Hebrews 4:1-16 This passage in Hebrews speaks of Jesus as our High Priest who was tempted in all points even as we are tempted. He, however, never sinned. Jesus called himself the Son of man often because He was flesh, blood and bone just as we are. God tented Himself in flesh so He could experience all we experience except sin. As a man, Jesus was subject to temptation just as we all are. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. One thing we often forget is that God sometimes allows the devil to tempt us. God gave permission to the devil to tempt Job. God, however, is not the tempter, as James clearly teaches: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (James 1:13-14).
The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. God knew Jesus would overcome, and He did just that. If our heart is toward God and we want to glorify Him in word and deed, we also may experience temptations that have been allowed into our lives for one reason. The temptations God allows are to strengthen us in our spiritual warfare abilities as we use the mighty weapons of our warfare to pull down strongholds in our mind. Satan has the ability to place images and thoughts in our minds, but we have been given the supernatural ability through our faith in Jesus Christ to resist such thoughts and images and to pull them down.
Because of the Fall, we have three lusts—the lust of the flesh (seeking to overindulge one or more of our five senses), the lust of the eye (vain imaginations and fantasies in our minds) and the pride of life (trusting in ourselves and our own resources more than we trust in God). We did not have these lusts before Eve and Adam sinned. Instead, we had three beautiful desires—the desire to enjoy God, the desire to worship God and the desire to glorify God. The desire to enjoy God was perverted into the lust of the flesh; the desire to worship God was perverted into the lust of the eye; and the desire to glorify God was perverted into the pride of life. All of these lusts are found in the soul (the mind, the emotions and the will).
Jesus was tempted in all points even as we are. Jesus had these beautiful desires, and since Satan was successful in perverting these desires in Adam and Eve, he knew he could do the same with Jesus. It did not work. Jesus was tempted to turn the stone into bread, and if He had given into this temptation, His desire to enjoy God would have been perverted. Jesus was tempted to bow down and worship Satan with Satan’s promise that He would have all the kingdoms of this earth. Jesus resisted this temptation, and His desire to worship God was not perverted. Jesus was tempted to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple, but once again Jesus resisted this temptation with the Word of God, and His desire to glorify God was not perverted. Jesus overcame each temptation with the Word of God. We now can overcome through the power of the blood of Jesus and the Word of God.
READ: Ezekiel 3:16-6:14; Hebrews 4:1-16; Psalm 104:25-35; Proverbs 26:27
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