Title: Jesus Overcame Temptation / Matthew 4:1-11
Description When Jesus grew up in Nazareth, he helped his father Joseph as a carpenter, and before he spent the last three years of his public life, he went out to the wilderness of Judea to pray for 40 days. Then the devil appeared to Jesus and put him to the test.
Here, Jesus is subjected to three temptations, and some scholars have interpreted Satan's temptations as the three classes that ruled Israel at the time.
The first is the Sadducees, who claimed that there was no resurrection world at the time, the second was the Pharisees who held the church authority, and the third was the ruling power of Rome. Here, the Sadducees were referring to materialists, the Pharisees were those who boasted of religious authority, and the Roman Empire was showing power supremacy. In fact, the three temptations Jesus was tempted were material temptations, religious temptations, and power temptations that you would have the whole world. Let's think about how Jesus overcame these three temptations and successfully completed his public life in fulfilling God's will.
1. The temptation to bathe
Satan came to Jesus and tempted him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (verse 3). This means the temptation to bathe in water. Since Jesus had fasted for 40 days, this temptation must have been a very difficult test to bear. The Sadducees, the ruling class at the time, were deceiving many people by establishing their religion on the materialistic basis of denying the afterlife. Material was the highest value for human beings Therefore, the devil's temptation to turn stones into bread shows the same aspect as the Sadducees' consciousness structure and values.
These days, the country is buzzing like a beehive because of the preferential sale case in Suseo district. When you watch the senior secretary of the Blue House Ministry of Culture and Sports and members of the National Assembly are handcuffed and locked in a detention center overnight, you can see with your own eyes how terrifying it is to fail to resist the temptation to bathe. Had they not been blind to bathing in water, they would not have been put to such shame. Therefore, Paul said, “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and destruction. The love of money is the root of all evil. and departed from the faith and pierced himself with many sorrows” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). James said, “Desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:15). . In the end, it is said that those who drown in water cannot escape judgment.
The Yugoslav poet Yeftzenko said this while criticizing communism. “When there is an ideal but no bread, the ideal will one day bring bread to that person, but when there is a lot of bread and there is no abnormality, the bread cannot plant an idea in that person.” I think it means the world of 靈. In other words, it means the word of God.
Jesus said to the devil, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (verse 4). Jesus was able to accomplish God's will by overcoming the temptations of material things.
2. Religious Temptation
The devil took Jesus to the top of the temple a second time.
“If you are the Son of God, jump down, and then God will hold you slightly, so that you will not be hurt even on one of your fingers” (verse 6). For Jesus, who was just about to enter his public life, this temptation must have been an attractive temptation. In fact, when these miracles were shown, it was clear that many people would believe and follow Jesus as the Messiah. But Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil by boldly saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
One of the desires of people is to deify themselves.
Putting yourself in the same position as God and making you worship yourself.
We see a lot of the situation in North Korea from time to time on TV screens these days. Among them, we see the idolized reality of Kim Il-sung. At the beginning of last year, in North Korea, the whole nation bows to Kim Il-sung, but at home, they put a picture of their parents before they bow down and bow to Kim Il-sung first. In fact, Kim Il-sung is not the head of a country, but rather a man sitting in the seat of a completely deified and religious God.
You will see pseudo-religious leaders appearing occasionally in our country. Immediately after the 6.25 Uprising, while many people were sitting on the wounded and completely ruined battlefield, Elder Park Tae-seon appeared.
He was once given the miraculous gift of healing and many people followed him. Then he began to deify himself. He called himself the Father of Spirits. They created a group called Millennium, which took away money and valuables from many people, broke up families, forced them to work, and made them worship themselves like God. In the end, we all know that he died while enjoying the worldly glory by transforming into the chairman of a conglomerate company.
Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church is the same person. Even these days, there are people who pretend to be elders Park Tae-sun or Moon Sun-myung, gather people to Jamsil Gymnasium, and blatantly deify themselves.
Paul said, “Jews ask for signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23). Who was Christ crucified? He is the one who gave up the glory of heaven to save us sinners. And it is the Christ who saved us by sacrificing Himself and hanging on the cross.
We must not fall into the temptation to deify ourselves when we live our faith.
There are many times when we fall into pride as if we were God because we received the gift of speaking in tongues and healing. The life of true faith requires sacrificing oneself and carrying the cross. By overcoming the second temptation, Jesus was able to live a public life in fulfilling God's will.
3. The Temptation of Power
The devil took Jesus up a high mountain a third time.
And showing all the kingdoms under the heavens and their glory, he said, “All these things I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” (verse 9). At this time Jesus resisted the temptation of the devil by saying, “Go away, Satan, for it is written, Worship the Lord your God and serve him only” (verse 10).
This speaks of power supremacy. At that time, Rome was ruling and commanding the whole world as a power. It was the devil's temptation to give that authority to Jesus. How many people have fallen into this temptation?
Napoleon in France, Hitler in Germany, militarism in Japan, Hussein in Iraq, etc. These people have the illusion of making the whole world their own with power and force. But when you look at the ending, you can always see that these people have a disastrous end.
In effect, power should be an instrument used for the good of the people.
However, many people use their power to accumulate wealth and enjoy worldly glory. All of the social corruption in our country stems from this structure. However, we can see that the people and God will always judge these people in the end. We must realize the truth that the glory of wealth through power will one day become futile.
Jesus said, “We have no one but God to worship and serve.” When we serve God and fear Him, life is always vibrant and abundant life is achieved. By resisting the third and final temptation, Jesus became the Christ who did God's will. And he told him that an angel was ministering to him.
We are now in the third week of Lent.
As Christians, we are constantly tempted by the temptations that Jesus faced when we lived in the world. We are constantly tempted by the temptation of material things, the megalomaniac of self-deification, and the desire to own everything as our own. I saw the movie “The last temptation of Christ”2. Here is the scene where Jesus is finally tested on the cross. Just as Jesus was able to accomplish God's will when he triumphed over this temptation, we should also be able to overcome this temptation.
He said that to those who overcome temptation and have been approved for this, God will surely give the promised crown of life (James 1:12). Especially during the Lent season, I hope that you will overcome all Satan's temptations through a life of godliness, temperance, and perseverance, so that you will win and receive the crown of life.