September 27

Do you ever feel like everyone is against you and you are met with criticism and opposition? Jesus’ life is filled with opposition even before his formal ministry begins. Herod tried to kill him after his birth and now Satan opposes him. In the first true test, can the Messiah succeed where Adam and Eve failed? This temptation is more difficult than the one in Genesis. Jesus was tempted after a forty day fast and in the middle of the wilderness, while Adam and Eve were tempted in a good garden surrounded by plenty. Jesus resolutely stands against Satan. When tempted to transform stone into bread, he returns that true life is reliance on God. When the devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple and tells him to jump, he quotes from Deuteronomy that God should not be tested. Finally, Satan demands worship on a mountain top, but Jesus rebukes him stating God alone is worthy of worship.

Jesus passes the test where everyone else had failed. He reveals in this moment that he is the perfect Messiah we need and will be the perfect sacrifice (the Lamb of God) that can take away the sins of the world. No one was able to be the perfect one to crush the head of the serpent until Jesus. He lived the perfect life we could not and thankfully offers us victory, not by our own accomplishments but through his.

Father God, thank you that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice I need for my sin, and through the Spirit, I can overcome temptation like him. Amen. 

When you are tempted, what scriptures could defeat the temptation?