Matthew 4:1-11 – The King of the Kingdom

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1

These first words of Matthew 4 might suggest this section more appropriately fits with the petition “lead us not into temptation” than the petition “Your kingdom come.” Yet, while this passage is about temptation, it also helps us better understand an important aspect of the kingdom of heaven: its king.

Immediately after being baptized Jesus stood, the Holy Spirit descended, the Father declared, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” then Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus did not make a public appearance after being revealed as the son of God, he did not ascend to his throne, or make plans for his new administration, rather, in a move quite unexpected of a coming king, he followed the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days of isolation and temptation.

Matthew 4:2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him,

Matthew 4:2-3

The text seems to indicate “the tempter” came to Jesus after the forty days were up, but I don’t find it unreasonable to suggest that temptations filled the full forty days in the wilderness. I’ve fasted for three days a couple of times and after about 20 minutes I get pretty cranky, become weak to nearly every temptation, and am ready for a good Pop-Tart; but Jesus fasted for forty days. I don’t know if he got cranky but it’s clear he didn’t give in to any temptations, and he never once conjured up a delicious Pop-Tart from the dirt of the wilderness. Matthew describes Jesus’s condition after forty days in what might be one of the most understated phrases in the Bible, “he was hungry.”

It was on this ravishingly empty stomach that the tempter — later referred to as the devil and whom Jesus called Satan — fully and finally engaged with Jesus. But before discussing the temptations, let’s shift our focus to the book of Hebrews where the author writes, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). I’ve often wondered what “in every respect” actually means. For instance, many of the temptations encountered today are unique to our time; no one prior to the advent of electricity and the internet ever had the temptation to look at pornography on their computer, scam someone through Facebook, or steal someone’s identity. With these modern and seemingly unique sins, what does it really mean when it says Jesus “in every respect has been tempted as we are?”

A number of years ago, while preparing to teach a class, I read a verse I had read many times before. John wrote, “For all that is in the world — the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world” (I John 2:16). I always thought that with these words John was saying that every sin we could possibly encounter fits into one of those three categories, but on that day I made a new connection; I began thinking about the temptation of Jesus.

Jesus was tempted to make bread from stones, jump from the temple roof, and worship the devil. Now, it’s possible, based on some of the music I’ve listened to, that someone could accuse me of the last sin, but the other two? Sure, I’d love to be able to turn stones into bread — it would save a lot of money — but I haven’t figured it out yet. And yes, I’d love to be able to jump from the top of a building and arrest my fall before I hit the ground but levitation isn’t in my skill-set.

But I’m not so sure that the story of Jesus’s temptation is about the specific things with which the devil tempted him, rather, it’s about the sort of temptations they were. A brief look at the temptations might illustrate my point.

The first temptation, unless there is something more going on than making dinner, is sort of an odd one. Matthew writes,

Matthew 4:3 “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:3-4

Note that the tempter begins this temptation with a question about Jesus’s identity — “If you are the Son of God” — before appealing to his flesh and his hunger. I don’t really think that turning rocks into bread was, in and of itself, a sin, but in that instance it was. Jesus had been led into the wilderness to encounter temptation. And by turning the stones into bread, something no one else on the face of the earth could do, Jesus would have indulged the longings of his flesh as well as revealed his identity through an act of power.

I think this temptation is the most extreme version of “Do you know who I am?” or “I deserve this!” that has ever occurred in the course of human events. This is a temptation to which most of us succumb at some point in life; it is even a habit for some of us. We want others to think highly of us or we tell ourselves we deserve something that we don’t. At times it might be just a Pop-Tart, but it can also be pornography, road rage, an affair, or even murder. We not only give in to our fleshly desires, but we also let our fleshly desires become a means of validating our existence.

Jesus battled both of these aspects of the tempter’s challenge by stating a simple fact that could take months to unpack: The desires of the flesh are mere phantoms; God’s word produces real life.

The devil continues questioning Jesus’s identity in the next temptation. Matthew writes,

Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Matthew 4:5-7

Instead of appealing to Jesus’s unsatiated hunger, the devil doubled down on his appeal to Jesus’s identity. If Jesus jumped from the top of the temple — a place frequented by many people every hour of the day and night, (the temple, not the temple roof) — and angels came to arrest his fall, this would be a clear declaration of who he was. Instead of being viewed as merely a lowly carpenter traipsing around the countryside preaching, Jesus would have been recognized as divine. Everywhere he went he would have been received with pomp and glory, even by the religious elite.

While this show of power may have been a shortcut to fame, Jesus would have given up, among other things, the glory of the cross; a glory far surpassing any momentary glory he might have gained by doing this God-powered parlor trick. But Jesus had already chosen to give up his glory when he came to earth to accomplish the Father’s will. And he trusted the Father to restore his former glory after accomplishing the task set before him.

We may not be tempted to jump from the peak of a building, but we are certainly tempted to grab momentary bits of glory for ourselves. We want to be noticed. We want to be more special than other people in ways that are amazing. But John calls this longing the pride of life. Anything we do that enables us to puff out our chest and say, “Look at me” is an action seeking to grab a fleeting taste of glory. What we don’t realize, however, is that long after such glory fades to dust, a much greater glory awaits us in the presence of the Lord. Our task, like Jesus’s, is to do the Father’s will, however humble it may be; it is not our task to find ways to grab glory for ourselves. Again, much more could be said here, but we must now move on to the last temptation of Christ (the real temptation, not the movie).

I imagine that by the time Satan got to his third temptation he was probably muttered to himself, “Okay, I get it; he knows he’s the Son of God, but maybe I can get him in another way.” Matthew writes,

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”

Matthew 4:8-10

Mixed in with the ingredients making up Jesus’s goal of providing salvation for the lost is this promise made by the Father to the son, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2: 8-9). This, Satan knew; the Psalms were public record. I think Satan also knew that human Jesus would not enjoy the price he had to pay. I think it’s possible, without granting Satan omniscience, that Satan knew Jesus would someday say, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39). As such, it seems to make sense for Satan to suggest that all Jesus had to do to save the world from the destructive shadow of Satan’s influence was to make one simple movement of his body; bend at the waist. If Jesus would do that, Satan would step away, the nations and their glory would become his, and Jesus would not have to endure crucifixion. But this, Jesus was unwilling to do. Aided by the Holy Spirit and sent with the Father’s confirmation, Jesus told Satan to leave him alone; bending at the waist may seem fairly innocuous, but it indicates worship, and Jesus knew that only God deserves worship.

Just for a moment, however, imagine that Jesus took the easy path. Part of Satan’s bargain was that he would back off tormenting and testing the citizens of the earth. Think about all the horrible pain and suffering that could have been avoided over the last 2000 years, if only Jesus would have bowed at the waist. But sometimes, as discussed last week, what is right is not easy.

We, having the full scripture in front of us, see that Jesus got exactly what Satan offered, but only by following the Father’s more difficult path. After Jesus’s death and resurrection, he told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). The authority over the nations was now in his hand. The good news is that Jesus won the battle without worshipping Satan; the bad news is that Satan still does his evil work on earth. But that isn’t the end of the story. Revelation describes a white horse ridden by one who is Faithful and True and “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron” (Revelation 19:15). The promise the Father made in Psalm 1 comes to fruition in Revelation 19 when all nations are subject to the son’s judgment.

Satan’s great miscalculation when tempting Jesus with the glory of the nations — the desires of his eyes — was that Jesus had his eyes set on the redemption of the nations, not his own glory. It was his submission to the Father’s will that enabled him, through tear-stained eyes, weeping for the nations and for sin and for death, to maintain his focus on the Father’s promise.

Matthew concludes his narrative of Jesus’s temptations with these words,

Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Matthew 4:11

When Jesus’s time of testing was over and the devil had been banished, God sent his angels to minister to him. The very angels upon which the devil tempted Jesus to rely in the second temptation were now sent to attend to Jesus’s needs. While the Holy Spirit had sent Jesus into temptation, the Holy Spirit also protected and soothed Jesus’s weary body and soul with angels when his time of testing concluded.

Anointed by the Holy Spirit, the king of the kingdom of heaven endured and defeated every type of temptation we could possibly encounter. And when his time of testing was over, God’s angels refreshed his body and soul. Matthew’s narrative of Jesus’s temptation should help us better understand the king of the kingdom, but it should also be an encouragement to us because when we pray, “your kingdom come…”

We pray for a kingdom that provides the Holy Spirit who gives us strength,

We pray for a kingdom whose king was tempted in every way that we could ever be tempted,

We pray for a kingdom whose king has conquered every sinful desire we will ever experience,

And we pray for a kingdom that refreshes its weary citizens.

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