Jesus Came to Fulfill the Father’s Plan of Salvation • Matthew 3:13-4:11
By Carl M. White
Our lesson opens with Jesus coming to his cousin to be baptized. At first John is hesitant, saying, “I have the need to be baptized by You…” (3:14 NASB). Jesus’ response indicates why he is coming. “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (vs. 15). In other words, this is an act of obedience to the Father.
Jesus rises from the water drenched from head to toe. This is not unusual. The Greek word baptizo means to immerse. It’s what happens next that is unusual. The heavens opened and He sees something, and He hears something.
He sees the Spirit descend upon him as a dove, like a coronation! He hears a voice proclaim, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (3:17), like an ordination. He is crowned Lord of Lords. He is an ordained, obedient Son. The message to us is about being a disciple, which means being God’s obedient child just as Jesus is to the Father. This is the one and only path of discipleship.
Immediately, Jesus is “led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” ( 4:1). The word “led” is a strong word, like He is driven or compelled, but to where and for what reason?
Let the spine-chilling reality of this sink in. Jesus is not going out into the wilderness to get closer to nature. He is compelled by the Holy Spirit to go there specifically to be tempted! As His disciple, we too may be led into temptation!
Yet, in the Lord’s prayer we are taught to pray, “do not lead us into temptation.” Remember this, God answers prayers one of three ways: yes, no, or wait. If in His providence He leads us to temptation, He also teaches us to pray, “and deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). There is real danger in the wilderness of temptation.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us, “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Yet there is something unique about the temptation of Jesus. He is directly tempted by the evil one himself! While there is no visual description of the devil in Matthew’s account, there is a description of the ways and means of his efforts to tempt our Lord.
Mark this down, the devil always hits us when we are weak, tired, or distracted. Jesus had been fasting and praying for 40 days and 40 nights. He was tired and hungry, maybe not thinking clearly. The first temptation is about food. The second temptation is about proving who He really is, as if the Father needed to be reminded. The third temptation is about achieving His ultimate objective, dominion of all of creation.
Each of these three temptations are variations of one theme: the short cut. Jesus could use his divine power to make bread from stone, satisfy his hunger, and feed everyone else. He could solve in one day the hunger problem. The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels, and the crowd wanted to make him king! A short cut.
From the Pinnacle of the temple, all of the leadership of Israel would see him. The spectacle of God’s angels coming to his rescue would remove all doubt about His identity. Did He not want Israel to know that He was the Messiah? A short cut.
Bowing down to the devil himself to gain dominion was a particularly clever temptation. As the prophet Isaiah said about the Messiah, “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end” (NIV). The devil is suggesting that he has the power to accomplish this without the cross. A short cut.
In answer to each temptation Jesus calmly but strongly uses scripture. Paul refers to the Word of God as “…the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17b). It is the only offensive weapon of the armor of God, and it is ours to use.
There are no short cuts in discipleship. God alone is worthy of our worship. God alone can meet all our needs. We cannot manipulate Him nor use Him for our ends. When temptation comes our way, he delivers us from evil. Our weapon is the Word of God.
White is a member of Pineview Church, Clinton.
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