The ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ officially begins with His Baptism as the Holy Spirit descends upon Him in the form of a dove and His heavenly Father declares His pleasure in His beloved Son. From that moment it’s time to get to the task of saving His people from their sins.

So, what’s the first move? A miraculous healing? Driving out a demon? Raising a dead person? Amazing the people with authoritative teaching? None of these. What’s the first thing Jesus does? He’s led by the Spirit into the wilderness for the very purpose of being tempted.

The Spirit sends Him into a barren land, because it’s time to do battle with the archenemy—the devil. For forty days and forty nights Jesus went without food—perhaps the one aspect of this that might be a miracle, though not the kind we’d expect. When His time of fasting finished, the devil—who has no idea Jesus was led by the Spirit for this purpose—thinks He sees a chance.

In the devil’s mind, this is an opportunity to end the salvation of the world. If he can just get Jesus to stumble and sin, that’s it. It would disqualify Him as the world’s Redeemer. But for Jesus this is a substitutionary act. The Lord is determined to accomplish what no other human being had and has been able to accomplish—perfectly resisting the devil’s craftiness.

The last time the devil set out to tempt someone not infected by a sinful nature was way, way back in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve fell so easily to the ancient serpent’s trickery. Maybe the devil can humiliate Jesus in the same way.

Satan begins his attack on Jesus with what would be an obvious temptation. The Lord has gone forty days without food. He’s hungry. He’s in a weakened state of being. So, the devil thinks He can lead Jesus into the fall through food. “If you are the Son of God (he says, defiantly challenging Jesus’ deity), command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

We might be curious about what harm this could bring. After all, Jesus’ first miracle involved changing water into wine. This would be changing stones into bread. What’s the temptation in that? The temptation is one that affects us all in pretty significant ways.

The devil wants Jesus to satisfy His own appetite and pleasure. The devil tries to direct Jesus to satisfy selfish desires, to set His mind on things of this world—a temptation that is a huge struggle for us throughout our lives. The devil tempts Jesus to embrace worldliness in such a way that the Lord would perform a miracle to serve Himself. Turning the stones into bread would contradict a statement that the Lord would make in the future: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” The devil wants Jesus to reject His mission of service by serving His own belly.

In response, Jesus recalls Moses’ words to the Israelites—at the very end of their wilderness wanderings. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” With razor sharpness, the sword from Jesus’ lips slices the devil’s temptation to nothing. Jesus has not come to satisfy His own appetite, but He has come to save His people from their sins with a servant’s humility. Later in His ministry, Jesus would say to His disciples, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.”

Since trying to tempt Jesus to fall into sin by appealing to worldliness and pleasure didn’t work, the devil seeks a different approach. Maybe fame would work. So, he takes Jesus to Jerusalem, sets Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and suggests He throws Himself down.

The devil got wiser following the first temptation. So, he’s got a word of Scripture. From the Psalms, the devil reminds Jesus that this wouldn’t be suicidal, because God wouldn’t let Him die. The heavenly Father would send a detachment of angels to deliver Him and keep, even His foot from touching the ground in harm. Surely, if the promise comes from God’s Word it must be okay.

And again, we might say, “Yeah, so? What’s the temptation in that?” Scripture says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” By throwing Himself down from the temple and having the angels swoop down to rescue Him in front of a huge crowd would make Him so famous. This is another temptation that is a struggle for us—we like to be famous and recognized and well-liked by others. If not, globally then at least in our own little worlds. The devil tempts Jesus with the proposition that a huge number would believe in Him and He wouldn’t even need to go to the cross. It kind of sounds like a win-win, doesn’t it?

Except, the cross is a necessary element to our salvation. In the Garden of Gethsemane, minutes before His betrayal, the Lord prayed that if it were possible, He would like the wrath of the cross to be taken away. Yet, the Lord also knew that He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus said explicitly throughout His ministry that the cross must happen. After His resurrection, He told the two men on the road to Emmaus, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and on the third day be raised?”

Our Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t fall for the devil’s cunning attempts to eliminate the pain and shame of the cross. Jesus sees through what the devil’s trying to do. Recalling the words of Moses again at the end of the wilderness wanderings, Jesus says: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” The double-edged sword of Jesus’ mouth strikes again and slays the temptation of the evil one. Jesus has not come to test His Father, but to fulfill His Father’s will. Later in His ministry Jesus would say, “I seek not my own will but the will of Him who sent me.”

With his first two temptations cut down, the devil takes up a third. He thinks that maybe a desire for power is just enough to do the trick. The quest for power is a temptation that strikes all of us. We like to be in control—if not the control of the world, then at least control of our own little worlds. Jesus—God’s Son—entered this world in such a humble estate while the emperors and Herods and governors of this world lived in luxurious palaces. During His ministry, Jesus said that He really didn’t have a place to lay His head at night. He traveled so much in His ministry that He didn’t have His own cozy bed.

Not only that, but the Old Testament prophesies that He was despised and rejected by men. Jesus had many followers at different stages of His ministry, but there were many, many more who wanted nothing to do with Him. Jesus’ kingdom is a kingdom of grace through faith in Him. But the devil thinks that maybe He’ll find it easier if He establishes His kingdom by force.

From a high mountain, the devil showed Jesus the kingdoms of this world and their glory. If Jesus would do just one tiny, little thing, then the devil would give it all to Him. “Bow down before me,” Satan says. “Worship me, Jesus, and it will be yours.”

It was never under consideration. “Be gone,” says Jesus. For a third time, Jesus quotes Moses’ words from the end of the wilderness wanderings: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.” With the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God from His own lips, Jesus cuts off the devil’s head in fulfillment of David cutting off Goliath’s. Our Lord Jesus would not be swayed.

Why? Because He is the second Adam, sent to fulfill what the first Adam and all His children could not fulfill. Jesus would experience temptation in every way we experience temptation—with one difference. He would not sin. He would completely obey the Law. He would dot every “I” and cross every “T” all the way to Calvary, where He laid down His life in sacrifice to atone for the sins of the whole world from Adam to the last person. The blood of Jesus—who perfectly kept the Law on your behalf—cleanses you of all sin.

Now, when the devil tempts you to fall into sin, you know how to handle it. Scripture says that the Lord “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” That way of escape begins with the Word of God and prayer. The trick is knowing the Word of God and going to the Lord in prayer. Participation in worship helps, participation in Bible Class helps, taking advantage of good, solid Lutheran daily devotions helps. For God promises that His Word is the sword of the Spirit, our defensive weapon.

Just know that you are not alone in the battle against the devil, because ultimately it is the Lord who fights for you and is victorious for you and in you and through you. He wins the war against sin, death, the devil, and hell. He sets you free to be His people. He reconciles you to God. He opens to you eternal, abundant life in His kingdom. The war that begins with the temptations following Jesus’ Baptism, concludes with Jesus’ final sword thrust into the devil from the cross seconds before His death: “It is finished.” Three words in English—one word in Greek—and very quickly the devil “can harm us none. He’s judged; the deed is done; One little word can fell him.” Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.