Copyright
© 1992
Frank Stigall
(Christ-Life Fellowship). From the book The Law is Not of Faith by Frank Stigall. Used by permission.
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The Three Temptations
of Jesusby Frank Stigall
I woke up one morning and realized that the Bible I had been reading for these many years had become a new book. Knowing Christ is my life has caused the view to become so much brighter.
I must confess my life was becoming dull, but then what else could it be without seeing Christ in it? Words seem empty without the life-giving force of Christ in them, which brings me to my subject: Why was Christ tempted in the wilderness? I believe there are some prophetic overtones and warnings on this subject as there are in many passages in the New Testament. This story parallels the fall of Adam in the garden of Eden. Each believer -- like Adam, federal head of the race -- must face the temptations of Satan. In Eden the first Adam was tempted and lost to Satan. Now we have the last Adam on the scene, the Lord from heaven. He must go through being tempted of Satan, also. The wilderness becomes His "garden of Eden" for Christ.
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"Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread" (Matthew 4:1-3). All this took place after Jesus fasted forty days and was hungry. The appeal was to the flesh The devil came to Him, tempting Him to make bread out of stones. I suppose He could have done this, but He chose not to. Remember, this was a God-led fast; if He had made bread from stones, it would have been in direct disobedience to God and the results could have been the same as in the garden of Eden. The devil would then have a foot in the door, because Jesus would have been taking his advice and acting upon it. With advice from the devil, you better look out; he has never been straight with anyone. It just doesn't pay to take advice from the devil or to give him any place in your life. Notice that the devil tried the old reverse psychology trick, "If thou be the Son of God," do something special -- make bread. When you know for sure who you are in Christ, you have no need to prove it. "But he answered and said, It is writ ten, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
Jesus said that man shall not live by "stone bread" alone (the Ten Commandments), but shall live by the proceeding Word of God, that which He is now speaking. Is that important? I think it is. Jesus gives new insight that up to now was unheard of. The voice of God is food to live on, standing above but not without the written Word. The written Word teaches us that the Father speaks to His children. The 'eth' in proceedeth is a present continuing tense in the Greek In other words, the Father will speak by His Son and continue to speak. [God] in these last days [has] spoken unto us by his Son..." (Hebrews 1:2). The new age was dawning; a new race of people was on the way. That made it doubly important to know what the Father was saying.
"Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:5-7). From this view, the devil seems to have the power over religion, in the holy city and in the temple. Satan offers Jesus the gift of religion, lifting Him up high, inviting Him to display all His power. This has become the chant of religion today: show us what you can do. Many have fallen for it -- anything to be exalted in the temple before people as someone great. Not all who say, Lord, Lord, really know Him as their life. It's an old trick to satisfy with traditional things and hide the real truth.
Putting on a demonstration seems to be Satan's aim. But this is not so with God. He showed Israel his power in the wilderness, "And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul" (Psalm 106:15). To Moses, He showed "his way", which is different from His demonstrations (Psalm 103:7).
God's power is not just a bag of tricks for spiritual actors to display or with which to entertain people. Much of our preaching today is done by good men and women who have evolved into spiritual movie stars, who put on a performance each Sunday with a head full of scripture notions, a mouth full of scriptural expressions, and a heart full of enmity to God, rambling to and fro, making religious sounds, beating the drums of issues and programs, while tightening the rope of law and bondage on the people From such, flee!
Once you are birthed, the Bible says that there is no law; there is no need for the schoolmaster (law). You are free from the law. Those lawmen who are preaching law are not preaching the good news of the gospel of Christ, but rather bondage. Taking law away strips them of their power over man and leaves them nothing with which to threaten. I know this can be a sore point with many and some will argue that we need some kind of rules or no one will come to church To the religious mind, the church is a place of control, and in every sense of the word it has become almost a physical body. The real concern is how to collect tithes and promote projects. Often the preachers are not born again, and the name of Jesus has no more meaning to them than John Doe.
Why not try love and freedom? Sure, believers will run for a while when turned loose. Wouldn't you, after being penned up so long? Let me tell you, love is very powerful and will constrain them in time. What they do when free of the law will be because they want to, not because of the threat of broken laws. After all, isn't this the way love works? Love cannot be commanded.
Preaching without law means a complete retraining of the mind, and that, of course, is what the Holy Spirit does. I was a real Marshal Dillon, a lawman. I sent many born-again, Holy Ghost-filled people to hell every Sunday for not praying enough, reading the Word, and paying tithes. No one could do enough to merit heaven. Aren't you glad I was not the one to make the final decision? Thank God! He wiped my mind clean one day, and rearranged my thinking. Oh yes, He put it all back. This is an unbelievable process, but I guarantee you it happened. This naturally makes me unpopular with many of my brethren. Isn't it strange how law and love separate.
A battle of the scriptures began between Jesus and Satan, between those quoted out of context and misquoted by the devil versus those quoted in context by Jesus. Guess which is the most power-filled? The literal interpretation of the Scriptures literally tells us what the Father means. It is not hidden in men's philosophy and, therefore, is the most powerful as it reveals the Father's heart and thoughts. Religion, on the other hand, is based on scriptures taken out of context, called the allegorical method of interpretation. It seems to have no rules and is usually bent in such a way that it exalts the leadership. Isn't all this starting to sound like this passage in Matthew 4:4-7? Satan himself interprets the scripture allegorically, and if he is doing it there must be something wrong with this method. It can only produce a form of godliness without the power.
You see, Satan does not care if you interpret using his method; he will help you. II Corinthians 11:13-15 says, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." Isaiah 14:12-17 reveals the heart and intent of Satan to be exalted. And how is he exalted? Mostly through people. You may be happy to know that Jesus turned down Satan's offered gift of religion.
"Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:8-9). Let us pause for a moment and have a look at just what has taken place thus far. The first temptation was to the body -- bread for the body. The second was to soul -- the mind, will, and emotions -- the promise to be someone great in religion. Now to the real purpose, the nitty gritty of all this. This third temptation was a direct attack on the spirit. The entire world with all its riches and glory was offered.
Boy, what a deal of the century this was! Just think, Jesus came here to be offered up for the sins of the world, to die on the cross. Now he is offered a way out by none other than Satan himself. Satan actually offered the world back, without a shot being fired. Jesus only had to do one thing: fall down and worship Satan. Indeed the direction would have been "down!" At this point, we must remember Who Jesus is. He is our prototype, the only Son the Father had. He was birthed by the Father and had His nature. The devil was appealing to Jesus to bypass the cross. What was his purpose? It was an offer from Satan to Jesus to take on his nature. Can you imagine that? If Jesus gave in to this temptation, we would have had another garden of Eden, another fall like the first Adam.
Would Christ believe the Father, or would He listen to another voice? This becomes the type of temptation most of us are hit with. We often hear things from aggressive preachers that sound very forceful and we are overcome by them. Take care what you hear. This appears to be the kind of temptation which Adam and Eve faced in the garden of Eden. It is mind-boggling to think of, but Satan must have been desperate. He was negotiating with Christ; he keeps sweetening the pot, making it harder to resist. Jesus, on the other hand, did not come to negotiate with the devil, but to condemn sin in the flesh, once and for all.
Satan desperately tried to mar the God-seed, but it was not possible. He was not dealing with mere man. Jesus has the seed and the nature of the Father, therefore, He could not sin. "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (I John 3:9).
"Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him" (Matthew 4: 10-11).
The moral of this story is that Satan can overcome mere man, and he proved it in Genesis. But the testing of Christ in the wilderness proves that man with the seed of God in him cannot be defeated, even under adverse conditions. We are more than conquerors through Him Who loves us. A true son responds to an inward voice and is not moved by anything else. This brings perfect peace from the Father. A servant listens to external voices, including the voice of Satan, and is controlled by them. The battle was between the internal voice of the Spirit and the external voice of Satan.
Also, we might point out that up to now no one was able to call God "Father." The Old Testament saints knew Him as Jehovah, El Shaddai Elohim, The great I Am, Our Banner, Healer, Provider, and other names too numerous to mention. No one could call Him "Father" until Jesus came, for He is the only begotten Son of God. Romans 8:15 says that we who are birthed have this privilege, "... But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Only family can call God "Father".
Copyright © 1992 Frank Stigall; used by permission of Christ-Life Publishing House. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/.
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