devil, and eating of the forbidden fruit, he receives death. But in the sin-cursed wilderness, God humbles Himself to become man in place of man (Mt. 4:1–11). He does not eat but fasts and bears the onslaughts of the devil for us that we may be restored to life. Jesus stands as David in our place to do battle against the Goliath, Satan (1 Samuel 17:40–51). Though outwardly Jesus appears weak, yet He comes in the name of the Lord of hosts. He draws from and slings the Word of God. The stone sinks into the forehead, and the enemy falls. In Christ we are victorious over the devil.

When we hear the story of Jesus’ temptation every first Sunday in Lent we may think, “This is silly. Jesus is God. How could He be tempted?” But we fail to recognize what Jesus is doing here. This is our temptation. “He was tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) Tested on our turf. This is our temptation, the temptation of all humanity focused on this one Man, the new Adam. He refuses all the stones of temptation. He refuses to be the Superman, the Übermensch, but instead becomes the Man of Sorrows, the broken, bleeding man, the beggar King who rules by dying and rising. And all of it for you.

So it’s important to see Jesus is not our Example – in how to do battle against the devil and win. To buck us up and get us to try harder next time. No! But to see Him as our Savior – the One who did do battle against the devil, for us who are weak and unwilling to fight. Jesus is not showing us how to fight, but fighting for us! One on one. A new Adam, against the same ancient serpent. Or as Luther wrote, “But for us fights the Valiant One, whom God Himself elected.” (CW #200 v 2)

The King of Kings defeated this world’s prince. The Seed of the Woman crushed the Ancient Serpent’s head. The devil, who overcame us by a tree was in turn overcome by the tree of the cross.

From Martin Luther:
Resist him; stand firm in the faith. Shake your fist at him. Throw ink bottles at him, if you’re so inclined, as Luther once did and added, “Damn you, devil. I am baptized. I am a child of God, an heir of life, embraced by the death of Jesus my Lord and covered by the blood of Him who has you firmly under His foot. Christ defeated you in the wilderness and on the cross. You have nothing to say to me. As Christ my Lord said to you, so I say, Be gone, Satan! I belong to Christ and you cannot harm me.”

From a sermon by C.F.W. Walther:
This battle [between Jesus and Satan] was the first engagement touched off by the Lord of our salvation, in order to tread down Satan under our feet. It was the first defeat of the infernal host to show them that now a Stronger one had come. Scarcely had Christ begun His ministry when immediately He attacked Satan. He did not leave the field until He had won the last engagement for us on the cross and could cry out, “It is finished!” The resurrection immediately following upon it was the victory shout of the world’s Mediator, the great Te Deum Laudamus, “We praise You, O Lord.” The descent into hell and ascension into heaven were the victor’s glorious triumphant procession. Yet all this could not have followed had not Christ won His first battle in the wilderness. This also was therefore a necessary part of the work of our redemption.

If you want to be eternally blessed by the battle of your Savior, your heavenly General, nothing more is demanded of you and all men than that you play the part of a believing spectator. The important thing is not that you learn how to fight against sin and Satan from Christ’s example, but the first, the most important, the main thing is that you learn to believe that Christ battled for you, in your place, for your freedom and salvation. Whoever knows and feels his sins, whoever knows that hitherto he has served the devil, that he was full of unbelief, contempt of God’s Word, pride, vanity, lust, and love of the world, or that he at least has not really battled against the world, flesh, and Satan, let him merely look to his Savior; this champion from the stem of David has held the field for us; this Lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered for us. Though you may have fallen ever so deeply, though you may have even begged the devil’s pardon, free yourself from this disgraceful tyranny. Side with Christ; then you are victor over sin and hell; then Christ also divides the spoils of war with you, forgiveness of sins, righteousness, life, and salvation.